Ahhh... wiring problems....

[TritonGlenn]

At my last tournament, my port side recirc pump stopped working. Luckily, I was fishing alone, so I just used the other side. Today, I decided to dig into the bilge and find out what was wrong, fully expecting to either have a burnt pump motor, or something of the sort. What I found was disheartening. My pumps (8 of them - two livewell pumps, two recirc pumps, two "pump-out" pumps, and two bilge pumps, plus the float switch) are all connected via some rubber housed "quick connect" fittings. Well, the fittings were all laying in the very bottom of the boat, in the bilge area. My culprit turned out to be at the quick connect fitting - it was corroded so bad, that it just broke off. "No big deal", I told myself... until I noticed that the other 7 were the same way, and pretty close to breaking. :angry:



So... I just spent the last couple of hours cutting all those quick connects off, cleaning bilge scum off the wiring, permanantly connecting the wires together with marine grade connectors, sealed with Sea-Bold liquid sealant. Everything works now, and the entire bilge area is cleaned up. The wires are safely supported out of the bilge area. Total cost was "O", as I've had stockpiles of connectors and sealant for years... but it took up most of my day off.



Oh well... such is the task of owning a BOAT (Break Out Another Thousand). I guess



If you have time in the off season.... check your bilge area and anything that is "out of eye-sight. Clean it up and fix it up now, before next years tournament season starts.



All the best,

Glenn

 

[TOMMY RICH]

Did you read the article in last month's BasMaster Mag about Zell Rowland and what he does to a tourny rig ? Lot of good info...

 

[TritonGlenn]

Nope. I missed that one. And the magazine got thrown away this morning - I believe. Any scoop on what he said?

Thanks,

All the best,

Glenn

 

[TOMMY RICH]

He talked about going thru ALL the wiring and talks about how he sheaths and bundles them together so they don't get chaffed or like in your case..corroded.

He eliminated about 25 to 30 lbs. of wiring for all his tournie boats.

I can tell you that I have been thru most of my wiring already and upgraded my livewell pump to a cartridge type for easy cleaning also.

I still haven't put those battery trays in yet:wacko:

 

[Marty Klein]

25-30 pounds of excess wiring? That is a lot of wire. Multiply that by the number of boats manufactured by that company and we're talking a lot of money. I can't believe a manufacturer, particularly one of such high esteem, would waste that much wiring.



I'm telling you guys, maintenance is a bad thing, or maybe expensive boats are nad things, but my Nitro 750 has not had such corrosion problems or other such issues--all with no maintenance and having been manufactured by some Tigers over MO way.



Please also note that at one vendor a 5-pound spool of 8-gauge insulated copper wire is 420 feet long; multiply that by 5 or 6 times and you have a heckuva lot of wire. methinks Zell is estimating his lengths the same way fishermen estimate the length of their fish-

 

[Mini]

Most if not all wire harnesses are made for multiple hulls. Hence the excess wire.



Zell told me about this a few years back and I told him he was crazy. I can understand soldering all connectors and shrinkwrapping them, but to take the time out to shorten a wire to save a foot or two of wire....I think its over the top, but if your living is dependant on your boats ability to get you back and keep your fish alive....



He told me it takes him 40 hours to do the job correctly. Havent seen the article yet, but I will look for it tonight.



Mini

 

[TritonGlenn]

Marty,

If you are still living in KS, then I can see where the differences in corrosion exist. I live on the east coast - Virginia, in the Tidewater area. All of the water in the rivers around here is brackish. Some worse than others. Maintenance is a good think - particularly in this area of the country. If your rivers and lakes have no salt content at all, I can understand you never having corrosion problems at all.



You also have to remember that when Zell removes wiring from his boat, he is also removing electrical tape, wire looms, zip ties, etc... I know the stuff that I cut out of my boat - corroded connectors, wire, loom material, zip ties, etc... probably weighed a half pound. Not much - but I was just cleaning up one little area. I'm sure if I went through, I could find several pounds of unneeded material. I know of 3 wires in my boat that go absolutely nowhere. They come from the console "Aux" button, and go to the bilge - only to be capped off with a butt-splice connector.



However, I'm not worried about removing weight from my boat with wiring. Heck, I kill my boats speed with all the tackle I carry anyway! :lol:



All the best,

Glenn

 

[Bruce Freeman]

Having the pleasure to fish with Mr. Rowland last year was a highlight of my life and if he said he removeded 25 to 30 lbs of useless weight I would beleave him. You can't fish with a legend and not respect him and to see him deal with that vermont jerk on champlain was priceless. The guy did not want us to fish his dock, because he was afraid we would hit his boat. Ok me maybe so I started casting out, Mr Rowland said OK and started casting the bank. Mr landowner gave him crap about that telling him he owned down to the normal water line and he did not want anybody fishing his land? So OK this is the first time Zell has ever been to champlain and the lake is 3 to 4 feet over normal level? Mean while the guy next door is taking pictures and the DH's wife is talking to us. Sorry I got off track



BF

 

[Marty Klein]

You believe that a boat manufacturer would put 2000+ feet of extra copper wire in a boat?

 

[TritonGlenn]

Where oh where did this post get so off track??? :lol:



All the best,

Glenn

 

[Marty Klein]

Gees, I didn't think it was off track. Excess wire in boat, got it; might be good to remove some of it, got it; might be good to solder connections, got it; corrosion on the Right Coast, but not here on the Frontier, got it; Zell Rowland said he removed 25-30 pounds of excess stuff from his wiring, don't believe it. Seems tracky to me.

 

[Mini]

read the first line of my first post on this topic.



a zx225 harness may be the same as a zx250 or a zx300....



different length boats, same harness. easier manufacturing, purchasing, warehousing, etc.



cost savings would increase despite the excess materials.

 

[TOMMY RICH]

Agree Mini...plus the cost that the manufacturer pays for the wiring is not the same you or I would pay.

Zell may be including others things in that weight.

He also stresses the main reason he does it prevent wires from chaffing on long runs.

If I did it for a living...I'm sure I could be just as anal about my rig

 

[Marty Klein]

Now then, if a single wiring harness is used for several models, wouldn't the smaller model be more apt to have excess wiring than the larger model that has more bells and whistles using the wires?

 

[Mini]

the largest model that Skeeter makes is the one rated for a 300hp. Cant use a 300 hp motor for BASS competition (yet). So if he is running a 20i with a 250hp motor and it is the same harness for a 22i, there is alot of wire in there (tiewraps, split loom, etc.)

 

[TOMMY RICH]

heck my lil 185 has quite a bit of excess