help with re-wiring woes

[spacerust]

i just had my boat completely redone from top to bottom, hull wise. now the guys that were doing the job were fiberglass workers and i had everything replaced new except the wiring. they were going to re-wire as i had before but i told them i wanted to have the wiring redone new as well. they said they were familiar with re-wiring so i told them to just leave it there and i'll do it thinking it was easy since i'm fairly handy at doing my own stuff. well now i'm looking at it and i don't know where to start. i put a new power lift and i have the relay but don't know how to hook it up to the switch or relay. my lights have to be redone, the fuel sending unit and the bilge, everything. where do i start and any suggestions? help!

 

[Silvertip]

Re: help with re-wiring woes

You start by understanding that there are two wiring systems on a boat -- not just one. 1) The engine and controls have their own wiring consisting of the large battery cables that run from the battery to the engine. The cable running from the engine to the controls is engine specific. Tilt & Trim, Gauges, starter, and alarms are in that harness. 2) Everything else in the boat operates from the fuse or circuit breaker panel. You need to sit down and plan, plan, plan, and draw out the systems on your boat. Failure to do so will make you nuts. Here are few generic diagrams to get you started.
This is a diagram of a very simply single light system. It shows the battery feeding a fuse panel. From there a fused circuit feeds a switch that controls the light. Most circuits on a boat follow this scheme.

Here is a diagram for a "generic" instrument panel.

Here is a diagram for the Nav/Anchor light. Note that this is not a standard ON/OFF switch.

For engine wiring you need the diagram for your specific engine.
Be aware that the red & black wire from the battery to the fuse panel should be 10 gauge since it is the main feed to the fuse panel and therefore must carry the current demands of everything connected to the panel.