Twin engine battery to engine wiring.

[oldmako69]

I keep my boat on Long Creek and run out of Lynnhaven Inlet. Let me know if they need crew! My retirement boat will likely be a 34-38 foot sailboat....or a single screw diesel trawler.

[pstephens46]

Oldmako - where do you run out of in VA Beach?

I prob asked before and forgot...

I used to sell SPAM down there about 20 years ago! No lie, I worked for Hormel and called on Farm Fresh and Be-Lo. My best high school friend became a surgeon and married a surgeon. Live downtown Norfolk and have a 50ft Hunter sailboat at some yacht club. Not sure if they ever leave the dock. Drink wine and sit on it I think. "Spaulding! Get your foot off the boat!

[oldmako69]

The battery leads are very high quality, tinned marine wire. Not sure if its AWG 2 or 4, but its about the diameter of my pinkie. The run from the batteries to the connection point (with the YAM leads) is probably about ten feet. I'm no electrical engineer but that would appear to be adequate.

This time last year, when I first bought the boat I had an intermittent no crank issue with the Port engine. That was rectified by cleaning corrosion off the connection point in the bilge. At that time I didn't notice the heat shrink tubing being loose, so I figure that it occurred during the last year. Plus, its cheap thin walled heat-shrink. This time its the Starboard engine and its the lug connection. The wire at the lug is in such poor condition I'm surprised that it was able to crank at all. I'm glad I found it, as it answers a lot of questions.

Proves the old adage that for every hour one spends sipping beers, fishing and or admiring bikinis, that you get to spend another hour wrenching in order to keep the yot happy.

[pstephens46]

Yamaha power cables usually are a couple times better than whatever the builder happened to trip over that particular day.

Now I haven't spent much time on Grady's and Regulators inspecting wiring. But I would like to......

[oldmako69]

I fully understand that the flow of electrons is not guided by the color of the insulation, or the heat shrink. But, you must admit that if the Port engine's POS lead is rigged with red tape, and red heat-shrink, and the NEG is black, that someone was at least following convention.

Yet, it was just the opposite on the Starboard. I can't imaging anyone intentionally rigging battery leads like this.

As for the V drop, the shrink wrap on the battery lead was poorly applied and had pulled away from the lug. Saltwater ingress had taken care of the rest. Old lug and corroded cable will be lopped off and replaced with new lug and decent quality heat shrink.

The YAM cables have an indicator stripe on the POS lead, so that made tracing it easier.

[rodbolt17]

ex stack takes about 8 hours.
less if you buy all the fasteners and a water tube.
would it make ya feel better if all the wire colors were white.
insulation color makes no difference to a tron.

[cleddau1]

Another solution would be to renew the cables completely from engine to console so no high resistive connections. Use nice thick cable to obviate the voltage drop.
A couple of years ago I bought a vintage diesel Ferguson tractor. These were notoriously difficult to start, so bad that in cold climes people started them in autumn and did not switch them off until spring.
The ground was a thin cable connected to the transmission tunnel and thin positive lead ran most of the length of the tractor. Voltage at starter just 9v with a fully charged battery. Replaced with the thickest cables that would fit in connectors with the ground directly to a starter mounting bolt. No significant voltage drop now and motor starts quickly even without the decompression lever.

[oldmako69]

In fact, red shrinkwrap was placed on the negative engine lead and black shrinkwrap was placed on the positive lead. NICE!

My boat must have been rigged first thing Monday morn, or last thing Friday afternoon.

[oldmako69]

...on the battery cable issue.
remember trons simply don't care about wire color.

only way to figure it out is with a DMM.

True. But I figure that it's OK just the way it is, provided I don't change anything. If it didn't fry all that engines electronics during the first 5 mins after its first start from the dealer, its got to be "right". The rigging in the bilge on this boat is atrocious. Which is odd, given that the wiring in the console is actually pretty good.

At some point, I will figure it out. But right now I've got fatter fish to batter.

[oldmako69]

That's the way I used to hang heavy exhaust manifolds on my 351. The access hatches were tiny and you had to lay on your side to get near them. So, starting the bolts was murderous without two home made studs to hang them on.

There is a huge pine tree where I keep my boat, and a chainfall. I suppose that I could tackle this myself. Or, pick up some overtime and stroke the check. We'll see.

Can anyone recommend a decent USB borescope that will work with a MAC? Most of those I see are Windows devices. I'd like to keep tabs on my exhaust.

Due to the low hours on the engines (180) the local Yamaha guru recommends just keeping an eye on it for now, as opposed to preemptive replacement. So, I may just do that. And if in the meantime I win the lottery, I'll have Nelva Capps make me a pocket canyon runner and be done with outboards.

[fairdeal]

buy two long powerhead bolts, or any correct thread bolt about 10" long cut the head off.
cut a screwdriver slot across one end.
use them as guide bolts when lowering the powerhead.

very clever !

[rodbolt17]

or you can start about 8:30 and be done by about 4:30.
job takes about 8 hours or so.

a monkey could do it if the monkey had an engine lift.

a quick trick you ask????

buy two long powerhead bolts,or any correct thread bolt about 10" long cut the head off.
cut a screwdriver slot across one end.
use them as guide bolts when lowering the powerhead.

on the battery cable issue.
remember trons simply don't care about wire color.

only way to figure it out is with a DMM.

[pstephens46]

Having done the "exhaust stack" replacement on my F225, I can say it is absolutely within the "DIY" realm.
I found it great fun.

Some means to lift off the powerhead is the only thing needed besides ordinary tools, torque wrench, and the Service Manual.
(and the latter is mostly for torque values and emotional support).

Part of a day, working slowly and carefully, to take it apart,
part of a second day, working slowly and carefully, to put it all back together.

~$700 for the kit and the couple of rusted bolts you'll probably encounter.

Fairdeal has the old one in the yard as a flower pot. Or a deer feeder. Can't remember which?

[fairdeal]

Knowing that I will eventually have to waste 5 grand on the exhaust makes me sick,

Having done the "exhaust stack" replacement on my F225, I can say it is absolutely within the "DIY" realm.
I found it great fun.

Some means to lift off the powerhead is the only thing needed besides ordinary tools, torque wrench, and the Service Manual.
(and the latter is mostly for torque values and emotional support).

Part of a day, working slowly and carefully, to take it apart,
part of a second day, working slowly and carefully, to put it all back together.

~$700 for the kit and the couple of rusted bolts you'll probably encounter.

[pstephens46]

Unfortunately, this boat is an Angler. The price was right and I wanted a large CC. Plus, it only had 125 hours on it and had been stored inside. A really nice boat would have been twice what I paid, perhaps more.

One good thing is that it's got a fabulous layout and tons of room with a 10 foot beam. My biggest gripe is the way things were done in the bilge and with the engines. Knowing that I will eventually have to waste 5 grand on the exhaust makes me sick, but I bought it knowing that, and at a price that would allow me to do that later.

Local YAM mech says ignore it for now and take a peek at the end of this coming season when I do the water pumps.

I sold my Mako years ago.

Damn! Guess the saying still has some truth.

I want to say Rodbolt swapped exhaust stacks on a twin for @$3300? Rates may be wildly different in your location.