1992 Cajun Help

[92cajun]

Well I'm new here and to boating and looking for some help .
I just purchased a 1992 Cajun 1800 XPT and I am trying to remove the back deck to get to the batteries and fuel tank I removed all the screws on top and this thing wont budge . Problem #2 the wiring is a mess I found out that the "gentleman" I bought this from is a liar but thats another story . the switches up front for the trolloing motor live well and charger are not connected and I would like to rewire it. I was told the trolling motor works but the switch needs to be replaced for the24v/12v plug I have the switch lol now I need to get the wires there . so any help would be greatly appreciated . Thanks in advance


Modified by 92cajun at 3:18 PM 7/8/2010

[CajunBass]

The decks on all the ones I ever worked on were TIGHT. They had to be carefully pried up by working around the entire deck, after removing the screws. But those were all mid 80's to about 1990 models. I don't know if they made any changes later or not, so proceed with caution.

As for wiring. You would probably be better off to just figure on starting from scratch and running all new wires. Use a snake and work from any opening you can find to work them through. Again, take your time. Brute force is not your buddy in this case.

Those "Charge/run" switches on the front panel were pretty much useless except for 12 volt systems, and even then they weren't good. With a 24 volt system, one battery always got a better charge than the other, and eventually the one would go bad first, and then it would kill the other. You're much better off to run two chargers (or a dual bank charger) hooked directly to the battery. The shorter the run, the better.

Good luck.

[92cajun]

Thank for the tip on the deck . I have 1 problem rewiring the boat some of the wires are to the bow but capped off and now I found the safety kill switch is either disconnected or jumped out not sure because of the rats nest of wiring behind the panel . only 1 wire is attached to the kill switch and not sure if thats the reason i can't start the boat . I know the owners manual wont show me the wiring so I need a liitle assistance in this matter.as I'm not sure where all the wires are supposed to connect to .

[Kevin R.]

Most boats were wired at the dealer and were not matched in any way by boat brand. I would hit a dealer up that has been around awhile and see if they have any wiring charts or get ready to spend the money for a new harness.

[316jughead]

Could you post pictures?

[Airborne!]

The Kill Switch will have a wire (maybe black-yellow) going to the Key Switch and that same color wire will run from that point to the Magneto. The Kill Switch will probably also have a black wire running to ground.
For testing purposes only you can just take it out of the loop by removing the wire from the Key Switch to the Magneto. I would test for spark first at the plugs. If you have spark then the Kill Switch can be eliminated as a culprit in your starting issue. If you do not have spark then take the kill switch out of the loop and test again.

[316jughead]

If you can't post pictures could you give me a discription of your boat? My Cajun dealer number was 106 and they started at 100. I sold a lot of Cajun's but can't remember the 1992 1800 XPT. I had trouble getting to a lot of fuel tanks but not the batteries, some of them were not easy but I could get them in without unscrewing the decks. As for the front panel, the exact purpose for the charge/run switch is to run your trolling motor off of two batteries in 12 or 24 volt. The trolling motor must be wired to the plug 24 volt and 12 volt and ground,and when you switch to 12/charge it will run in 12volt off of both batteries. Don't even use the switch in the middle position, this will run 12volt off just one battery. Now, be very carefull how you connect the new switch, if connected wrong you will make smoke and that's not good. Ace hardware stores will have a good switch for this, metal toggle, the connectors might not be push on but you can change this, very good switch and about 1/3 the price, I bought my switches from them. I am not familar with the newer trolling motors so the wiring on the plug might not be as I described. Good luck, Jerry

[92cajun]

I hope this pic thing works

[agarcia0421]

wow what a nice cajun!

[316jughead]

IM KP78, your boat and his should be about the same. Jerry

[Enskyte]

Send me your email address and I can send you a scanned copy of my cajun's diagram.