Marine Wiring Best Practices... What are they?

[Ranchero50]

Any one know of any FAQ pages for best practices on marine wiring? My dad has a really good book by Nigel Caldor on it, but it's at his place and I'm working towards the wiring here and I think it would be a great help for guys on this forum.

Wire sizes, splices, bonding, fuses etc.

I know the wiring should be tinned, not bare.

Jamie

 

[ben2go]

This is what I refer to as a quick reference. https://www.boatus.com/boattech/howto_tech.htm

 

[Zum]

I agree with you that "all wiring should be tinned".

Thats pretty pricey though and if you are only going in fresh water,regular wiring that has proper splices(tinned,heat shrink)will last a real long time...sorry can't put a number on it.Leave some extra wire,most of the times it's in the connections or close to them,where the trouble will happen.

 

[Ranchero50]

Thanks, I've been to that BoatUS site last year when we were working on Dad's 28' Chris Craft doing a motor swap. Few things were quite as much fun as putting a 350 and drive in that hole with a backhoe...

As we all know the green death is what I want to avoid and I was also wondering about electrolosis. I was thinking about bonding the battery ground to the hull but I was also thinking about putting a LED between the battery negative and the bare hull to act as a ground fault detector. Maybe I'm just overthinking it. I did six years in the Navy as an electronics tech, two on a frigate.

So best practice, bond the ground to the hull or leave it float?

Jamie

 

[russ010]

I'll give you my thoughts on wiring...

For all electronics I run 14ga wire. I don't use tinned, but I do use waterproof connectors and heat shrink tubing on them. I also run them in corrugated conduit (cheap stuff you can get at walmart). I do that not only for cosmetics, but it keeps those stringy wires under control.

For trolling motors, I use atleast 10 ga (I think that's what comes on them)... If I'm running wires in parallel or series, I'll use 4ga wire to compensate for any loss.

I've been doing this stuff (marine and auto) for years and have never had any problems.

With that being said.... here's what I've seen other people do...

-12/2 house electrical wires to use for providing power to trolling motors
-house outlets used as plugin connectors for TMs
-weatherproof outside outlets (atleast it's not the indoor type)
-1/2" pvc used as conduit (good idea too - it's flexible)
-jumper cables used as TM wiring from TM to battery

 

[ben2go]

There should be no wiring connected to the hull.That will cause corrosion really quick.I keep a buffer between the hull and electrics.I use wood to isolate the motor from direct contact to the hull,battery box from the hull,and all wiring is run through some form of plastic pipe or conduit.I also mount all electronics on or in wood.

 

[Ranchero50]

Thanks, that's what I wanted to hear and actually how I'd like to do it. The PO of the boat had an affection for speaker wire and 14-2 romex and yellow tape to hold it all together...

The 'Doo motor floats on the mounts and the pump housing is plastic so it should be isolated from the hull. I'll have to check it though since the PWC's are fiberglass. For the rest I just need to make a decent wiring diagram and get started rewiring...

Thanks,
Jamie