Boat Rewiring

Hi Guys i have a question i want to try and re wire my 260 1991 rinker completely meaning rip out all the old wires and fuse panel and put in everything new. But i have no expertise in electrical work. So can some one tell me what all the wires are in the boat besides red and black because i have some brown and green wires in there to and all sorts of wires. Can you please send me a link or explain to me what those wires are. And do you think its a good idea that i am doing this. Please answer thank you...

 

Welcome aboard Rinkerdiyguy . . .

No, it's not a good idea to rip everything out and start over, unless you have a firm grasp on the skills involved, which you apparently don't.

Why do you want to rip it all out? In most cases, electrical issues can be tracked down and fixed with simple, often tedious work. Corroded contacts are the biggest issue on most small boats like yours. Simply removing each and every connection, cleaning it and reassembling it, will fix most problems. Sometimes a wire breaks, but a simple butt splice will usually fix this. What is your electric doing wrong?

Look, you can turn your boat into wiring spaghetti or you can fix the problems it has. It's you call . . .

 

PAR is right on. If you

then don't. If it really needs it, then hire a marine electrician to do it right. An oft overlooked fact, most boat fires are electrical in origin, usually due to badly wired systems, or poor maintenance. This is not the place to try to save a buck. Also what PAR said, most problems are loose or corroded connections. My boat is 40 years old and most of the wiring is still OK. I replaced some of it that was rotted, but most of the issues were due to corroded or loose connections. I have a strong background in electrical systems and this is not a good place for novices to be fooling around.

But for your education; all those colors are for a specific circuit. There is a color code that is used in the USA and a slightly different (but mostly the same) one used in Europe. Each circuit uses a specific color so an electrician can look and immediately know where the wire goes. But in DC (direct current) systems Black is negative and Red is positive.

see Color Codes http://newboatbuilders.com/pages/elect5.html

 

My advice is to find a guy who has experience, pamper him with whatever is his fancy, like good cigars or Jack Daniels Number 7 until solid friendship is established.
But first determine the need to rewire. If the boat has not been submerged, there was no fire and rats didn't live in it, why should you rewire?

 

Explain what motives you to ripping it all out ????

Wire hardly ever wears out its whats attached to each end of it thats most of the problems !!, so leave the wire and replace just the terminals its what you will be doing any way so if you use whats there 50% is already done and you are just going to be replacing with up to date equipment ! sure you may have to replace the odd wire or two where loads are a little greater than what they were origanally . plugs and the terminalls corrode so will need to be replaced but todyas bits are far better than what was used in 1991 .plus we havd shrink wrap to seal better .
Go find a exsperianced sparkie or you will be way out of your deepth in a very short time .