Engine Harness repair

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Jake2250

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So about a year ago some low life decided to try and steal my 25 Merc out board off of my 15' Gregor. I have a side console with remote control and steering and a fish finder on the dash.
All cables and wires were cut almost clean. Evidently he (thief) didn't have really big bolt cutters and had to take four bites on the steering cable to almost cut it in half.
he also didn't realize the motor weighs almost 120 pounds.
Broke the top rail of my transom.

I have all new shift and throttle cables along with a replacement Quicksilver steer cable..Can't find a new one let alone afford one so I found one on Ebay. Bought an new fish finder harness and in the process of re wiring the boat now.

Question I have is,, the Engine wiring harness is nine wires thick and cut through about three feet from the motor.
I was contemplating splicing it back together with a weather pack connector but got to looking at the harness and thought well maybe I should just use waterproof butt slices and heavy duty shrink tubing?
The starter cables are separate from the Engine harness and i am running 10 AWG wires for that.
Should I install a plug connection or just splice with crimp connections?
I do have Delphi and DuPont weather pack connectors available but am not really sure if they are appropriate.
Thanks in advance for your thoughts!
 
I've never done it, so take this with a grain of salt....

The more connections you have, the more likely you will have issues in the future. If you have the $$$, I'd look on eBay for a full replacement harness. End to end, one wire...fewer problems.
 
The weather pack would just make it easier to steal!

You might want to stagger the splices so you don't have a big bulge in the harness.

Another idea would be to mount a junction box for the splices.
 
oops,, I did not see the "Electrical" section of the forum until after I posted this. sorry.

But yeah, my first thought was a waterproof junction box but I wanted the ability to remove motor in winter (I built a nice stand with wheels),
I did find the correct wiring harness for the quicksilver remote on Ebay,, But $200 plus shipping is rough on my wallet and I'm in the process of a re build this year. Transom,decking, new deck framing and a complete re wire/dual battery set up and motor tune up/new impeller.
Going out to Napa Auto and will just get some waterproof epoxy butt splice connectors and go that route.
The harness was cut about three or less feet from the motor so I will stagger the splices and keep it less bulky.
That way I can use heavy duty shrink tubing and seal it up.
The engine side of the harness with plug is tucked inside the motor so the remote control side with male plug needs repair and is the big cost. So I will just splice and use the factory plug to disconnect and remove the motor in winter and store in the garage.
 
The but splices will work, but make sure you know how to do a proper crimp. I work on boats for a living, and I see SO many bad crimps, that if I didn't know better, I would think that ALL crimps are terrible.

But the truth is, a proper crimp is an excellent electrical connector. If you are not experienced, look up some videos on youTube, and become proficient in it.

That being said, I have moved over to using uninsulated butt connectors with shrink tube at least 4x the length of the connector. The end diameter is not much different than the original wire. Sizing your connector and tube is very important, but if you do it right, each wire will be perfectly sealed, and then 2 layers of big shrink tube around the control wire, and you will barely even notice the repaired area.

Here is what the uninsulated connectors look like:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/113196160649

One thing I REALLY like is that these are not split and rolled like the insulated ones, but these are true tubes for very strong crimps.

Used with quality shrink tube, they will not leak ever.
 

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