Question on New Wiring

[AMMO DAWG]

I'm doing a partial restore on my "99" Rinker Flotilla (see my post in restoration forum) and the wiring had lots of corrosion and years of scabbing in different connections. I decided to rip and strip and rewire the boat versus trying to chase down wiring problems all summer. I have a few questions and like to get some advice. There is no real schematic for this boat, contacted the company owner and they just don't have any old records, so I'm starting from scratch. My first question is in regards to the wiring harness from the engine connector. The red battery terminal that comes in from the engine harness looks to be an 8 AWG wire, is that adequate to cover all the 12V needs of the boat, ignition, lights, bilge pumps, blowers, accessories etc. or should I bring another 8 AWG line in from the starter to my fuse panel and leave that line dedicated to ignition and gauge power? The second question is in regards to the bilge pumps, the boat is a tri-cat design and has three bilge pumps. I plan to bring the three sets of wires to a single rocker switch, any advice what size fuse to use for this setup? Also, the wires from the bilge pumps are 14 AWG, when I splice them to a single line to the switch should I step the wire up to say a 12 AWG wire? Appreciate any insight, want to do this right but also minimize the amount of wires as much as possible and keep it neat and clean. Thanks much

 

[MH Hawker]

Re: Question on New Wiring

A 8 ag is common for a main power feed and will handle up to 50 amps so it should be fine.

 

[jc55]

Re: Question on New Wiring

I would suggest a new, high end, 25 amp switch. Switches get corroded internally and wear out. You can use a single output from the switch to a terminal strip(sounds like you want all 3 to come on at the same time with one switch) where the input to three of those positions are common(jumper wires or preferably "jumper clips"), and the output to each pump is on it's own terminal screw with a ring terminal. It would clean things up. You must have the "auto" setting wired directly to the pump/float and not switched?

Fuse will depend on the amperage rating and a % over, others can help with that.

I personally like the idea of having accessories independent of the engine circuit and I'm rewiring with 2 additional accessory circuits. 2 main accessory switches feed two terminal strips. Trouble shooting, routing, tidiness, and adding circuits are going to be a breeze. I HATE my Baja factory set up. So I'm designing my Steiger wiring to suite my preferences out on the water.

There are some necessary guidelines out there, but make the wiring work for you.

 

[AMMO DAWG]

Re: Question on New Wiring

Thanks Mike and JC thanks for the advice, looks like either way will work out. I like the idea of the terminal block to split the three pumps. All three pumps have automatic float switches and I was going to hook a rocker switch. The boat is trailed so I wanted to be able to kill power to the pumps when not on the water. Bad idea?

 

[old islander]

Re: Question on New Wiring

Thank you MH, I'm doing the same thing on my boat and that diagram is awesome.

 

[AMMO DAWG]

Re: Question on New Wiring

I have a follow on question as I'm putting this plan to paper. I was wanting to use a main rocker switch to kill power to all lights, pumps, blowers, radio, accessories etc. so when it's parked I don't drain the battery with something left on. I figured this switch should be able to handle 40 AMPs, all the rocker switches I find are rated to 20 AMPs. Does this type switch exist

 

[jc55]

Re: Question on New Wiring

I couldn't. This is why I split my accessories into two parts on my stock steiger craft switch panel. Two main dpdt auxiliary 25 amp switches (iboats) labeled aux 1 and aux 2 that feed terminal strip 1 and 2 respectively. All essentials on one, all non essentials on the other. Adds redundancy if I get in a bind. Not a suggestion, just an alternative. If you landed the 8 ga on a small bus bar, you could feed two 20 amp mains.