1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

[micks110]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

Arch- the bilge pump is not automatic. I have a switch under the dash to turn it on and off. Like I said earlier- I will draw up the diagram tomorrow.

A couple positives on the night- the fish finder works great- I played around with that a bit. I was playing around with the fish finder while I was listening to the radio! That works as well! I don't even have an antenna yet and all our local stations came in great. I plan on doing one of those antennas that goes up the bow instead of the traditional antenna.

Here are some pics of the rubrail, and the pic of the battery

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

 

[archbuilder]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

Hey Mick the rub rail looks really sharp!

 

[tallcanadian]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

The rub rail looks awesome. It sounds like you have a dead short somewhere in your wiring. Your horn is working the opposite than what it should be. Does it stop blowing when you press the button? You've got something crossed for sure. Wiring diagram will help for sure.

 

[bigblock454]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

Hey Mick,

Sorry about your wiring woes, but you (we'll) get it sorted out! Most of the horns I've mest with just use the bracket for ground. Is it possible you have some kind of "multi-chime" capability and maybe hooked a ground up to a "hot" lead? Maybe just disconnect horn and see what happens (maybe you already tried). Just grasping at straws here.

Norm II

 

[micks110]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

What's a dead short?

 

[Truefire]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

My lands bro i really like the boat, to say it looks great is an understatement.

This Pettit Easypoxy paint that you utilized isn't the "Ice Blue" color is it? I was planning on buying the easypoxy "Ice Blue" color paint for my boat project.

Truefirech@aol.com
Thanks, Chris

 

[ben2go]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

What's a dead short?

It usually means the positive and negative voltage lines are tied together - OR - the positive line is shunted to ground with voltage applied.

 

[micks110]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

Thanks Chris! I used the ocean blue not the ice blue although I thought about that color for a bit instead of the ocean blue.

Thanks Ben- that's what I figured. I will be going out tonight to draw up the diagram and figure out what is going on.

I think with the bilge pump my wires are crossed in the on/off switch that I have for it. I had the switch in the off position when I hooked up the battery and it started running. So hopefully that is it for the bilge pump.

The thing that gets me on the on off switch there is no label for which is the positive and which is the negative. I guess I guess wrong.

The other thing that confuses me is the wires for the stern light are both black. So which one goes to the positive and which one goes to the ground???

The bow light has a gray wire (positive) and black wire (ground). Why is it different from the stern light?

The horn has two gray wires. So which one is the positive and which one is the ground. There are no markings on the wires and there is nothing in any of the manual pages that came with the stuff.

I don't know- I'll draw up the diagram tonight.

Thanks Again!

 

[micks110]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

To add insult to injury- I was out there with the wife and kids for a bit. I brought the car cell phone charger to see if that worked. Keep in mind the charger on the boat has two wires- a ground and a postive. I have them directly run to there spots with a 15 amp fuse. The second I plugged the cell phone charger in the fuse blew.

WTF!!!!!!!

 

[ben2go]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

To add insult to injury- I was out there with the wife and kids for a bit. I brought the car cell phone charger to see if that worked. Keep in mind the charger on the boat has two wires- a ground and a postive. I have them directly run to there spots with a 15 amp fuse. The second I plugged the cell phone charger in the fuse blew.

WTF!!!!!!!

Try a direct ground to the battery from the car charger plug in.Keep the fuse in place for protection.My phone charger has a glass tube type fuse in it rated for 1.5 amps,so a phone doesn't require much juice to charge.

 

[andgott]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

The thing that gets me on the on off switch there is no label for which is the positive and which is the negative. I guess I guess wrong.

Is it an on/off switch, or a three position switch (On/Off/Auto)

There shouldn't be a negative on the switch in most cases- The positive wire will run from the fuse to the switch, then another wire from switch to pump. This cuts the positive off, but the negative always remains connected. Should be something like this-

This is just your bilge pump and your horn, but everything else would be connected in a similar manner.

I've done a TON of boat wiring in the past- Everything from simple jobs to complete rewires of BIG sailboats. Electrical can be a nightmare to figure out- Luckily you're starting from scratch so don't have to find/correct other people's errors. A diagram is important- I find wiring jobs go a LOT easier if you have a plan to start with!

Sometimes finding all those little 'quirks' in the system can be exhausting- The rear windshield washer pump on my Jeep Cherokee turns on whenever my headlights are on, for example. No rhyme or reason to it whatsoever. Frustrating, as electrical work often can be

-Andrew

 

[micks110]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

OK here is my diagram of what I have done.

Andrew looking at your diagram- it looks like I'm wrong.

Anyhow, here is my diagram. I have a switch for the bilge pump and radio. I didn't include the radio switch because that works when I turn the switch on and push the power button on the radio it turns on. When I turn the switch to OFF there is no power to the radio.

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

I helped rewire my entire house when we first bought it but I can't get a little boat wired up!

I figured I'd pull everything and do each accessory one at a time to see what happens. First one I did was the lights. when I connected to the battery the lights came on when I didn't even have the switch pulled out in the ON position. I pulled the switch out and they turned off and also blew the fuse!

I'm out of 15 amp fuses so I am done with this electrical until hopefully one of you could PLEASE draw me up a diagram and I am going to have to START ALL OVER from the looks of it.

I looked at my neighbor work again from the old unicharger and he has splices all over the place, 14 gauge wire going to 18 gauge, wire nuts, no fuse block,etc... and it all worked. I spend all this time with correct wire size, a fuse block, crimping wires, and I get blown fuses! WTF!!!!

Please help

 

[andgott]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

Just wire it like in the diagram I drew for you- Do each circuit on it's own, and it'll go smoothly.

The switch doesn't have a positive and a negative- You just put it in the positive line, you shouldn't have negative wires there at all. You'll disconnect the positive to turn the pump off, but the negative will stay connected. Same w/ the horn. If the horn wires have no labels, it's likely that it doesn't matter which is connected to positive.

I think you are just making it more difficult than you need to

I'm not sure about the charger, though... You'll probably need a diagram to get that right.

 

[micks110]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

I probably am making it more difficult than it is. But that is what I thought in the first place and it got me to here!

Why does the horn and the light switch have two prongs coming off the back if I only need to use one?

 

[micks110]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

the unicharger is the simple part at this point. It has a 1960's diagram that is simple to understand unlike stuff today.

 

[micks110]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

Andrew- I understand the bilge and the horn at this point. Thanks!

How about the lights then. Why does the stern light have 2 black wires, and the bow light have a gray and a black wire?

 

[andgott]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

Here's how I'd do it-

The top one, ACC, is anything that you want to come on when the boat is turned on (EG Gauges, etc) that doesn't have a switch on it first. I didn't specify fuses, you seem to already know what size each circuit takes, so I just ran the positive thru a generic 'fuse panel'. Each of these lines should have a fuse of the appropriate size.

Of course, this is without actually SEEING your setup- so use due diligence in actually wiring.... Some things MAY be different.

The colors on the light wires don't matter much- You can wire a 12v light either way and it'll be OK. Well, for the most part- some of the new LED lights have a definite positive/negative, but they should be labeled correctly... SHOULD.

As for the bilge pump switch- I'm not sure which one you have, but if you only have a manual pump (no built in float switch), then all you need is one 'prong' on one side, one on the other, to disconnect the positive. Do you have an indicator light or anything on the switch?? Some of them have a bit different wiring on them.

 

[archbuilder]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

Mick you switch wiring is the problem, you should have the power coming from the fuse block, to the switch then there should be a hot wire that goes from the other side of the switch to whatever you are powering. The ground wires from what you are powering should only go back to either a ground buss or directly to the battery ground.

 

[archbuilder]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

looks like Andrew has it mapped out for you!

 

[BobsGlasstream]

Re: 1962 Arkansas Traveler restoration

Hey Mick,
The rub rail looks good.
I would like to help with the wiring but looks like everyone else has got you covered. I would just muddy the water.
Hang in man you will get it.
Bob