Hey all. I have a few questions and would greatly appreciate if you could help as it will get me on the water sooner.

I have a 16' fiberglass jonboat that I'm rebuilding and want to fish tournaments and be able to all day with electronics (2 h'birds), a trolling motor, and aerator for the livewell.

I want to put two batteries in the back (this is where they should be, right?) but my hookups for the TM are in front so how do I run the wiring thru the boat? I don't want to cut holes in the deck.

Thanks

How about a couple pics of what we're working with?

You'll have to fish wire from the batteries to the front of the boat under the deck if that is practical. I'd drill a small hole in the deck near the bow to accommodate a "female" plug.  Preferably up on a gunnel so it doesn't have the possibility of water laying in it like it would if you mounted in flat on the deck.

It will have a "finished look" if done correctly with the plug as this is how most boat manufactures mount TMs.

Wire the batteries to the female plug, 6 ga wire should be sufficient. Then wire the TM leads to a male plug. This way you can disconnect the motor when not in use or for maintenance, etc.

You can get male/female plugs from just about any marine store or boat dealer.

Is it a 24V or a 12 V TM? This will dictate if you wire those batteries in parallel or in series.

Sure.

You'll have to fish wire from the batteries to the front of the boat under the deck if that is practical. I'd drill a small hole in the deck near the bow to accommodate a "female" plug. Preferably up on a gunnel so it doesn't have the possibility of water laying in it like it would if you mounted in flat on the deck.

It will have a "finished look" if done correctly with the plug as this is how most boat manufactures mount TMs.

Wire the batteries to the female plug, 6 ga wire should be sufficient. Then wire the TM leads to a male plug. This way you can disconnect the motor when not in use or for maintenance, etc.

You can get male/female plugs from just about any marine store or boat dealer.

Is it a 24V or a 12 V TM? This will dictate if you wire those batteries in parallel or in series.

Very helpful. I don't think it will be practical and I'm not sure if I will drill holes in the deck because it's filled to the top with buoyancy foam. And I'm almost positive I'm going to get a 24volt.

It looks to me like you are in the middle of the project so you should be able to figure out a way to put in a pvc pipe under the deck work and use it to run the various wires and cables through.  If you need it put one on each side.

You may also want to plan on an additional battery because hooking electronics to a trolling motor battery is usually not a good thing.

It looks to me like you are in the middle of the project so you should be able to figure out a way to put in a pvc pipe under the deck work and use it to run the various wires and cables through. If you need it put one on each side.

You may also want to plan on an additional battery because hooking electronics to a trolling motor battery is usually not a good thing.

X2 pvc is cheap, waterproof, and easy to work with. As was also states you'll want to have a female receptacle mounted to the boat that the TM will plug into. The TM manufacturers recommend the motor is unplugged while batteries are charging. You can run the livewell and electronics off 1 battery and the TM on a seperate circuit with 6ga wire. Don't forget you will need fuses or circuit breakers to protect the circuits. You can get the amp ratings from the owners manuals.

All good advise. Keep in mind that at some point in time you might have to remove and replace this wiring.

make sure it isn't pinched together with anything along the entire run. That way you would be able to attach new wires to the old and just pull them through one end or the other. Always use the heaviest gage you can get away with and install the proper amp inline fuse right before the positive connector to the battery.

Looks like you shouldn't have any problems at all.