Topic: Installation Progress- Home brewed solutions

[muskyhunter]

Thought I would share some pic's of my installation progress.  Some customization was done with some spare aluminum laying around.

1.  Split bow cover- I put an aluminum bracing structure in the bow to reduce the top plate flex from the trolling motor.   There is an aluminum plate underneath the trolling motor cover.  This also to reduces bolt creep into the old wood cover eliminating the needs to maintain bolt tightness and reduced motor noise in the boat. There are dual bow covers.  The removal of the right bow panel allows me access to the electronic side without without having to remove the trolling motor from the left bow cover.  (trolling motor was removed for service in this pic).

2.  Home made transducer saver- If the Transducer Shield was around $40.00, I would have saved myself some time and bought it.  But instead, I dug through my box of aluminum scrap and came up with this alternative.  It is not glamorous but after testing the mount it is very solid.  No worries here. 

3.  Dash extension- This locator would not fit behind the wrap around windshield and needed to be moved towards the driver.  Using some recycled decking material and cut aluminum, I now have a solid structure to support the weight of the 998.  In my previous installation, I adhered a plastic plate with mounted t-nuts to the underside of the thin dash which helped strengthen the area.  The bolt pattern was for my old Johnny Ray mount with the spacer plate for the cables. Having no idea how I managed to get my hands up there before, rather than mount a larger plate with t-nuts for the now larger Johnny Ray mount, I came up with a way to use the existing bolt pattern to secure the top plates to the dash, and manufactured a cover to still allow the cables to route and cover the hole, which is right above the underdash fusebox.  There is 3M exterior foam adhesive tape between the panels to aid in vibration noise damping and to assist in keeping the panels secure.

The rest of the boat is full of wires right now waiting for my GPS antenna mounts for the front and back to arrive as well as another power cable for the bow.  I am prewiring the boat for a second locator to buy next season as we all know that boat engineers make projects like this so difficult.

[Humminbird_Greg]

That's nice muskyhunter!
Keep us posted on any further results.

[sonar2000]

great job.  those are good pictures to post in the gallery section.   chuck

[keizerh]

Looking good hunter!

hendrik

[muskyhunter]

Some more photos of the project.  I spent a lot of time rewiring the fuse panel area for easy access and serviceability and also ran the interlink and power wires under the gunnel as there was not an easy way go get wiring up front.

Picture Descriptions:

1.  While at it, might as well label all the wiring for sanity and for future troubleshooting.

2.  VHB mounting tape- used to adhere the large choke on interlink cable to a flat surface.  This is suitable for exterior use and is very sticky, very suitable for the boat.  The choke is a pretty heavy slug and the double-sided tape also aids in noise damping.  I wish the choke housing was designed with a center through hole so that it could be secured to a surface and not be a vibration noise contributor.

3.  Picture of the underdash with the interlink mounted upside down.  The interlink cable choke is secured to the top lip of the dash housing to the left.

4.  Fuse panel with labeled wires for the system.

5.  Shot of the cover over the dash hole using the old Johnny Ray wire spacer and custom cap.  Also, the connectors from the short y-cable have been wrapped with shrink tubing to help protect against moisture.

6.  Left view of locator on custom mount.

7.  Shot of the custom mount overhang over the switch panel.  You can see the clearance issue I was running into with the windshield.  The overhang also will help protect the dash toggle switches against some rain.

8.  Rear antenna mount over the transducer area.  Unfortunately I had to mount it to the storage panel lid.  I didn't want the GPS wire exposed on the surface, and tearing up the rear deck was a nightmare.  Having it on the lid is not a problem and provides easy service access.   The storage area holds a spare prop, no not a high usage location.

Antenna mount source:  http://marineengineparts.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/page305.html

9.  Front antenna mount over the front transducer.  Cramped for space, this location provides adequate rotation of the locator.

10.  Shot of the bow fully populated with equipment.

11.  Remember old 3 speed bicycles?  The brake cable that was routed to the rear was clamped down with specialty brake cable mounts.  These come in handy for clamping the trolling motor transducer cable.

12.  Trolling motor transducer wire mounted with brake cable brackets to rear of shaft preventing  injury in case of impact with an object.

13.  Shot of home made transducer bracket mounted on trolling motor.  Solid as a rock.

[sonar2000]

Great pictures and a good write up on each. 
when are you  opening your customize boat sonar install shop?   
Thanks for taking the time to be so complete with your project. 
Chuck

[nmanley]

I like it man!!!! Great job and THANKS!!!   

[muskyhunter]

Installation madness continues:

14.  From last years work the addition of LED interior lights under the gunnel.  Key locations are over storage compartment bins.  LED's were chosen because of low power consumption, long life, low temperature, and that they do not emit infrared light.  Insects are drawn to infrared light.  Also, added cam locks to the front storage lids where tackle is stored (next pic).  Using aluminum angle across the storage area provided a lip for the cam lock to fit under.

15.  All tackle is stored in Plano 3620 boxes.  I built a carpeted tray on the bottom of the storage area to hold 10 Plano boxes on their side.  Each box is labeled with the contents for easy access.

16.  So many cables, so little room.  You can see in the next picture how all the wires exit.  As mentioned before, I used a Johnny Ray spacer accessory and a custom cover to allow the wires to exit the bow area with the cover providing some protection from rain as there is a large hole to pass all those cables.  I used mountable wire ties in a number of areas around the boat and they worked here as well.  The bolts that hold the custom cable cover extended into the bow area.  The mountable cable tie eyelets were a bit too small in diameter.  Running a tap through the tie eyelet allowed me to thread the tie onto the bolt end.  The excess cable is coiled and hanging from the bow cover allowing me to still have some bow storage and minimize the chance of inadvertently disconnecting something. 

Also, each of the Humminbird cable connectors are covered with shrink tubing to help keep moisture out of the connector area.  All my other connectors get this treatment:

a.  Insert dielectric grease into the hole of the connector where the wire is inserted (space lugs, barrel connectors, etc)
b.  Crimp the connector
c.  Wipe off excess grease
d.  Shrink tubing
e.  Fill the spade portion of connector with dielectric grease inside the spade.
f.   Silicone the edges of the shrink tubing to help eliminate moisture from wicking into the connector area.

Tedious, but worth it in the long run.  I have done this with every electrical connection in my boat, including putting silicone over wire screw tabs on the trolling motor contacts and power plug.   No more black/green copper at the connections, many of which are over 10 years old.

17.  Front bow cable management.  The transducer cable is mounted to the side of the trolling motor with enough of a loop to give slack for raising and lowering the motor.  The cable comes forward and is tacked down to the bow so that it does not become a trip hazzard when launching the boat and stepping on the bow, not that I have much room anymore but a small section to the right of the GPS antenna to place my foot.  The front transducer cable goes through the cable cover into the bow, the excess is coiled, and comes back out to the locator. 

Not pictured is the addition of the Weather Sense module under the dash next to the Interlink box.  I am finishing up with the addition of one more LED interior light over the rod box.  Then putting all the tools away followed by a good vacuuming, some battery maintenance, and on schedule for this weekend's opener.

[Jolly Roger]

Wow muskyhunter!!

I want to express my deepest respect. Nice craftsmanship and a very thought through set up.

Tedious?? No way!!
Taking care about such small details like greasing and sealing the connectors is taking care about safety on board in my opinion. Having trouble with your gear or worrying about electrical glitches and hickups during bad weather at night is nothing I want to have to deal with.

Keep up your good work and spirit!!

Allways a handwidth under your keel / Harry

[JeffA]

very clean install...nice job!

[muskyhunter]

Thanks guys.  I say tedious only because I am itching to get on the water.  I've been chasing down parts for about a month.  The 998, the second transducer, the power cable (which I now got double shipped) and other miscellaneous were all backordered.  I really thank you guys from my other threads helping me out with the purchasing decision.  Once I decided, that is when my parts started to get scarce.

I do agree that once you start the open heart surgery of wiring your boat, you might as well spend the extra effort to eliminate possible wiring issues.  Nothing worse than taking a trip and trying to do a field disassembly with minimal tools. 

The dielectric grease process works.  I wired up my boat trailer with backup lights to help backing up the boat into wooded campgrounds at night.  All the connectors were done in the exact same fashion.  Those lights are mounted behind the trailer wheels, so they get very wet and submerged.  The connections and wires still look new. 

[majflyboy]

Keep the good info comming, I'm all ears, er, eyes.  Learning a lot from you.

[muskyhunter]

Well, all done with the wiring.  I need to get the table saw out of hibernation and make a second tackle tray holder.  I am going to try to build some slots to slide the 998 into so that it gets a protected and secure ride in the locked compartment when traveling.   This should finish up the pictures for a while.

18.  Spade lug connectors.  One filled with dielectric grease.

19.  Inserting the connectors.  Excess grease to leak out.  Both male and female connectors filled with dielectric grease before inserting.

20.  Filled connectors cleaned off of excess grease.

21.  Gunnel lights installed.

22.  Fill up cable through holes on GPS antenna with silicone.  Keep spray and rain out when trailering.  Otherwise the only way for accumulated moisture to drain is down the antenna mount and into the wiring below.

23.  Cut some rubber washers for GPS antenna cap as another moisture barrier.

24.  Good battery mounts just don't seem to be out there.  A good plastic battery tray with some $10 ratchet straps routed underneath the tray provides for a super solid mount for your batteries. 

25.  Forgot this one.  Also grease the end where the wire inserts the connector.  Crimp and clean off excess.  Then use heat shrink tubing.  When heating the tubing, make sure the connector is facing down.  If you hold the connector up, the heat will thin the grease and it will slide down behind the shrink tubing.  This is a problem as the shrink tubing will slip off when you attempt to unplug your connector.

[muskyhunter]

An update on that the transducer bracket I made for the trolling motor; it does a nice job through the weeds so far probably due to its width.  The trolling motor comes up clean every time.  The bolts haven't snagged up anything so far.  Will see how well it does in thick summer weeds.

[Gattlin]

 Wow nice write up Musky. I now see how I'm gonna clear the bow TM with the GPS Puck Thanks!

[sonar2000]

good work and thanks for taking theitme to write this up..

Now on your next 1/2 hour off..... ....Would you care to take the writeups and put them in a the tutorial and articles.

chuck