79ss wiring train wreck

[Indiana]

Bought 33 year old boat (first boat) and am coming to the conclusion that the wiring is a train wreck. Example: who ever installed battery cables used black for positive and red for negative...

No power to the back. Traced wire that's bundled with fuel sender wire and speedo hoses along drivers side and its hot all the way to where its tucked going under the steering wheel and no power where it comes out the back. Is it common for stuff this old to have dead shorts in the middle of wires?


Anyway... while I was trying to figure out why there is no power to the back (blower, transom light, etc) the ignition/dash all of a sudden stopped getting power. Put light pick to it and nothing even after charging battery. Checked battery breaker and its fine. IGN power comes from the solenoid right?

Anyone have a ball park estimate on what it costs to get a boat like this rewired?

[Wired_Right]

I use to do professional 12volt wiring on autos, boats, ambulances, police cars. I did my 74 jet boat and my current 85 S&S.
It would run as low as $500.00 to sort what you currently have which can be a headache and most people would go on an hourly basis, but if you chose to rip out everything and start new. Most people will give you a break and a set price $1000. to $2000 (more or less) that includes wiring, connectors and fuse blocks.

[Indiana]

Originally Posted by Wired_Right

I use to do professional 12volt wiring on autos, boats, ambulances, police cars. I did my 74 jet boat and my current 85 S&S.
It would run as low as $500.00 to sort what you currently have which can be a headache and most people would go on an hourly basis, but if you chose to rip out everything and start new. Most people will give you a break and a set price $1000. to $2000 (more or less) that includes wiring, connectors and fuse blocks.

10-4. Thanks for the insight!

[thatsmrmastercraft]

When I got my '77, I had to remove the fuse block and clean all the corrosion from it. All the switches had some amount of corrosion as well. You probably just need someone that is familiar with these boats to sort everything out. That's what I had to do with my boat.

[sam196370]

I'm in the middle of sorting out the wiring on my '79 SNS too - many of the gauges, horn, blower, nav lights didn't work.....I installed a new wiring harness from SkiDim ($140) since I was replacing alternator. Went under dash to clean connections, replace fuses, etc and without much work I now have everything operapable except for a few gauge lights.

If you take your time it's fairly simple to get the wiring right - batt cables are easy and if you use marine wire/connectors (heat shrink crimps work great) there shouldn't be an issue for many years.

[thatsmrmastercraft]

Originally Posted by sam196370

I'm in the middle of sorting out the wiring on my '79 SNS too - many of the gauges, horn, blower, nav lights didn't work.....I installed a new wiring harness from SkiDim ($140) since I was replacing alternator. Went under dash to clean connections, replace fuses, etc and without much work I now have everything operapable except for a few gauge lights.

If you take your time it's fairly simple to get the wiring right - batt cables are easy and if you use marine wire/connectors (heat shrink crimps work great) there shouldn't be an issue for many years.

I am interested in which wiring harness you ordered. I may do this with my boat as well.

[sam196370]

It's the engine harness from the plug to alt, choke, sensors, neutral safety, etc. Richard at SkiDim sold it to me and after installing it all sorts of stuff started working again. PO of my boat cut out the plug and replaced with non-marine wire crimps so I was eager to get it right.

[thatsmrmastercraft]

My boat was repowered, and the guy that worked on it must have been a real goon. I have everything working fine, but it's not pretty.

[sam196370]

I got the blower, horn & hour meter working last night - it's such a simple system, I'm surprised that people half a** the wiring considering it's importance and how they're really not saving any time or money. PO of my boat seems to have been a goon too - I pulled 3+ feet of unnecessary wiring from under dash.

[mzimme]

Speaking of the horn, I need to replace that switch. Anyone know where to find one that looks like the original S&S horn button?