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The reason for this post is twofold. First to give me a record of how all the wiring works on my Polycraft and secondly I hope this post and the wiring diagrams included may be of benefit to anyone setting up a series of complex 12V or 24V electrical systems on their boat.

 
This is the boat that I do most of my fishing out of. When I purchased it, I thought it was set up well as it was but what I didn't understand the difficulties I would encounter if I wanted to make any changes to the technology.

 
It seems to me that all new boats have some sort of teething problems. Mine was a problem filling the 120-litre fuel tank. Even at as a very slow fill rate the breather backed up and resulted in fuel blowing back out of the filler and being wasted. Persistence finally paid off and the breather was modified settling that problem down.

 
The sleeping giant of a problem was that all the wiring for the original electrics. All the wiring as well as the transducer cable and of course the steering cabling and control wiring for the Yamaha outboard had all been run in the one passage way that was set aside for that purpose. It runs from the stern of the boat to the centre console and is tightly packed with all the above and they all enter the boat through just two 70 mm circular access points in the bottom of the centre console. One is for the outboard steering, controls etc and the other was all the other wiring and cabling. You can feel that entry point but accessing the cabling at that access point was very limited. Sure, you could remover the floor and get to the wiring and transducer cable but first you would have to remover the centre console which is bolted to the floor and that would also require having to remove the controls for the outboard steering and power train from the centre console before doing that … that was never going to happen.

 
Mixed up with the above was a lack of understanding by the team that set the boat up when the boat was set up for me. What they did not take into account was that in running the transducer cable in the same passage way as all the other electrics created electromagnetic interference (EMI) with the Garmin sounder.

 
That EMI interference was also likely compounded by the power cable from the Motor Guide (located on the starboard bow of the boat) coming into the centre console to the 24V battery system for the Motor Guide trough the same 70mm hole as all the other wiring and the transducer cable as mentioned above.

 
I put up with that for a time, but who was to know, that I would become infatuated with catching big barramundi in Lake Awoonga and all the incredible sonar and navigation technology that would come into my purview, over such a relatively short time.

 
Basically, what I decided I had to do was create 3 new passage ways so that I could re-route existing wiring etc to mitigate the EMI interference and accommodate some new Garmin technology.

 
Polycraft are unique in that they are virtually unsinkable and that is achieved by the hull having an inner shin and an outer skin and the gap between the two skins being filled with polyurethane foam.

 
After careful consideration and investigation, I finally got it sorted in my mind, broke the project down into several parts, and set out to reorganize all those wiring and EMI limitations as best I could and at the same time to set up some new Garmin gear.

 
Part 1 - bow mounted 95SV touch screen UHD sounder.
This part was to install a new 95SV UHD transduce next to my favourite fishing position at the bow of the boat.

 
The plan here was to create a new passageway to run the power, wiring between the Garmin GMS10 Network Expander that would be located on the top shelf of the centre console as well as the LVS 32 Garmin and Panoptics transducer which I intended to install later. That involved putting three 20cm diameter hatches in strategic locations. The first was at the back of the anchor well, then there was a 40mm hole drilled at the front end of the underfloor storage locker. Then a second 20cm diameter hatch set up at the back of the front storage locker and a further 40mm hole through to the centre console to run cables and the G56 transducer cable etc through to the centre console at a later stage.

 
That gave me access to gouge out the required new passage way through the polyurethane foam … that took some doing but I finished with a clear 40mm passage way all the way from the bow mounted Garmin 95SV touch screen sounder to the inside of the centre console.

 
In that storage locker I also installed:

• A new 12V battery system for my current and future Garmin sonar and navigation gear.
• I cut a further hole in the port side of the centre console and mounted a 20cm port there to make it easier to set up the wiring when I came to that.
• I also set up a separate switch panel on the post side of the dash display area.
• Finally, I installed the 95SV UHD touch screen sounder wired that into the new 12V battery system and new switch panel.

 
Part 2 - New Garmin 125SV and 95SV UHD – both touch screen sounders.
This was also a difficult part of the overall job as it involved creating a new passageway in the port wall of the boat, then under the step between the wall and the floor storage locker and then joining the new passage way to the passageway I had put in for the 95SV UHD touch screen sounder.

 
To be able to gouge out that passage way a further 20cm diameter hatch was installed just behind of the port step, in line with the front of the storage locker, as well as three small access slits on the face of the step without diminishing the structural integrity of the step to give access to the polystyrene form. And then gouge out polystyrene foam, using all manner of improvised tools, to create a clear 40mm passage way all the way from the back of the boat to the center console. Once that was finished, I had a void which I had tested with a length of “yellow tongue”, running all the way from the back of the boat through the storage locker and 20cm diameter hatch to inside the centre console.

 
The next step was to remove the G54 transducer from its transducer bracket which is the same set up as the G56 transducer bracket and from the original passageway. It’s important in this process to make sure you build up a neat sloping head around the leading edge of the translucer fitting, that was fitted to the old Garmin 95SV, can be pulled out. A good tip at this at this stage is to tie some solid cord to the end of the transducer cable so that cord can be left in place to help pull further electric wiring through in the future. Removing the cable from the original void will take two people. One to push the cable through as best they can and the other to maintaining pressure to pull it through without doing any damage to it or its fittings. It is worth noting that once the G54 transducer cable was removed from the original pathway that the wiring running along that original pathway was freed up a little and whilst I have not replaced any of that original wiring yet I am sure that accessing that original cabling will be easier.

 
Fit the transducer end of the new transduce to the original transducer bracket and with the aid of a length of a yellow tongue pull the sounder cable all the way through the void. Again, be sure to tape the transducer end of the cable to the yellow tongue so that it does not get snagged up in the void. Secure both ends of your pull cord at both ends for future use.

 
It was then time to fit the two new sounders. I installed the new Garmin 125SV first and fitted the G56 transducer cable to that. Then I replaced the old button controller Garmin 95SV with the new Garmin touch screen SV. Both were wired to the 12V battery I had set up in the under floor storage locked and the new switch panel on the port side of the dashboard.

Part 3 – Panoptics Livescope & Garmin GMS 10 Network Expander
When I made my mind up to install Live Scope I decided that I would make the pole myself, well design it anyway.I have located the pole midships on the port gunnel so from that position Live Scope feed can be seen on the 95SV Garmin UHD sounder at the front of the boat or from the back area of the boat on the 125SV Garmin screen at the back of the boat. The transducer is set fairly deep on the pole so that it can be rotated 180 degrees and pick up feed on both sides of the boat. The LVS32 transducer cable runs down the same passage way as the G56 transducer and is plugged into the 3LS10 Garmin module which is located on the top shelf of the centre console.

 
The 3 sounders, the Live scope and the black box are all linked through the Garmin GMS 10 Network Expander which means that each sounder can either work independently or what is being transmitted to the black box and the network expander is also being transmitted to the other two sounders. All three sounders can deal with that information according to their own settings. I generally use the first 95SV UHD for Navigation the 125SV for Sonar and the bow 95SV for what suits me the most at any given time. That may be Navigation, Sonar side imaging or Live Scope.
The wiring for all this Garmin gear all runs on its own 12V battery system with the battery located in front of the centre console and all Garmin wiring well away from all other wiring and the power cables for the Motor Guide electric motor.

 
I am getting great vision on all my sounder gear and no longer have the EMI that I suffered when I first purchased the boat.

In summary
So now I have three independent battery systems.
 
The first is the 12V crank battery is set up at the stern of the boat and only cranks the 13HP Yamaha and provides power to the small electrical appliances such as the Radio, 2 Bilge Pumps, the Navigation lights, the Anchor lights and the light bar stationed at the top of the centre console. All those electrical appliances have their own switch panel.

 
A second 12V battery services all and only the Garmin electrics and is located in the underfloor storage locker in front of the centre console and is serviced by its own switch panel which is located well away from the electrical appliance switch panel.

 
The 24V battery system is located on the floor of the centre console and the Motor Guide power cables are on the starboard of the boat and well away from all my Garman products.

 
I have also enhanced the 24V battery system by isolating its wiring from all my Garmin products wiring and by adding a 12VDC to 24V DC charger from the 12V crank battery at the back of the boat. The wiring for that runs its own path down the starboard wall of the boat and is well away from all other wiring avoiding EMI to my Garmin products.
The benefit of the 12VDC to 24V DC charger is that once the alternator on my Yamaha 130HP 4 stroke has recharged the crank battery surplus power is directed to adding charge to the 24V battery system for the electric motor.

 
The other big change that I made to the boat was to abandon the electric winch that Curtis Coast installed on the trailer with a more substantial Dingo electric winch which has a flat pull cable rather than the horrible wire cable as was the case on the original electric winch and has 16 horse power of capacitu ensuring the recovering the boat is never a problem.

 
I am really happy with the overall performance of the boat now but I am sure over time I won’t be able to help myself and will tweak it a little further.

 
Wiring diagrams:
GARMIN


24V SYSTEM


DC TO DC


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