[catalina'80]

Hey all! Just bought my first boat ever, it needs to be rewired, anybody have any tips? It's pretty bare too, so any tips hugely appreciated!!

 

[jongleur]

A bit of specificity might help?

 

[catalina'80]

Fair enough. I dont know anything about boating electrical; i know i want deep cell battery or 2, where do i ground to? What guage of wire is recommended? What do need to run like a tv and toaster oven? What are some good quality battery names? haha i have lots more questions coming!

 

[boz86]

What guage of wire is recommended? !

Depends, here's a chart to get you started: Marine Wire Size and Ampacity | West Marine

 

[Donna_F]

I highly recommend, if you don't have a friend who is an electrician and familiar with marine applications, this book:

Sailboat Electrics Simplified by Don Casey

 

[catalina'80]

Great! Those are helpful links , thank you... when start the work this weekend i will see how far i can get. Only been on her once to look. I can do little electrical, but not sure about inverters an the like. Whats a good/great battery?

 

[Donna_F]

Golf cart battery might be fine but it really depends what electronics you want to power. I suggest looking through Maine Sail's posts. He's a wonderful resource.

http://www.sailnet.com/forums/search.php?searchid=8745233&pp=25

(that link should be to all of the threads he started)

 

[chuck53]

An inverter is fine to run some basics like a low wattage TV, but I wouldn't try to power something like a toaster oven where you can drain batteries pretty quick.

My suggestion is to find a friend who is a seasoned boater to give you some suggestions as to your electrical needs.

What happened to the boat that it needs a new electrical system?

 

[catalina'80]

An inverter is fine to run some basics like a low wattage TV, but I wouldn't try to power something like a toaster oven where you can drain batteries pretty quick.

My suggestion is to find a friend who is a seasoned boater to give you some suggestions as to your electrical needs.

What happened to the boat that it needs a new electrical system?

Good question. I can see the connections have some rust on them, it looks lik someone had started to rewire, prev owner told me all lights and battery charges good, so iwill just see what can do for now i guess. I did meet a very knowledgeable guy who lives at marina im moored at. Will def be buying him a root beer or two im sure ya toaster oven prob bad idea lol,

 

[catalina'80]

Golf cart battery might be fine but it really depends what electronics you want to power. I suggest looking through Maine Sail's posts. He's a wonderful resource.

http://www.sailnet.com/forums/search.php?searchid=8745233&pp=25

(that link should be to all of the threads he started)

Tried that link sent me to homepage. I will look his sttuff up manually, thanks! !

 

[chuck53]

Good question. I can see the connections have some rust on them, it looks lik someone had started to rewire, prev owner told me all lights and battery charges good, so iwill just see what can do for now i guess. I did meet a very knowledgeable guy who lives at marina im moored at. Will def be buying him a root beer or two im sure ya toaster oven prob bad idea lol,

A little rust on connections is an easy fix where re-wiring is probably not neccessary.
See if your buddy can spend a half hour going over the boat with you and check to see what does and what doesn't work. Once you have a handle on that, come back here and give us the scoop.

Is your motor an electric start or pull start? Even if electric, it should be an easy pull start if you have a dead battery.

 

[catalina'80]

Sound logic. Its a pull start 2 stroke. Havent run it but i am a huge 2 stroke fan

 

[boatpoker]

when start the work this weekend i will see how far i can get

Mixing boats, water, AC systems and DC systems can be lethal.

Strongly suggest you learn before you "start the work this weekend".

 

[catalina'80]

^^ noted. I have more things i want to do as far as 'work' on it little mr clean.... little caulking here n there, you know, TLC my son will flip out when i show him

 

[catalina'80]

Ohhhhhhh k.... spent the whole day on her and i could move in tomorrow forever haha! I removed the 2 bulkheads that held the shrouds because they were so rotted the shrouds could pull right out strong wind. replace tomorrow.
-is marine grade plywood absolutely necessary? Where can i get it in bc?
The electrical is all ok aparently, will charge battery and test things one at time, but i followed all wires and they are set up good, but complicated. Will attach pics. (Found out you want marine grade wire 16-18 AWG) my new best friend seems like he couldve built this boat, but also knows little electrical.

 

[catalina'80]

It seems like most of the loose wires are from the stereo.

 

[Donna_F]

It seems like most of the loose wires are from the stereo.

We gently tugged on what we knew was a wire that was not being used, the entire cabin went dark. The wire was still connected somewhere to the rest of the wires in the cabin.

Don't underestimate the power of previous owners to make an absolute mess of electrical wires and don't add your name to the list.

Rewiring is on our list this year.

 

[catalina'80]

Ok guys, have narrowed my question/problem down.

Only cabin lights and running lights work.

No instruments no vhf. What do i do? I hear instruments are wired to take info from mast? How do i get all that calibrated? Hire a guy i guess hey?

 

[chuck53]

I would say, confirm that you have power coming off your switch panel and check all your wiring to see if you have inline fuses and make sure they are good.

 

[catalina'80]

Well! Thanks to the good graces and helpful nature of one of the forum members, i was able to get all my electrical system figured out. Turns out the guy who wired my boat wasnt too bad!!

Very excited for the coming season as i wait at the office here for day 2 of my cya certification! !! Thanks for all the help!!