Boat rewiring project

[The Original Rooster]

I'm about to rewire my 1991 Lowe 165 boat. The tangle of wires under the dash going to the switches is just ridiculous and the fuse block uses the old glass fuses.
I'm starting from scratch. New switches (none of them work anyway), a fuse board, terminal block, and bus block. I may reuse some of the wire after putting new connectors on them. I'm also adding a main battery switch and a 60 amp breaker to replace the inline fuse on the trolling motor. I'm drawing up a wiring diagram to keep it straight in my head. Anyone ever taken on a project like this before? Any advice would be appreciated so long as it's good advice.

 

[trad bow]

I haven’t but the wiring on my 2018 Xpress is to shabby for me to accept if I decide to keep the boat. I will be doing the same. Your plan sounds like it will be a lot better Than when it was new.

 

[blood on the ground]

I'm about to rewire my 1991 Lowe 165 boat. The tangle of wires under the dash going to the switches is just ridiculous and the fuse block uses the old glass fuses.
I'm starting from scratch. New switches (none of them work anyway), a fuse board, terminal block, and bus block. I may reuse some of the wire after putting new connectors on them. I'm also adding a main battery switch and a 60 amp breaker to replace the inline fuse on the trolling motor. I'm drawing up a wiring diagram to keep it straight in my head. Anyone ever taken on a project like this before? Any advice would be appreciated so long as it's good advice.

Certainly sounds like you are organized and have a plan! I didn't realize trolling motors pulled that high of amps!

 

[The Original Rooster]

Certainly sounds like you are organized and have a plan! I didn't realize trolling motors pulled that high of amps!

I didn't either! I checked the manual on my Motorguide and it said either a 50 or 60 amp breaker was recommended.

 

[blood on the ground]

I didn't either! I checked the manual on my Motorguide and it said either a 50 or 60 amp breaker was recommended.

I'd hate to become a direct short to ground in that circuit!

 

[NE GA Pappy]

I have done this a few times in the past. Buy a boat that needs rewiring, fix it up, sell, pocket cash, repeat.

If I planned on keeping the boat for a good while, I would..

1. Go with the tinned marine grade wire. Yes, it cost more, but the moisture that will get inside the wire won't corrode the copper and cause high amp draws and issues.

2. Solder. Solder EVERY connection on the thing. Don't depend on crimped connections to last in a boat. Then use heat shrink to cover the connections.

3. Make sure you use marine grade switches. Anything less and you will be replacing them again in a couple of years.

4. Color code the wiring. Use a different color on each feed wire. The ground wires can all be the same color, but if you have to trace a wire, you will be glad you color coded.

5. Run a main feed wire to the positive buss circuit to feed the fuses, then branch from there to feed the appliances you want to run.

6. Run ground wires to every appliance. Don't depend on the boat to be your ground connection. This applies to aluminum boats. We all know fiberglass doesn't conduct.

7. Remount your appliances with stainless steel hardware. It will look better, and last longer.

8. Plan on at a minimum of 30 hours of labor to wire one from end to end. And lots of pain when you try to make those old bones bend where they haven't in years.

 

[The Original Rooster]

I have done this a few times in the past. Buy a boat that needs rewiring, fix it up, sell, pocket cash, repeat.

If I planned on keeping the boat for a good while, I would..

1. Go with the tinned marine grade wire. Yes, it cost more, but the moisture that will get inside the wire won't corrode the copper and cause high amp draws and issues.

2. Solder. Solder EVERY connection on the thing. Don't depend on crimped connections to last in a boat. Then use heat shrink to cover the connections.

3. Make sure you use marine grade switches. Anything less and you will be replacing them again in a couple of years.

4. Color code the wiring. Use a different color on each feed wire. The ground wires can all be the same color, but if you have to trace a wire, you will be glad you color coded.

5. Run a main feed wire to the positive buss circuit to feed the fuses, then branch from there to feed the appliances you want to run.

6. Run ground wires to every appliance. Don't depend on the boat to be your ground connection. This applies to aluminum boats. We all know fiberglass doesn't conduct.

7. Remount your appliances with stainless steel hardware. It will look better, and last longer.

8. Plan on at a minimum of 30 hours of labor to wire one from end to end. And lots of pain when you try to make those old bones bend where they haven't in years.

Many thanks sir! That answers quite a few of the questions I was wondering about.

 

[1gr8bldr]

In the plan, count to potential circuits. Stern light, running lites, bilge, etc. Buy a fuse "block" big enough to cover all. And a few extra's. Add a USB power port to charge phones. Dielectric grease for all unprotected connections like the battery hookup. Hook a trickle charge lead to the battery, ready to be connected to charge the battery. Put your main cut off switch where it will be easy to access. Auto bilge needs to bypass the main cut off switch but be sure to fuse it. Fix one circuit at a time or label stuff well. Pics often come in handy to refer to.

 

[snooker1]

One thing I did (on a recommendation) was I looped all the wire so I would have a little extra incase I needed it. This come in very handy about 3 years after the project when I had to replace the plug on my trolling motor from corrosion (salt water). I only had to pull up about 8 inches of wire to get to clean wire and reconnect.

 

[The Original Rooster]

And don’t use wing nuts on yout battery terminals.

The coast guard puts out a book. It is sorta like a building code for redneck boatbuilding

http://www.jamestowndistributors.com/userportal/pdfs/SafetyStandardforBackyardBoatBuilders.pdf

There is a debate about crimp verses solder. I crimp almost ALL connections on my boats except for antennas and transducers and electronics. I use the non insulated connectors and a good heavy duty crimper and then the glue lined heat shrink. See page 35 of the coast guard manual for the recomendation of crimp connections over solder.

Get the 3:1 heat shrink with the glue use a heat gun to shrink it

Tinned wire for sure and I like to leave a little bit extra.

Pay attention to voltage drop when picking wire sizes. Bigger wire is better.

Thank you sir! Good advice that I will follow for sure!

 

[rayjay]

I came up with a neat storage box / job box for my new crimpers and other wiring necessities. I will take some pics tomorrow. I used it this afternoon for some repairs on my Bug project and it worked out great.

 

[WayneB]

I've done a few, Battery cut-off switch (perko) is a must.
Tinned wire, lugs, and connectors are also a must.
On my skiff, I pulled #6 AWG from battery compartment (aft) to console and mounted a ground bussbar and a fuseblock. Between battery and perko switch I installed a 150A breaker, and between perko and fore fuseblock I installed an 80A breaker.
Radios, Raymarine and Lowrance GPS and finders got seperate fused circuits to blocks, Trolling motor got a 50A breaker from lug on fuseblock.
Added phone charger USB ports, voltmeter/ammeter gauge (digital), but I kept my old dash panel and gauges, just rewired and relamped. I replaced toggle switches with similar but went higher on load rating and weatherproofed them after install.
Made new battery cables with hammer-lug crimps, all other wiring was marine heat shrink terminals with additional heat shrink where I felt it warranted.
Almost all material was purchased by a company in Brunswick; http://www.genuinedealz.com/
Follow ABYC and USCG wiring standards and coding, when you have to work on something again it will be easier.
If you feel chafing of main wire form battery to console is likely, use a braided sleeve or smurf tube wire covering to protect wires.

 

[rayjay]

My Bug's wiring harness is a mess so I needed to get serious about my wiring tools, connectors, knowledge, etc. First off is the crimp on connectors. I don't like the insulated ones so I bought an assortment of different uninsulated ones off Ebay. I got the high temp which might not be as good as an idea as I thought. They are stronger and need a serious crimper. Also they are incredibly hard to slide together that first time. VWs use all spade terminals so that's what I am using for the most part.

I bought Greenlee crimpers off Ebay. One was well used but in good shape and the other was nib. One has the uninsulated crimping dies and the other has dies for insulated terminals. These are not top of the line but they aren't hundreds of dollars either. True Pro level crimpers are amazingly expensive but do an amazing job. For somebody that's just used junky pliers type crimpers the mid level ratcheting crimpers like the Greenlee are awesome. Very little effort is needed to make crimps that are far stronger and neater than the $10 hdwe store crimpers. I paid $30 for the used set and $40 for the new ones. Discounted retail is usually $75 to $100. If you go for some "too good to be true" china made ones off Amazon read the reviews and watch some vids.

Since I am too lazy to swap dies I needed a storage container. I had these 2 plastic tool boxes that I got from yard sales. For a single set of crimpers and an automatic stripper the small box would be perfect. I used the bigger box because bigger is better . I loaded the top with terminals and heat shrink. Last night I worked on the Bug for a bit and the box was awesome. Normally I would have made countless trips in and out of the shop between the wiring supply bins and the job. Now the parts and tools were on the bench.

BTW, the automatic strippers were bought at Wally and do a good job on 14 ga and larger wire and are hit and miss on the smaller stuff. Still way better than the stripper on the junky pliers style of crimpers.

 

[rayjay]

Here are some pics of terminals. For marine I would go with heat shrink terminals that have sealant made in. Or if you solder the terminals then use sealant lined heat shrink tubing. The heat shrink terminals require a specific wire crimper die set. Any other die set will cut the insulator and negate the reason you bought the more expensive connectors.

Hi temp uninsulated terminals. I almost always add heat shrink so what is the point in buying the insulated terminals and pulling off the plastic insulator ? You won't find uninsulated terminals locally.

 

[rayjay]

This is a heat shrink butt connector.

 

[rayjay]

Here is a link to a yt vid that may have some good info. I watched a different vid yesterday that was done by a boat specialist and will try to find it.