Electrical connections

"My boat is now 18 years old,

"My boat is now 18 years old, good overal shape 4.3L. But time has aged lots of things beside me.
The wiring is old and I'm starting to think about rewiring everything over the next year, to avoid breakdowns. Figure I'll start with the lights/accessories and get to theengine last.

I've got 2 bilge pumps and that wiring looks the worse. a starting place.

Question what is the best type of electrical wire-to-wire connection for marine use. Should I just twist and soldier everything and then coat with silicon? Is there a good crimp connection that will not corode or loosen?

thanks"

"Silicone isn't a great in

"Silicone isn't a great insulator after heat affects the connections. If you are good at soldering and want to do it that way, get some heat-n-seal shrink tubing. This kind heats up and the glue inside softens and expands, sealing the connection better than any other method I have seen. You can also get heat-n-seal butt splices that do the same thing. Since your boat is 18 years old and still works, you know that butt splices are a good way to make connections. As long as there isn't any corrosion inside the insulation next to the existing connections, you don't need to rewire the whole boat. You can cut the connections, strip back to good clean wire and reconnect the wires. Another good way is with butt splices and dielectric grease squirted into the ends. I literally made tens of thousands of crimped connections in cars and boats with almost no problems. Water getting in was the only issue and that happened on a couple of cars when it rained and they had open windows. I did 12V electronics for a long time (over 7000 cars) and worked on boats for about 5 years with no need to re-do the connections.

I would start in the bilge and do a wiggle test on all connections. If they fail, they need resplicing. If they don't fail, it's your call. Why re-do things that still work?

Re: crimp connectors that don't loosen or corrode- good ones are tinned and by themselves, won't corrode. It's usually the wire that goes bad from water getting in. The heat-n-seal connectors and regular butt splices with dielectric grease (silicone grease) keep this from happening. As far as loosening, there's one right way to crimp and that has to do with the seam on the sleeve. Get a good crimper and keep the seam from splitting. I have used a Gardner-Bender stripper/crimper for years (I go through about one every year from wear) and you can get it at most big box building centers. HD, Lowes, Menards and places like that sell them. You need to look for the seam and position it in the crimper so it doesn't split but it doesn't really take a lot more time. It's definitely worth it, though."