I purchased a 2005 Maritime skiff around this time last year which had a 2015 suzuki df90a for power still under warranty. After filling out the paperwork for the warranty transfer, Suzuki sent me an additional year warranty contract.

I had been casually browsing for this hull for a while. A friend had taken me out on his because our Vineyard vacation stays happened to overlap, I loved the simple no-nonsense layout of it, wide beam and dry smooth ride. We had a good day fishing too!

What a blessing to have it this year with two young boys. With most everything closed due to COVID, the boat really provided us with an escape.

The project: The boat is a single battery setup. I also had several no-start, then magically start days on the water or at the ramp. So the project began as "I need a two battery system".

After doing a visual inspection of the electrical connections and the rat nest of wires, I was lucky the boat started/ran and anything worked on the boat. So the goal was get "enough" tog outtings in to be content then start the process of fixing the electrical issues.

I bought Nigel Calder's book "Mechanical and Electrical Manual" to gain an understanding of a boat's electrical system, it's a good book and written in a way in which even I understand it and is based on ABYC standards.

I quickly noticed a major flaw in the electrical system is that the 4awg main wires that operate the starter on my outboard are not the correct gauge wire. I cannot speak to other outboard manufacturer's supplied wires but my Suzuki comes stock with 2 options and both are 4 awg, which are rated for batteries located near the outboard. In my case the shortest run which might be a stretch is 12' one way, which would be a 2awg, and anything over that a 0awg, per the suzuki manual for this model.

Enter the other wants and needs to the project. Some shade! I found a t top that would work around the existing console, however that solution would cost a lot more to rig any lights or a radar. So I went back to the classifieds on a search for a hard top console. Found one off a seacraft rigged with a bunch of items I was looking for and picked it up for a good price in line with a T top, big score.

As of today, I have the boat de-rigged, everything is out and the deck cleaned up. I put a step ladder in the boat at the console area to give myself a working area under a cover so I can pull wires etc. This might be boring to most but any feedback is welcomed, and any "how's it goings" will help me stay on target. April is my goal.

I'll attach some pics along the way.

-Matt

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This is the first picture in May 2020 when the boat was towed to my house.

"Let's go dad" I heard this so. many. times.

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between tracking down paperwork, submitting it, and getting a response during the covid shutdown took months.

Great project! Wiring issues are the worst.....smart move redoing it all.
Located my battery in the port stern locker...for a shorter run to the outboard.
Get plenty of heat shrink tubing for all the connections.

Nice boat, good luck

Great project, looking forward to seeing the progress..

I started with a rats nest under the console years ago and spent an off season under the wrap re doing it....

Like Bob said... good shrink wrap connectors,,, I included an additional shrink wrap over that.... and ratcheting crimps are a must...

Check the existing cable ends, they can be corroded under the shrink!

THT forums can be a great help..

“Let’s go dad” .......... :-)

Nigels books are awesome.
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Harbor freight has heat shrink assortment pack at very reasonable price
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Check out bestboatwire.com. I bought a lot of stuff from them a few years back for my project.

Thanks all.

RMarsh, I wish the boat was designed for a rear battery housing but it is a self draining hull via scuppers so it'd be wet. I do like the added deck space so the trade off is big wire to the console. I'll check out H.F. for shrink wrap, I found some that worked well to set around new battery terminal connectors before I ventured out this year.

Gup, rats nest for sure, the main harness wires are probably 10' in excess, I understand service loops but this could have been more neatly done. I have ratcheting crimpers, and a big pneumatic crimper for main wire crimping. I did make the mistake of buying some items/tools prior to beginning research and reading a good chunk of Nigel's book. I.E. bought a Klein tools crimper when I should have waited until I knew which brand of wire I'd be purchasing. If it passes a pull test prior to shrinking I'll be a happy clamper.

Suburban, thank you. looks like good stuff, naturally the guage wire I need is out of stock haha.

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Here is the pilothouse I picked up. It came off a SeaCraft but was custom built and refurbished at least once based on the helm area. Came with a horn, 5 lumitec spreader lights, a nice helm and SeaStar hydraulic steering. It's heavy so the install will be fun.

I plan to do all the wiring, new switch panel/dash cover, guages etc in my garage first, connect to most of the loads as well before setting it in.

Sick ass doghouse
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Genuine Dealz...good source for marine wiring supplies
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"I'll be a happy clamper..." LOL!! Good luck with the project, looks like fun!

I suppose I should update my progress here and stop hijacking Wayne's "Radar is a Go!" thread which can be read here http://www.striped-bass.com/Stripertalk/showthread.php?t=97143

Sorry Wayne, I forgot I even started this thread.

Update 1: The console is still not in my boat and I am glad I did not do that first, instead it has been in my garage over the winter months where I can work on it with lights and occasionally electric heating if I wasn't tired from an occasional ice fishing trip.

Here's why, the "new" doghouse/cc pilothouse console was previously in 1 or 2 boats and has experienced overlays etc, nicely done artistic work for fit and finish. As nice as that might be, we all know a clean slate is the best starting point, and this was not a clean slate for my own switches, gauges, etc.

I ordered panels for it to essentially cover it up and tried my best to place the hidden stud screws in locations where I could get to and hold the panels down but the materials, terrible access and room from behind cost me many many hours of dremel work to cut pockets for washers, nuts, and tooling to secure the panels, which brought me to mid - february.

What are those Garmin units?

Love the dog house had on on my1st boat the only issue the previous owner was shorter than I was so off it went,,, do you think it may affect your center of Gravity negatively, PS I don’t think you hijacked anything your project is more interesting then mine LOL
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Ross I went with the 942 which will be dedicated to my radar and the 1243 because it has the capability for side scan. I added the g3 vision mapping which is basically the NOAA bottom scans. https://maps.ngdc.noaa.gov/viewers/bathymetry/

In the viewer turn off the two checked boxes on the left and turn on the two boxes with BAG footprints and shaded relief then pan and zoom into your favorite rocky areas.

Wayne, yes I'm a little nervous, however the pioneer version of my boat (same hull) has a doghouse of similar size (slightly narrower). Im thinking I'll bolt the doghouse down temporarily with minimal screws make my steering, and wiring connections, then sea trial it in case it needs to be shifted forward or backwards. I have some room to play with in either direction. If it doesn't work it'll be the first time I've ever been seasick.
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Update 2:
After dryfitting the panels and building mounts for the electronics I started on wiring. The boat had a small piece of plywood mounted to one side and I recalled seeing the old switch board with breakers underneath was positioned on the front lower vertical face. With two young boys 6 & 3 I didn't wish to replicate the location and the alternative meant I needed more mounting space.

I removed the piece of plywood and replaced it with a 22"*35" piece of azek rather than treating a new piece of ply with resin or epoxy. Plus being white it would illuminate the wiring better with a light, and pvc won't soak in and hold water.

It's setup for a 2 battery system. I used a bluesea combined charger / acr which will give me a charge while under power if the starting battery is at 12.8 and do the same thing after a day on the water with an a/c plug. The house battery runs to a resettable circuit breaker panel which protect the loads, the power heads to my new switch panel and back down to busbars. I used white shrink wrap on top of the heat shrink ring terminals to label all the wires.

Kinda got to a point where I needed to piece out the remaining wiring and required wire lugs but noticed if I doubled up a few negative wires on the bus bar I could test everything on the switch panel. So I found two of my old battery cable leads and hooked it up. Test went great and it felt good.

I opened the cover to the hull and pulled out the old main power wires, ran new ones, pulled out the old cable steering and pulled the hoses and mounted the hydraulic cylinder.

Plan is to swing the console in over Easter weekend, finish the boat just in time for work to get crazy.
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In the viewer turn off the two checked boxes on the left and turn on the two boxes with BAG footprints and shaded relief then pan and zoom into your favorite rocky areas.
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I will have to go over what this is, on what screen, to accomplish what?

I got the echomap 942 UHD sv with the gt 54 ducer. All I should need... great price too. Start getting under the cover soon.

I will have to go over what this is, on what screen, to accomplish what?

I got the echomap 942 UHD sv with the gt 54 ducer. All I should need... great price too. Start getting under the cover soon.

Hi Ross it's the NOAA data viewer (website) check out the link I posted and uncheck those two boxes and check the "BAG" boxes it's like a picture of the bottom of the ocean. I got the Norfolk, VA to Boston g3 vision card it includes that imagery/scans. It's a lot less expensive than other similar charts .. strike lines I think is one.
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Been working nights so it's been nice from the standpoint of waking up and working on the boat during the work week without interrupting family time.

I fixed my own error in the panel this morning by printing a circle to scale of my Tachometer/engine monitor guage and carefully using a dremel on the panel material with a router plate on it by recessing the back. Snug fit. I'm going to use the horseshoe shaped bracket to create a secure mount by bending the bottom 1/2" or so outwards, drilling them out and use epoxy to set bolts into the backside of the panel. Let it cure with the bolts in place for a few days then tighten up the bolts.
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Here's my progress since 3/9 on wiring, I know, super boring right? I actually think this is the best part because it's so important for safety and if a problem arises on the water, the ability to quickly diagnose the issue. It was also the portion of the project that I had the least knowledge of but Nigel Caulder's book and youtube were great resources particularly Jeff Cote from Pacific Yatch Systems video library were tremendously helpful.

Under the console was a small piece of plywood which I mentioned in a previous post. I removed it and this was my blank canvas before beginning any wiring.
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I cut a piece of PVC board to fit the available space and was able to slide it into position. I had 2 pieces of hardware that I wanted to mount from the back so I took the pvc board out and secured my battery switch and charger/ACR.
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To mount the board solo I propped the panel up then wedged it and drilled the holes. My eldest son got home from school and I said hey come give me a hand, so he held the bolts in place from the front of the console as I slid the panel over them. I had to rig a pin to hold a wrench to tighten them down because of the nylock nuts.

For this part I could have done a lot better if I thought about it a little more, but ultimately decided to "just put it in" and connect things LOL.
I'll come back to this in a minute.

3/19 Mounted circuit breaker block, main thermal fuse, terminal block, and bus bar
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3/22 connecting more loads, and realized I'm running out of real-estate on the negative bus, and don't like stacking wiring.
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3/31 added another bus, and the main negative bus
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What I should have done differently: The terminal block positive loads and negative busses should have been parallel to create a single line of wiring and similar lengths of positive and negative wiring, and I also should have flipped the main breaker block over to have the negative bus it has closer to the group of negative busses on my panel.

What is left: The large cable connections between the battery and the loads pos & neg. I dropped the picture into my cad program and made myself a diagram of wire sizes and hardware remaining to order, priced it out on AMZ and also sent it to a couple marine stores to compare. Still waiting to hear back which seems to be the theme these days. I ran new main wires to the engine and also mounted the hydrolic steering cylinder and pulled the hydraulic lines, but now I'm a little short on "work" for in regards to keeping busy on the project.

After getting to this point I had a thousand yard stare trying to figure out what to do next... and it hit me that if I hooked up a battery I could test almost everything.

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The switch panel looks great, the dimmer switch controls the back lighting, push for on, and it is also a built in dimmer switch so holding it cycles through the intensity up and down, it also turns on/off with the last setting. The Nav/Anchor button is all on, push again just anchor, push again off. the photon torpedoes is the horn/momentary switch, the rest are on/offs.

Here is the dash layout at the moment

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nav / courtesy on the console
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spreaders
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leaning post courtesy
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what was cool about the courtesy lights, lumitec aruba model was the housing is translucent, so placing them in the leaning post also lights up the area where I store a cooler. I don't have a way to "hide" the wire to the leaning post but have one of those adhesive foam helm pads which I'll rout out a channel on the under side and run it from the helm to the leaning post.

Very nicely done
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Nice! Sent you a PM. And just ordered that book!:kewl:

fantastic Job ! I get envious when I see people with your skill .. I am a ham and egg'r with anything mechanical or wood related

fantastic Job ! I get envious when I see people with your skill .. I am a ham and egg'r with anything mechanical or wood related

Wayne as we always say, who's smarter, u or the wood

This has been just as enjoyable of a project to watch transpire as rmarsh's stair projects ( and I'm a nail pounder)
Envious of the dog house. It looks awesome
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Thanks all, hoping Saturday works out to move it into the boat. The process has been thoroughly enjoyable.
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Update on electronics fusing:

In my post #23 third picture, you can see all 3 in-line fuse holders for my electronics. Radar fuse holder pictured over the top of the red wires, and the gps units pictured to the right of the main breaker panel.

I will likely change this in the future, but I know some of you are doing this now. I tried to open the yellow fuse holder and in the process likely broke the glass fuse inside by doing so because I wanted to have a few extras onboard if they blew. Anyways, I did a search online and cannot find what the fuse size, type etc is for the GPS units. I contacted my vendor, and he said "6a". I then asked what size? 20mm is too small, whats the length? he replied, he always cuts them off and runs it thru a 6a fuse block. I searched (not very hard) the manual and garmin's site for the fuse rating/ and size so the ends connect and cannot find any info, so I have an email into them for the fuse size and rating. The radar I believe draws more amps so it's a higher fuse rating.

If I get the answer I need from garmin I'm going to run the system with their inline fuses for this year. If not, I will place a 3 to 6 fuse block holder where the in-lines are mounted to the right hand side of the panel, but run a wire to the thermal fuse below and skip the breaker panel leaving two spaces open for future VHF and Radio install which I can live without. I do have a hand held VHF and can keep it charged via the 12v plug.

I have a question for you all, I need some type of adhesive to mount no drill zip tie holders to the underside of my leaning post. not epoxy hard, and not so soft like marine goop, something in-between I want it to flex a bit? The leaning post is out of the boat so any position and weight can be added to help adhesion. I used something about 10 years ago doing a "hull saver, transducer mount" and the material wasn't specified http://sternsaver.com/ but basically set in 1 min and the bond was and still is unreal. but that was a very rigid piece of the boat w/o flex. OR, if you know of some screws that can hold in very thin fiberglass without poking thru the other side, OR super small pan heads and hardware that do I'm all ears. The intent here is to secure wiring under the leaning post I have which is an aggressive area in regards to how things are stored in a boat.

If anyone buys a new hull in the future the stern saver is the way to go. don't poke holes in the boat.

I have something like this stuck on a starboard wall under the console and it’s been there for years,,, it’s been hosed down more than once...

Great lookin wire job mate. .... :-)

https://www.cabletiesunlimited.com/50-natural-adhesive-cable-tie-mounts-100-bag-part-cm50-9c.html?gclid=CjwKCAjwgZuDBhBTEiwAXNofRElelPinpfWf 2OnqP-wC50Ngg2URRnRrh5WEpNrngwsf37tKZmSSiBoCAsMQAvD_BwE

stern saver Used one on my boat very easy and the nice thing you can move the ducer if the 1st location isn’t preforming as expected ,
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Thanks Gup that's what I'm looking for
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She's in! Didn't break anything too
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Called my dad Thursday afternoon to review his weekend schedule and see if he was still good to help me with the console move/install. Said he could Saturday. My goal for Friday was to buy some wood and build a ramp to get the console from the garage into my truck. Friday came and went without me even leaving the house and aside from having a plan for a ramp I didn't make any effort to get it done.

I called my dad Saturday morning and said I think I'm going to postpone the big move because I didn't have a ramp. He suggested we go rent a small landscaping trailer at HD and he had a bunch of 1" and 4" conduit / pvc pipe to roll it up and into a trailer. Half hour later he was pulling into the driveway. My two little guys were at each other pretty good and my little guy decided he wanted to go with us. My dad mentioned at the dump in his town was a basketball hoop for free and my wife said what are you waiting for go get it. So we went to HD, hooked up to a trailer quickly and filled out paperwork in maybe 10 mins and were on our way. We went to the dump and picked up the basketball hoop, and a peg perego pedal front end loader was there too! double score LOL. My little guy slept the entire time, missed everything, but woke up to the bounties of the dump.

Backed the L/S trailer in unloaded the hoop and little ride on tractor, set up the conduits and pipe and rolled the whole console in like nothing. Drilled it right into the wood bed of the trailer and added some overkill straps to tie it down.
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Next, pulled the cover off the boat which I had rigged up with a step ladder and ratchet straps to keep the snow and rain from turning it into a pond over the winter. tied down the main rigging, hooked a battery up with jumpers and tilted the motor up for travel, and backed my dad up to the hitch. I pushed the 7 pin adaptor into his plug and he turned his lights on to test the trailer lights and the adaptor instantly caught fire! I pulled that out and luckily he also had a 4 pin, which we tested with him at the lights on the truck in case that went up in flames too. I bought that adaptor last year and it worked great no issues but must have had a short in the 8" of wiring it has.

After adding a couple lbs of tire pressure to one of my trailer tires we were on our way to his construction site job where he had a loader.

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After picking it I measured from the ground to the bottom and checked it against the boat on the trailer. an inch and a half short, fck. Luckily 40ft behind the loader was some bit curbing with stone only on the back side which was our 6" ramp. Looped the boat around next to the curb and we got the console over the lowest side of the boat beam then backed the boat up over the rigging and fuel tank and lowered it into place, removed the straps, and pushed it to the marks I had set on the deck when I first purchased the console. After my dad parked the loader, he called out "It looks good" and I yelled back with a big smile "YES!"

I did end up setting almost all the screw locations because it looked centered from the side profile, and after picking it in the straps it didn't have any lean. we knew it was rear heavy but not enough for it to want to tip in the sling/under its own weight, and if anything the position it is in now is well centered in the hull weight-wise.

Still have a bunch of things to consider like will the shifter cables link up to the throttle body? can I move it backwards at all because I wanted to close the gap between the console and the leaning post original position? why did the trailer light adaptor burn up? How will it perform? Was there a full shipment of garmin transducers on that Suez canal ship? For now, I'm happy that it is in, really happy my operator watched my hand signals closely, and that I can almost feel the water under my feet. Next weekend splash? probably not realistic logistically, two weeks yes certainly attainable.

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The rental time was 5 hours 15 min, most of that time was spent driving. $47 trailer rental vs. whatever wood costs nowadays.

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Job well done! Great pics to go with the post are appreciated.

Awesome job, nice work

Looks fantastic. Can I ask were you got the mast head light ? Or was it already on the dog house
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Looks fantastic. Can I ask were you got the mast head light ? Or was it already on the dog house
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lumitec contour series 2nm led. Mine is one meter to meet the CG separation parameters I think there is also one that's 20". It locks into a groove in the stow and deployed positions.
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I'll add that the plastic cover for the base on that light seems flimsy, and the length of the light at 39" will require some kind of rubber holder with a strap to keep it from smacking into the roof while traveling. I mounted it reversed because I didn't want the base in the way of the radar and the base also had a built in shim which I reversed so it wasn't sticking up higher.
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Speaking of radar trying to figure out a device that will push low branches up and over the dome , rather that tearing if off! I have a few ideas and with it being so close to the dome it shouldnt create a return on the radar .

My idea is to mount a piece of pvc Board 2in wide mounted with a bracket to my Top angled to rest on tbe top of the dome. In hope the branch or wire rides up and over 🙏
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Speaking of radar trying to figure out a device that will push low branches up and over the dome , rather that tearing if off! I have a few ideas and with it being so close to the dome it shouldnt create a return on the radar .

My idea is to mount a piece of pvc Board 2in wide mounted with a bracket to my Top angled to rest on tbe top of the dome. In hope the branch or wire rides up and over 🙏
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How bout a clamp on antenna/ rod holder/ flag bracket with a removable dowel.... I Dun No....:huh:

Speaking of radar trying to figure out a device that will push low branches up and over the dome , rather that tearing if off! I have a few ideas and with it being so close to the dome it shouldnt create a return on the radar .

My idea is to mount a piece of pvc Board 2in wide mounted with a bracket to my Top angled to rest on tbe top of the dome. In hope the branch or wire rides up and over 🙏
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Is it that high???? mine had no problem with obstructions from Warwick to Cumberland...

Is it that high???? mine had no problem with obstructions from Warwick to Cumberland...

Not that’s it’s high , many side streets in my town dont get a lot of big truck traffic or TLC from the town
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I just cut down about 12 branches in the yard for the same reason
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I trim my neighborhood each year from standing in the boat....

I trim my neighborhood each year from standing in the boat....

HAHAHA

All the big wire is done except battery connections waiting on batteries (shortage of AGMs just like transducers) waiting on 2 40 amp battery fuses too for the charger. Hooked up the lines to the helm and cylinder, hopefully a boat mechanic friend can come over and give me a hand to bleed them. Bolted down the radar and silicones up the thru holes.

I think this weekend I'll rig up some battery bank to turn the motor over and do a preliminary system check. Will try and take a video.
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Hooked up the engine battery. Made my harness connections, put the kill switch tab in, key in, got the beep alarm, turned the key... Nothing. Repeated that five times. What did I screw up?

Sat in silence for 30 seconds before I realized the neutral relay wasn't in because the shifter isn't in yet. Held that down and VRRROOMMMM! So good to hear that sound!
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Just painted some of the old topside fixtures like the kill switch nut, and the key switch nut, and the throttle housing. I had used a Moeller flat black spray already but it doesn't match the panel at all. Ended up getting a qt of total boat flat black 1 part paint, will see how that goes. If it sucks all of the plugs I make won't need epoxy for a while but will all be black haha
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Hydraulic steering is all set.
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Had to put the helm wheel on to fill/bleed the lines. My friend Kyle who was a boat mechanic for a while helped me do this task. I wish I knew the exact hard port to hard starboard before, but now its 4.25 turns with the hydraulic steering in and the entire install was super easy, and SeaStars' support prior to purchase was excellent. One note on the recommended spacers for my engine was that I used one more thin 1/16" SS washer which took out almost all of the play at the cylinder attachment to the outboard. The remaining play is all in the SeaStar bearings. Another side note is that if your throttle cables still have a length description on them buy that length for the hydraulic steering lines so you can run them tandem with the throttle/shift cables in a single rigging tube. Ill post a pic of that later.

3 steps back
After getting the steering in and having the engine fire no problem and everything else working I found myself working towards getting this thing in the water. In doing so I would be shortcutting a ton of things I want to do right. Anyhow, I was proceeding down this side-tracked road and tightened down a gauge brace I set with an epoxied anchor and it popped because I put way too much on it. Sounded like a gunshot. When that popped the "get this in the water game" ended.

Took everything out again, upper and lower panels, steering wheel, gauges, cut wires on battery monitor. Took the lower panel over to my massive mess of a fold out workbench in the garage, popped the gauge out, dremeled off the epoxy, dremeled out a mushroom shape at the bottom of my hole and reset it with 3m 5200. also added a bead around the gauge as well so this time I'll just snug up the mount hardware and it'll never move. 3 more days to full cure strength.

In the mean time, if you look at the attach pic, you can see the old mounting hole at the lower right of the pic. I'm going to fill that and the other no-use holes with a plastic based 2 part filler putty. sand and paint. I do like the color of the total boat paint I purchased but it did take about 7 days for it to cure and the finish sucked. Wish I could spray it all with an airbrush.... maybe.

Anyone here use velcro over screw snaps for seat cushions
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Anyone here use velcro over screw snaps for seat cushions
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both have their plus's and minus snaps are neater when the cushions are out and should hold up and not blow out at Highway speed Trust me I know all about stuff disappearing from the boat at 65 MPH I use velcro sticky sided velcro for Knife holder or area i dont want to drill and the surface area allows for it to support some weight

both have their plus's and minus snaps are neater when the cushions are out and should hold up and not blow out at Highway speed Trust me I know all about stuff disappearing from the boat at 65 MPH I use velcro sticky sided velcro for Knife holder or area i dont want to drill and the surface area allows for it to support some weight

I almost lost two bean bag chairs the first trip while trailering to the ramp despite doubling up on ratchet straps they were literally airborne, thank god they were looped around rod holders hahaha. Now they go under a cargo net lesson learned.

I bought 15lb hook and loop velcro and thought I'd do the leaning post cushion with that but I can see the material collecting crab guts, squid and whatever other bait in the material. Good call on the tool holder idea, I've wanted to add something to secure the boga and handheld vhf.

Last week Thursday and Friday we had snow and rain. I was feeling a bit disconnected not getting in the boat for several days. Took the cover off Saturday morning and evidently where the canvas cover was touching the corners of the hardtop allowed water to come in and filled up my socket wrench kit and made enough of a mess that it took about an hour just to dry everything out. I got to sanding to prep for paint on the dash, grabbed an old poly resin in the basement I use for filling holes in plugs and put a circle of that on a piece of plastic. Went to knead the hardener and the toothpaste like tube exploded blue hardener all over me, the console, the deck. Cleaned that up, put the hardener in (way too much) mixed it and filled the holes I wanted to and it set up in about 3 min.

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At this point I really didn't care if it was a bit bumpy, scuffed it up and taped it off for paint.

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I opted for the quick dry Moller paint, and did 3 coats to the dash area and the upper keeper. It's a bit more grey than black but it serves its purpose of hiding the white drill holes that the panels don't cover.

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36"x14" helm pad. I had this made from Mariners Warehouse down in FLA for a bit of OEM feel. I ordered it online, uploaded a Maritime logo and within minutes of the order going through the owner called me and suggested a different color combination because the logo would show better and he said it cleans up nice after fishing. The custom pad was about $5 cheaper than getting a seadek pad.

How thick/tall is that pad?

How thick/tall is that pad?

1" tall, the entire back is a 3m adhesive.

I almost lost two bean bag chairs the first trip while trailering to the ramp despite doubling up on ratchet straps they were literally airborne, thank god they were looped around rod holders hahaha. Now they go under a cargo net lesson learned.

I bought 15lb hook and loop velcro and thought I'd do the leaning post cushion with that but I can see the material collecting crab guts, squid and whatever other bait in the material. Good call on the tool holder idea, I've wanted to add something to secure the boga and handheld vhf.

Saw some place guys throw a 10lb lead scuba weight the shot type in their bean bags chairs help if your underway and no one is in them

Finished my new combo machine and radar install...as usual more, work than i expected...
Cut out some donuts to raise it up a little...

Pics here,,, I think ;-)

New Electronics Install page

http://tacklethatworks.com

Finished my new combo machine and radar install...as usual more, work than i expected...
Cut out some donuts to raise it up a little...

Pics here,,, I think ;-)

New Electronics Install page

http://tacklethatworks.com

Nice job, yes it was more work than expected to install the radar. I had watched a YouTube install of the same unit but older and garmin changed the configuration of where that little cable retainer plate is located. IMO where it is located now is not as good as where it originally was at least for hiding the wires.

Oh well. I'm still waiting on my transducer. Getting tempted to buy the combo then just sell the unit it comes bundled with.... 🤔
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Had a conversation with a very good boat builder yesterday. (He added three feet to the transoms of a couple well known tuna boats the past two years.) Discussing my rewiring project after this season, he urged me to buy wire, buss bars, Ancor products, etc now as he sees a real shortage coming in these products coming from China. So I need to get my act together or have a couple folks suggest what they would have me buy...

Had a conversation with a very good boat builder yesterday. (He added three feet to the transoms of a couple well known tuna boats the past two years.) Discussing my rewiring project after this season, he urged me to buy wire, buss bars, Ancor products, etc now as he sees a real shortage coming in these products coming from China. So I need to get my act together or have a couple folks suggest what they would have me buy...
Ross give these guys a look and see what they offer... bought a lot of my boat wiring supplies from them...website says made in America. You will need heavier gauge wire from batteries to motor and to pos and neg bussbars to distribute power to accesories through a fused switch panel using smaller gauge wire(blue seas makes some nice switch panels)..............https://www.genuinedealz.com/
I just checked and they are out of stock on some items....so good idea to start gathering supplies now if possible

Thanks RMarsh! Wow, I saw more sold out than available in the switches and tinned wire.... I might already be late to the party. At least my target date is for next season, so I have plenty of time. Just another red flag about how screwed we are....

Blue Seas....another source for marine electrical supplies ..
www.bluesea.com/ (https://www.bluesea.com/) I got one of their switch panels similar to this one...
https://dh778tpvmt77t.cloudfront.net/images/products/4309.jpg

My agm batteries came in from impact battery. They had the lowest price (it actually was lower with free shipping than Defender's big "sale")

Also, garmin's GT56uhd-tm transducer I found from the bass tank in stock, called them to make sure. I had one on order since Jan where I got my electronics from and they still couldn't give me a date. Should be here this weekend
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Got the same ducer it’s longer than I expected , haven’t played with it a lot did find some tires using the side scan I hadn’t seen before , what’s your take on standard chirp or clear view my old striker had both but they were not any better than traditional view that I could tell
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Got the same ducer it’s longer than I expected , haven’t played with it a lot did find some tires using the side scan I hadn’t seen before , what’s your take on standard chirp or clear view my old striker had both but they were not any better than traditional view that I could tell
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Chirp is a range of frequencies which translates to better target separation. Traditional sonar is a single frequency so if you go over a school of bass for instance it would "see" the top and maybe some of the bottom of the school. It would "look" like two schools. With chirp you'll likely see that the school is actually completely thick with fish from top to bottom it'll show the individual fish for the most part.

I cannot wait to install the ducer so I can start figuring everything out.

We put the boat in tonight! I'm so excited. We left the dog home because I didn't know if the CTDeep put the docks in yet. We ran about 30 miles r/t from East Haddam north on the CT river to Portland, I wanted to get to middletown but a rain storm cut us off. The boat with the console had zero change in performance. I thought for sure id lose some top speed but we actually hit the fastest I've ever done, and the hole shot felt just as good.

I'll put up some pics when I get to the computer.
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I knew April was aggressive for this project, thankfully we didn't have much rain. The move to get the console in the boat before I was done with wiring etc was good and bad. It was good because the console is in the boat before the construction year really takes off. It was also good because I got to spend the day with my Dad. It was bad because "now" all of my tools and power had to be relocated into the elements and away from my garage lighting. The project is not finished by any means but the important milestone of a sea trial (even if the sea was the CT river) was accomplished. What I learned was that the boat still hops out of the water onto plane out of the hole. Not only did we not lose top end speed, we actually hit 1mph faster than I ever ran it. Also... My eldest son James (6) asked the best question I ever heard, "So are we taking rods or what?" He's wise beyond his age.

At the launch, double ramp, I always try to launch with the wind pushing the boat into the dock, and take out opposite. I see a boat seemingly rushing across the river to the ramp and intermittently pausing. I said to my wife take the kids to the side so we get the correct side, I back up and see this person coming in behind me like I didn't exist but he yelled that he was breaking down. Ran and grabbed his boat before it was going to hit the concrete ramp. If it wasn't after 6pm and not my first put-in I'd have helped the guy get his boat on his trailer. Felt bad and also was curious of the failure but had to tell myself do what you are here to do. My son James said he wanted to help so I showed him how to switch lines, and he did it perfectly. He wanted to hold the lines too but I was unsure with a 10mph south wind and that console if it would pull him in so I had my wife hold & tie off the lines.
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My little guy was fighting wearing his PFD but he was "okay" when I put mine on too.

before our launch tonight:

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I installed the batteries, set temporary screws in so the wouldn't bounce or move, and tightened down the wires. I did notice one good thing I did and one error. I installed (2) volt meters. One for the start battery and one for the house, both batteries are the same make and model group 27 AGM marine Northstars. They are 8-10 year batteries if maintained properly, a big upfront cost which made me throw up a bit but the down the road cost is way less than standard lead acid and a higher safety level at least I believe so. The onboard charger I purchased was the mini add a battery plus by blueseas which worked as advertised tonight because while we were running it was charging both batteries, and while the engine was off in the yard I could see some voltage drop on the house battery over the course of several hours while playing with lights and electronics.

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terrible pic but the bottom is my start and top is the house battery voltage after our run, I had the house down to 12.3 or so before we started our first splash. Back to my hookups of the batteries to the volt meters, I hooked up the positive lead of the house battery after the switch and the start battery before. In other words there is a draw on the start battery all the time just because of the meter. So I need to change the location of that lead to the motor feed side of the main switch. In other words, when the main switch is off, so should the meter be off. I will need to disconnect & pull out the batteries anyways to get the transducer wire pulled and connected, so I'll do that all at the same time, and hopefully secure and connect my ethernet cable from the radar to the chartplotter in one shot.

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my current phone takes terrible pics but you get the idea.

the spreaders are stupid bright, I may try to figure out a dimmer to tone down the rear spreaders. Or just leave it alone to communicate with the Aliens from "Close Encounters" do-do-do-do-doooo.

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The lumitec arubas for courtesy lights I really liked because they have a translucent housing which will provide light in a fish box / cooler area without spilling light over the beams but providing light to move around the deck.
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That's it for now. I'll get a video up once everything is truly complete.

Awesome build and even better happy kids.... great job

Looks great and I like how the blue lights aren’t to intense most blue I see on most boats are blinding. As for the spreader lights you can never be too bright . Or have to much light if and when you need it
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Thanks guys.

While I was out on the water I noticed when I was w.o.t. my hand accidentally pressed the SOS button located lower right on the tabbed Garmin main menu. Anyone mess around with theirs enough to know if it can be disabled, locked, removed or the menu bar relocated to the top of the screen?
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quick question those can cozies I was looking at them do they really not fall over ?

quick question those can cozies I was looking at them do they really not fall over ?

They're awesome. I've had them to 70 mph towing without them moving/tipping. And in some rough seas w/o issue.

I could see it happen if a surface was already wet everywhere they might slide. But I haven't had it happen from 80 degree to 25 degree air temps.
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Looking for recommendations on hard top rod holders.

https://krypt-t-tops.com/products/dolphin-7-rod-holder?currency=USD&variant=31365321326686&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Google%20Shopping&gclid=Cj0KCQjw-LOEBhDCARIsABrC0TnC7oERuhCGZgZLKjQcUBEN38pZ8CarXPa 9Ok29l6W4nDL1llP243MaAkvOEALw_wcB

Anyone have that one?
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Didn't hear the mail come and walked outside and noticed my transducer sitting on the steps. Had an hour before my son's baseball game and installed the transducer. I had downloaded the install guide first along with the mounting template. IMO it wasn't very accurate in regards to the height relationship of the actual mount. So instead of 3mm below the bottom of the boat I'm probably 8mm ... Hopefully it doesn't result in a rooster tail. Another note, if using a transom saver as opposed to drilling into the hull for mounting, I would recommend using a smaller drill bit than a 5/32" that the directions call for. The transom saver material is soft and I would have preferred a tighter fitment of the mounting screws along with a marine adhesive/sealant.

After baseball my other mail call of the day arrived which was the garmin RJ45 cable ends (ethernet) this cable is for my radar data which I cut because there was about 50'. There's a good youtube video on how to cut and install the cable end and since there are 2 configurations I had saved the end I cut to match the color order to the original end. The order is also printed in the box you get with these ends. The other reason you might need this info is pairing two displays. I made one about 16" long to run between my 1243 and the 942. The set of 2 garmin RJ45 ends and an 8pin crimper is about $28.

Anyways those 2 installs finished all of my wiring to 100% complete.

I tried the radar in the driveway but have no real sense of if it worked correctly. I wish a car drove by while I was checking it out.

Here's a quick video of my console
https://youtu.be/FgytD-xBfgo
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Not sure if your running the 943 and which dome I am running a 18in fantom and I have a heading sensor , I needed to do a calibration test so the radar overlay matched the chart. The manual said do a 1 1/2 circle keeping the boat level in either direction best I could get was 87% , then I matched my compass heading with my GPS on NSEW all were plus or minus 1 degree. I think this is recommended even with out the heading sensor
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Not sure if your running the 943 and which dome I am running a 18in fantom and I have a heading sensor , I needed to do a calibration test so the radar overlay matched the chart. The manual said do a 1 1/2 circle keeping the boat level in either direction best I could get was 87% , then I matched my compass heading with my GPS on NSEW all were plus or minus 1 degree. I think this is recommended even with out the heading sensor
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I haven’t had time to do more than just turn it on.... :-(

I haven’t had time to do more than just turn it on.... :-(

Same here I finished the boat just in time for construction season to break loose haha. Now I can fill it with topsoil, move it to the backyard and plant tomatoes in it LOL
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my current phone takes terrible pics but you get the idea.

the spreaders are stupid bright, I may try to figure out a dimmer to tone down the rear spreaders. Or just leave it alone to communicate with the Aliens from "Close Encounters" do-do-do-do-doooo.

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The lumitec arubas for courtesy lights I really liked because they have a translucent housing which will provide light in a fish box / cooler area without spilling light over the beams but providing light to move around the deck.
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That's it for now. I'll get a video up once everything is truly complete.

Beautiful. I NEED to buy another boat.

So that is a great and epic story that should be archived and referenced for years! Great job and thanks for the play by play. Hope you have great luck fishing and spending time with the family.

Beautiful. I NEED to buy another boat.

Thanks Paul
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So that is a great and epic story that should be archived and referenced for years! Great job and thanks for the play by play. Hope you have great luck fishing and spending time with the family.

Thanks fishgolf glad you enjoyed the process. I did. My son James can't wait.
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I finally had a weekend day without work or baseball, so we hit the CT river yesterday morning at 3AM. There was a ton of sticks and logs which made the dark run to get to where we wanted to be for daybreak a tedious exercise. I managed to not see one about 30" long by the width of a half dollar.... Which really isn't a big deal however it got stuck between the OB and the stern. At a 20 mph plane it was pulling a significant amount water into the boat over the stern. So after finding that we had much better time because our first encounter with the water was "where's all this water from" and had no idea the stick was the culprit.

Got my buddy Jon on his best bass to date at 24# and my buddy Evan on his best Northern Pike at 35 inches. Caught a bunch of schoolies too and the show on the water was fun to watch with bass blitzing herring into the air only to get picked off by bald eagles.

I'll put up a pic or two when I get to the computer.
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Before heading out yesterday, Saturday I had to come up with a makeshift rod storage thing because I am waiting on a rocket launcher and mount to be made. So I used my old plastic ones which I can't use now due to the overhang of the hardtop, just screwed them into a milk crate and strapped it down.
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Before heading out yesterday, Saturday I had to come up with a makeshift rod storage thing because I am waiting on a rocket launcher and mount to be made. So I used my old plastic ones which I can't use now due to the overhang of the hardtop, just screwed them into a milk crate and strapped it down.
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What a Day!
All the work you put into that boat and have a day like that !!
You earned it for sure,,, hell of a good story.... congrats

What a Day!
All the work you put into that boat and have a day like that !!
You earned it for sure,,, hell of a good story.... congrats

Thanks Gup
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After a few sea trials I have concluded that everything is good where it is so I set the console in with new SS hardware and marine adhesive, adjusted the leaning post and set that as well.

Since adding courtesy lights to the leaning post I hid/protected the wire by routing out a channel on the backside of a helm pad before peeling the 3m backing.

Ordered a Black Oak 6" LED combo spot / spreader for the bow which mounted perfectly just behind the bumper rail, and wired that in.

The last thing to do is have a mount made of 1.5 or 2 inch stainless tube to accept a rocket launcher for rod storage on the hardtop.
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I still haven't mounted the permanent rod holder I picked up.
I've been using Yankee ingenuity aka a milk crate with my old plastic holders drilled into the sides to get the job done. I do like the open access to the milk crate too for stuff that can get wet like tackle bags etc, and it's a simple catch-all that can be removed after an outting and hosed off.

Father's day weekend I trailered the skiff to northern VT / lake Champlain to the camp my grandfather bought in the early 80s. We've always entered the tournament that occurs annually on father's day weekend, the LCI father's day derby. It is the send off of "opening day" the first day you can catch and keep smallmouth bass which is probably the "flagship" species of the lake (at least in my opinion). The tournament lasts 3 days, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. At it's height there was probably around 5,000 registrants and you wouldn't know it because the lake is 490 square miles, or about 37% the size of LIS.

It feels like the sound too, there is current due to constricted water ways and steep watersheds that fill the various parts of the lake at different rates, obviously nothing like tidal currents but accounts for why so many ATVs and sleds go thru the ice each year. It also gets mean quickly, glass calm to a 4' chop in 30 mins, which I've experienced many times over the past 30 years.
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Saturday morning I checked the forecast and saw a nice opportunity to pound some chop and get in the lee of an island for northern pike, which would let up around 1 pm and allow for a move after. My Uncle Anthony joined us for this trip and he was my mate for the day. He hadn't fished much since his teens and I just said "you're gonna catch fish." No other boats made the move I did so we had about a mile stretch to ourselves. The skiff felt like a godsend and allowed me to get there easily when typically I'd have been in my old 14' aluminum. We spent an hour without luck casting which seemed odd to me, so we went into a troll mode. I used the electronics to weave a weed line and Ant's first fish was a decent 33" pike that went 8lbs on the scale. His next fish was an 11lb pike on the scale and I was ecstatic to share that with him. All the equipment was my own so I knew he had a decent fish with the drag pulling out like it did.

My goal, which didn't come to fruition was to troll a plug i made in deeper water for pike but they just didn't want any standard type crankbaits. They wanted the thump of oversized spinner baits. I had caught some decent fish on it last year but not one for this trip.

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While my uncle Ant was catching I was playing around with the electronics, I noticed a lot of the contours were not correct, and chocked it up to the lake level being significantly low for the time of year. Typically the 3rd saturday in June means the water is up against the road embankment along Rte 2. This year we had about 10' of "beach" meaning severe drought & smallmouth bass likely on beds or even post spawn. My dad fished about 10 miles north of us and sent me a text of a 4.40lb smallmouth. I texted him back did he enter Anthony as a teammate for the tournament which I already knew the answer to. "no" was his reply and I said "good, because you'd probably be in first place for teams with two good fish." He replied, "what'd you get?" ... My dad's bass went 19th of 500 entered smallmouth, and Anthony's pike would have gone 10th or 11th, but the entire tournament allows for combined species of similar styles of fishing on a prorated scale of points per pound of fish. I haven't brought myself to do the math but they would have been in prize money for teams for sure.

back to the electronics, I marked a bunch of things I was interested in and had seen the auto contour setting in the past but couldn't for the life of me find it the first day. Anthony and I caught some smallies on some reefs and I noted the side of the reefs they preferred to revisit later.
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small fish but worth its weight in gold. We putz around and went to dock at a gift shop / weigh station to get sandwiches. Anthony had to experience the Thomas Jefferson sandwich, which is a turkey sandwich on a fresh baked roll with cranberry mayo and red onions. After that he said he needed a nap, so I dropped him off and waited out a fast hit storm before grabbing my brother and hitting the water again. Still saturday, we blasted back out to the pike grounds for a few dinks, then hit some smallie territory where we caught some decent fish.
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I managed to mark an edge that I love for walleye, but still hadnt turned on the auto contour. the NOAA data was not showing some major reefs at all, which is fine because a lot of people miss it but at the same time needed attention to fish properly.

first of many right? the schools of bait marked by the electronics were exciting to say the least. big marks heading up through the masses revealed feeding walleye. I made the stupid comment of "we're gonna get them" I missed 4 of 5 on an ebay purchase of the berkley friendzy (discontinued crankbait) and I've been thinking about it since. It wasn't until I re-rigged a stouter rod that on troll the fish was caught. Same line, lure, leader, just a better setup made the difference.

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Sunday was a repeat just full glass water to maybe a 1.0' chop, we trolled some awesome bass up around 3.5-4.0 lbs but no monsters.

both nights I got to use my new headlight/spotlight which was awesome in its momentary use, and the radar felt like a godsend running back to the ramp after midnight in a downpour sat into sunday, and sunday into monday of that weekend. It worked because it allowed me to "see" the boats along the way in my path before I could physically see them.

One of the coolest things was on Saturday into Sunday night, I was watching the water running the 4 miles to the ramp. I asked my brother to pay attention to the radar blimps, he said "Hey matt, I don't know what this is but it's moving" I came off throttle a bit, and said "what color is it?" He replied "blue" I stopped the boat and we watched as a loon or cormorant went across the screen. My brother and I finished the night with an intense game of cribbage before finding a spot to sleep for what seemed like a minute before fishing again.

**forgot to add, monday was 3-4 foot waves** didn't even bother.

You must live right… LOL
awesome weekend, congrats

Nice smallmouth haven’t caught them in like forever, what a multi use hull nice shallow draft for freshwater easy to trailer sweet best of both worlds ::kewl:

You must live right… LOL
awesome weekend, congrats

I work like an idiot, then play hard too LOL
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Nice smallmouth haven’t caught them in like forever, what a multi use hull nice shallow draft for freshwater easy to trailer sweet best of both worlds ::kewl:

With the house on top it was an expensive trip for trailering. I need a V8 but that's for sometime in the distant future.
Wish I left it up there for 2 weeks because we went back this past weekend. Spoiled by the electronics.

The past trip was family based, catching frogs and turtles with the boys. My dad showed my 6 y/o how to use a piece of a red oil rag to catch bullfrogs on a rod and reel. Best laugh you could ever hear.
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I did sneak out in the morning and got a nice one from the shore

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**maybe john r can rotate that I didn't think it'd come in that way

Cape poge bay kids caught tons of porgy (scup) I filleted 30 of them. Took a sharp knife and a dumb dad to do it LOL

Epic boating/ fishing trip story to follow.
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Had a 2 week family vacation to MV. This was the first trip in 20 years where I trailered a boat out to expand our adventures on the island.

The island was shrouded in fog when we first arrived, so the first day we launched inside Katama pond with the goal of motoring thru Edgartown harbor and then get into Cape Poge for some family fishing, swimming and sight seeing. The fog was thick in the morning, especially being close to the Norton point barrier beach along the south side of the island. The radar worked awesome because the visibility was only 50' or so until it broke up just south of Edgartown harbor area.

We had a destination in mind to get out of the boat and swim and just before reaching our spot we found a 15' hole inside of cape poge stacked with porgy so the boys spent a while catching them on epoxy jigs tipped with squid. I tried throwing them back, but the boys insisted on keeping them and ended up with 30 to fillet.

Prior to the start of the vacation, I had already planned a fishing trip with my surf casting partner, weather dependent whether it would be in the surf or from the boat. He took off a Friday from work, and the weather cooperated to be a perfect boating day. Even though the tog limit was 1 fish per day/person I wanted to target them and see if I could find a larger fish so I picked a bunch of asain crabs the day before. I left from the VH ramp in the dark and motored across to Falmouth harbor which is absolutely an incredible harbor to pick him up at 5AM, we headed SW and threw some eels into the rocks along Squibnocket only to get bitten off by blues and we decided to leave when a giant seal popped up. Headed SW again and fished some boulders for tog around the SE side of Noman's caught some small BSB and tog which we released because we wanted something larger. Got a text from a friend who said he wasn't going to make it out with his boat, so we pulled anchor and headed SW again to the ledge off Noman's. Our first drop with vertical jigs produced 2 BSB around 22" and we knew this was gonna be an exciting day, the action never stopped and we only moved to get back over structure. We caught cod, blackfish, bsb, and giant porgy on both tog jigs and vertical jigs, we left when our arms were jello. Sharks stole some of our BSB while reeling in which made for some good fights and spool dumping runs until the line cut. It was like fishing at SeaWorld LOL. It was so good, we made the same trip again a week later when the weather and sea conditions allowed.

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I have to resize some others

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Great report!

This is the breaker box I used for my electrical build, which is nice to not have to carry fuses.


https://newwiremarine.com/product/12-circuit-breaker-block-w-neg-bus/?mc_cid=980b3b5c57&mc_eid=30cecc96de
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This is the breaker box I used for my electrical build, which is nice to not have to carry fuses.


https://newwiremarine.com/product/12-circuit-breaker-block-w-neg-bus/?mc_cid=980b3b5c57&mc_eid=30cecc96de
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I shouldda…..
Those breakers cost less than smart fuses…… geeesh

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That’s a crazy looking bottom at 80ft
You think all tog?
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That’s a crazy looking bottom at 80ft
You think all tog?
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No all seabass. They were so thick a 160g jig was stopping on their backs. They were not stacked like that on my first trip, the catch was more varied with a higher ratio of quality fish. On the second trip we had to get away from the seabass to find anything else as well as finding BSB over 20"
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That’s a crazy looking bottom at 80ft
You think all tog?
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Thinking Friday Westport….. ;-)

Thinking Friday Westport….. ;-)

I'd go!
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Ross asked me to add this in the thread:
Originally Posted by nightfighter
"Looking at wire crimp connectors and a company called solderstick, for waterproof connections. Do I need many connectors? What gauge wire did you find you most used? What connections would you recommend for ends? Just spending a few minutes on the winter plan....and wondering what you most recommend now that you have been there... Fuel tank on my list too.
Thanks"

Hey Ross,

I actually did test out those low heat solder connectors and had some failures even doing it in an ideal test scenario. I also noticed the blue glue rings would sometimes melt first and fill-in the bare wire before the solder portion locked them together with the conductivity needed. In my opinion it is likely that the connection you want to make between two wires won’t be 100% especially if you are joining a wire while on your back reaching into a tight area to do so.

I like the BSP heat shrink crimp connectors over the Ancor brand, I think they offer better quality, a longer heatshrink tube length at a better price than the Ancor.

I used 5 tools for all my wiring needs, a razor knife, a wire cutter, Klein tools 11063W wire stripper 8-20g $30, Klein tools 3005CR ratcheting crimper $27, and the Wagner HT400 heatgun which has two temps $22. I had zero pull test failures with the Klein tools crimper so I was happy with that.

I used 14 gauge Ancor wire for all my accessories, in most cases it was more than enough but it is also more robust than using 16g which is fairly thin wire. I don't have a bilge pump on my boat so I am unsure of how those get wired but my guess is it would have both wiring so it is always "on" via a float switch and a separate wiring to activate it manually, my point in bringing up the bilge pump is that it likely requires larger gauge wire because pumps require more amps.

Standardizing the wire size at 14g made it easier to come up with a part list. It was easy to purchase all 14g connectors as opposed to running minimum wire sizes to each accessory. Some challenges might occur with LED lights particularly different brands of light fixtures. For example wiring any lumitec light was fairly easy because they use larger wire size, the fixtures don’t require it but the company utilizes 18-14g wire because they know it’s going to be connected to 16-14g wire in almost every instance, however Lumitec did not have the NAV light design I wanted and I used some European brand that used a 22g wire that I had to strip, double over the copper, crimp to a 16 connector, then step up to 14g. I did that for the sole purpose of a strong connection.

End connections: Every accessory running through a switch on your console’s dash will require (4) ring connectors, you could do it in two (by skipping a terminal strip) but it makes more sense to utilize a terminal strip after the switch wiring. My wiring setup is a 2 battery system, on the House battery positive terminal I have a 40A ignition protected fuse (the 40A fuse is rated slightly over the total amperage rating if I ran everything at the same time) to a positive wire that runs to my main kill switch, then runs to a 40A thermal fuse, to my circuit breaker (I could have used a fuse panel interchangeably here) . Each breaker provides surge protection for each accessory, the breakers are rated to the accessory or multiple accessories connected to one switch. At the breaker (or fuse panel) the first ring connector is needed, this positive wire then runs to the on/off switch (lights) or momentary switch (horn), then switch positive runs to a terminal strip which is the second ring connector, opposite that terminal strip ring connector is the third ring connector positive wire that runs to the accessory you wish to power. The reason for the terminal strip is if you need to replace a run of wire, bundle accessory connections, upgrade etc in the future it provides a breakout point & labeling of accessory opportunity. Also since it is a breakout point if an accessory fails to work, it provides isolated sections to test for voltage. The positive wire runs to the load (light, horn, etc) and the negative from the accessory runs back to a negative common bus bar terminating at the fourth ring connector which runs to the common main negative bus, the battery negative & ultimately a single boat ground.

This wiring provides 1. Ignition surge protection at the battery (in my case the 40A battery fuse) 2. Protection after the switch of every accessory (in my case the 40A thermal-resettable fuse non-ignition protected). 3. Individual circuit protection (individual breakers or fuses in the panel). Each fuse and/or breaker provides protection at the source of power in case of a short or amperage surge condition.

Since the ring connectors I bought were non-heat shrink, nylon insulated I also bought white and black 3:1 heat shrink tubing which just has to be slightly wider than the nylon end jackets on the ring terminals to make them water tight, and hit each ring end connector with dielectric grease before screwing them into place. After all are in place, I used a small paint brush to once-over all the ring connectors on the circuit breaker, the terminal strips, and negative bus bars because this provides corrosion protection and should be done annually.

I didn’t label my negatives at the bus bar but wish I had so if I were to do it again I’d have only purchased white H/S tubing and labeled them with a fine tip sharpie marker then shrunk it.

This next bit of info is for anyone with a T top or hardtop:
I could have saved a ton of 14g wire length by separating the accessories installed in the T top VS. the accessories anywhere else in the boat by installing a small switch panel in the overhead glove box and ran larger (8gauge) positive and negative cables to a separate circuit breaker in the overhead compartment. If I did that I’d have only 2 cables running up there instead of 14. I realized this option after reading Nigel Calder's book a second time, but I had also already designed my switch panel and that opportunity had passed.
Had I done that I would have had an easily accessible area now to install a stereo, speakers and permanant VHF without pulling any more wires up to the overhead glove box. Hindsight is 20/20.

Overall I have had no issues and have made a ton of trips this year, the radar and spotlight have been my favorite additions. One thing I have noticed while on the water running at night is that my small boat "looks bigger" to anyone else on the water because my nav lights are 7 or 8 feet off the water and my anchor 360 light is about 11 feet off the water.

I'm pumped for tog season opening soon here in CT.