I see a lot of posts on this board asking about things like owners manuals, wiring diagrams, and such. I suspect most people who come here have never seen a "new" Cajun, on the showroom floor. I've owned two Cajun's both purchased new, an 85, and an 87. I "helped out" at the dealership where I purchased them, mostly because I have no real life, so I hung around the boat shop and fetched coffee, donuts, and wrenches and told good stories.
Well let me tell you boys and girls. Things were different in the old days. Today, when we go to a boat dealer and see a shiny new boat setting on the showroom floor, for the most part that boat was delivered just like you see it. That boat was rigged at the factory, and about the only choice you get is what depth finders you want, and you may not get that.
Back in the 70's and 80's especially, a boat was almost a custom thing. The engine manufactures hadn't started buying up boat manufacturers so all rigging was done at the dealer. A dealer would order a boat from the factory. Some would come on a "factory" trailer, some didn't. If the dealer used an aftermarket trailer, first you had to fit the boat to the trailer. Then the dealer started with a bare hull and mounted EVERYTHING the customer wanted. The bare hull would probably have instruments in the dash, steering installed, and it would be wired for a Trolling Motor. Maybe. If not the dealer had to run that too. The live wells would be plumbed, and the bilge pumps installed. Anything else we had to do ourselves. Hang the gas engine, mount the trolling motors, mount the battery trays, and the batteries, depth finders and any other equipment the customer wanted. If you go back far enough, we even had to mount things like gas tanks. Stuff like cleats and clam-shell covers the little hardware that finishes a boat off came in a cardboard box that was stuffed into the boat somewhere.
That's why you can't usually find anything like a wiring diagram, for older boats. There simply was no "standard". It was usually up to the individual rigger. How he liked to do things, was how things got done. Or up to the dealership.
Good riggers were a big selling point for a dealer. People would actually change brands of boat if a certain rigger left one dealer and went to another. When I went to boat shows, I always looked to see what kind of rigging job the dealer did. Told you a lot about the way he did business. Were the wires bundled up tight and neat or did they run willy nilly every which way? Was the bilge area cleaned out or was it full of sawdust and drill shavings? Did things line up like they'd been measured, or could you tell they'd been "eyeballed"?
So enjoy your "classic" boat. After all these years, I still think that Cajun, especially the "Tournament Series", were the best bass boats ever built.
And good luck figuring out what's what on it.
Edited to add. I have never seen a Cajun "owners manual". There may be such an animal but I never saw one for either of the two boats I owned, or for any of the ones I sold. There was a generic "How to operate your new boat" type booklet, which was mostly safety information. That was about it.
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