Blower not working, have wire, no idea where it goes

JustPhish

Cadet
Joined
May 21, 2010
Messages
27
Hi folks, new here, found the forum by searching for wiring for a blower. Here's a little background. Bought an 82 Chris Craft Catalina Express from someone I know last fall. Just got it into the water a few weeks ago. Aside from needing to replace some sagging hatches, no other problems with the boat was what I was told.

So, I need to fuel it up so I take it to a fueling point. Never sailed before, just got our licenses (wife and I). Get my fuel, go to turn on blower....it doesn't work. Start heading back to my marina, turn on navigation lights cause it's getting dark, don't work. Try using trim tabs, when cruising, don't work. Try turning on courtesy lights, don't work. Try hitting horn to see how loud it is, doesn't work. Turns out the only switches on my panel that are working are the panel lights and wipers. Yes I have checked all bus fuses, they are all good. Replaced each one anyway for good measure.

I'd first like to tackle the blower. I called the guy and asked what the deal is, he said it worked just fine when he took it out of the water. Fine. I take out panels to get electrical access and I see the switch for the blower. The wires have been disconnected from the switch entirely. I call him and ask him why he did that. Says they must have fallen off. I look a little closer, and the running end of one wire is knotted with an overhand knot around another wire. Yep, must have both come off and then knotted itself, accidentally, to keep from dangling outside of the panel.

So, I reconnect the wire to the neutral bar. It's obvious it goes there, it's not long enough to reach anywhere else and it was connected to the fuse below the blower switch. Now I have this one wire left that has a forked end. I have no idea where it's supposed to go. It can't connect to the dc panel right? Cause then I'll have a loop from the panel to the switch only and nothing going to or coming from a blower. Where does this wire go??

I appreciate your help. I spent hours at the marina yesterday trying to figure it out and I'm heading back ther shortly.

Thanks,
JP
 

JustPhish

Cadet
Joined
May 21, 2010
Messages
27
Re: Blower not working, have wire, no idea where it goes

Well I went back down today and after getting down into the engine room, turns out there are no blowers installed. I can see where they were at one time, but they aren't there now. Not trusting my judgement as this is my first time owning a boat I asked the marina owner to take a look and see....no blowers installed. So now I gotta buy a couple and install them.

Onto my navigational lights not working now.
 

Silvertip

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Sep 22, 2003
Messages
28,758
Re: Blower not working, have wire, no idea where it goes

I trust you learned the reason why we always recommend an "on-water" test and if one doesn't understand the various systems in a boat, the value of a marine survey. Anyway, that's all water over the dam so lets get to the wiring. All circuits are simply a path for current from the battery, the fuse panel, to the various switches, from the switches to the devices they control and then a ground from each device to a ground buss which leads back to the battery. So here is how it looks electrically. A simple lamp is shown, but nearly every device on the boat can be substituted for the lamp in this circuit. Nav lights can have two separate switches, or one switch with either three or six terminals. Do a search for Nav Light Wiring on this forum. I've posted those diagrams many times.

Basicwiring.jpg
 

NYBo

Admiral
Joined
Oct 23, 2008
Messages
7,107
Re: Blower not working, have wire, no idea where it goes

Welcome to iboats!:cool:

So much for the pleasantries, though. :mad:

To put it bluntly, either the guy you bought the boat from is a liar or someone vandalized the boat since you bought it. DO NOT operate the boat until you have a blower installed properly. Do not even start the engine. Gasoline fumes in the engine compartment can turn your boat into an incendiary device.
 

JustPhish

Cadet
Joined
May 21, 2010
Messages
27
Re: Blower not working, have wire, no idea where it goes

Welcome to iboats!:cool:

So much for the pleasantries, though. :mad:

LOL, no kidding!! ;)

I'm pretty confident that were others in my position, buying a boat from a friend you've known a long time and even been out on the boat several times fishing, you too would have forgone formalities when your friend assured you the only things wrong with the boat were the things listed.

Knowing my friend, I'm going to say he never bothered to used the blowers in all the time he owned the boat so he really didn't know there weren't any on there. No matter though, getting new ones and wiring them in is much easier than trying to figure out what's wrong with the wiring of the old ones. I'll buy a new pair tomorrow. This lighting thing though, that's going to kill me. I still gotta get back down to the marina and see if all the bulbs are the same so I can buy new ones and start there with the problem.
 
Top