Good day,

I have a question regarding boat wiring from an engine to the instrument panel.

I have a 1985 Ebbtide Catalina with a Mercuiser 350. It blew up on me, so I pulled it and found a new (08) Volvo 5.7 GI to put back in its place. I got a crazy good deal on the motor so I couldn’t turn it down.

Now the problem is that I need to connect into the 14 pin plug and 2 other smaller ones that I guess communicate to the gauges. I have all of the gauges from the boat that the new motor came out of so I was wondering if the Engine to Instrument panel wiring kit would work for me? I am going to redo the dash with the new gauges anyway. The only one that is missing is the tilt/trim.

The boat the motor/gauges/thrust controller came out of was a ’08 Glastron Cuddy Cabin, (not sure about the length).

I really appreciate any kind of help I can get on this. I really want to get out to the lake this year!

Thanks,

Judd

Hi Judd,

Your engine harness boat wiring colors are

• Black – Ground
• Red/purple – Ignition power in
• Purple – Ignition power to engine
• Yellow/red – engine start
• Tan – water temperature
• Gray – tachometer
• Lt blue – oil pressure
• Pink – fuel sender
• Brown/white – trim position
• Red/white – trim power in
• Blue/white – trim up
• Green/white – trim down

Also, here is a list of the standard boat wiring colors used on the rest of your boat.

Hope this helps,

Kevin

Hi Kevin,

My name is Jimmy and I have a 1986 55 Foot Hickman Sea Sled Boat.

I leave the boat in the water over the winter with a the deicer running, a setup that works fine.

The problem that I am having is that the marina charges for electricity seem really high. I would like to get an in-line amp meter,add it to my shore power setup and get my own meter reading. My concern is that the winter bill is about $300, but, according to the deicer manufacturer, they should only be $1.00 – $1.50 per day.

I have checked out a couple of meters online, specifically the Meter Maid. This seems great, but $250.00 seems high for a meter.

My boat wiring question is:

Where can I buy a less expensive, durable meter to measure my marine electrical usage? Is it possible to make one?

I love having a big boat, but I’m finding it really expensive. Yeah, I know…welcome to the wonderful world of big boating!

Can you help me?

Jimmy

PS…the Hickman Sea Sled was the first U.S. Aircraft Carrier back In 1917 among so many other interesting facts…my 55′ live aboard is ugly as sin on the outside, but awesome on the inside.

Hi Jimmy,

Two simpler, cheaper solutions would be something like the Appliance Efficiency Monitor or any hand held DC/AC meter that can measure AC current.

You would need to connect the meter leads in-line with the shore power inlet (break the black wire) and take a current reading when the deicer is running.

Most current meters have an internal fuse that will blow before something melts internally.

Good luck,

Kevin

Kevin,

My boat’s actual trim works fine, but even so, the trim gauge always reads up.

I tested the wires from the sender under the motor all the way to the dash with a meter and found that the resistance varies. So, I took the gauge out to buy another. Before I spend the dough, is there some way to bench test the gauge?

Thanks.

Tony

A trim gauge is basically an ohm meter, so a bench test is possible.

• Connect your battery positive (+) to the positive post on the gauge.
• Connect your battery ground (-) to the the negative post on the gauge.
• Momentarily connect a wire from the battery – to the sender post on the gauge.

No wire connected will make the gauge move completely in one direction and a ground wire connected to the sender post will make the gauge move completely in the other direction.

Let me know if you have more boat wiring questions,

Kevin