I decided not to fish this morning. Instead I decided to change the trolling motor wires in my Skeeter from 8 guage to 6 gauge. This will probably go down in history as one of the most miserable projects I have ever undertaken. I attached the ends of my installed 8 guage to the ends of my new 6 guage. I taped them and then covered the"splice" with rubber shrink tubing. I was going to work from the rear battery/fuel compartment to the front. I removed my front right compartment and a section around the console that would at least give me some limited access to the underworkings of the boat. I figured this might take around a half an hour. I mean, how hard can it be to simply pull the wires from the back of the boat up to the plug in the bow. Hey, maybe I'll finish up early and go catch a few smallmouth this afternoon.

Five frustrating hours later the new 6 guage wires were connected to the plug >

At the absolute most inopportune spot one of my "splices" pulled out. It was a tight squeeze and I was having to apply a little muscle. So here I am with an unconnected piece of 8 guage in my hand and the 6 guage is down in the guts of the boat...somewhere. There was no way to push through from either side. I couldn't get the 8 guage back to where I could see it, or the 6 guage through the obstacle. There was about a foot of space that I couldn't reach or even see into and this is where it disconnected. The project had ground to a halt..talk about misery. At this point I decided that things would have gone smoother had I worked from the plug back down to the rear compartment but it was a little late for that revelation. I ended up removing my console and a few other pieces and was finally able to make contact with the wire and actually managed to push it through that spot. It was a tough S turn where the wire needed to exit through the carpeted section and out into the aluminum body of the boat.

Long story short this is not an easy job. If you are planning on doing it yourself have a helper available. I think someone pushing while your pulling would certainly make life easier. Keep in mind that your stock wires may be anchored at points along their path. There may be other wires that were taped or strapped to them during the manufacturing process to neaten up the work. They may run through small diameter tubes along with about ten other wires. You may just want to live with what's already on your boat. Anyway, all I have left is to solder my connections to the end of the wires and hook them up. I just couldn't deal with anymore of it today.

I feel your pain, I also did the same job yesterday.  Luckily, I did have a helper and mine went as "smooth" as those kind of projects can.  I was only pulling 2 new wires through since I'm not using a 12/24 anymore.  So just in case I pulled a "pull rope" through with the first wire removed, that way, if I had one of my new wires disconnect while pulling, I had another shot without starting over.

Having another person there to feed the wire from the back is mandatory for a smooth feed... unfortunately you found out the hard way.

You're almost through... just keep the pursuit of smallies in your mind for motivation!!

Try running dual cable steering cables by yourself!  ;D  Then mounting a 150hp motor on the back of a boat by yourself!!   ;D ;D

I feel your pain.  

All you asked for was help/info on soldering, you didn't ask what was involved in running the new cables. On a Stratos, it's amost impossible to remove the old cable if you want to run new. They have thin fiberglass strap hangers the cables are tie-wrapped to. Try to pull the old cable out and you will rip all those out. The tie-wraps are also in locations almost impossible to reach. That's where you just run a fish tap through the boat until you get it to come out in the area you need it, pull your new cable and tie-wrap it to the old cable in places you can reach. Two people do make the job a lot easier. Been there done what you just did on more than one occassion, don't even try to get the old out most of the time. If there are four eights, I just double the two reds into one terminal lug and use them as one, and double the two black into one lug and use them as one, that way I only have to run one red #6 and one Black #6. And you say, NOW he tells me. Should have asked what was involved, usaully when I volunteer info the person seems to get insulted, saying he already knows, so I don't try to tell someone how to do something unless they ask.

Beside, what good is a fihing boat if you have to pass up a fishing trip to work on it, that don't make scense, you work on them when you can't fish.  As long as it will float and has some kind of power, I fish, working on the boat comes during times when I can't fish.  

Fish tapes are the way to go. you can pull the wires through real easy with one of those. I've used copper wire, heavy electric fencing wire, and coat hangersand nothing compares to the fish tape. I found that if you have to have to pull any wires through a boat by yourself, it is best to stretch the wires flat out behind the boat in a straight line. By pulling slowly, they do not get in a mess and kink up as you bring them over the back of the boat.