aerator pump will not turn off

[rick465]

I picked up an "older" Cajun bass boat...1976 to be exact HA! I have it going pretty well I have a couple issues that are stumping me. This one is about the aerator pump. I unhooked and removed he old one and put in a new one. It works great except it will not turn off. The switch, right? Nope. I took out the switch and it still runs. WTH!?! There seem to be no switches on the motor for constant use or anything. I did the same with the bilge and it does fine.

Any hints? This might not be Cajun related, exactly, but with no books or diagrams available I thought this would be a good place to start. ( I put this in the electrical section too)

THANKS!!!

[CastingCall]

Maybe you didn't wire the new one properly...?
Disconnect the pump from the wiring, and use a multi-meter on the boat wiring to see if you get switched power from the aerator switch... or if you're getting power all the time (regardless of switch).
You may need to trace wires back to see where an issue may be.

[rick465]

I hooked it up to the old wires. So it should be right. I get power all the time no matter what the switch positions is. Same with the new switch I bought. I also switched the wires and it ran then too (although probably backwards).

The boat's only 40 years old...so you'd think the wiring would be simple but it seems to have had various patches over the years and different colored stuff comes out of different places. Is there a wiring schematic I could get for a full rewire? It even has 2 wires coming out the bottom of the throttle controller that are cut about 2 inches long.

Anyway its a 1976 Cajun with an 85hp Evinrude, power tilt. 1 bilge, 1 aerator pump, 3 interior crtsy lights, front and back nav lights and a trolling motor plug. If there is not something ready made, is there a way to build a schematic?

[CastingCall]

You could likely contract someone to build you a custom wiring harness... or just do it yourself. Just takes a bit of time, pencil and paper to map out what you want, where you want it, where the switches and gauges will go to control and monitor it, then determine wiring to/from each battery/pump/switch/light.
Here's a good article that will give you lots of information:
http://newboatbuilders.com/pages/electricity13.html

[rick465]

Being naturally cheap, 'contract' sounds like money to me. The drawing out sounds like a good idea. That site looks fantastic, I'll poke around on it too. Thanks guys!!

[Enskyte]

Did your old bilge pump have a float switch? That would be the only reason to have constant 12v. The float then acts like a switch. The switch on your dash, the wire is probably laying around somewhere back there. They are usually brown or brown with white stripe.

[rick465]

Yeah, like I said it's an old boat. I couldn't read the name of the switch on the front panel. I now know it says livewell pump. Duh. There was a short all the way up there. Traced it and fixed it!
THANKS!!!!!!!!!!!!