Bass boat Wiring / Accessories best practice?

[DHag]

I am about to re-wire my bass boat. Over the years, previous owners have created a snakes' nest, causing all kinds of problems, including a would-not-start on a Search & Rescue practice.

I did a minor re-wire last year, because the new cranking battery kept going down while fishing. So I wired everything off of the trolling batteries except the starter. The cranking battery does nothing but crank the motor. Tilt, lights, fish finders, everything, is connected to the trolling batteries. I also installed a "jumper" switch that will connect one of the trolling batteries to help start the motor. Basically, I wanted to be sure the motor will crank!

Now, I'm going to completely re-wire the boat. What is the "right" way to hook up the accessories? What, if any, accessories should I connect to the cranking battery?

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Bass boat Wiring / Accessories best practice?

Gauges, tilt&trim, bilge pump, starter, and even a console mounted stereo (low power unit) and fish finder will have no problem on the starting battery. Everything else can go the troller battery. But then it all depends on what the "other" accessories are. Everything on my pontoon except the troller and bow mounted locator runs off the start battery with no problem. Most accessories draw very little power so a good size marine starting or dual-purpose battery will do nicely for starting duty. But that's just my opinion -- others will certainly have alternate suggestions.