Where would breakers/fuses be?

[convergent]

I was out on the lake this weekend and took on a bit of water over the bow a couple of times and surprisingly never had anything coming out the bilge pump outlet. I have a manual switch override that I flipped and nothing. When I pulled the plug after I took the boat out of the water a lot of water came out... would assume that it should have been able to eject some with the pump. I know the pump worked at some point since I bought the boat and was thinking maybe it blew a fuse or something. Where would fuses or circuit breakers usually be located? This is a fish and ski hull that seems to be built similarly to most of the ones I've seen.

What made me think of this was that as we were leaving the lake yesterday a group of older guys were launching a center console. They didn't really look like they had done it a lot from the dialog that I heard and watching them work. After they got the boat off the trailer I noticed that their bilge outlet was spraying a steady stream of water like a garden hose. It never stopped. I was putting on my stern straps and cleaning up the boat to leave and couldn't stop watching. As the guy was pulling the trailer out to park it, I asked him if he knew if they put the plug in the boat because a lot of water was coming out from the bilge pump, and he said... "that's a good question, I need to check". Another several minutes went by and the guy driving the boat was sort of circling around at the end of the dock, I presume trying to get it back to the dock so they could board. We finally left and the boat still had a steady flow of water out the bilge outlet. Hopefully they didn't sink.

 

[bob johnson]

Re: Where would breakers/fuses be?

there should be hatch somewhere to look for that hides the fuse panel...

get to looking....many times it is under the dash...

you could follow wires....

dont know your boat..so cant offer any more on where it might be.

bob

 

[seabob4]

Re: Where would breakers/fuses be?

The float switch should have a lead coming off it that goes directly to the batt, protected by an in-line 10A fuse. The switch on the panel should be fed from a fuse panel under you dash.

 

[Rscardina]

Re: Where would breakers/fuses be?

Mike, your bilge pump has a float that activates it..if water is not high enough then it doesnt pump.

If you have the overide switch then it should have pumped.. they are quite pumps so hearing them takes some work..

as far as fusses go... thats a tough one.. my builge pump power comes from the battery directly for auto funtion and then i have wires that run to y center console for manual operation..

i would trace the wires from the pump as best you can..as already suggested... without pictures its a hard one to answer

 

[convergent]

Re: Where would breakers/fuses be?

Thanks for the suggestions guys... I'll look under the dash and see what I can find. I've been down in the bilge area and don't believe anything related to fuses is down there. The wiring on this boat is all pretty well tucked in places that are very hard to get to. I just wanted to have an idea where to start looking, so it looks like I need to get my butt in the floor and look up under the dash and instrument panel.

 

[seabob4]

Re: Where would breakers/fuses be?

Thanks for the suggestions guys... I'll look under the dash and see what I can find. I've been down in the bilge area and don't believe anything related to fuses is down there. The wiring on this boat is all pretty well tucked in places that are very hard to get to. I just wanted to have an idea where to start looking, so it looks like I need to get my butt in the floor and look up under the dash and instrument panel.

A good bit of my sidework is rewiring helms...you spend a lot of time on your back, working overhead...

 

[cr2k]

Re: Where would breakers/fuses be?

Of course maybe the pump fuse is ok and the pump is just plugged with debris.

 

[convergent]

Re: Where would breakers/fuses be?

As an update on my particular situation, I've found that the bilge pump does come on with the manual switch, but its just very quiet. I took the floor panels out covering the bilge to investigate this and it does look like someone has replaced the pump and done some rewiring. the wires for that are not tucked in like everything else and change colors twice between the pump and harness. So the positive wire comes back from the pump and then T's. One side I'm assuming toes to the dash switch. The other goes through a floater switch in the bilge area, then through an in-line fuse, and finally directly to the battery switch. I can't get the pump to come on by toggling the floater switch, and so I'm in the process of debugging that. When I unwrapped the harness that the switch wire went through I found some corrosion and several wires that need to be replaced. Since they all trace back to the same place, and the dash switch works and the floater doesn't, I either have a bad wire/connection, or the floater is bad.

All of that aside, I still have been unable to fine a circuit breaker box or fuse box anywhere in the boat. There is nothing under the dash, nothing on the passenger side either. And the area where the pumps and all are above the bilge doesn't have anything either. Do they make boats without a fuse box? That would seem kind of dangerous to me. All of the wiring harness is tucked up in the starboard side of the hull and runs from stern to bow. There aren't a lot of places this could be that I can think of. This is a Fish and Ski type hull... any one have a fusebox in an odd place with a boat like this?

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Where would breakers/fuses be?

My fuses are all glass type and are in the wiring block on the backside of the dash.

 

[NHGuy]

Re: Where would breakers/fuses be?

Hi, a couple of thoughts for you. I'd suggest getting a couple of lengths of wire, 2 colors with alligator clip ends, a test light for 3 or 4 dollars and a basic volt-ohm meter for around 15 or 20 bucks. With those you can check where you have 12 volts and where you have none, that way you know more than the breaker/fuse question. You can also jump the pump and the float directly to power and separately to ground to verify function.
The float switch is an important fail safe, so it really ought to have it's own power supply. Replace any corroded wires with new-same color as factory. Keep your connections high and dry, and use marine grade connectors with heat shrink tubing over them. If you really want to be correct there is a standard for color on boat wiring that you can follow. Pumps are supposed to use brown wire.
Use this as a guide if you feel there are mistakes in the existing design.
http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=186986
I'd bet a dollar your boat has breakers for the dash stuff. Many boats have them right next to the switch they actuate, might look like buttons. When they pop up the connection is broken.

 

[NHGuy]

Re: Where would breakers/fuses be?

Once you know where the pump picks up water you can decide if it was not working on the dash switch. My pump is easy to reach because it's on a block at the bottom of the vee, but it's 4 feet in front of the transom. Kids climbing in the boat and rain leave me with a couple of inches of water in the boat even when it has not leaked.
If you find the pump and you can tell it was submerged when you had the switch turned on try it at the dock or on the trailer by putting in some water and running it. If it doesn't pump check for obstructions or other physical problems. There could be a disconnected outlet hose or the pump housing could have some problem like a crack or break. I've found junk in the pump before too, like little sticks or leaves.
Pumps don't cost much, any question-change it out.

 

[convergent]

Re: Where would breakers/fuses be?

OK, I'm an idiot... its official. The dash switches have the little white breaker buttons right above each switch on the dash. Duh. I can't believe I never saw them in all the time I was looking UNDER the dash.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Where would breakers/fuses be?

If there are little white buttons above, below or along side each switch you don't have fuses. You have resetable circuit breakers. Push the button to reset it.

 

[Stachi]

Re: Where would breakers/fuses be?

if the circuit breaker pops again , you may want to investigate the reason it popped.... I would....

 

[convergent]

Re: Where would breakers/fuses be?

None of the breakers popped... I was just trying to find out where they were in the boat so that when something goes wrong in the future I'd know where to look. Idiot me was looking all over the place for a fuse panel and the breakers were staring me right in the face.

 

[Stachi]

Re: Where would breakers/fuses be?

None of the breakers popped... I was just trying to find out where they were in the boat so that when something goes wrong in the future I'd no where to look. Idiot me was looking all over the place for a fuse panel and the breakers were staring me right in the face.

lol... yeah , I have lost my glasses while wearing them to...lol

 

[Moon477]

Re: Where would breakers/fuses be?

If there are little white buttons above, below or along side each switch you don't have fuses. You have resetable circuit breakers. Push the button to reset it.

Where can I get replacement circuit breakers in this style? Im having issues with the switch for the hatch.