Electrical Wiring in South Florida
 

Can anyone recommend a reliable, reasonable person to sort out a rat's nest of wiring under my console and maybe add some BlueSea products to a 23CC? I just had a very bad experience with some folks in Homestead and I just need someone straight-up, fairly priced and knowledgeable. Thank you in advance!

Re: Electrical Wiring in South Florida
 

i say re-wire the boat yourself. its not really hard. sometimes it just takes a little while to do. the good thing is you will know where to look if anything ever happens.

Re: Electrical Wiring in South Florida
 

I concur,
I redid mine and though intimidated at first, I learned a lot, saved a lot of money and gained priceless confidence that I can solve nearly any electrical problem that may occur on my boat.
Get a copy of the Ed R. Sherman or Nigel Calder books and go for it. The people at Blue Sea Systems are also very helpful. And their website has more insight and info than most electrical texts.

Whether you find someone to do it for you or you give it a go, insist on quality tinned copper wire from Ancor or Pacer and quality adhesive heat shrink terminal ends. Don't accept any crap from home depot - it ain't the same!

Good luck!

Re: Electrical Wiring in South Florida
 

a 12V tester $5 from the auto parts store with the ice pick end makes it really easy - honest and I hate wiring stuff. As my buddy tells me +/- = go and it really makes it easy when you know when you have power and where. Liquid Electrical tape makes you look real good too

Re: Electrical Wiring in South Florida
 

Thanks - all of you. I have been thinking about doing it myself for the same reasons you all mention. After all, as long as I can follow one wire to the next connection and take my time, I should be able to get it done one at a time. Might even learn something useful. Mike

Re: Electrical Wiring in South Florida
 

It's like a weight lifting program. It is painful at first and a real challenge to start, but when it is done, you look good, feel better and know how to keep it that way!!!!

Your new mantra,"I'm not a 98 lb. weaking... I'm not a 98 lb. weak..." You get the idea.

Further more, you can charge your friends a "consulting" fee! Just kiddin... :D :D

Re: Electrical Wiring in South Florida
 

Also you'll need a crimper tool and a couple boxes of butt connectors red and blue and go rock'in - if have an old throttle cable the inside SS wire is what the marinas use a feeder cable - but just duct tape some new ones to the old and feed them thru a couple at a time - 2 people works best

be sure to pull 2 extra pairs (4) wires through when you pull - makes adding stuff and/or replacing a glitch easy - you will need to get a piece of wire with an alligator clamp for the negative side of your little tester to get to the bildge area - you need to make sure you are on a GOOD ground under the console or battery.
If your fat and old like me, get everything down in the boat so you just have to roll around rather than get up :D

Re: Electrical Wiring in South Florida
 

i want to add a little to your suggestions. make sure the wire connectors are at least heat shrink connectors. also with the pulling the extra wires is a great idea. i also left a few extra pull strings in my cable run as well. you can lube the wire your pulling with some dish soap. sometimes will make them slide thru very easy.

Re: Electrical Wiring in South Florida
 

I'm in Lauderdale, it you get in a bind, give me a call, be happy to help you. Got a couple a Seacraft projects I'm working on.

Re: Electrical Wiring in South Florida
 

Coating your connections with dielectric grease will help stop corrosion. I just rewired my 23' sf also if you get different colored wires it will help you in the future trouble shooting connection problems

Re: Electrical Wiring in South Florida
 

I don't use the heat shrink ones personally just regular butts and Liquid electrical tape - getting heat down in the bildge and getting it right seems tougher than slopping L.E.T everywhere - damn that stuff LOL Plus I'd use the L E T even with them so why pay more the reg ones are enough $ as is

I wish I would tagged them somehow too - would make easier to chase down an issue, especially at the fuse block, mine occasionaly just won't get a good connection and I have try a couple to find the correct fuse - I want to do that

2 bildge pumps to by the way, I have a big one and a small one, they go out sometimes, my small one just quit last weekend - still running just no water ( means wiring is OK :D) but with the other back up no big deal

Re: Electrical Wiring in South Florida
 

egg, what size pumps are you running in your boat?? i have 2 right now but i wanted to put one on either side of the center stringer to make 3.

Re: Electrical Wiring in South Florida
 

Hey Dog

Have you seen the heat shrink ones at Home Depot with the ring of solder inside the shrink?? Made by TYCO. The bare wires just go side by side inside the connector, you then heat the shrink and it somehow melts the solder ring and it melts into the bare wires. Seems kinda expensive though. I've been buying my connectors through genuinedealz.com, much cheaper. No tax and free shipping. I'm a cheap bastard....what can I say?

Re: Electrical Wiring in South Florida
 

i used genuinedealz to get alot of wire and stuff when i re-did my boat.

Re: Electrical Wiring in South Florida
 

Yes Sir, I'm going to have them custom cut to length my new battery cables with lugs and matching shrink. What's $5.69 per foot at West Marine is $2.31 per foot at genuinedealz and it comes in about 4 days to my front door. I can do simple math.

Re: Electrical Wiring in South Florida
 

don i didnt know they would do the battery lugs. i didnt know what length i was going to need when i did my rewire. i soldered and lugs and everything myself. its really easy. just need a blow torch and alot of solder.

Re: Electrical Wiring in South Florida
 

Right on DonV. Genuinedealz.com is the real McCoy, I don't even waste time looking elsewhere. Their service is excellent and the lugs and terminals they sell are the best available for marine apps... and you already saw the price... 99 cents per terminal to strip, crimp and heatshrink - are you kidding me? That site has been my best investment... only took 4 days to get to my doorstep in SD. Good choice! :cool:

Re: Electrical Wiring in South Florida
 

My little one still runs but is just too tired to pump it out of the boat I guess - I just bought an 800 Rule because of the 3/4" hose - the other one is a 1000 with the 1 1/8 hose - I just dry the bildge and stick them down with some 5200 or something like that

Re: Electrical Wiring in South Florida
 

my boat has a leak somewhere and i cant track it down. i think it comes from the livewell thru hull and i cant get to that. so to remedy that i want to get one of those automatic ones that checks for water by itself. just like a little 500 or smaller. most of the water is usually on the side of that center stringer that the 1100 and the 2000 are not on.