Total Rookie when it comes to wiring...could use some help?

TinBoats.net

Help Support TinBoats.net:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

derekdiruz

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 6, 2015
Messages
272
Reaction score
0
Hello everyone, I have a small 14ft boat that I recently put a nice deck on, sort of like a bass boat. Until lately, I have only used this boat on large private ponds. Now though, I want to rebuild it to make it better for public land hunting and fishing. In doing so, I thought I will do this the right way.

With the rebuild, I want to add:
-red/green nav light
-white anchor light
-small LED light bar for better lighting for decoys while hunting
-Depth finder
-bilge pump
-trolling motor

Without having 6 things on the single group 31 battery I have, is there a fuse block or switch panel option for wiring? I have no experience wiring though I am trying to find information from here and Youtube!....Also, I have an electrical engineer that I could ask this to, but that will be about 2 weeks before I see him. Do I need to consider waterproof housings for the fuses? (I would think so.. but again, idk).

Also, The main purpose of this boat is hunting, not fishing. As a result, I really don't care only having this one battery for everything as I don't fish at night much beyond motoring back to the launch, nor use a trolling motor often fishing. The boat will have the outboard for far travel, then trolling motor when I get in distance of birds or deer spots while hunting to keep noise down.

Any tips, help, or links are appreciated!

Also, is there a diagram that anyone can offer, with any necessary fuses and such too?
 
Would this diagram suffice for what I'm intending? Just adding the LED bar and depth finder to the panel at the bottom?
 

Attachments

  • wiring boat.gif
    wiring boat.gif
    17.8 KB · Views: 653
derekdiruz said:
Would this diagram suffice for what I'm intending? Just adding the LED bar and depth finder to the panel at the bottom?

I'm hardly and expert, but I've wired a few boats in my time. This wiring schematic looks like it should work, but I might suggest some minor modifications or considerations, as it were.

1. If you're not planning it already, I'd use individual fuse or breaker protection for each line (e.g. one for the Nav Lights, one for the depth finder, one for the bilge pump, etc.) and you can easily buy a switch panel with built in fuse or breaker protection (https://www.amazon.com/SeaSense-Switch-Panel-6-Gang/dp/B004XADSUM/ref=sr_1_1? as an example). Each component should have an amperage rating and may even come with an in-line fuse for it's power supply. Just make sure that the breakers or fuses are appropriately sized for the amperage draw of that particular component. Nav Lights and Anchor lights should be less than 5-amps.

2. I would think that 10-gauge wire to the panel should be fine and 16-gauge should be sufficient for most low amperage draws. As with the fuses/breakers, just make sure the wire is appropriately sized for the amperage draw of the component it is feeding. If you match the wire size to the supply wires for the component and make sure you have fuse protection rated for the wire, you shouldn't have any issues.

3. If I understand the set-up right, it looks like you're running everything off an electric trolling motor battery. I'm guessing that your outboard does not have an alternator or a dedicated battery? If it did, I would run your electronics off that battery, since it is being charged when the motor is running, but if that's not an option this setup should work.

Hope that helps.
 
Thanks for the response. I have a small six horse tiller that is from the 70's. Like I said, my boat is very simple, but I'm trying to just wire the boat correctly so that it is safe and will last.
 

Latest posts

Top