txneal
Well-known member
I've been hanging around this site for a few years, but I think this may be my first time in the electrical forum. I'm not very knowledgeable on wiring, so I think I could use some help in determining where to start.
My boat is a 1972 14ft Starcraft Seafarer running on a tiller controlled 25hp Evinrude. The boat still has the original configuration of three bench seats. So far, my electrical needs have been for bow/stern lights, a Q-beam and a couple of crappie lights. I've made do by using d-cell operated, clamp-on style bow/stern lights and run my Q-beam and crappie lights directly off of a deep cell battery.
I've been planning to add a few gadgets to the boat that will require wiring and now, while I'm waiting for my motor to get out of the shop, I'd like to get started on the wiring project. I would like to mount some permanent bow/stern lights, I plan to purchase a trolling motor, I need to run a fish finder, and I would like to be able to run my crappie lights, Q-beam, perhaps some sort of driving lights, and I would like to be able to run lights for flounder gigging occasionally.
My thoughts are that I would run the trolling motor off one battery and run the fish finder and all the lights off of a second battery.
Where do I start? I've searched some threads here and seen mention of bus bars and fuse boxes, but I'm not too familiar with the set-up of these. I'm assuming I'll need to run some sort of conduit along the gunwale to get my wiring to where it needs to be. Need some ideas on what's best for that.
I suppose the bow/stern lights, driving lights and fish finder are things that I would want permanently installed since they would be used regularly. However, the Q-beam, crappie lights and flounder gigging lights are things that would be used only occasionally, so it would be nice to be able to hook them up as needed.
I'm all for doing it right the first time and using quality products, so I intend to spend the money to buy whatever is needed to do a proper job of this. I'm just not sure exactly what it is that I need to get, so I'm hoping some of you guys can point me in the right direction and tell me what I need. There is nowhere nearby where I can purchase anything, so I'll be ordering everything online. Any links to good places to order this stuff would be great!
My boat is a 1972 14ft Starcraft Seafarer running on a tiller controlled 25hp Evinrude. The boat still has the original configuration of three bench seats. So far, my electrical needs have been for bow/stern lights, a Q-beam and a couple of crappie lights. I've made do by using d-cell operated, clamp-on style bow/stern lights and run my Q-beam and crappie lights directly off of a deep cell battery.
I've been planning to add a few gadgets to the boat that will require wiring and now, while I'm waiting for my motor to get out of the shop, I'd like to get started on the wiring project. I would like to mount some permanent bow/stern lights, I plan to purchase a trolling motor, I need to run a fish finder, and I would like to be able to run my crappie lights, Q-beam, perhaps some sort of driving lights, and I would like to be able to run lights for flounder gigging occasionally.
My thoughts are that I would run the trolling motor off one battery and run the fish finder and all the lights off of a second battery.
Where do I start? I've searched some threads here and seen mention of bus bars and fuse boxes, but I'm not too familiar with the set-up of these. I'm assuming I'll need to run some sort of conduit along the gunwale to get my wiring to where it needs to be. Need some ideas on what's best for that.
I suppose the bow/stern lights, driving lights and fish finder are things that I would want permanently installed since they would be used regularly. However, the Q-beam, crappie lights and flounder gigging lights are things that would be used only occasionally, so it would be nice to be able to hook them up as needed.
I'm all for doing it right the first time and using quality products, so I intend to spend the money to buy whatever is needed to do a proper job of this. I'm just not sure exactly what it is that I need to get, so I'm hoping some of you guys can point me in the right direction and tell me what I need. There is nowhere nearby where I can purchase anything, so I'll be ordering everything online. Any links to good places to order this stuff would be great!