Had to cut a big hole...... Had Dave look at how big I wanted it to make sure I wasn't going to big....
So, in wiring the boat I got to thinking... With my offroad racing background, you need to build systems that will get you home no matter what goes wrong. So I did my best to split the electrical system into 2 parts. The main power coming off the merc 9/10 pin harness only powers the ignition and gauges with its own ground, The ignition and gauges are fed by a blue seas 6 gang fusebox with negative bus bar, also the circuit breaker on the motor. The fusebox is mounted behind the dash.
For the accessories (stereo, lights, bilge pump etc) I ran a separate 10 ga. power and ground wire from the battery switch (going directly from the battery switch to a 50 amp merc breaker) then to the front of the boat with the ground terminating at the battery. This feeds a 12 gang blue seas fuse box with neg. bus bar inside the console then to the switches.
This should isolate the 2 separate systems somewhat. The stereo amp has a separate feed from the battery switch with a 60 amp merc breaker inline. The auto bilge pump/float switch is ran directly (fused) and grounded directly from the deep cycle battery.
Sound good? or am I over thinking/rigging things?