WINDLAS Instalation

[duckhead69]

ok guys 3 questions I have a 1986 300 weekender twin 350 velvet drives.
1st what gauge wire did you use
2nd where to you run to the battery or fuse panel in cabin.
The way I ran string to see what I need is 6 awg or 4 awg to be safe just seems awful big for the wiring.
3rd same gauge thru the whole run or what

 

[Gofirstclass]

duckhead, yes, same gauge wire for the entire run and I'd go with 4 gauge or even 2 gauge depending on how far you have to run it. Ideally the batteries and their dedicated charger should be sitting adjacent to or very close to the thruster motor to avoid any serious voltage drop. The longer the run the more voltage drop you will have. The bigger the wire you run the smaller the voltage drop you will have.

Here's a shot of what my thruster intallation looks like. Don't forget to brace up the motor. The motor puts out a lot of torque when it starts up and you don't want it working itself loose.

Now, on a related note, are you certain you need to put the time, effort and money into a thruster installation on a 300? That seems like a bit of overkill for a ~30' boat with twin engines.

 

[boatman37]

I think he is talking about a windlass, not a thruster

 

[duckhead69]

correct windlass anchor Lewmar 700v modal

 

[Gofirstclass]

Oops, my bad. Sorry.

 

[Lazy Daze]

You have to take a look at the power requirements in the manual, along with calculating the total "run" (both pos and neg). There's plenty of info online for that and is easy enough to find. No installation is the same as another - there's too many variables and you really need to do your homework on this to avoid electrical issues.

But, generally speaking, you'll run the power cable either directly from the battery or even from an existing battery switch. The breaker needs to be installed "x" inches from the power source - I don't remember exactly offhand, but that's another thing you should be researching.

Can you run power from a different location? Sure. But NO WIRE in that circuit can be smaller than the required size - and if you're sharing the load then you have to take that into account, as well, for the wire size.

Most windlasses have very good manuals with lot's of technical info - your best bet, for now, is to read through that a number of times till it starts to make sense. While totally doable, this is not "low" on the difficulty level - it's quite involved and take lot's of planning - along with pulling parts of the boat apart to run wires.

 

[duckhead69]

Yes I have unscrewed covers/ panels to run string for my length of run needed. I was just looking for some feed back on what other guys have done. Looks like 6 awg will do job. I did find a post on here about installing one on 260 Searay.
Thanks for the info also

 

[Lazy Daze]

I forget what I used, offhand, on my 260DA when I installed a windlass. By chance, it happened to be a V700. I know I didn't use 4g, though. But, you really need to check your total run length to be absolutely positive.

 

[boatman37]

I researched installing a V700 in mine. It's a 25'er and pretty sure mine is already pre-wired from the factory. Crownline confirmed it is likely already wired since it has a Lewmar breaker right next to my battery switch with wires connected already. But appears to be 8 GA. My 'generic' calculations tell me 8 will barely make it but 6 would be better.

Lewmar has downloadable install manuals available to download that gives all the info you need.

 

[velooce]

ok guys 3 questions I have a 1986 300 weekender twin 350 velvet drives.
1st what gauge wire did you use
2nd where to you run to the battery or fuse panel in cabin.
The way I ran string to see what I need is 6 awg or 4 awg to be safe just seems awful big for the wiring.
3rd same gauge thru the whole run or what

When I did our installation I used 4awg. However the best decision's were to install dash control with digital line payout and hand held remote which eliminated the need for problematic foot controls.