Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

I'm starting to sketch the toon schematic for my rewiring project, and I keep running into the term "marine wire". Does that mean that the insulation on the wire (or the wire itself) is especially suited for exposure to salt water? If so, since we're pretty much landlocked up here, this boat will see positively zero salt. Am I OK with just using primary hookup wire?

I also considered using direct burial wire like this:
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/showdet ... er=100-780

I think it would be a good choice because it's rated for outdoor exposure, and it's neat and clean since the two conductors are housed in the same outer jacket. I think that would be great for the longer runs to the lights at the front of the boat. Any opinions?

Finally, on crimp connectors: I'm thinking everything should be ring terminals, especially if I'm going to replace the bus bar in the console. But again, is there such a thing as "marine grade" ring terminals, and should I use them even on a strictly freshwater boat?

There is a lot of hype about "marine" wire but if it is a wet location rated wire it will be fine. That 14ga will work for your lights and radio but it will not run any heavy duty equipment.
Terminals are terminals. I doubt there is much difference between something called marine and a good quality industry standard terminal. I would go with a name brand like AMP and not some buck a bag chinese junk. That is particularly true with spade terminals. Cheap ones use a soft metal with bad retention capability.
The real issue is to seal up all of the terminations. Use shrink tube with silicone in it. I actually prefer soldered terminals to crimp on for marine use but a crimp on will work if you have a real crimp tool. That is not squeezing them with pliers.
I also hear a lot about tinned vs untinned wire but the difference is measured in weeks if they are getting wet. (particularly in salt water)

You should always wire home runs all the way back to the switch for each circuit with no splices along the way. You use more wire that way but you have fewer potential points of failure and when you do have a failure it is easier to find.
I ran everything in conduit on my boat and 22 years later everything is still working.

Go here http://www.mcmaster.com/# if you want good stuff. Ther have terminals with the shrink built-in. I used to belong to a pwc forum and all the guys went there. Like was said, get a good crimp tool.

I use this every time I re-do a toon: http://www.pontoonstuff.com/pontoon-boa ... rness.aspx
Plus it plugs in to their switch panels and every thing is circuit breaker protected, no buss bars or fuses. I don't see how you could do it any cheaper even if your time isn't worth any thing. Now if you have a TON of accessories that might be a case where buying a harness and the additional wire wouldn't make sense.

How do you protect that wire?
Running bare conductors around a boat is just asking for trouble.

This site has all kinds of protective sleeves for wiring.
http://www.cabletiesandmore.com/coupon_codes.ph
You might find it cheaper at Auto Parts stores.

The biggest difference is in the stranding and it is tinned instead of bare copper. When I wired mine I got 2 250 foot rolls of 14 gauge SIS grade red and black wire. SIS is tinned and a very fine stranded.

Personally, I'd use only marine tinned wire. From the factory, not one manufacturer uses anything but. Copper will corrode, although a lot less faster in freshwater. Every boat I've ever restored I use only marine grade wire. Connectors are connectors, but use ones that have heat shrink, especially in the engine compartment area.

I also hit every connection with Ox-Guard before crimping.

Soldered connections seldom fail, as long as you get everything hot. I've never met a crimp connector that doesn't eventually fail.

MichaelB wrote:Soldered connections seldom fail, as long as you get everything hot. I've never met a crimp connector that doesn't eventually fail.

Agreed solder is best and for the same reason tinned wire is preferred--it seals the bare copper with corrosion-resistant plating. Standard pvc-jacketed "automotive" wire will crack & crumble with long exposure to UV sunlight.

There is a dizzying array of connectors available for low voltage use. The crimp terminals with integral heat-shrink sleeve would be a good choice on a boat. "ScotchLock" plastic blocks and twist-nuts are the worst choice but there are even versions of those with silicone goo inside to seal the connection. The phone company trusts them.

Best thing going to seal off any splice is heat shrink tubing with heat-activated adhesive inside the tube. With enough heat from the heat gun (a hair dryer won't do it) the adhesive melts & flows around the connection as the tubing shrinks. A little oozes out as evidence of a perfect hermetically-sealed connection.

I used to solder everything but with all these new options I now trust crimp connectors and would even trust adhesive-filled shrink tubing under water.

Another thing to concider is that if there is a fire on board no matter what caused it, the insurance co can deny payment. same as using automotive parts on an inboard.

When I got my boat Coast Guard Certified the inspector told me it would have failed if I did not use certified wire. He said electrical stuff is a HIGH priority on their checklist, as well as the quality and neatness of wiring looms, etc. I would think that the note about the insurance company would hold true about them denying a claim if it could be traced to using "sub-standard" wire...

Nothing automotive grade belongs on a boat. Starters, relays, wire, etc.

The big problem with auto starters, alternators etc is the lack of flame suppression screens. Other than that they are exactly the same.