When should I start running wires?

[SMOOTHboar]

Ok so my boat is moving along. She will be floating by next week... Keeping my fingers crossed. I am on tapatalk
K and I don't know how to supply a link. But the title says Inherited 18ft Jon Boat. I have a lot of pics you can catch up if you would like.

I want to run a minimum of 3 batteries. Maybe 4. This boat will be used as a Swiss Army Knife of boats. Bowfishing, towing the kids around on the lake, and general fishing. With my job, I can hit the lake in mid after noon as long as I can get a signal to transmit and communicate. So the ability to charge a CPU and iPhone are required. I also need a trolling motor, lights for bowfishing (removable not hard wired), interior rope lights, bilge pump, running lights, fish finder, and my boat has an electric start. I like the switch plates you cats run. But...

I had to rip out 100% of the old wires. They were a wreck. A massive rats nest just hanging loose in bad condition. So I have no wires and nothing to reference. I know nothing at all about doing the electrical. To top it off I will be attempting a brain, heart, and liver swap. I plan on taking the drive train and steering from one boat and putting it on this rig.

I don't know where to start or when to start in the wiring process. What says you! The brain trust of Tin Boats...

 

[SMOOTHboar]

TTT

 

[JMichael]

IMO, the first thing you need to do is sit down and draw a simple sketch of what electrical items you want and where you want them. Next you need to plan the path to route your wiring to each item. After than you can start planning on wire sizes, fuses needed, switches, buss bars, etc. Then you'll need to decide when you are going to run your wiring. The sooner the better as long as having the wiring in place isn't going to cause difficulties with construction/mods and the wiring isn't going to be damaged by the mods.

 

[nomowork]

I completely gutted my tin and glass boat including all wires and switches before even attempting to put them on the water.

I first R/R the hardware items then attacked the wiring last.

My tin only has one battery so I mounted it mid ship for weight distribution concerns. I installed an automatic reset circuit breaker on the positive wire right at the battery that goes to the motor's alternator and the trolling motor and smaller inline fuses at each electrical item.

My glass boat has three batteries, two of which are hooked up to a selector switch and one that just sits in the cuddy for emergencies. I have a marine grade buss bar for the negative hook ups in the stern next to the two batteries to common all the grounds in the stern area. I have a positive and negative buss bars behind the dash board along with a fuse panel for all the other electrical items such as bilge pump, VHF radio, wipers, nav lights, etc. I also wired in a 12v relay for the horn as the horn draws a lot of current.

Good luck!

 

[rickybobbybend]

Good advice above. You might also review some recent postings on the Electrical forum. There are several from members doing ground-up wiring on their tin.

 

[SMOOTHboar]

So should I put the decks in prior to any wire?

Very good points made above. I will map everything several times before I actually start putting it in. I'm thinking about using PVC pipe to house my electrical wires. I think it will provide adequate protection, be easy to mount, and not add much weight.

 

[rickybobbybend]

I prefer to complete the deck supports, then install the conduit/wiring, then the decking. Its easier to test and correct the electrical if the decks are not in place. Make sure you won't hit the wiring when you attach the deck. And if you install a chase wire (or just an unneeded extra wire or two) you can easily accommodate future wiring needs. Be sure to accurately calculate the electrical loads on the circuits so you use the correct gauge wire. For me, the most important step is to carefully think out where you will want your electrical accessories and how much current they will draw.

 

[nomowork]

I prefer to complete the deck supports, then install the conduit/wiring, then the decking. Its easier to test and correct the electrical if the decks are not in place. Make sure you won't hit the wiring when you attach the deck. And if you install a chase wire (or just an unneeded extra wire or two) you can easily accommodate future wiring needs. Be sure to accurately calculate the electrical loads on the circuits so you use the correct gauge wire. For me, the most important step is to carefully think out where you will want your electrical accessories and how much current they will draw.

Drilling, screwing, pounding, etc. have a way of damaging wiring which is why I run my wires last. I had a "pro" install my trailer hitch on my van and after several trips, the rear lights started giving me problems. I traced the problem to a cable tie that was too tight and causing the hitch wiring to sporadically ground out on the floor of the van.

Conduits are always a good idea if you have room for them but make sure moisture doesn't get trapped in them especially on a boat. I have always left an extra pull string in conduits (when I was a working stiff) for future growth.

As far as gauge, bigger is always better than not enough. Too small and you run the risk of too much resistance and possible other problems. Make sure your ground path has as much or more capacity as your positive path.

 

[MrSimon]

I like to get all my accessories mounted as early as possible in the build (bilge pump, live well pump, switch panel, fuses, bus bar(s), fish finder, nav lights, cabin lights, etc etc etc). Then I do everything else EXCEPT install the decks. Then I run all the wires, hook everything up, test it all, and lastly install the decks.

If your build will allow you to easily run wires after the decks are in (through hatches or whatever) then I'd recommend doing it that way.

Don't forget to use good connectors, heat shrink tubing, conduit of some sort, zip ties and anything else you need to do a GOOD wiring job. wiring is something you want to do right the first time and not ever think about afterwards.