Boat Wire Splicing 101 - THE BASICS

Our wiring connector kits are now available here: tomstoons.com/products/marine...
This video is to help out any beginner DIY boat folks out there wanting to do things correctly when it comes to joining wires together on their boat. We walk through the basics of 12V wiring and joining your power and ground wires. Always have your electrical accessories UNHOOKED from the battery for safety!
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[@jdthebluecollarconservative]

Great video as always. You do a great job of not leaving out the little details and teaching as if we have never done any of this with great explanations of not only how but why you do it that way.

[@tomspontoons]

Thanks so much for the kind words...that's exactly what we're aiming to do!

[@awakenedtotruth8419]

Greetings Tom and viewers, Fantastic tutorial friend. I have one of those 20V heat guns. It was a great addition to the toolbox. They might come with a nozzel kit consisting of a scraper blade, a narrowed end to concentrate the heat, and a heat-shrink attachment that is curved to wrap around a wire for heat dispersing. Using the latter two will also speed up your job by a few seconds. As a wire harness builder, once upon a time, I've used butane hand touches, pyro pens, and corded heat guns. Keeping in mind the safe distance Tom mentioned to prevent charing the wire's insulated jacket. For those who are comfortably able to solder the connections, don't forget to slide on some glue wall heat-shrink to cover the connection for a waterproof seal, and use any of the methods to shrink it down.

[@tomspontoons]

You're the perfect one to comment here with your background! I have a couple heat guns, but honestly a regular old lighter heat shrinks them up the quickest and I can have a lighter in my pocket at all times easy to grab and use. My plug-in heat gun works fast, but it's one more thing to deal with on a cord working around and under a boat. Great points with soldering still needing to be heat shrinked too. That's probably why we don't see it done on boats often. Takes the extra steps and too much time at the factory! Thanks for your input here!

[@awakenedtotruth8419]

Some builders contract out their harness builds, in fact more do than don't. When the environment is set to harness builds, they tend to use the tools that won't slow the process. In my case, they didn't allow open flame tools in one manifacture and did in another which I never understood why and never inquired why. In my opinion, nothing beats an adjustable butane torch...you are perfect for this as well Tom.

[@davidcobb4527]

Tom, from one ‘toon nut to another…this was a great video. Especially for those of us who are having a bit of a tough time with this electrical stuff. Thanks for dumbing it down my friend!! And apologies to those who are wondering wtf is Tom making this for? 😄 Cheers buddy, looking forward to your next one!!

[@tomspontoons]

Haha! You are definitely not alone. I get comments and emails all the time from folks who are terrified or incredibly confused by electrical. More of these videos coming. I don’t think I could ever make enough because if I say or show something slightly different it might help it click for someone else.

[@davidcobb4527]

@@tomspontoons I love working with electrical, simple stuff mind you. And when the planets align and the light or the switch works, OMG…it’s a celebratory moment!!! Drinks for everyone!!! 😄👍🏼 so I am thankful for you taking the time to explain this!!

[@JonnyHs]

I am about to undergo my first pontoon restoration. I probably would never had had the confidence without you and your videos. What do you do with all the wiring underneath the plywood? Do you use wire clips or anything like that to keep it snug up against the decking?

[@tomspontoons]

Thanks so much for sharing that! We know there are tons of people who want to undertake the project, and with the products from Pontoon Stuff it's 100% doable....we just knew there needed to be a guide for folks like you to break things down into more manageable pieces. So glad to know that the channel is doing what we set out for it to do in helping DIY folks!! Yes, I use plastic wire clips with stainless screws. I will be doing a video soon on how I tie up the underside of the boat so stay tuned for that. And I hope to offer them as part of a wiring kit...we're going to launch a heat shrink butt splice kit tomorrow on the www.tomstoons.com website. I use high quality electrical tape to combine the wires so they're neat, then I tie them up about every 12" along the plywood. From there they can run along the top of the starboard pontoon and back to the console or to the stern. I usually bundle the wires and engine components with some zip ties on top of the pontoons to keep that orderly too.

[@bubnasty24]

Great video. How would I continue down the line with multiple lights on one switch?

[@tomspontoons]

I've got a video going live this Friday that breaks that down (and wiring an entire boat of accessories). Basically, you need to combine the positive (power) wires for each light and the negative (ground) wires for each light, and then get those combined wires power and ground from the switch panel. If the lights are far apart, you can jump wire between them to connect the lights, and then continue back to the switch. Just keep in mind that a thicker gauge wire might be necessary for stacking lots of lights on a long run of wire. Usually 16 gauge will cover most LEDs in a group because they're so low draw.

[@skylark4901]

Hey Tom, off question, I was going to post this on your captain chair installation video but it was a year old and I'm not sure how you see questions on here but I'm about to buy some captains chairs high back reclining and low back, my question is do you have a video showing the low back ones and also I'm going with mostly captains chairs, I want to get an idea of what they look like, thanks. BTW looks like using your code saves me at least a couple hundred dollars! 👍

[@tomspontoons]

I still get notifications for comments even on my first video I ever posted, and I try to respond to each and every one as long as I can keep up. I don't have a low back helm chair video, but they install the exact same way as the reclining. I looked back to see if we featured them in any old videos but couldn't find one where it showed the seat well. We used the low back chairs for quite a few boats when we started out because of COVID inventory issues. Once reclining chairs were back in stock that's pretty much all we've put on our projects. I have had both on my own boats and I would spend the extra money on the reclining option. If you're outfitting your boat with several captains chairs it will add up quickly at $200 more per chair, so I can see why you'd be considering the low back option too. You and your passengers will be comfortable in either one, but the reclining adds a next level element of comfort. In the coming weeks I'm installing a pair of the low back chairs as upgraded fishing seats towards the bow on a boat. I will show that in better detail and likely will have an installation video of it too.

[@skylark4901]

@@tomspontoons Thanks for your time Tom, it was the money issue and I was curious how much lower it was in comparison, maybe I'll take up some donations from my passengers, ask them if they want to be comfortable or extra comfortable!😆

[@tomspontoons]

@@skylark4901totally get that! Worst case, get the captain a recliner and everyone else gets the low backs. Win win….because we all know no one is going to pitch in on someone else’s boat lol!

[@skylark4901]

@@tomspontoons Ha!, that's true, I'll be lucky if I can get someone to bring my gas can down to the dock!

[@tomspontoons]

@@skylark4901 I'll bet they're at least nice enough to hand you a drink...out of YOUR OWN cooler!

[@MrMoosekiller31]

Do ya solder your connection or use a connector with heat shrink I bought these connectors for my boat that have heat shrink on them an theres solder inside them and apparently when you heat up the connector housing it melts the solder inside to your wire connection haven't tried em yet too cold outside yet waiting for spring and she's not far away judging by the weather that's coming

[@awakenedtotruth8419]

Ive used tons of them. They work fantastic. A cheat tip if I may,: strip your wire ends just enough so that solder ring just fits over them when the wires are pushed together. Before pushing the two wires together, slightly spread the strands, dip into some liquid flux then push together so the strands will intertwine like shuffling a deck of cards. Compact the strands with your fingers, slide the shrink tube over and heat. The section with the solder will take longer to melt; however, with the added flux you will see the solder flow smoothly. Wear PPE. Wash hands thoroughly after handling even if gloves were worn.

[@tomspontoons]

Spring is in the air, even up here in Michigan! I haven't tried those connectors yet. I'm just old school and use crimped butt splices and heat shrink them down, but then again that's what boat manufacturers are still doing so maybe it's not quite old school yet? Let us know how they work for you on your project!

[@tomspontoons]

@@awakenedtotruth8419 Great to know! Definitely sounds like some extra steps, but those little splices do have a super clean look. I'm still going to be stubborn and stick with my crimping tools and lighter because I know it works. But I love when people can chime in with experience in those areas. Helps everyone out, so thank you!

[@adamthemustache5975]

Solder everything, saves a lot of headaches down the road

[@tomspontoons]

There’s several ways to join wires. I base what I do off of what the major boat companies do. I’ve actually never seen a boat brand send a boat out with soldered wire connections. Always crimped butt splices. That being said, everyone gets to go the route they choose, I won’t argue anyone’s way of joining wires…as long as they hold together!!

[@awakenedtotruth8419]

I've also used shrink butt connectors with a center solder ring and a glue ring at each end. They are aircraft approved but it helps to have a good heat source to melt the solder ring faster.

[@fishonkayakadventure]

Soldering by itself is not an approved way to secure wires on a boat. all connections must be crimped. Why? The solder can vibrate loose. A proper crimp performed with a proper crimper in which the wires are properly stripped back and completely intermeshed inside the crimp, cannot vibrate loose. You may solder in addition to crimping, but soldering alone is no bueno. Also, never ever use a flame for heat shrink.

[@adamthemustache5975]

@fishonkayakadventure if your solder joints are vibrating loose, you are really bad at it. I've got joints on semi's I did 12 years ago with a few hundred thousand miles on them that haven't " vibrated loose"

[@adamthemustache5975]

@tomspontoons boat companies Don't solder because it's time consuming and thus expensive. Boats are designed be built as cheap as possible on production, at least until you get into the $500,000 range where they start building things right