hooking up accessories to jon boat

I have a 14' jon and am going to be hooking up a trolling motor,
fishfinder and lights to a single battery.

My question is, is it ok to hook up all the power wires directly to
the battery or do you recommend running power to a box of some sort
and then connecting everything there?

Or any other suggestions are welcome.

Thanks in advance,
Chris

Using a "box" is usually just so all the fuses/breakers are in one spot.
Either way, all the devices hook up to the battery directly. You should be
fine just running each set of wires to the battery directly. Just make sure
your using a deep cycle battery.

"Chris" wrote in message
...
I have a 14' jon and am going to be hooking up a trolling motor,
fishfinder and lights to a single battery.

My question is, is it ok to hook up all the power wires directly to
the battery or do you recommend running power to a box of some sort
and then connecting everything there?

Or any other suggestions are welcome.

Chris wrote: "I have a 14' jon and am going to be hooking up a trolling
motor, fishfinder and lights to a single battery. My question is, is it ok
to hook up all the power wires directly to the battery or do you recommend
running power to a box of some sort
and then connecting everything there?"

Running one wire from the battery to a fuse block makes it a lot easier to
remove the battery. It also to me makes it easier to keep good contact with
the battery since the more connections you have coming from your battery the
more prone you are of corrosion between the terminals. It also makes it a
lot neater installation if you have a place to mount the fuse block under a
console or under the seat (if there is a compartment for dry storage).

When I had my 14 foot jon, I had dry storage under the rear seat. I sealed
it by installing a piece of plywood on the floor of the compartment then
silicone the edges. I then mounted the battery in the compartment with a
circuit breaker panel. All my switches that controlled my running lights,
spot lights (for frogging and finding your way home when there is no moon in
the swamps) were mounted in the front of the seat compartment right under
the driver. I did not have a console only a tiller motor. When I ran the
wires for the running lights, I ran them through the ribs on the side.

Sarge

One thing to keep in mind is that a trolling motor will likely offer
up some interference to your fish finder when they are both plugged
into the same battery. I can lower the sensitivity on my fishfinder
to counter the interference but it is a hassle since you have to go
over to it and tweak it by using the menus...

I am tempted to power it off of the starter battery for the
outboard.... Maybe I just need a new boat!!!! Yeah... that's it!

"Todd Copeland" wrote in message nk.net...
Using a "box" is usually just so all the fuses/breakers are in one spot.
Either way, all the devices hook up to the battery directly. You should be
fine just running each set of wires to the battery directly. Just make sure
your using a deep cycle battery.

"Chris" wrote in message
...
I have a 14' jon and am going to be hooking up a trolling motor,
fishfinder and lights to a single battery.

My question is, is it ok to hook up all the power wires directly to
the battery or do you recommend running power to a box of some sort
and then connecting everything there?

Or any other suggestions are welcome.

On 1 Jul 2004 14:34:13 -0700, (David Reed)
wrote:

One thing to keep in mind is that a trolling motor will likely offer
up some interference to your fish finder when they are both plugged
into the same battery. I can lower the sensitivity on my fishfinder
to counter the interference but it is a hassle since you have to go
over to it and tweak it by using the menus...

I am tempted to power it off of the starter battery for the
outboard.... Maybe I just need a new boat!!!! Yeah... that's it!

David

You might try grounding your battery to your hull with a fused line.
The instructions which came with my Minnkota called for that - there
was even a wire included.

I have 1 deep cycle battery, and run everything (lights, sounder, etc)
off it. I have a "cheap" Hummin'bird sonar - no interferance on it -
so the wire works - or the sonar is to stupid to pick up on the
problem.

Jim

"Todd Copeland" wrote in message nk.net...
Using a "box" is usually just so all the fuses/breakers are in one spot.
Either way, all the devices hook up to the battery directly. You should be
fine just running each set of wires to the battery directly. Just make sure
your using a deep cycle battery.

"Chris" wrote in message
...
I have a 14' jon and am going to be hooking up a trolling motor,
fishfinder and lights to a single battery.

My question is, is it ok to hook up all the power wires directly to
the battery or do you recommend running power to a box of some sort
and then connecting everything there?

Or any other suggestions are welcome.

Subject: hooking up accessories to jon boat
From: Chris

My question is, is it ok to hook up all the power wires directly to
the battery or do you recommend running power to a box of some sort
and then connecting everything there?

At the very least, use appropriately rated in-line fuses on the hot (red)
wires. Good luck.
Sally sells sea shells by the sea shore because rough men stand ready to
do violence on her behalf.

"Chris" wrote in message
...
I have a 14' jon and am going to be hooking up a trolling motor,
fishfinder and lights to a single battery.

My question is, is it ok to hook up all the power wires directly to
the battery or do you recommend running power to a box of some sort
and then connecting everything there?

Or any other suggestions are welcome.

Thanks in advance,
Chris

My 14' alum boat, I just connected to the battery with clips. Both the
transom mount troller and the fishfinder. Fishfinder was inline fused.
For you with lights and all, I would hook up a distribution panel, with
fuses and sockets to plug in the motor, lights, etc. I used a battery box
between the rear seat and the transom. Made a couple of loops out of
aluminum that allowed me to bungee the battery case to the seat.
Bill