Finally going to wire the boat - looking for some help

Mark W

Mark W

Well-known member
I know there are posts on the "how to's" of wring a boat and I'll search for them later. What I am looking for is a good place to purchase the needed materials. Here is what I'd like to do.

1. Have real wired nav lights. No more D cell battery operated lights. Would like to go LED if possible. Would also like to be able to remove the stern light when not needed.
2. Wire in a couple of LED interior lights.
3. Wire in 2-3 12V lighter plugs for spotlight and fishfinder.
4. Somehow be able to wire the electric trolling motor. I know nothing about this as I don't fish but my Dad does and he has a trolling motor. Do I just wire directly to the battery? There has to be an easier, quick release way to do this.
5. Power panel to control all of this.

Finally, what is the best way to run the wires for all of this? The boat in question is a 14' Lund. I believe I can run the light wires to the bow inside the top rail but what about the interior light wires? I was going to put the interior lights recessed into the aluminum bench seats but don't know a clean way to ge the wires there.

As always, any help is greatly appreciated.

Mark W
 
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Mark,

Might check Cabelas for supplies. I ran the LED rope lights along the underside of my gunnels and am very pleased with that set up for interior lights. Nice even lighting that gives enough light yet is not blinding you.

How you run you wires depends a lot on how your hull is made. My gunnels are quite wide and are hollow so most of the wires are run inside of it for the ones that need to run all the way to the bow.
 
Mark,

Buy a book like "The 12 Volt bable for boats", that will give you a good idea of ABYC standards, which is like building code for marine wiring. The book will also help you size your wiring, since marine wiring is different than house wiring in that the length of the run is important as well as the draw of whatever you are running. I'd go with a place like West Marine that will have a complete assortment of connectors and panels that you can put your hands on. The panel is for power distribution and the positive goes to it from the battery (put a main disconnect in that line) and all the negatives get collected up on a negative bus bar then the bus bar goes to the battery.

Use marine crimp on connectors with adhesive lined shrink tubing anywhere it might get wet and tinned marine wire throughout.
 
Mark, I found all my stuff u listed on ebay way cheaper than normal retail outlets. They were from boat dealers and marine companies. A idea you might want to try is rope lights inside/under the cockpit diameter. I got some ball busting from buddies till they were in the dark seen how well it lit inside of my Tdb and B.B.The light comes from every direction and doesn't get blocked by gear. Just food for thought.

Gene R.
 
Gene, that's funny. when I first took out my BBSB with "disco" lighting everyone laughed and had a good time. This year there will be several others following suit. Like Dave said a nice even lighting that won't blind you. I find everything when I need it. I think rope lighting is a must
 
Mark,
check out Blue Seas marine to see some nice options for electrical products for your boat. They have some very good parts to protect your wire runs from overvoltage. They also have a very good calculator for wire size based on loads and runs.
Anchor products are also good.

Both company's repackage a lot of product esp Coper Bussman, but unless you know a supplier its hard to get just one part elsewhere.

Make sure you fuse or breaker the trolling motor wires, and be sure the plug you choose protects the pins when open as that is battery direct if shorted(Think welding). T motors draw a lot of amps and need some heavy cable to prevent voltage drop from hurting the electric motor.
On the trolling motor you may get a better deal on the wire by buying a set of jumper cables and cutting off the ends. Marine wire is big dollars. In an open boat the insulation will be sufficient and tinning is only necessary if you dont use sealed crimp on ends with heat shrink.
 
yeah, My buddies wanted to know why I just didn't put up the Flamingo lite strands for your patio. Then they "seen the light." Sorry that was to easy. Anyway when I got mine I ordered from guy on ebay and he custom made them to exact length around cockpit.

Gene R
 
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