1999 Ski Nautique Wiring Question

[dtm8119]

Quick question if anyone happens to know. In my battery box under the passenger seat, there are the Positive + Negative battery terminals, but then there is also a single 16-18 gauge black wire with a ring terminal on it - just was curious if anyone knows there the other end of this wire connects to?

Thanks in advance!

[NautiqueJeff]

That could be anything. It does not appear to be factory.

You'll have to trace it. It looks like it goes into the tunnel that comes out in the front of the engine compartment. Look down by the pylon and see if you can find the other end.

Also, I would suggest replacing the end with a real ring terminal that actually fits, and uses heat-shrink.

[bturner]

Definitely some "custom" wiring done by a PO. I have yet to buy a used boat that didn't have a fair amount of "custom" wiring done to it. After you figure out that wire I would start looking at the rest of the wiring for any other custom wiring that may have been done. To be completely honest, on a scale from 1 - 10 (1 being low risk) that wire would be sitting somewhere at about a 1 or 2. Nothing like the infamous tape balls, house wire nuts or the ever popular nut and bolt with a pair of washers holding wires together. I've also seen Romex and speaker wire used to wire circuits.

[SilentSeven]

Is there a matching positive wire? Rare to see just only a ground added to the battery. Whatever it is...it's been there a while. I'd look for any electrical 'additions' to the boat as candidate items - stereo unit, amp, lighting, speed controls - you get the idea.

The other thought is this - this generation of Nautique is known to have pretty marginal dashwiring. Marginal as in very limited expansion as the factory power and ground harness are just barely adequate for the factory installed items. In my '97, I had to run a dedicated secondary dash circuit to get my Perfect Pass to work reliably. From your sidebar I see you may have a PP unit? Check and see if this could be a dedicated ground running to the PP control box.

[dtm8119]

Thanks for the feedback everyone! I think I'll trace back under the pylon to see where it goes just because I'm curious.

History on the boat is....I got it from a shop back in 2023 that swapped in a ZR409 + Zero Off. Unsure what work the previous owner did to it

Last summer - I did have a few very random, odd no-start's situations pop up. I would be doing my normal start up procedure (ignition dash button pressed, blower dash button pressed, turn the key and off we go!) where the engine would not crank and the ignition dash light would go out as soon as I turned the key. Simply pressing off the ignition button then back on again would reset things and it would start up normally on try #2.

I checked to ensure battery posts/clamps were clean and terminal connections were tight after the first instance, but still had it happen a couple more times as the season went on.

Something that I'd like to dig into a bit more to find the root cause this Spring. Another oddity is....the back of the kill switch looks like this - unsure what's going on here!

[NautiqueJeff]

Your power loss at start is common. Normally it is failing battery wires, but could be a dirty ground somewhere. Replacing the battery cables almost always fixes it. They get corroded inside the rubber, and you can't see it. I get mine from GenuineDealz.com, and custom order them to length.

On that kill switch, believe it or not, that is from the factory. They were famous for globbing silicone on the wiring and the nuts on the upholstery, so that they wouldn't back off due to vibration.

[dtm8119]

That's interesting to know on the kill switch, thanks!

When you have done restorations on 97-99 Nautiques, what length battery cables and gauge have you gone with? Checking out the site you recommended now...thanks!

[NautiqueJeff]

Here's an old screenshot from an order I placed with them a few years ago. I am sure prices have gone up since then.

[dtm8119]

Thanks! I assume 12 x 1 AWG means 12 feet?

[NautiqueJeff]

Correct. If I remember right, they were just a bit long, but nothing unmanageable.