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Welp, this is a photo of Raggedy's wiring with a large amount already removed, including the shifter cable and throttle cable. What a mess. I'm slowly working my way through all the wiring to figure out what is necessary, and what's just hosed. Sigh, have I mentioned I hate wiring??? The good news is I removed everything that is unique to the ETEC, S/T cable, instruments, engine harness, and oil reservoir and will reinstall them on the new boat, and reverse the installation. Once again, when i get done, all the useless wires that were left after non-use were decided, will be removed, and it will look like a semi-professional installation.

Joe/Jeff, e-mailing you picture as i can't get it to take. If you would post it to this thread, i'd apprecticate it.
And then tell me what you did, because i've tried to small text everything, which worked before, but is not this time.

Duf B)

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Sounds like you might want to concider paying someone to take on that job. I'm no good with wiring so that's what I'd do. Just my .02 :)

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Duf...............how soon before you'll have the new one in the water for the maiden voyage? :D

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I don't know exactally what kind of mess you have but I saved myself a lot of hassles on my 18' Outrage by building my new electrical panel on my workbench then installing it. I also gave up on salvaging all but engine and bow light wires very early on.

panel

installed panel

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Well, if all works out well will start pulling the Yamaha unique wiring and assorted plumbing week after next as i'm traveling on business next week unfortunately. So two saturdays from now, i am planning on having all the "stuff" exchanged and will take my new ride to where the ETEC is in storage and have it installed on the "new" boat. So sometime after two weeks, if all goes well, will be in the water and doing some serious crusing!!!

Sound advice on going to basic wiring as that is exactly what i'm doing today. If its not needed, its out of there. The prior owner of Raggedy must have been a killer for add on's as the wire bundle he ended up with is massive.

The new boats wiring is fantastic, neat as a pin and a fraction of the size of Raggedy, Way to Go Duf 2!

Hopefully Jeff or Joe get the pictures up, cause you have to see it to believe it. The good news about all this is, if i'm ever out on the water and have electrical issues, i'll know every wire by heart! Have i ever mentioned i hate wiring?? :D

Duf B)

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Duf's Wiring

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Duf -

I have been in your shoes. Both my Montauk and Outrage 17 were a disaster.

While I will save you from the advice, here is a before and after to give you the inner strength for the job.

Outrage - Before:

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Outrage AFTER:

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Last year I redid all the wiring but mine is still a mess. I left things longer than I should just so I could make it neat. At lest it's all new, now I just need to shorten and bundle.
That will be done this spring.

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Hey bro,
thats even worse than behind my desk wiring from the computer and related crap
South

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CBO, you give me strength brother, that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I spent 4.5 hours today and have a pile of wire at the nose of Raggedy. UNBELIEVABLE is all I can say. I'm down to just a few suspect wires, but will hang till my buds available to do continuity checks on the last few. No kidding, I will have to take a photo of what I pulled out, as it is truly mind boggling. Not just wiring, but all sorts of electrical junk. Regardless, it will be a rags to riches story when she is done, and will be a neat job as I don't do things half arsed even though Raggedy will be on the for sale block later this year. I won't be able to mess with her for a few weeks, but next trip will include some pipe cutters to fix a terrible light installation, and a grinder to take out a hideous stereo installation. Its all good and I enjoy it regardless, as it's a much more pleasureable therapy then the paying job! :D

Duf B)

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That is a mess! What's really frustrating is when someone makes connections and has no regard for color-coding or organization. I've traced wire before that went in one side blue and came out the other side orange. Used black for hot and red for ground...........You're smart to rip it all out and go for the necessary ones only...........I would install a wiring buse in for later connections though

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Duf -

I am laughing, truly laughing. (With you, not at you)

I had the same thing. I have photos of all the electrical tape (rolls and rolls worth), a dozen t-lock connectors, spools of extra wires from almost every accessory. The Sonar power/data wire was 30' long in a coil. It only had to travel 9" to make a connection. I had many wires that had a splice that was spliced on a splice. Yeeeuccchhhh!

Let me forewarn you. When you start putting it back together, try to keep your temper. As you start to see how straight forward it is and can be, you will curse the shmuck who did such a poor job.

Post or send a photo as you go. All we have is snow to look at outside.

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So do you guys actually color code, running different color wires for different circuits? Is that your plan Duf? I ask because my 22 is very similar to yours and I'll be rewiring in the spring, starting to think about best ways to do it now in terms of wiring, best switches to use, main breaker or not, etc....

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You guys are amazing. Some day I need to stop working 80+ hr/week and take some time to tinker with my toys.

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Derwd24, You asked about color code...by all means do it...........I had a 40' Sport Fish and if we didn't use color code it would be virtually impossible to determine what goes with what. Works good on the smaller boats too. Other things you can do is buy a number kit from lowes or somewhere. It is a sheet that has multiple numbered stickers on it and you can number each end of a wire once you determine what it goes to and you will have somewhat of a road map to everything. You can also buy different colored electrical tape and color code the wire on the ends with the different colors. Anything to make it simpe for you later down the road. Multiple Buse bars are a big help too

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A color code ? are you kidding me ? My previous owner liked "Red", red for "EVERYTHING", did'nt matter if it was a ground, Pos, or anything else, it was diced, spliced, and zipped all in red wire, if ya threw a switch it would crackle and smoke and blow fuses. I showed it to a friend of mine that knew boats, he said "this is how you fix this", and proceeded to pull every wire off the boat, with my jaw hitting the ground. He said "You can't fix this, you have to run "NEW" wire. He showed me how to solder a "Marine Connection", and before you knew it I had the first wire done, then I just stayed on it, it went faster than I thought, I cleaned up the "Terminal block" and "Buss Bars", I added "In-line" fuses etc. Boat electric is not that hard, it's only 12 V, and + and --, you just have to stay on it, e-mail is always open if you need any help <mwhalen11550@yahoo.com> ( live operator's are also standing by here), C'mon, YOU can do this if "I" can, plus you have an "Army" of "Whaler" help here ! you'll need:

soldering gun ( a $5 gun works fine from "Homey Depot")
thin silver solder (Homey)
heat shrink tubing (Homey)
a bottle of "liquid lectric tape" (Boat store, no getting around that)
wire cutter/stripper (Homey)
cable ties (Homey)
wire terminal connector kit (auto store or "Homey Depot)
wire (use Northern tool, much cheaper than a marine store, sometimes "Homey" has it)
a 12 volt "test light" (auto store)

"It's important that you do it yourself because, if something goes wrong, you'll know where to look, also the boat yard is Going to murder you with the labor cost of re-wiring.

mw

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A lot of good advice here guys. I do consider myself a novice when it comes to electrical work, but this is simple stuff. As CBO mentioned, i think one of the most important things is, don't lose your temper, and as MV said, take your time. I gave it 4.5 hours yesterday and eliminated a ton of wire. As i said, i'm no electrican but its already 100% better then it was, and the worst i had to deal with (gonna hurt you guys here) was sweating my butt off as it was close to 80 and lets face it, trying to get two hands inside my super console ain't easy. I'm going to re-wire the reds to be hot, and black to be ground for certain systems, and will probably use a different color cfor the hot line on my other systems. I had to laugh, the previous owner mentioned the bow lights didn't work and while i had the floor panels up to the right and left of the console came across some grey wires that didn't go anywhere. How much you want to bet they go to the bow lights. :p

more pictures later!

Duf B)

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hmm since the wires for my bow lights are grey and black :)
now about the 80 degree and sweating part, feel free to send it up my way. it's 36 now and going to top out at 46. Every time it finally breaks 50, I am stuck in the office. I was hoping to drop the boat in the water mid March, but looks like that will slide since it's not warm enough to get all the work done.

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I admit I am a novice and have only been able to do my projects with the advice of you guys.

Prior to cutting, I made a crude wiring diagram of the existing in order to understand. I also did a new diagram to help me on my materials list, routing and adding switches, etc. I did get the color codes back to what they should be, only since I could see where they changed. In addition, I made labels (see the white tabs in the photo above) and attached them at both ends of a wire. This way I know what a wire is for.

Putting it back together is the fun part.

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Hey CBO,

Wanna trade consoles, they'd just bolt on bolt off. Mine looks exactly like your before picture. I really like the box with the connectors, and the auto style fuses. Great work.

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Wow - looking at that pic I feel a lot better about my newly acquired mess. I don't mind doing new wiring, but cleaning up 22 years worth of someone else's "work" as well as the "work" that a field mouse had done just flat out stinks (along with the mouse poo).

Pic here: http://www.whalercentral.com/infusion...er_id=3617

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Hey duf,

Send me a plane ticket and I will come down and help you rewire your boats........

Or anyone for that matter........

Will work for plane ticket....................... B)

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Matt,

Your console wiring looks really clean compared to mine when I got her home. I have not rewired yet, but did a lot of clean up/organizing under there (just the memory makes my body ache).

One day a repower will be in order. When that happens- look out, all new wiring will be part of the project.

Doug

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duf
"Grin & Bear It" had five "layers" of wiring buried under the fantastically complicated harness provided by Suzuki....
Color coded wires go to audio, instrumentation, accessory stuff...
I ripped out all the rotten "whaler" wiring...
Ran a new "hot", (black) and "ground", (white) "buss" through hull to console terminal "fuse"block.
From there, it was easy to decipher which bells and whistles needed 12VDC...and which needed GRD. They all do...put 'em on fuses.
The motor harness seems universal...it'll fit anything up to 30'...leaving me an extra 13' of unused wiring wadded up under the console...oh well...
But when I'm installing or servicing...I just look for black and white.
That's what CBO did, and everything runs to that stout fuse block...keeping it as simple as possible.

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Dan,

Can you explain how your ground (white) wire was run? I'd read before that it's not supposed to be tied into the ground for the gas tank and am curious how yours was connected? Thanks,

Dave

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Duf,

I like CBO's idea of laying the job out on paper first to help you "own the concept" so to speak. That is just what I have done in several boats and classic car restorations. It really helps to visualize something like this. That was a good suggestion. In my humble opinion, I suggest you do not look at any more intimidating photos! Rather, let your brain "see" your schematic and then just build it. Decide on paper what method of coding you want to use.
Good Luck my friend,
Grady

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Putting it on paper is the best way. I have rewired boats up to 48' completley after they sunk. We stripped all the wire out of the entire vessel and started from scratch. I would take poster board and all the different colored pencils I could find and layed out all the wiring. starting with simple fuse blocks as big as you needed and go from there. when you lay it out one circuit at a time it becomes very simple. You just have to size the wire and circuit breakers for the equipment.

Kinda fun I think. I wish I had been doing it my entire life, has been a real full filling experience. I know I could go out in my retirement and get all the work I want right in my neighborhood of a couple thousand in the water boats.

http://www.clearlakeshores-tx.gov/

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An antique boat with a single battery and 2 plastic tanks depends on the motor "ground", as an electrical "drain" (ground)....
the only connection on the fuel reservoir is the fuel line...and that leaves me with 24 gallons of explosive gasoline nestled between my legs...comforting....!
I'm just making sure there's a heavy,( 10Ga.) hot and Ground coming off the battery to the console to a breaker panel, that I can then send out to the various dependents...audio, instruments, lighting.....and shut 'em down when at rest....
The automatic bilge gets tied direct...
There's not much else to it in my old bathtub...

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Again, all good stuff here folks. Looks like i don't have the market cornered on horror stories with regards to hosed up wiring and electical systems. Joe, if i had recieved your e-mail before i started i would have had to seriously consider flying you in! But now that i have cleaned her out myself, i'm good to go and better for it as i have traced down every wire, and have eliminated all but two wires as i have two sumps side by side, and i need to fire them up and see which one works and why in Gods name he didn't pull the one that didn't!! The good news is, should i be out on the water and have electrical issues, i have a mental visual of where all the wiring goes, and will be able to trouble shoot myself! I'll send pictures with the re-installation as i progress. In the meantime, tuesday i'm pulling the new boats "Yahama stuff" and Weds plan on re-installing all the "ETEC stuff". If all works out the new boat will be at my boat place by week saturday and having the ETEC re-installed. Its actually not all that difficult, and if your even a "fair" mechanic and take your time, its not that big a deal and i am dying to get back on the water. Will be in the high 70's all week with a nudge in the 80's here and there! :D Photo's to follow of course just so you can actually see me working!!

Duf B)

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It was 4 degrees this morning......
and it's snowing again......3 to 6".......
I feel your pain....75 degrees.......

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frankly, one of the best personnal pages i've ever read. I hope one day i have an opportunity to come by and have a ride on your whaler.

Sincerely

Duf B)

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Way to go duf! I look forward to seeing pictures of the new boat/motor combo on the water.

We're fishing a salmon derby tomorrow. Winds were blowing 20 to 25 today as I was tying the boat up at the overnight moorage. It's probably going to be in the forties tomorrow. Winds are forecast for 10-20, diminishing. Sunday looks nice though, winds to 10.

Here's hoping the "diminishing" is earlier than later.

Doug

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Doug, there is absolutely no doubt i will work a trip up to see you and go fishing. As you know i have a brother in Tacoma that i need to go see, but will work with you for a day of fishing on the side. I'm 2.5 years from retirement and getting itchy!! More later but we're on dood!!

Duf B)

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2 and 1/2 years to go. That sounds great. I've got a few more years than that, but lookin' forward to that time myself.

Doug

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Hey Duf,
Congrats on the rewire....it looks like s#*t when you start...
and not too shabby after you chop out all the old stuff.....
Now you know what's goin' on down there....
Your'e welcome aboard my boat anytime you feel a hankerin' to visit NY....
One of my nieces' is from your area....never went Whalerin' on the Gulf....:p

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danedg, my family lives in Conn (a brother, Mom and Sis, and have another brother out in Tacoma. Just like with Doug, and Jim in Conn, would love to hook up for a power outing and just a get together cruise along. Let your niece know she is more then welcome to hop on my whaler for some Golf cruising/fishing, anytime! Maybe during the Texas Gulf Coast get-together would be a good time!

Duf B)

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Well...
Laura's a little busy right now....just brought forth her third son... in five years....
my 9th great nephew/niece...
making 3 new men to join our clan this year overall...Colby, Tyler & Brady...
They are the cutest babies ever to be born yet!.......
And one of those guys is probably gonna inheret Greeat Grampa Bob's Boston Whaler some day....
I hope I get to give 'em their first ride!
Here's # 3...Aiden...we had to tie a leash on him...but he's 10 now.....

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Duf -

Any pictures of your handy work (hint, hint)?

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danedg, dang your are putting your own Navy together!

CBO At work now, but will post something later this evening or tomorrow as tonight pulling all the Yamaha stuff out and will start re-installing all the ETEC "stuff" Plan is to be done tomorrow!! then on to the dealer to re-install the ETEC. :D

Duf B)

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Ok, here is the evenings work, a ways to go!

Alrighty, talked to Joe and got this one up, its the parts off of both my boat, hydro's, steering wheels, engine harnesses, etc. Lets see if i can do the one of the electical i finished up with tonight.


Duf

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Can't beleive its this difficult to post (no slam here Joe, i told you i'm not computer literate beyond e-mail" :) but still trying to get latest photo's up.

Just made latest update with the wiring i pulled back to the motor. Thanks again Joe, it worked like a charm!! :D

Duf B)

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:oDuf!
There's a mango root growing off the back of your boat!
Is all that stuff comin' from your motor?
What on Earth...?
You're gonna need a bigger boat!

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LOL danedg, and that pile didn't even include the throttle and shifter cables and another set of battery cables that ran to a stern perko switch which in turn ran to an outlite. So that pile is not even including 4 major lines. So, this is now two boats i have removed all the lines from and now consider myself a cub scout with a couple of badges under my belt. :D Today will begin to re-install the ETEC stuff as i ended up working on removing and tidying up yesterday evening instead of installing.

More to come!

Duf B)

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Hey Duf,
Just curious. Are you going to fish this boondogle thru the rigging tube one wire at a time or will you wiretie the bundle and try to pull it all at once? I'm right behind you buddy. Mine will be done in the next two weeks.
Grady

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Grady, this pile is not being run through this boat, but will (hopefully) be removed sometime this coming week enmass, and my ETEC installed. The wiring i will be running unfortunately tomorrow night as it is raining and lightning outside as we speak, will be my just removed ETEC stuff.

To answer your question, I plan on running the engine wiring harness through first as it has the most to hang up, then the shifter and throttle cables together, then the hot wire, as the ground is already run. Then i'll run my hydro lines as they have the least of all to hang up on. None of it of course will i attach together except for just in the ends in case i ever need to pull one line or the other out. The other lines for my airator, pump and GPS fish finder etc are already in.

Where the fun will come in is when i install the Yamaha on Raggedy and reinstall that mess. Lots more stuff with a older motor. But i'll bet you when its done, it will look a ton better then that mess photo that started this whole thread off!! :D

I'll update with a photo when the job is done.

Duf B)

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Ah HAH!....
I missed the part about the new Etec!......
I had no idea WHY you were pulling ALL the guts of that boat out....
I thought you were just rewiring the console!....
...I can now see...said the blind man......
Take a bunch of pictures of the whole process.....
...be there when the new baby is delivered.....take pictures...your wife won't mind this time....
I'll help ya get 'em into a project folder or something...
...after 3 years I'm startin' to figure out how Joe and the Boyz want things packaged...they're kinda particular......:p

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Yeah, i know they like to keep the photo's down on the threads. I spoke with Joe the other day when i was struggling to get the pits on, got it now, but i also mentioned to him that i would give him a shout and figure out the photo combining thing on the personnal page to put the majority of my photo's. Windy and a tad cold today, gonna be struggling working outside this afternoon with the high at 64 degrees. :D


Duf B),

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Duf,
That little thunderstorm you mentioned the other day?...
....just danced into Poughkeepsie, NY...wearin' nothing but a big, fat, wet, Chorpus Christi kiss!.....
We're lookin' at 2" of rain...it's 37 degrees...could be ice.....
Looks like the Buffalo/Rochester boyz got their snowblowers out....
Get the Etec?....:D

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no, fraid not. Worked on her till way after dark using a flash light and didn't finish up. Had issues pulling the wiring through, that is a challenge by itself, as the lines tend to wrap themselves around the other cables. I'm not sure that pulling everything back and running the complete harness through is not the way to go. Got them in regardless, and the steering wheel was tight getting through, not sure if i have hydro in correctly, as didn't mark right and left, ignition switch is totally different so need to make a plate, and have a whole bunch of electrical to still hook up. So decided instead of dropping off the boat with a ton of work still remaining, to keep it through monday and work on it sunday. That way when i drop it off monday afternoon, will have that much more done, and that much less to do at $70 bucks an hour. More to come, but regardless is a labor of love!!

Duf B)

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duf,

It looks like you have been busy.

I know what you mean about the labor of love. It's all fun stuff when working on the boat (OK, sometimes the yoga moves trying to work inside the console are a little less than fun).

Doug

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10-4 on that. Just finished up for the evening and am pooped. Buddy of mine came over 0800 early and we worked on her together tracing, rewiring, splicing, new hoses, new fuel water separater till 1 until he had to go to a daughters ball game, so i carried on myself. Everything is in, batteries are charging and she's good to go to where the ETEC awaits which i will do tomorrow afternoon. Fuel tank is empty ( i drained everything as it had been sitting for 3 years), Installed a new stainless steel filter assy and have a fresh rewplacement filter i will install after my first couple of runs. Its been an experience and still have a long ways to go, as i want to put enviremental splices in. Any suggestions on the best to use please pipe up, and also need to know best recommendations for what to use to seal between the deck plates and what the best fuel water filter is for our outrages. Just curious, why do we seal the deckplates to the right and left of the consoles that are part of the trough??? Its all a seal trough assembly and the water isn't getting into our sealed foam areas. Just curious!

Duf B)

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duf,

I'm not sure what you mean by "environmental splices", but I think you mean wire splices?

If that is the case, use the Ancor brand, adhesive lined heat shrink butt splices, especially if they may get wet. You could probably get by with standard heat shrink in the console, but the adhesive lined are the cats meow for anything that may get wet.

Doug

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Doug, here is a photo of an enviremental splices that are used on Military Acft and i'm sure on other Military applications as well. I had to get a lesson today from one of the Supervisors at work, but basically you put the sleeve on first, then with a special crimping tool, you crimp the wires in the metal portion, move the sleeve back over the connection and the heat shrink.



In other news, i did get the new boat to my Marine place today, so will be awaiting a phone call hopefully in the next week or so, to come pick up my boat!!!!!!!!! VERY shortly thereafter will be the maiden voyage and i cannot wait!!!
Please do not ask me to go look at any more boats as i obviously have Whalerites, which is a compulsive disorder where you cannot resist buying a nicer whaler should you come across one. :p

Duf B)

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All the talk is interesting about wire colors. I just put the battery back in and there appears to be no power to the trim and ignition. I was thinking maybe I somehow hooked a wire to the battery incorrectly. There are two reds and a green taped together - when I traced back the green it was indeed red 2 feet back. It does lead you to second guess though.

Jim R