Wiring the Whaler

    The little Whaler is awesome in its simplest form but I needed some updates to make it suite my needs. One of the main things was the anchor light. I had purchased a battery-operated clamp-on style light to get me through my Bear Island trip in October. all-in-all it was way too short and I had to rig it to clamp it on. The previous owner gave me a standard anchor light with the boat so I purchased a receptacle to accept it and fabricated it onto the boat. I would have loved the original style light and may swap it out one day, but they are way more than I want to spend on a light right now.

    Of course, I had to get my Helix sorted out as well. I went ahead and put that on a switch as well. I bought a transom block and mounted that as well as a new transducer. (I am using the original transducer on my G3 with a splitter into the Helix 9). I took the boat out with my bubby (previous owner) and got ok readings but I feel they could be better. I think part of the problem is the transom is curved and that cocks the transducer a bit. I suspect it will only really affect readings while moving along.

 

    Of course, I needed a way to charge my phone and run 12-volt accessories so I installed a lighter plug. I may change this out later for a USB lighter combo.

    On the trip in October, we got a bunch of rain overnight and I had to hand bail water from the boat so I installed a small bilge pump. I just ran flex hose to the back and zip tied that on. My goal has always been to have a few holes as possible.

    Lastly, I put in green LEDs for night fishing and white lights for seeing in the dark.

    All of this is tied into a 6 gang switch box and a ground lug. The only thing I do not really like is the red light that glows constantly while connected to the battery. I will either put a switch on the battery to turn off power to it or go in and disable the light.

    I put this over on my Facebook Group page but not here so I will include it now.....

   I added some rod holders and I also moved the fire extinguisher under the front hatch. I wanted the hatch to have more weight so I would have to worry less about it blowing off going down the road.

I went with two since three would have been tight.

I added the YETI opener as well.

    FYI, YETI clip-on accessories for the coolers fit the side clamps like a glove. You can hang the cup holders or the cooler rod holders right on. They fit nice and tight. You could screw them down if you were concerned with theft.

    I think the last thing I want to do is get a battery box for the battery and I will be done.... for now....