So here's the dash wiring part way through. There's reasonable access under the dash and I spent many evenings camped out under there. In this photo I still need to do a lot of connections, tiding up, and the steering hoses aren't in yet.
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Scarab July 27 108.JPG [ 201.56 KiB | Viewed 2153 times ]
I used several Blue Sea Systems buss bars. 2 for grounds (1 on either side of the dash), another for keyswitch "on/hot", another for raw positive, and another for various lighting circuits (this boat has several). I installed a heavy-duty Blue Sea 30 amp waterproof breaker back at the battery. All the wiring is Ancor marine tinned copper with Ancor terminals, all heat-shrunk.
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Scarab July 27 110.JPG [ 184.36 KiB | Viewed 2153 times ]
I made the aluminum brackets that hold the gauges. There's a cable tie mount screwed to the bottom that holds the split-loom. I'm not a fan of daisy-chaining (series-wired) grounds and dash lights to gauges. All mine are wired in parallel hence more wire than other boats.
And Rob - I have some Starrett 0.0001" reading mics (which Geiger makes fun of me for since they have ratchet screws
) - but this rigging job was not intended to be a show piece - merely "good" and reliable is fine for this budget rig
.