Wiring Bow Fish Finder on RT

[Fishaholic Ty]

So I have a new fish finder coming that i am going to put at the bow. Now I know wiring it directly to the battery is what is recommended. Im just worried about getting wire all the way from the front to the back with out it showing. Does anyone with a Rt178/188 have any good plans of keeping the wires under the floor? I had the dealer install the fishfinder i have now so I'm not sure where that goes, but im pretty sure they did not wire it to the battery.

Any advice or pictures of wiring on an RT bow fish finder would be awesome, Thanks!

[basscatcher89]

I don't have pictures under the deck unfortunately but I'll tell ya what I did. There is a power panel under the foot tray that you can tap into. I ran the red side of the power cable to that and then ran a black wire from the battery up to the front. The best way I found to run the wire is I took out the 4 screws holding the fuse box into the hull under the console. Then can kind of pull on it and it will come out a ways to let you get behind it. Then I fed the metal fish through there towards the front. I just kept pushing it through till it stopped. If you go stick your head under the foot pedal tray and look to that side of the boat you will find it ran along a wire tray and is up in the front of the boat. So I just pulled the wire back to the console. Then I turned the fish around and attached the wire and pushed it back through the conduit to the battery compartment of the boat.

[Fishaholic Ty]

Why split one to the power panel and one to the battery?

[basscatcher89]

I'm trying it. I was originally going to run both cables and run an inline fuse. Spoke with some folks here and decided to run the load side with a new cable and use the boat harness and fuse circuit for the other side. If I start seeing issues I'll run both power wires direct to the battery with an inline fuse.

[Panama]

I'm curious.. Why not just hook the positive and negative both to the power supply plate under the trolling motor pedal tray and add the inline fuse?? Mine has been like that for quite a long time and I have not had any problems. The positive and negative are already there.

[aj306]

Plug it to the electronics terminals supplied by Ranger. As long as you are not using a trolling motor battery for supply or have an old flasher you will not have any interference.

[Sbp]

If you want to go to the battery it is pretty simple. I have a Triton 18tx so it should be the same. Take recessed trolling motor panel out. Run fish tape/stick from under console (there is a gap by sidewall) to front with a string. Take cup holder out by driver seat and you will see a tube going to the back with all your other cables. Run fish tape to the back. It will come out where your steering control cables do. There you go. I ran power and a dedicated fuse box for my units that is installed under the console.

[TritonTRXV8]

I would just run the power to the block at the front of the boat under the tray. Just wire in a 3 amp inline fuse (preferably in a spot where you can access it if it were to ever blow). I would say that is the simplest way.

[basscatcher89]

I'm curious.. Why not just hook the positive and negative both to the power supply plate under the trolling motor pedal tray and add the inline fuse?? Mine has been like that for quite a long time and I have not had any problems. The positive and negative are already there.

Because every electronics guy I've talked to said they never trust the boats wiring harness because you never know what corners were cut when it was put in. If I run it myself I know for a fact everything is as it should be. I decided to try running the positive to the block just so I could have the fused connection with the load being on the wire that I ran. If I get some interference i'll run the other wire. In fact its been bugging me enough since I did it i'll probably end up running it anyway lol.


I get the pickiness from working on folks race cars for 10 years and seeing corners cut and having to redo everything so that I know its right. Same with the boats no matter what manufacturer I don't have confidence that their stuff is suitable for what I want it to do other than run the little accessories. If I do it all myself I know exactly what's there and if its wrong that's on me. Its just my way of doing things.

[civiltiger07]

I'm glad I saw this thread. I'm about to upgrade my bow unit from a 3 to an elite 7. So the RT188's have a power block under the trolling motor pedal? That will make things much easier

[GWDawg1]

If you want to go to the battery it is pretty simple. I have a Triton 18tx so it should be the same. Take recessed trolling motor panel out. Run fish tape/stick from under console (there is a gap by sidewall) to front with a string. Take cup holder out by driver seat and you will see a tube going to the back with all your other cables. Run fish tape to the back. It will come out where your steering control cables do. There you go. I ran power and a dedicated fuse box for my units that is installed under the console.

Exactly right. I have an RT188 and that's what I'm going to do this weekend.

[Bill Reynolds]

If you want to go to the battery it is pretty simple. I have a Triton 18tx so it should be the same. Take recessed trolling motor panel out. Run fish tape/stick from under console (there is a gap by sidewall) to front with a string. Take cup holder out by driver seat and you will see a tube going to the back with all your other cables. Run fish tape to the back. It will come out where your steering control cables do. There you go. I ran power and a dedicated fuse box for my units that is installed under the console.

just to tag onto this:
when you remove the cup holder near the shift lever you will see two wiring tubes, one above the other. The top one comes out above the splash well and carries the wiring and steering cables going to the motor. The lower one comes out inside the bilge where the batteries are. This is the one I think you want for running an additional wire to the battery.

[Fishaholic Ty]

Thanks for all the replies guys. Sounds pretty straight forward either way i wire it.

[stratos284]

Because every electronics guy I've talked to said they never trust the boats wiring harness because you never know what corners were cut when it was put in. If I run it myself I know for a fact everything is as it should be. I decided to try running the positive to the block just so I could have the fused connection with the load being on the wire that I ran. If I get some interference i'll run the other wire. In fact its been bugging me enough since I did it i'll probably end up running it anyway lol.


I get the pickiness from working on folks race cars for 10 years and seeing corners cut and having to redo everything so that I know its right. Same with the boats no matter what manufacturer I don't have confidence that their stuff is suitable for what I want it to do other than run the little accessories. If I do it all myself I know exactly what's there and if its wrong that's on me. Its just my way of doing things.

I thought Ranger didnt cut corners

[Snagged]

I wired into power block under trolling motor tray. It's fused at the console. Works fine and didn't see the need for an inline fuse under the tray. My fiberglass ranger was wired the same way.

[melvisbass]

Ty, I plan on installing a bow mount finder on my RT178 this weekend. I plan on using the power feed under the tray, but I'm also pulling an ethernet cable to the unit in my console. I will try and take pics as I go along and post.

[civiltiger07]

I switched out the lowrance 3 that came with my boat for a lowrance Elite 7 yesterday. Used the block under the trolling motor pedal. Whole job took maybe 30 minutes. The dealership put an inline fuse on positive so I just left it in place.

[fishinSteve]

I would just run the power to the block at the front of the boat under the tray. Just wire in a 3 amp inline fuse (preferably in a spot where you can access it if it were to ever blow). I would say that is the simplest way.

That's how the one that came on the boat was hooked up. When I replaced it , wired it up the same way. I didn't do the inline fused because it is fused at that console as Snagged pointed out.

[TritonTRXV8]

If its fused at the console then its fine IMO. Its entirely up to the installer tho I just hate running wiring I dont need to. I have all 3 of my graphs lff the fuse panel with zero issues.

[GWDawg1]

Ok, just finished running the wires for two Helix units on my RT188. I used a fishtape with a string attached to run the wires. As stated above you need to start at the bilge where the wires come out on the driver side near the bottom of the transom, start at the bilge and run your tape forward toward the bow. If you don't do this and start by the steering wheel at the cupholder, your fishtape will feed out through the top where the steering cable exits the hull. Also, I ran my transducer cable and exited it out through the chrome cover near the transom, you will need to remove the cover to see your fishtape when it comes out.
Hopes this helps.