Thread: Updating and Upgrading My Skeeter F-80 Strada

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.