# Need help wiring a Jon Boat



## Jmpatterson (Mar 2, 2014)

I'm new to this site and have been looking around at wiring configurations but haven't found one that fits my needs. I just bought a new jon boat and need to wire my trolling motor, outboard motor, and fish finder to the battery. Maybe later on I will wire up lights and a radio but now I just need the basic stuff to get it in the water to fish! Can some one help me out and make a diagram or find me a diagram that would show me everything I will need to wire this boat up? Thanks!


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## huntinfool (Mar 2, 2014)

As a general rule you wire your fish finder and motor to your starting/ cranking battery. You then wire your trolling motor to a deep cycle battery.
All three items have a power and ground. Hook all the power leads to the positive terminal, and all of the grounds to the negative terminal. 

I'm not sure what else you're wanting to know, but post up if this doesn't help.b


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## DrNip (Mar 2, 2014)

Make sure you put fuses on your equipment or better yet use a fuse block of some type if you have a lot of equipment to hook up so you don't end up with a bunch of wires wired to the battery. The trolling motor would just hook directly to battery with a fuse.


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## huntinfool (Mar 3, 2014)

DrNip said:


> Make sure you put fuses on your equipment or better yet use a fuse block of some type if you have a lot of equipment to hook up so you don't end up with a bunch of wires wired to the battery. The trolling motor would just hook directly to battery with a fuse.


Very good points, but you might be better served to use a circuit breaker on the trolling motor. Either a resettable one or an automatic one. Depending on the trolling motor (12v or 24v) and how much power is being pulled. For my 24v I have a 50amp automatic.


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## DrNip (Mar 3, 2014)

I have the MinnKota Trolling Motor Power Center. It has 2 manual reset circuit breakers. A 15 amp for an accessory plug and 60 amp for trolling motor. Pretty solid box.

https://www.amazon.com/MinnKota-Trolling-Motor-Power-Center/dp/B001PTHKMG


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## Jmpatterson (Mar 4, 2014)

So if I buy the MinnKota Power Center all the circuit breakers are built into it? If so that's definitely what I'm going to do!


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## DrNip (Mar 4, 2014)

It only has two breakers. A 15 amp and a 60 amp. The 15 amp is an accessory hookup and the 60 amp is a trolling motor hookup. That might be all one wants though. It isn't enough for me though as I will have two pumps on my livewell, a bilge pump, two fish finders and the trolling. I purchased it as I needed a storage box for my trolling motor and it and the circuit breaker built in. Plus it has a battery meter on it. That and I don't want any other accessory hooked up on my trolling battery.


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## Jmpatterson (Mar 4, 2014)

Yeah my boat doesn't had a live well in it and I will just have my trolling motor hooked to one battery and the outboard and fishfinder hooked to another one.


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## TNtroller (Mar 4, 2014)

make sure you use an in-line fuse on the FF power as well, the FF manual will tell you what size is needed for your particular FF. Don't hook the FF up to the TM battery as can lead to interference on the FF from the TM when you use it.


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## DrNip (Mar 4, 2014)

This is the fuse block I am looking at for my boat in addition to the trolling motor box.

https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Sea-Systems-Blade-Block/dp/B001P6FTHC/ref=pd_bxgy_sg_img_y


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## Jmpatterson (Mar 5, 2014)

Thanks guys! I think I have figured out what I'm going to do. I'm going to try and do it this weekend if the weather isn't bad. If I have any problems I will let y'all know!


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## Boat2fast (Mar 10, 2014)

Two experiences with the (power station) type battery boxes...I received both of them in used boats and neither one was in serviceable condition. Both had corrosion problems that were advanced enough to make me salvage the copper wiring and ditch the boxes. I can't tell you if the boxes were cheap or expensive ones. I can't tell you how old they were. I can't tell you if they were used in salt. These boxes are a good idea IF you can find a quality built unit. We all know how difficult that is these days. The MinnKota box is certainly expensive enough to qualify. If it's the same as the ones I saw, with a better name, then shame on MinnKota. I feel as though we are at the mercy of global manufacturing standards that better serve the reseller than the customer. Maybe I'm old-fashioned(opinionated too...maybe) but no junky parts are getting into my boat. I'm sick of junk.

Wiring your first jon boat is a great experience. Look for good 'tinned' copper wire that is marine rated. Be careful about dis-similar metals. A brass switch is a nice thing to find these days, but don't mount brass to your aluminum hull. Make a little plastic or wood switch-plate and bond it to the hull; avoids having to drill your new aluminum. A stainless switch is less reactive and direct-mounts better.

Here's a couple of links that interested me. Searched "tinned marine cable" and "marine switches"

https://www.tinnedmarinewire.com/

https://www.colehersee.com/

It's nice when the engine always cranks, the lights don't flicker, the horn works, and the fish-finder finds fish. I hope your boat wiring comes out good.


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## DrNip (Mar 10, 2014)

When looking for a power center I did my research. The non Minnkota version received horrible reviews. The Minnkota Power Center received great reviews everywhere I looked. 299 users gave it 4.5 stars at Amazon.


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