Wiring

Wire, connectors, fuses, circuit breakers, panels, buss bars and other marine wiring components are critical to the operation of virtually every recreational boat. » Read More

Learn More About Wiring

Contents


Safety First!

Before we get too deep into this, a few things need to be made clear. Electricity is no joke. On bigger systems it can kill you, and on smaller systems it can certainly wake you up. When rigging up anything electrical, remember “you can’t put the smoke back in the motors.” Once you rig something wrong, you can destroy it at the flip of a switch. The parts you waited on could be ruined just like that. Read More

Before we get too deep into this, a few things need to be made clear. Electricity is no joke. On bigger systems it can kill you, and on smaller systems it can certainly wake you up. When rigging up anything electrical, remember “you can’t put the smoke back in the motors.” Once you rig something wrong, you can destroy it at the flip of a switch. The parts you waited on could be ruined just like that.

A simple short on a non-fuse protected circuit can start a fire at sea. Always play it safe with electricity! Disconnect your batteries, make sure your battery switch is off, and don’t be afraid to test everything with your meter before you begin working on it.


Marine Wire

Let’s get started with one basic element of wiring — the wire itself. How does marine wire differ from other types of wire? There are a few different ways that marine wire sets itself apart from the others. First off, marine wiring is “tinned.” Tinning is a process in which wire is coated with a compound to resist corrosion. Marine wire also contains more copper than normal wire of the same gauge. This allows for a higher electrical carrying capacity. Furthermore, marine wiring is coated in a PVC jacket that is corrosion resistant. Some marine wiring manufacturers have stepped it up even further by making their wire coating resistant to chemical exposure as well as flame. Read More


The Very Basics

The very basics of marine boat wiring are pretty simple. For small boats like skiffs and jon boats their entire electrical system might only involve a few parts. The jon boat is one of the most popular boats on many bodies of water today, and its electrical system may only consist of navigation lights and maybe a fishfinder. Read More


The “Master Switch”

Battery switches can be used as the “master switch” for your boat. They are very heavy gauge switches that allow you to cut power off completely to the boat, or switch between batteries on the boat. Cutting your power off completely allows you to leave your boat with no worry of any power drain, or any potential electrical issue while you’re gone. Being able to switch between batteries means you can run your electronics with the motor off and still have peace of mind that one battery or battery bank is still completely charged. If you choose to use only your accessories, battery switches would allow you to keep your starting batteries charged while you use your house batteries. Read More


Types of Connectors

There are a few main connectors widely utilized in the marine world, and they all serve their own purpose. The most important of them all is the ring terminal. This is the connection from the wiring to the battery. They attach an electrical cable to a circuit point. Read More


 Fuses and Breakers

Much like in houses and vehicles, boat circuits have to be protected. This is done with fuses or breakers. Fuses are most common in smaller boat applications, or lower amperage applications. Breakers and fuses both accomplish the same purpose of breaking a connection when a circuit is overloaded or short circuited. The difference is that fuses must be replaced when they fail, and breakers can just be manually reset. Read More


Bus Bars

A bus bar is a conductive metal bar used for power distribution. It has multiple threaded posts for connecting different ring or spade (fork) connections. The bar allows you to consolidate a lot of your low voltage applications in one single circuit and location, cleaning up your boat electrical wiring.

This can be useful to serve as a ground for multiple applications. Instead of having to run multiple small wires through riggings tubes and all of the hassle involved with that, a buss bar will allow you to ground everything off to one heavier gauge wire running to the battery. They are frequently used in boat dash wiring to organize lighter gauge wires and ease in troubleshooting potential issues.


Running Wire

Now that you have your wiring all planned and all the supplies needed, it is time to run some wires! Running the wires through all the nooks and crannies of your rigging tubes is a chore in its own right. The tubing used to organize all these wires is often referred to as a rigging tube or a wiring chase. These tubes usually consist of two- to three- inch plastic tubing that keeps the wiring out of any water in the bilges and secure from rattling around in the bilge. Read More


Rigging Flanges

Once you have your wire run below deck, it is important to protect it where it needs to come above deck. Rigging flanges are similar to cable boots. Flanges and seals are most important when wiring an outboard motor, since inboards don’t use them as frequently. They protect both the boat and the wiring where the wiring runs from the deck into the outboard. Without these flanges your fiberglass or metal hull would abrade your wiring every bit of chop you hit, and moisture would be allowed into the exposed coring of your boat. Read More


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Commonly Asked Questions About Marine Wiring

What type of wire is best for marine applications? (show/hide)

Is marine wiring different? (show/hide)

How do I properly splice marine wire? (show/hide)

How do I properly connect marine wire? (show/hide)

Where do I begin troubleshooting my electrical issue? (show/hide)

How do I determine the correct size of wire for a marine electrical system? (show/hide)


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