Ata Boy Ron. Lets get that momentum back up to speed and get her wet. Looking good my man.

Bob

While everyone was out enjoying Labor Day on the water, I almost got my interior ready for upholstery. Only thing left to do is resin the front of the motor cover. Every joint is glassed on both sides including the radius front seats. I actually had a blast glassing everything up. This boat didn't have any storage under the seats, now its got a little, enough for a couple of ropes and misc. stuff.

NIce work! The word bulletproof applies...

i would put the fuse block in like under the seat just go ahead and wire it dirct buy a fuse block mount it under the seat and it looks really clean ask lucky stiff for a pic of his hallet under driver rear seat

If you had ever seen a boat that had an electrical fire we would not even be having this discussion, I am a huge fan of fuses or circuit breakers. A fire extinguisher will not put out a fire in the wiring harness, and yours is probably a lot like mine, runs along the top of the fuel tanks.

As a side benifit, fuses help troubleshoot potential problems also, if you have a shorted bilge pump or ignition coil or something, the blown fuse will point right to the problem, instead of having to look all over hell to find it.

IMO, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure....

Can you imagine getting it all done only to have it burn to the water line?

That things getting close now....

Lets just say it can't hurt. The fuses/circuit breakers job is to protect the wire from melting/burning, so basically the fuse should be sized just like the wire, for the load they energize.

For all intensive pourposes, you are probably using automotive grade oil resistant THHN stranded copper wire, so these are ampacities off the top of my head. (should be really close too lazy to go and get my book) BTW recommended reading for everyone, go to a hardware store and pick up an Ugly's electrical handbook, they only cost about $20 and there is a ton of good everyday electrical info..


16 ga. = 20 amps max. for in a harness or tied to other wires (30A for one wire).
14 ga. = 25 amps max. for in a harness or tied to other wires (35A for one wire).
12 ga. = 30 amps max. for in a harness or tied to other wires (40A for one wire).
10 ga. = 35 amps max. for in a harness or tied to other wires (55A for one wire).
8 ga. = 55 amps max. for in a harness or tied to other wires (80A for one wire).

Now these are wire ratings off the top of my head and should be close but don't take as fact, I always de-rate the wire by 75% to compensate for the length of wire, its easier than adding a gauge for however long the wire is.

For an example, a 14 ga. wire would be good for approx. 19 amps....etc.

This should get you in the park, I would run a fuse or breaker for every load, but that's just me....

Good luck....

BTW I use these, cheap and easy (the fuse block, not my women choices ).


http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=SUM%2D900170&N=700+4294925143+4294839062+4294843320+115&autoview=sku

You can daisy chain the gauge power leads (purple wire) I would run one fuse/circuit for the main power to the dash from the source (probably the starter solenoid main post or the battery) one for the bilge pump, one for the ignition circuit (even with a mag because the ignition circuit powers up the gauges), and if switched separately, one for the dash lights (sometimes run off of the ignition circuit). You should be fine, you do not need a fuse for the start wire because its pretty intermittant....IMO

So this puts three fuses under the dash and one at the engine (I use breakers for the ones on the engine)

You dont need much to be protected. Also I think your ground is too small, the ground wire has to take all of the load of the "hot" wires so it should at least equal the size of the largest hot wire....which would make your ground requirement at least a 10 ga.

Again, just me.....

Last weekend you all scared me into incorporating a fuse block into the wiring. Here is what I ended up with after 14 hours of effort. The fuse block ended up on the passenger side of the boat, so all the wires had to run accross to it and back again. Thats alot of wires to try and keep organized.

Very nice work, I would say as nice as the rest of the project, for a while there looked like Willie Wonka Spaghetti

You will be much happier with that piece of mind...

GT

Thanks GT, I'm going to be pissed if I screwed this up. I'll have to go buy another 100 zip ties.

LMAO

whos prerunner is that in the pic yours I hope

Thats my nephews Ranger. I think he spent like 7 grand on the front suspension and the full cage. Then he and my son decided, one friday night, to cut the bed apart and hang fiberglass fenders. I'm just grateful, their experimenting with his truck and not one of mine. Too rich for my blood, I've got boats to build.

Hey 76 in the forum in tech, in the jet pump section page 2 there is some plumbing diagrams. I dont know how to put the links here for ya I need to learn how to do that. Anyone for some lessons