rewiring my boat?

[seaox18]

Hello all,
Just picked up my first boat. Proud to say is is an 1987 18' Seaox dc in pretty good shape. The hull is solid... The motor seems reliable... (I think.) The trailer is newer with soild tires. BUT... The wiring on the boat looks pretty rough. The lights might work, the radio, might work, the trim button on the throttle handle will work sometimes... You get the picture. What can I expect to pay to have the wiring completely redone? Or should I consider taking the project on with little experience???
Thanks for the help!

 

[Silvertip]

Re: rewiring my boat?

At about $75 - $100 an hour this is a DO IT YOURSELF project unless you have a very thick wallet. As I point out to others who automatically feel a rewire is necessary, that is not normally the case. What inevitably happens is the rewire goes astray and you end up chasing more problems than you had before. Tackle the engine electrical system first. Then go after the boat system. (There generally are two separate electrical systems even though you have a single battery.)

 

[barbosam]

Re: rewiring my boat?

I attached a copy of the wiring diagram I used to wire my boat - 18' Starcraft Holiday. I probably spent close to $1000 on just parts (and I got most of it at a steep discount), I stopped tallying up the reciepts after a while because I didnt even want to know the total anymore. That also included all new bilge pump, fuse blocks, custom switch panel and the works. I was going for a high quality professional install as the boat would come from a quality modern day manufacturer.

You could easily rewire the boat for around $500 (parts only) for a basic install. Remember tinned copper wire is very pricey and those heat shrink wire connectors add up fast! Iboats probably has some of the best prices and selection of heat shrink connectors you will find. Plus all the small wire management accessories add up too. You really can set the budget, you could do it for $200 if you used regular copper wire, standard connectors no fuse block or switch panel; but that's for one thing not safe and secondly will probably only last a couple seasons before its plagued with problems again.

Im not sure what the total cost would be for a professional install but I probably spent about 16 hours doing mine. These are all rough numbers with infinite variables so take it with a few grains of salt but it should give you an idea.

Its not that difficult to do but plan ahead! it will save you many headaches, and make sure you have the proper tools (esp wire crimpers) and are ready to devote the time so you can pace your self, do it right and not rush through it. It took me about four weeks total (I was also working on a few other small upgrades at the same time).

 

[barbosam]

Re: rewiring my boat?

silvertip does have a point, sometimes you go through this whole process of rewiring and then you go to test it and nothing works! This is extremely frustrating and can be difficult to troubleshoot if your not experienced. When I rewired my holiday it was not the first time I have taken on a project like that but I still had that o !#@% nothing works moment. But again it all goes back to planning ahead and knowing exactly how everything needs to be connected before you even get started. For me it was a dead battery and a couple "o ya I forgot to go back and install these wires" so it was pretty easy to trouble shoot.

 

[seaox18]

Re: rewiring my boat?

Thanks so much for all of the information. The wiring diagram should help a ton! I don't know what might help the frustration level??? Maybe a six pack after a full day of wiring!
I spoke with a friend of mine who actually has experience with wiring and he said he may be able to help with it... Thanks again for all of the advice!

 

[RJ17]

Re: rewiring my boat?

Barbosam - Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! What an awesomely detailed and helpful post. Your schematics of the wiring for your boat will be immeasurably helpful, at least to me but I'm sure many others. As I have an 18 ft CC my layout will be quite similar and the variations will be easy to incorporate with your clear plans. Out of curiosity - what software did you use to create these diagrams?

A question - on Schematic 2 you have a "DC PANEL" and a "ELECTRONICS FUSE BLOCK". Am I correct in assuming that the DC Panel is the factory install panel with fused switches that came with your boat? My boat has six switches (Main, Nav/Anchor, Aerator, Fuel, Bilge, Courtesy), each of which is fused which I am interpreting from your layout to be the DC Panel.

Thanks again for your help and a great post.

 

[barbosam]

Re: rewiring my boat?

I used AutoCAD to create the schematics.

Correct, the DC panel is the fused or breakered switch panel for things like nav/anchor, bilge etc.

Good luck we're here to help!