Our straightforward marine electronics installation tips will guide you through installing any piece electronics gear including a radio, chartplotter, or even a fishfinder.
Use one or all of our marine electronics installation tips to improve and ease the work once you have chosen the specific radio, bilge pump, or other electronics that fits your boat and your budget. Our tips and techniques will get your gear installed the right way the first time out.
The first time you install a piece of marine electronics, a VHF radio for instance, or an electric device like a bilge pump it will likely be a simple remove and replace job.
Installation Basics
On a simple job like replacing an electronics item needing repair your main concern will be getting the device reconnected properly to the boat wiring. Making wire connections that will resist corrosion and provide years of trouble free service is paramount to your boating pleasure.
Before you start, a quick review of basic boat wiring will get you up to speed on things to look for in new boat wiring as well as get you started on doing your own boat wiring job.
Here is a good place to start. Read our article on how to make a wire connection that will provide good service over an extended period of time even when located in highly corrosive bilge areas.
If you get into a more complex job that requires adding wire to a circuit or even running a new circuit for an additional piece of gear, you’ll need to pick the right wire for the job.
For most boat owners doing their own gear installations they will be purchasing new pieces of equipment in a store or online through links like those at contained in our reviews.
Installation Specifics
Before you set off installing all your own marine electronics you will need to do some planning. If you find mounting space to be at a premium you may wish to consider adding a marine electronics box.
One of the first pieces of marine electronics many boaters install will be front line navigation gear like a GPS with a charting function. Here we tell you all you need to know about how to install a chartplotter right.
Since many chartplotters today are paired with an internal sonar to provide sounder and fishfinder capability you may also need to know how to install a transducer on your boat.
Mounting your electronics in a panel makes for a clean look and can increase the value of your boat. Here’s how to flush mount your marine electronics.
Boats usually have a variety of pumps aboard and because of the environment they operate in, they break on occasion. Here on our how to install a washdown pump page you will learn all the details to do the job right.
I will continue to add more marine electronics installation tips and techniques for marine electrical device installation as time permits. I know many of this website’s reader install gear themselves and have a lots of outstanding tips they use.
Have an Installation Tip To Share? Let’s Hear It!
Do you have an electronics installation tip that worked wonders for you?
We want to hear about anything that made your radio, chartplotter, or fishfinder installation better, faster, or easier. Don’t limit it to those pieces of gear either. We want to hear about any marine electronics or electrical gear you’ve installed and how you improved the process or function.
Share your story.
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