Wiring issues

[scook]

Unless the insulation on your wiring is stiff and cracking, I wouldn't even think about anything close to complete rewiring.

If your boat was used in the salt a lot, like mine was, your main issue is probably corroded connections, not bad wiring. Most of these can be made right by cleaning them and protecting them with electrical grease. Some of the connectors on the ends of wires may be badly eroded from corrosion or there will be bad corrosion in the stranded wire at the connection. I bought a good crimping tool and a supply of connectors that are waterproof (they have a heat shrink insulating sleeve with some goop inside that really seals out water).

Mine is an '85 and had generations of electronics come and go. I got almost two 5 gallon buckets full from stripping out wire that wasn't doing anything any more. It was amazing how much simpler it was to follow wires that were in use with it cleaned up. You'll probably want to remove the rod boxes for access to some of the wiring.