Meltdown Nightmare

[Jignjim]

I had a wire that shorted on my bilge pump and started burning and melting wires in my wiring harness. I finally got all of the wires cut loose from the battery and stopped the meltdown. It took all day but I got the boat completely rewired and everything back in working order. My Question is, what size fuse do I need on the wire feeding my Motor Guide 36# thrust trolling motor. I am retired from the electrical construction business but don't know squat about how to size DC circuits.

[Barnacle Bill]

40 amp for the trolling motor. I hope you have everything else fused now. You were lucky. Glad no one was hurt.

[Jignjim]

I assumed that everything in the boat was fused. Fuse holders were all in place with fuses in them ( all except the trolling motor). When I began to tear out burned wires, I found that all of the fuse holders had been by-passed and nothing in the boat was protected. Can you imagine what would have happened if I had been on the lake instead of my carport?

[creekslick]

Sure could of been bad. Fire on a boat is a bad thing.

[Redy2Fish]

Happened to me many years ago, my fault, I had put too large of a fuse in a circuit!