wiring my boat for lights

[jwmiller33]

hello all. I just bought my first boat this winter and am in the process of adding all the necessities to get it ready for fishing opener. The boat is a 1980 16 ft Lund with a 20 in transom. I have no experience with wiring boat lights at all so I am looking for some help.

I looked into those portable clamp on boat lights and those just don't look like they would get the job done.

I am looking to get the red/green bow light and the white stern light. I want them to be mounted on the boat for studyness obviously, so my first question is, is that easy to do? I'm sure all of you are familiar with the type of boat I am dealing with, the older aluminum Lund style boats. Is it easy to mount the lights on the bow and stern? Do I have to drill into the boat at all or can I get away with using nuts/bolts on a screw?

Second question... How do I go about wiring the lights? I am going to have a 12v deep cycle marine battery that my trolling motor is running off... can I have the lights run off this battery too?

How do I do the wiring? Do I make a mount on my boat where the lights are going to go, and then run the wiring from the mounts to the battery, and then the lights jump snap into the mount whenever I want to use them? Do I need to use a switch for the lights? Is the wiring simple enough to do by myself?

Sorry for all the quesitons... Just looking for some help on a project I am going to start soon.

[jwmiller33]

ok guys, i went into paint and drew up what i am going to be doing...

i have a question.. i am planning to have a 12V battery in that middle compartment there. will i be able to run the bow and stern light, the trolling motor, depth/fish finder, 2 interior 12 inch LED lights all on the one battery???

if i do have all those hooked up to my battery, how do i wire all that stuff? i know someone said i should use a switch for the lights, i want to have all 4 lights wired into one switch, either on or off for all of the lights. do i need to have a switch for the trolling motor and depth finder?

how do i hook all of these things up to the battery? is 1 battery sufficient for this amount of needed energy?

[Jim Almquist]

The type of socket that I put in my old boat must not be made cause I could not find it anywhere so you will have to drill a hole in something in order to mount it. Just to make it easy you might want to mount it in the wood in front of the splash well on your backside because it will be almost a 1" hole and through cast aluminum that might be a little tough. With the amount of things you will have on the battery you will want a group 27 and the storage area may not be enough room the way it is right now but may have to modify it with hinged opening.

If you put in a panel all your lights could be turn on by a switch and have a cig. outlet for a spot light or GPS. The trolling motor would be hardwired to the battery.

[minneman]

JW, here is a pic of my old ws 16 that I redid. the original layout was nearly the same as yours. I reconfigured the layout some and added a platform in the bow, under the lid there is the battery that runs the trolling motor and lights, the battery in the stern is the starting battery. since I replaced the floor and all I ran the wires under the floor to the back to a TM plug and 2 switches one for the bow lite and the other stern lite.

I tryed other battery locations and found that the boat would lean one way or the other, this way seemed the best and I needed the extra weight in the bow when alone.

good luck with the project, these are easy boats to redo, btw, if you do take the floor out, check for leaks, fix then replace it. this remod took me 2 weekends.

[jwmiller33]

minneman--your boat looks great! i am very jealous... you just inspired me to go with the marine carpeting on my benches instead of staining them and going with the wood look.

where did you buy your carpeting for your boat?

I think I am going to mount my stern light in pretty much the same place you mounted yours..

and minneman, how do i go about cutting a piece of wood for the floor in the very front of my boat? if you look at this picture, the front part of my boat is missing the wood floor, so i am going to add it. but i am not sure how i would cut the piece to fit in there exactly? should i run a couple of 2x4 or 2x2's under it fot support? or will it be fine if i just cut out a piece that would fit exactly in that spot?

also, one more question.. if you look at this pic, you see there is a spot that looks like it would hold a battery perfectly that is basically right under the driver's butt... do you guys think this would be a good spot for me to put a battery?

[jwmiller33]

JW; no problem at all to come see mine in 3 weeks. It's pretty buried, so pics would be tough (plus I suck at the comp/cam stuff) but it isn't going to take over a day to do it anyhow. Heck, I'll help ya. Yes, the stern light will mount fine on the back corner of the transom. Yes, the toggle light switch on that back shelf. I have my battery on the floor in back in the gas tank area in a plastic battery box strapped in. Once you have the lights the rest of the parts shouldn't cost more than 20 bucks or so. you have my #, give me a call when you know when. You could pick up the lights with the type of flush mount bases Dtro has in the pics above, pretty standard. The rest of the stuff is one trip to the hardware store.

traveler---do you have an email? mine is in my signature.. i want to shoot you an email

[traveler]

JW, just sent it to you.

[minneman]

easy way to fit the ply for your bow is to make a template out of cardboard, only just try to fit it to one side from the point in the bow right down the middle or just past a line running with the keel. fit it right to the hull and along the front of the seat when you have one side fit, then copy that patern to another pc of cardboard, now take the 2 pc's and fit them in position and tape them together where they're going to work best. then copy to your plywood and cut away.

also, if your planning on doing the floor in the rest of the boat, save the pc's for templates! and if your going to wrap the carpet around the edges of the plywood before installing, you'll have to make the plywood a tad smaller to fit properly.

the area you outlined for the battery would be fine I think. I believe fuel was to go in that area. you may have to see just how much weight you can have in the stearn with your weight added, dont want the bow to start hopping.

[jwmiller33]

would normal plywood work for this? ya i am going to wrap it in carpet before i put it down so i will have to leave room for that. im not going to put carper anywhere else on the floor of the boat, but I am thinking about putting carpet on all of the wood benches and not even mess around with staining the wood.

it looks like the battery would fit perfectly under the driver seat and next to the gas tank, BUT i would be worried about the weight. i only weigh 160, but with a full 6 gallon tank and that battery, thats a lot of weight in the back...

any suggestions how I could counter this weight problem? I don't know anywhere else I could put the battery and have it be practicle and out of the way. I'm afraid if I put it in the middle storage compartments, it would make the boat uneven. I don't even know if a battery would fit in one of those compartments either.

[traveler]

JW; the space you have marked is made for the 6 gallon gas tank....battery won't fit next to it. Mine sat in the very back by the plug, boxed and strapped. Yes, the weight could be an issue. My bow was light when I was solo, but everythings a tradeoff. Giving up the nose seat and making a battery box up there is a possibility...Treated or marine plywood for everything. Good idea to minimize use of carpet.

[jwmiller33]

are you sure the battery wont fit there? there is a big area right next to where i marked where the gas tank fits in pretty good. and then there is the extra open space that is right under the butt of the driver. it's right in the middle of hte bench and looks like a battery would fit in there perfectly, but i cant really tell from the pic (my boat is up in Duluth unfortunatly)

why is it a good idea to minimize use of carpet? weight?

[traveler]

JW, It won't fit there in mine. I put my tank in there sideways so it's totally under the seat, if it was turned it might work, but theres plenty of space in the back regardless. As for carpet (i'm a carpet seller/installer, btw) I just don't care for it much. Holds bait smell and pieces (smushed crawlers, minnows), fades and frays, and it's often a bear to change. Think how you'd be wrapping it around the plywood. But, it's quiet and warmer on the feet...personal preference, lots of guys like it.

[jwmiller33]

really, your a carpet seller huh? do you sell marine carpet? can I buy some from you? I need about 6 ft X 6 ft or 6 ft X 8 ft to get everything I want done.

Is it hard to wrap it around the plywood benches?

[skyhawk]

I placed my trolling motor battery in the box on the port side, my starting motor battery in a box next to it and tne gas tank ubder the back seat. As I sit on the starboard side, I pretty much balance out the weight. Carpet for me but get the best grade you can unless you want to change colors in 2 years because thats about how long cheap lasts!!

[jwmiller33]

I definitly need to get the battery out of the back of my boat for better weight distribution.BUT how can I hook the trolling motor up to the battery if it is way up in the front???? [trolling motor is transom mount BTW]... Where can I buy a chord that will make the trolling motor reach the front of my boat?

I definitly do need to take my time and do a good job. I have been planning this boat out with drawings and mental images for the past month and a half, and I have so many ideas going thru my head all the time. I am finally deciding what I am doing for sure to modify it. The middle 1/2 benches are coming out, for sure. I am adding the platform in the front with the 2 storage compartments. I WOULD LIKE TO have my gas tank be in that front compartment, do you guys think I could find a gas chord long enough to do that?

If I had my trolling motor and gas tank running from the very front to the very back of the boat, that would be IDEAL for weight distribution, BUT I dont know if I could find a long enough gas chord and a chord for the trolling motor. I was at Cabelas yesterday and the longest they had was like 60 inches and it was pretty expensive mind you... I would probably need one to be close to 20 feet cuz i would need to do some weaving to put it in the floor and stuff..

Does anybody know if putting the gas tank and battery up front work for my boat? I have a transom mount and a 6 gallon gas tank... I was thinking about getting two 3 gallon tanks and putting one in each compartment.. What do you guys think about that?>

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[marine_man]

I haven't been following along on this thread, but a couple of things to consider:

1) Buy some 6 or 8 Gauge Wire to run power to your trolling motor from the front to the back

2) You'll have to buy some fuel hose and make your own extended fuel hose - take the section of hose between the primer bulb and the fitting that connects to your motor and replace it with whatever length you need

3) Removing the middle benches is a good idea to save space, but you're going to need some sort of structure in that area to give that portion of the hull and sides of the boat some support. Take a look in the Boat & Motor Forum in old posts to see several other people who have modified their boats to fit their needs. There are lots of good tips in there on what to do and what not to do. You will likely need to use the Search Tool

4) Moving the battery, fuel tank and putting a casting platform in the front may make getting your boat out of the hole and on plane next to impossible, given your 20 HP motor. Before I went too crazy on building the front platform I'd be tempted to put a equivalent amount of weight in the front end and see if it will get on plane.

marine_man