Just purchased boat, bilge not working, please help!

[jessb_55]

So I just purchased my first boat, a 16 foot Alumacraft Lunker Classic. Took her out on the first day and she ran great! Only thing I noticed is that the bilge doesn't work. So I checked it out and well sure enough the wires are cut so it's not even connected to the battery. However I have no idea what wires it's suppose to connect to and where?

Also, it's is safe to assume that one of my batteries is for the motor's electric start, and the 2nd battery is for the trolling motor, fish finder, radio, livewell, and bilge?

Also, how do the dash switches work? Are they seperate from the ignition keep switch and therefore if one of these switches is left on with the key out of the ignition the device gets left running of battery, possibly draining the battery then.

Also one of my panel fuse holders was busted and missing a fuse, the one for the bilge, what size fuse will that be? 10, 20?

Sorry if these are all dumb questions as I'm so new to all these fancy features with growing up with not much more than a rowboat

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: Just purchased boat, bilge not working, please help!

hi and welcome to i boats.

"So I just purchased my first boat, a 16 foot Alumacraft Lunker Classic. Took her out on the first day and she ran great! Only thing I noticed is that the bilge doesn't work. So I checked it out and well sure enough the wires are cut so it's not even connected to the battery. However I have no idea what wires it's suppose to connect to and where? "

if the biege pump was cut free then most likely the pump was bad and needed to be replaced but theres no harm in testing the old one first to be sure. you will have to locate the wire from the biege switch to the rear of the boat that goes to the positive of the pump. this will be fused next to the switch as seen in your second pic.

"Also, it's is safe to assume that one of my batteries is for the motor's electric start, and the 2nd battery is for the trolling motor, fish finder, radio, livewell, and bilge? "

most likely the acc, pumps etc will be wired to the starter battery. the trolling motor will be on the other battery the only true way to find out is to test as you will find people dont always stay to standard wiring.


"Also, how do the dash switches work? Are they seperate from the ignition keep switch and therefore if one of these switches is left on with the key out of the ignition the device gets left running of battery, possibly draining the battery then."

the motor ignition is a seperate circuit so the key works the motor and gauges all the other stuff like biege comes from the battery so its unaffected by the key and if you leave something on the battery will be drained. this will take a while to happen as the lights etc do not pull much current. another thing to note is the motor should have a place you can attach a pull rope to start if you accidently drain the battery this is worth learning how to do before you ever need to do it.

"Also one of my panel fuse holders was busted and missing a fuse, the one for the bilge, what size fuse will that be? 10, 20?"

looked like the acc fuse holder is broken which can be replaced from any parts place. the biege fuse will be around 5amps (real have to get the recommended fuses size off the pump as theres all diffrent sizes)

post if you need more help or a better explanasion

 

[jessb_55]

Re: Just purchased boat, bilge not working, please help!

Man i'm a fricken idiot....i tried to be productive tonite and what do I end up doing, making things worse well now none of my panel switches work. I stopped on my way home and picked up a new panel fuse holder, it fit good into the dash however the posts for the disconnect on it are smaller than the others so I guess I'm going to to have to change out some of the disconnect ends to get a good fit.

First I hooked the bilge pump up to the battery directly, and she started purring away, and even spit some water out the side hole. So i then moved the boat out of the garage so I could fill the back of the boat with more water to see how the pump did and well it didn't shoot anymore out the side. So I disconnected the hose from the pump and just set it in the water and it did discharge out the other side of the pump, so I'm a bit at a loss there. Not sure if it just doesn't have the power necessary left to fight gravity to get it outside the boat? Also, not sure if maybe the inner turbine got full of junk and just doesn't suck like it use to, as well I got the boat and did seem to have quite a few bits of styrafoam floating in the bit of water by the pump. I did pull the cover off the pump and it didn't look too dirty. Thoughts on if the pump needs replacing?

I then did more searching and found 2 snipped wires( brown and black) under the deck, down in the water by the pump. One had a splicer on it (black). I tried tracing them but since they go under the floor I couldn't follow them too far. I then started tracing wires up to the panel and found 2 snipped wires (teal and blue) under the steering wheel and followed them back down, and they attach to the battery, or atleast it sure seem to. So my intial thoughts were oh this teal wire is getting power to the switch for the bilge, so I then tried connecting the teal to the back of the bilge switch and well just didn't have any luck. I tried connecting it to the switch in the same manner as the livewell was cause that worked off the switch, well at least prior to tonight I was thinking that maybe the black and brown wire that were snipped down by the bilge were for the bilge and that I just needed to get the bilge dash switch wired correctly. Well no luck. Oh and there was also a loose brown wire with a disconnect on it under the steering wheel, thought maybe that was the same brown I found at the other end of the boat....( if you see the brown wire in the pics it's missing the disconnect as it fell off shortly after I found it)


The snipped wires that were attached to the bilge pump with wire nuts, were a foot long piece of yellow, and another foot long piece of yellow/orange. I later noticed that under the steering well there is 2 seperate wires were it looks like a yellow wire and a yellow/orange wire were jumpered in at one point, but now just a bit is left there showing. Now I've tried to document all these wires in pics but I'm sure it will be hard to follow, but if I could at least figured out how the switch panel is suppose to be wired, that would probably be a great start!

Also the top switch says anchor, and has a ton of wires going to it, however it doesn't appear to do anything.



I would be so greatly appreciative of any advice here, as I'm just really upset with myself right now for making things worse, ugh!

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Just purchased boat, bilge not working, please help!

Here is how the typical boat instrument panel is wired. The switches on the console have +12 volts feeding one side of each switch. The other side of each switch goes to whatever that switch controls. I've include a diagram of a single circuit. that diagarm pertains to anything on your boat except the NAV lights which requires a special switch.

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: Just purchased boat, bilge not working, please help!

follow silvertips drawings it looks like you have a wire that is being used as the ground buss where all the grounds are clipped to it with the splices. first thing is to grab a hand full of wire nuts and cap all wires that are not landed before you short stuff out then work them one at a time. i would surgest getting a volt meter you will need that to help sort out all the spare wire.

 

[jessb_55]

Re: Just purchased boat, bilge not working, please help!

hey everyone,

Thanks so much for the advice so far, which wire are you referring to when you say " looks like you have a wire that is being used as the ground buss where all the grounds are clipped to it with the splices"

Does anyone know where I could get a wiring diagram for this thing? I contacted Alumacraft and they said they don't go back that far

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: Just purchased boat, bilge not working, please help!

everywhere the blue splice in connectors are used. some people will spice a neg to any black wire they find (the green also has a black spliced into it). you will be lucky to get a wiring diagram for any boat which is not a real problem as they are all wired basically to the diagram silvertips posted. a volt meter is not hard to use and there cheap if you get one and dont understand it we can teach you how to use it

 

[jessb_55]

Re: Just purchased boat, bilge not working, please help!

everywhere the blue splice in connectors are used. some people will spice a neg to any black wire they find (the green also has a black spliced into it). you will be lucky to get a wiring diagram for any boat which is not a real problem as they are all wired basically to the diagram silvertips posted. a volt meter is not hard to use and there cheap if you get one and dont understand it we can teach you how to use it

so i'm about to head out to pick up some wire and connectors. What size wire should I use, I'm thinking either 14 or 16 gauge. Also should I just pick up some black and red? Also, what do you recommend for what type of connectors to use? Keep using the Quick connects? What size?

Thanks

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: Just purchased boat, bilge not working, please help!

16g is ok 14 is better get heat shrink connectors and try not to use the blue inline spices most auto parts stores sell ground blocks so do it right one time and save having to doing it again. 14g will be the blue push on connectors. marine wire would be better but that would have to be specially ordered and if the rest of the boat is not marine wire then normal stranded will have to do.

 

[jessb_55]

Re: Just purchased boat, bilge not working, please help!

Hey guys,
Well I think I'm getting some where, however I've a had a bit difficulty finding a fuse holder, the one I got for the Auto parts store has 2 small of ends on it for the quick connect? Any suggestions on where I could get one or am I going to have to order one? Also the ones I've found online say a max of 15 amps, is that what I want? Also, how do I know that size fuzes I need to use for each holder? How critical is the size, I mean can a person go maybe a bit bigger then needed to play it safe? Is it ok to just use automotive fuses?

Thank you, thank you!

 

[bubbajckson]

Re: Just purchased boat, bilge not working, please help!

Hello, I have been working through some of the same issues with my "now out of production" boat !
Look here> http://bluesea.com/home < the fuse blocks are excellent quality but not cheap. I prefer safe and functional to cheap !
And yes, automotive blade type fuses are the same as marine. I ended up pulling almost all my wiring and doing it right but I did find that "brown" was the positive on the bilge and aerator pumps, at least on my boat. I am a rookie too, but I will help if I can. Best 2 ya!

 

[jessb_55]

Re: Just purchased boat, bilge not working, please help!

Whoop whoop i got everything working, ended up being the actual bilge switch on the panel that was bad. So now my next questions how do i know whats positive and whats negative on the back of the toggle switches, or does it even matter with toggles? And last, how do i know what size fuses i need or each of my switches?

Thanks for everything so far !

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: Just purchased boat, bilge not working, please help!

unless the switch has a light built into it there is no pos and neagative on the switch theres a in and out and either wire can go to either of the 2 connectors. fuses protect the wire and load so 5amp fuses will be fine for things like lights and biege. depending on load of the acc circuit anything up to the max ampage for the wire will be fine so 14g will be 20 amp max

 

[aburke120]

Re: Just purchased boat, bilge not working, please help!

I don't know if you bought a meter or not, but you can use it to check switches, if it's a multimeter. A lot of things that you buy will have 2 wires, one ground and one hot. some have red and black wires on them some only have black. the ones with red and black are self explanatory, 2 blacks will still work, you just have to hook them up and see what happens. The ground wire has to have a good contact to the battery. If it's located where all the grounds are make sure everything is clean and tight. If there isn't a fuse in your circuit, put one in, it's cheaper that replacing motors or pumps. have fun with your new boat. It helps to have the right colors in the right places too, red is always hot (positive) and black is ground.(negative.)

 

[SteveMcD]

Re: Just purchased boat, bilge not working, please help!

Toggle switches don't do polarity, wire them as you see fit.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Just purchased boat, bilge not working, please help!

To determine fuse sizes you need to know the current draw for whatever item you need a fuse for. The bilge pump would likely take a 7.5 or 10 amp fuse. Lights 7.5A, etc. You NEVER install a fuse of a value higher than the capacity of the wire. You do not need 14 gauge wire for anything on your boat. 16 is fine and it is capable safely carrying 10 amps. So you do not put a 15 amp fuse in a 10 amp circuit.