Dang! My knuckles are hurting from the rapping Bill gave me with the ruler! Hope I can type!
For the record, we had just come through a very busy and high current pass from the Gulf of Mexico to the ICW when the engine died. Realizing I had no power, my first thought was the fuse, it was blown, swapped it and tried the key. Boat would not start. Looked under and the fuse was blown. Swapped it a second time and it pops. We switch to plan B and toss the hook as the current is soooo strong. However we are on the left side of the channel. We all don life jackets to be safe and then do some preliminary inspections. No wire issues that we could see, switched from battery 1 to battery 2, checked the engine etc. Then we tried yet another fuse. The engine turns over, but dies. Keep in mind, others on the boat were asking some other boaters to tow us to a dock that was on either side of the channel. One ahole is telling us to not drop our hook in the channel and yelling at us for not having a back up rope ready and that he wont help as it would sink him. Dumb ass.
I lay under so I can see the fuse panel, with the next fuse and turn the key and the engine starts and the fuse blows. I watched closely and I could see the little spark in the fuse on the next and we stopped messing with it. A charter fishing captain comes to help. There is more exciting parts to the story, but we eventually get towed to a nearby dock and tied up. A friend comes to grab some of the passengers off the boat. This is about 45 min later. He says try another fuse as everything should be cooled off. Boat fires up and runs fine and we take it back to our marina and put it on the trailer.
Now to the wiring. I did not do or have the depth and hour meter installed. That was the previous owner. It is not factory, but I believe he had his dealer install it. Those wires are actually pretty tight under the helm. They do not move and are secured. What i found not secured was the wires under the depth gauge and cup holder. One little zip tie and they were all over the place in there as though they shoved them in the openning.
The depth and hour meter are not on the schematic as they are aftermarket. I traced all the wiring that I could see and found nothing that looked burnt or frayed or anything abnormal. Those are the only "non-factory" items other than what I installed (transom trim swithc and rear stereo control and second battery). All my stuff was done with the crimps and the heat shrink connectors. Nope no wire nuts in use!
The splice is odd and probably lazy. Ran one wire to the ignition and then spliced and sent it off to the two accesories. I understand the hour meter being tied to the ignition in order to be accurate, but why the depth gauge. There is an ACC switch on the helm that is tied to nothing and could be used. The wiring is different gauge on the splice. The hour meter's is a bit heavier.
The burnt wiring was hidden under the cup holder and depth gauge. Not visible at all. I am guessing that it had somehow frayed or maybe been touching something and rubbing and got heated up. Whether it melted through when the engine went the first time or from my fuse parade, I do not know.
Learning experience on this one with your advice on the potential fire hazard I will remember for next time which I hope does not happen. I think I was focused on getting out of the channel and the very strong current by trying to get the boat restarted.
_________________
2010 Sea Hunt Triton 220 "Big Whiskey"2003 FW Freedom 180 Volvo Penta 4.3GL/SX-M "It'll Do Four Now" (Sold)
2012 Avalanche LTZ 4X4