Marinette Boat Forum

Hello folks. New fella here who just bought his 1st . She's a 1978 32' sedan fb with twin 318s. I have her running halfway decent and am getting ready to actually leave the dock. There are a few buttons/switches at the helm that I am unsure of their function. Before I get myself in too much trouble, can someone please tell me what they do? Thanks much and I promise to have more simple/silly questions real soon.

The first one...red circle...is easiest. It appears to be the parallel switch that ties both battery banks together. The main bank is on starboard side and the stbd engine gets a bit more juice when you start just as matter of course. The port doesn't get the same jolt, so if you hold the button in when you start the port side, it gets some extra power.

And, because the stbd bank usually powers other shipboard equipment such as the fridge and, I think, lights, it may need a little extra help getting the stbd engine going.

The others are more mysterious. The second appears to be something the PO installed and you may be able to reach out and find out what it does. The ones in the middle appear to be trim tab controls. If the boat is out of the water, it's pretty easy to confirm that. Otherwise, a helper and pretty clear water will help you confirm that.

Wait -- I take back that trim tab referfence: One of the shots shows what appears to be tab control peeking out on the right side. I'll now guess spotlight control.

I noticed that you had the common problem of the corners of the faceplate cracking. Try a little epoxy or superglue in there and also put a nylon washer under the retaining screw to spread the pressure over a wider surface.

Picture 4 with the purple circle is the spot light control. You can see and hear the trim tabs work if you look, even in the water. Underway you will feel the trim change. Good luck, Ed

Green circle - toggles in the middle control the spot light and movement - UP the flybridge has control - Back the lower helm has the control. The other control is , left to right-
speed of travel, spot/flood light/off and directional control of the light.

Not for trim tabs. The other toggle is a PO add mine started the original generator.

Welcome aboard!

Thanks so much to everyone for your help. I didn't want to start turning dials and flicking switches without having some idea as to what they were for. Thank you.

TeeCee,

My '71 doesn't have any toggle switches, they are all push/pull and are lined up along the sides of the dash panel. They are all labeled on the dash as to function. Anchor lights, running lights, bilge pump, docking lights, horn (a momentary push button). My trim tab control is a joy stick to the right of the starboard shift lever. Just a suggestion, but if you take those six screws out, the dash will fold out and you can trace the wires to the nearby fuse panel, which just might be labeled.

Skye

Maybe that mystery switch engages the flux capacitor.

Sorry, I couldn't help it.

I feel for you. I didn't have that problem on my boat, but two houses ago the wiring was a nightmare. Among other things, it had pushmatic breakers and enough telephone wire for six lines. The craziest was installing an extension phone in my daughter's room conked out the phone in the master bedroom (but no other phone) and I wired it the same way as the phone jack in the master bedroom. I didn't feel too badly because phone company techs had to make three trips to get it right. Of course today, no one would install a new phone jack anywhere.

There were these two white wires going to the battery on my bow rider. I tried--boy did I try!--to find out where the little b*st*rds went before bowing to the inevitable and ripping them out.

Jeff

..."Of course today, no one would install a new phone jack anywhere."

They would if they're got rotary phone mentality, like me.

Jeff (don't own a cell phone and don't intend to)

I have a drawer full of -phone jacks if anyone would like one... or two