boat wiring

[DirtyMike]

My brother wants to get his pontoon out of storage this weekend but some wiring needs to be done before we go back out on the water. I'm terrible at electrical diagrams. I've been trying to employ the skills of my father in law (electrician) but it sounds like he might be busy this weekend. SO, I've thought about this and researched a little bit. My plan is to have the two wire from the motor to the cranking battery. Off the battery, two wires to a buss bar underneath the console. from there, we can wire into the navigation lights, radio (to speakers), toggle switches, depth finder, etc. If anyone has a quick how-to guide, please let me know. Which gauge wire should a guy go with? I'm guessing solder everything for better connection. What size fuses for each component? I'll be sponsoring busch light while doing this project. That's about the only thing I do know.

 

[eyexer]

sounds like your on the right path. I would run #6 wires from battery to the fuse block. But I would also put in a master switch somewhere on the dash that is between the battery and the fuse block. only needs to be on the hot wire. Then you can run from fuse block to any electrical items you wish with whatever size wire is necessary, fused for that wire size. And yes I would use the solid terminals that are soldered and then heat shrink over the terminal butt.

 

[DirtyMike]

So many battery to master switch to buss bar?

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There are switches on the console already. Some wires got crossed a couple years ago and melted a bunch of stuff. Right now, his front nav lights and horn don't work. I'll be stopping by macs tonight.

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[eyexer]

yea that's pretty much the idea

 

[DirtyMike]

Thanks Eye!