wires

My dad went & bought a 1992 Weld-craft 1436, came with trailer, trolling motor, great shape. He got it for $450. At 80 years young, he really doesn't need it but he wanted it. Wish he'd told me he wanted to go fishing...he can use mine any time he wants. But you know how it is...can't tell some people anything.

Anyway...they didn't wire anything. PO kept a battery up front and had no outboard, just a trolling motor. Dad wants an electric start outboard and being that it's a little boat, he needs to make the best use of what little space he has in that small boat. I have to run a pair of 8 ga wires from the bow to stern where the battery will reside. He doesn't want any running lights. I may splice in a 12v accessory to charge a cellphone but that'd be about it, and that will go in with the trolling motor bracket at the bow.

How do you guys run the wires in a plain-jane boat? No floor, no wiring channel to "hide" them in.

I have just zip ties under the gunwale seat supports. Might look cleaner if you ran the wires through a hose. A good budget wire is booster cables. The come on sale cheaper than I can find plain wire.

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Yeah, I just use split wire loom tubing:

You can also use the gray flexible electrical conduit. Rated for direct sunlight and has connectors for making radius bends and some other configurations.

Usually will get some black irrigation pipe and run up the side in the channel behind the ribs and put wire inside it. That drip irrigation pipe is extremely thin so it will be flexible and you can fish it through. With two pieces of 8Ga you will most likely have to thread it through prior to working it all as a unit in there.

Weldorthemagnificent said:

I have just zip ties under the gunwale seat supports. Might look cleaner if you ran the wires through a hose. A good budget wire is booster cables. The come on sale cheaper than I can find plain wire.

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I do the same.. and it's already color coded

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How do you keep pipe (PVC, etc) from fading and/or deteriorating with sunlight exposure? That's always been a problem in the past for me; after about a year it looks horrible and/or falls apart.

PVC looks like a pain in the butt to get it through the ribs. And may rattle quite a bit unless I devise a way to isolate it. Hmmm. Ideas.

jethro said:

Yeah, I just use split wire loom tubing:

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X2.

LDUBS said:

jethro said:

Yeah, I just use split wire loom tubing:

Click to expand...

X2.

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Split wire loom is good stuff, really cleans up the install..

but be careful!!!

It will wear through metal if allowed to vibrate against it.. you wouldn't think that plastic can wear out aluminum or steel, but I see it all the time on heavy equipment. So where ever it touches metal be sure that it can't move.

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Someone was throwing away a FREE coil of 1" ID irrigation hose, which appears to be nothing but a good quality heavy-walled black elastomer hose. I placed it just under the seats at the garboard transition from hull bottom to hull sides, positioned so that the 'natural curl' from the coil was forced 'down' against the bottom. After a week in the sun it now lays flat. You should check out your local Craigslist for free items or your dump/transfer station.

It is bullet proof for the wiring to the bow!