I'm onto the electical side of my rerigging of a 38' Cougar v-bottom. What are people's opinions on engine function breaker location? In the engine bay in an ignition protected box or in the cockpit in one of those "splash proof" boxes? I'm talking drive and tab pumps, bilge pumps, preluber, fuel pump, some of the larger amperage breakers. Who's panels/boxes are you running or are you making a custom one? I have looked at a couple Apaches that run everything up front, but that seems like a lot of wire that does not have to be there. I'll still keeping my smaller, dash panel based breakers up front in the original breaker panel, but most of the original wiring in the bilge was daisy chained wiring with inline fuses. Thanks for any input.

Jim

Just imagine yourself out in rough water, where would you want the breakers to be?

I agree that it does mean a lot of extra wiring, another option might be under the back seat, can still reset without having to open engine hatch.

Rather than push reset breakers, you might want to consider using auto-reset breakers. My trim tabs, trim pumps and stereo amps have these type breakers, they reset as soon as they cool off. You can install in main power line to load. About $12 each for water resistant http://www.12volt.com.au/redirect.ht.../breakers.html

I mounted the big breakers under the back seat in a fabricated aluminum box.I think that Mercury mounts the breaker on the engine in order to keep things simple for the production boat builder.

On my Formula, as wired at the factory, all the heavy current breakers are under the rear seat. All the light load breakers, nav lights, radio, VHF, interior lighting, etc., are under the instrument panel.

Mark,
You bring up a good point about the reset on the water, although if they were in the bay I would mount them high on the front bulkhead so I could reach them from above without crawling into the bay. I have a standup six-pack interior in the cockpit with what you would call the back seat cushion at the same height as the sundeck. The cushion is hinged and has a storage area about 20" deep under it. I was originally going to put them in this storage area, but I was concerned about them getting bumped with stuff coming in and out of the locker. I guess I'm playing the wire run length vs accessibility game!!! The battery switches are mounted on the back bulkhead of the cockpit just under the floor for the locker, which would be another good spot. Are you guys running the breakers in a panel? Any picts on your installation would be great.

Jim

As mentioned above, I am using auto-reset breakers for all the essential stuff, they are located in engine compartment to minimise heavy cable runs, the rest of the stuff runs off a distribution panel behind the dash, which in my case is accessible from inside the cabin. Breakers for most stuff and a fuse panel for the delicate items like GPS etc.

So no breakers visible in the cockpit. Just gauges and switches. Sorry, don't have any pics handy.

Mark,
Thanks for the info. I know there are a lot of good ways to do this and a lot comes down to personal preferences. I'm just trying to get a read for what some of the other methods are out there. Do you have your auto breakers grouped at the distribution point, or are they wired inline by the device?

Thanks again.
Jim

They are grouped together at the distribution block, to make it neater, I cut some strips of thin stainless about 3/8" wide by 1 1/2 long, one end of the breaker bolts up to that and the other end bots up to the distribution block, this way they are not flopping around and can be neatly labeled and organized.