Thread: Updating and Upgrading My Skeeter F-80 Strada

Finished up all the Aft Compartment wiring, well till I put LED compartment lights in. Got on installing the Bilge Pump and connecting the Livewell Pump hose. Tied all the wiring up well too.



Not as much room left but wait, the fuel tank need to go in too.



If I decide to strip my other Blazer and install everything on this boat I will use a permanent fuel tank.

I always install trolling motor supply leads on the opposite side of my boats or boat builds. The newer pulse width modulated digital trolling motors create a high level of interference RF that can induce a counter EMF if close to transducer wiring or electronics power supply wiring. Since this is a 1986 boat it has some access issues up in the bow that I have to address mainly opening the size of the access opening up. I can't get my forearm thru what's there to properly bolt a modern trolling motor on. Thru bolting the trolling motor plug is needed to, the holes are too big for screws.



First was to work from the trolling motor plug opening feeding the metal fish tape to the stern of the boat doen the Port side.



I didn't have enough #8 Red wire to make the run so I'm using a very HD Red Shrink Tubing to color code each end of one of the black wires to designate it permanently as the positive conductor.



The coils were so tight in the wire I had to wrap the end around this cleat and stretch & pull removing some of the memory in the wire before pulling. Feeding the wires thru the hull slowly all went well you can see the wires sticking out of the mounting location for the trolling motor receptacle.



I use tape to mark what not to cut when opening up a hole like this because a certain amount of level, flat surface needs to remain for the new panel cover to mount properly. What is inside the tape line will be removed then I sand these cuts well so I don't get scratched up later.



To secure and protect the new wires I put the entire run in Convoluted Tubing. It is a PITA to install after the wires are run but now I can secure the wiring well with eyelet tiewraps. I like to screw the eyelets down up against the inside of the rod box and along the wire routing in the aft compartment.

Have you thought about a bolt isolator kit like this? Motorguide Mounting Isolator Kit - Trolling Motor Accessories

My Skeeter originally had them with trolling motor that it had when I bought the boat, and I haven’t had many issues with them since. I do replace them at every trolling motor change, and I also have access issues for a proper nut and bolt setup.

I'm aware of those and may need to use them but I'm not very fond of the way they grip the cap & dry rot. I use Quick Detach hardware a lot and for it to work well usually the bases need to be bolted to the cap itself. Motorguide's QD Base breaks if any twisting is allowed but I use them because I have Minn-Kota & Motorguide trolling motors I swap around as needed. Thanks for suggesting though.

With these jobs, too much time can not be spent figuring unforeseen needs, layout due to small deck size, convenience items, etc.



The first task at hand was cutting access for my arms in the bow of the boat. I will cut a piece of 5052 1/8in thick Aluminum sheet to make a new dash panel including a Trim/Tilt Switch & Livewell Switch for now. If I install Livescope later enough power will already exist to power anything installed.



I was a Power-Pole Dealer for a long time in the beginning. JL Marine changed the Dealer program rewarding labor but no profit on the sale of the units so I dropped them. Since a few of their hardware kits are still laying around I used one to thru bolt install this old trolling motor base. It is a 55# Motor-Guide SW Digital Hand Control that has been laying around for 10 years. It will do for now. Using JL Marine's high density composite mounting washers I was able to get a good even torque on 5 mounting screws. I don't think it will go anywhere.



On to the new Trolling Motor Receptacle. With the enlarged opening in the Bow I was able to reach around to the backside of this unit and thru screw the mounting, it won't move either. I took a picture of the length to strip the wire for these receptacles because I don't know how many repairs I was able to charge for because the receptacle leads were not stripped far enough back. The wire pushes way into the terminals in the back. Strip enough wire to fill the terminal completely.



On to the safety device. I personally like this Blue Sea Systems unit. The hardware is all stainless, the material used in the Seal is some form of Silicone, good stuff, and when you push the cover down over the studs it stays in place. Again no plain shrink ring terminal is used in the high current installation. I'm using very large surface area eyelet Stak-on un-insulated terminals made for 8 gauge stranded wire. I like to do it right so I don't do it again.



I'm in the habit to check for reverse polarity on any receptacle I install now that I'm older so to be sure all is well I plug a digital charger into the receptacle first. If I made a mistake the charger would tell me.

The need to pull new wiring to the bow was next today, after making a conductor umbilical with the wires needed plus a extra not needed I setup to make the pull thru the side of the Cap. I stayed within the molded rings Skeeter added to the underside of the Cap for wiring support. I fished the nylon fish tape to the bow first then fastened the wires in a tapered fashion to make pulling the wires back easier.



Just a little bit of back & forth and out popped the wires under the console/dash.



After cutting the bow panel wires to length I securely bundled all the bow wiring together with a couple of cable ties. This will keep everything easy to reach later.

I need to mount the electrical switches & fuse holders for the Tilt/Trim, Livewell, & Bow Electronics power switch in this opening.



The forward livewell switch was a push/pull type installed in the hole on the right. That would just catch fishing line if reinstalled, no that hole gets plugged.



First things first is the "Pattern". I made a pattern of the maximum area a flat piece of aluminum sheet would lay flat. Once I had that done I transferred the outline to a piece of drop material.



After checking the fit I center punched 4 mounting holes and cleaned the panel up.



Wishing I had made this panel sooner so I could have painted it yesterday I got to thinking what it I just polished the aluminum out so I hit it briefly with the buffer. I think I will like it polished just fine. It needs more work but after I drill all the rest of the holes.

Using a Drill Press, wood, & clamps to align the drill bit with the desired location of the hole in the Bow Panel. In the second picture if you look at the aluminum cutting curl specifically, when drilling aluminum you apply pressure to the drill bit tip till you see a clean curl like that.



I de-burred the holes once drilled on both sides so the switch & retaining ring / boot sit flush on the aluminum.



So the reason I am installing the switches in the lower left hand corner of the panel is because I use a launching rope secured to the bow cleats. When the switches are higher on the deck the ropes when launching the bow catches on the rubber boots breaking the Batons out of the switches. This is the least likely place for a switch baton to get snagged.

The leg room on this boat is so spacious I had to move the Hot Foot out towards the Cockpit seat before securing to the Deck. I also adjusted it so at full throttle the butterflies in the Carbs are at 90 degrees to the Carb Bore.