Eric,
If you still have the long wiring run thru an ammeter at the engine panel, then you most likely still have the molded 8-pin connectors at the engine end and the panel end of the wiring harness. CHANGE THEM NOW AND DO THE WIRING HARNESS UPGRADE! Don't wait until next spring. There have been many articles written about this, and there is at least one on this website. Go to the Technical tab on the home page, and then the Important Notices tab. It should be one of the first articles. I don't believe you have to be a C36/375IA member to access the Important Notices section (for good reason!) The molded plugs are very likely the source of your electrical gremlins. Once you do the harness upgrade (with or without replacing the wires), you will be amazed at how much more efficient your charging system will be! Hope this helps.

On top of the gremlins that Tom mentioned, there are cases where the connectors have shorted and caught on fire. The wiring harness upgrade is not a convience upgrade, it is a [COLOR="Red"]SAFETY[/COLOR] upgrade!

It's not that hard, only takes a couple of hours. One suggestion that is also a time saver, is just hard wire the engine end of the harness. Slide a piece of shrink wrap over the wires and solder them one at a time. If you ever pull the engine, you will most likely disconnect the wires from the engine anyway, so why add another failure point.

Eric,

I purchased and updated the wire harness on my boat this spring. The kit comes with everything you need including easy to read instructions. It's pretty much connecting blue to blue, red to red, green to green and so on. I also noted several of the wires that were in the harness were a heavier gauge than their originals which equates to less resistance and better voltage at the receiving end. If you get the harness kit study the instructions. The instructions are straight forward and make the install easier.

Getting rid of the amp meter and replacing it with the volt meter that comes with the kit was also an improvement. I find the volt meter a better indicator of what's going on with my alternator and batteries while motoring.

Also if you have not done so the glow plug solenoid retrofit is a must. The instructions on this project are noted in our upgrades. You will improve your glow plug time! Mine went from 40-50 seconds on the GP switch to 5-10 seconds. The volt difference on the glow plug end went from around 9.1 V to better than 13 V's. You end up pulling your power off of the starter + stud and running about 24" rather than the 25+ feet with a smaller gauge wire from the engine compartment to the glow plug switch and back to the glow plugs. (It's about a 1-2 hours project at the most).

And...if and when you have the extra cash consider upgrading your alternator, if you have the old Motorola model, and add an external regulator. You will improve you charging at least +1 V, from around 13.2 to 14.2 V's. The older Motorola alternators were only designed to put out around 13.2 V's whereas the newer alternators are in the 14.2 range. I now have full starting power when starting my engine after sailing all day. There was a night and day difference between before and after my install. And... this upgrade is also on our site.

Good luck!

Chris

Eric,

I suggest you contact Seaward Products. They sell the Catalina/Universal wiring and volt meter upgrade. If you ask they will send you the price of their upgrade products along with their specs that also includes their wiring diagram that matches your wiring setup. It also has some of the simple wiring fixes you can do now like bypassing/removing the amp meter from the circuit (Example: Orange wire from alternator is cut and connected to + terminal on the starter. This quick fix will give you direct amps/volts from the alternator directly to the + post on the starter giving you full voltage. Otherwise with the amp meter still connected your voltage goes from the alternator all the way to the amp meter and back to the starter with a noticeable voltage drop due the the small gauge wire and the long wire run). I'd send you the file but the info package is too large for me to attach to this posting.

Contact Seaward at:

[url]http://www.seawardproducts.com/[/url]

Also, when I replaced my old harness I inspected the plugs at the engine and control panel end. I did not find any problems with corrosion or burnt connectors. That said there could have been some hidden corrosion or an unseen problem just waiting to cause me grief? I suppose a quick fix might be a temporary fix but remember how old your current harness is, 25+ years. It depends on how lucky you feel especially if you have the Captain on board and something happens...

Chris

As others have mentioned, this is a must do. I'm sure your C36 webmasters have a list of critical upgrades.

We do, too, and it is here: [url]http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,5078.0.html[/url]

Among a very repetitive list of issues is this one on page 2 of that topic: [url]http://c34.org/bbs/index.php?action=post;msg=35943;topic=5078.15;sesc=9a...

If you read the links in that post, you'll see pictures of why this could be a fire hazard. It is not necessarily the wiring from the engine to the cockpit panel, it is the connectors at each end.

Many of the rest of the items in that topic are applicable to your boat, too.

A link to the original Seaward article is: [url]http://www.c34.org/wiki/index.php?title=Engine_Harness_Upgrade[/url]

This includes the wiring diagram you requested.

If you have an M25 engine, check to see that the alternator bracket has been upgraded, links in the Critical Upgrade topic.

Eric,

Just for information and from the discussion on our Critical Upgrades page, where did you purchase your alternator bracket upgrade package?

Stu