New Owner Needs Help on a Bertram 28

[Hookshurt]

I recently purchased a 1980 Bertram 28 and I'm in need of a wiring diagram for this boat. It was repowered in 01 with 2 350 V8 motors. Unfortunately the party who repowered the unit is no longer with us so I can't use hiim to reference the work that he did. When it was repowered they didn't replace the wiring harness, they only chopped, cut, and spliced. There seems to be no true ryhme or reason to any of the work.

This boat has two batteries port and 1 starboard, so I assume that the "spare battery" is the house battery. We replaced both alternators and the starboard is running like a champ. The shore power charges the batteries up fine but after a period of time the port side finally dies out. It seems that there is probably an issue between alternator and motor but I suspect that there also is some issues with improper grounding and shorts. Hence the need for an original wiring diagram so we can trace what does what and possibly rewire the entire vessel.

Unfortunately my knowledge is limited so if anything I've put here is completely off base, It won't hurt my feelings to be redirected. Any suggestions or advise is also welcome. This site came highly recommended by Bertram so I'm confident that at least someone will be able to help out here. Thanks in advance.

[Charlie J]

2 batts , i would say off hand that each engine has a batt, no house batt, you say one batt dies out after awhile possibly you need to replace that batt, not holding a charge, if thats the case then i would chang out both batts one goes the other is not far behind

[Charlie J]

if you have a load tester it will tell you right away if the batt is good or not

[Hookshurt]

Thanks for the reply. I wasn't real clear about the batteries. There are a total of 3. 2 on starboard and 1 on port. There is an on/off switch connected to the starboard batteries. These are supposedly new batteries, but I guess they could be shot already. I'll get them tested. Thanks

[Ed Curry]

I have the wiring diagrams from a 73, they should be pretty close. My email adress is locurry@optonline.net if you want them drop me an email and I'll shoot them over to you.

[Hookshurt]

Thank You. email sent!

[MarkD]

I have the wiring diagrams for a 1988 FBC... mark.desautelle@sungard.com

[Hyena Love]

Not to rain on anyones parade, but the wiring has likely been tweeked a few times if the hull has any age on it. By the early 90's, my hull had essentially zero original wiring to anything but the shore power and a couple gauges.

This is the simple, battery, switch, alt. wiring. Maybe a parrallel switch.
Its an on your knees with the volt meter project. Then, its a hunt for shorts.

Your milage may vary.

[BCBertie]

I recently purchased a 1980 Bertram 28 and I'm in need of a wiring diagram for this boat. It was repowered in 01 with 2 350 V8 motors. Unfortunately the party who repowered the unit is no longer with us so I can't use hiim to reference the work that he did. When it was repowered they didn't replace the wiring harness, they only chopped, cut, and spliced. There seems to be no true ryhme or reason to any of the work.

This boat has two batteries port and 1 starboard, so I assume that the "spare battery" is the house battery. We replaced both alternators and the starboard is running like a champ. The shore power charges the batteries up fine but after a period of time the port side finally dies out. It seems that there is probably an issue between alternator and motor but I suspect that there also is some issues with improper grounding and shorts. Hence the need for an original wiring diagram so we can trace what does what and possibly rewire the entire vessel.

Unfortunately my knowledge is limited so if anything I've put here is completely off base, It won't hurt my feelings to be redirected. Any suggestions or advise is also welcome. This site came highly recommended by Bertram so I'm confident that at least someone will be able to help out here. Thanks in advance.

I think what you really need to find is the wiring diagram for the '01 and '02 350's. All of the engine wiring, alternators, starters, gauge feeds, etc. would have come with the new engines. Talk to Mercruiser, Marine Power or whoever mfd the engines. Then it's time to get out the multimeter and trace the splices.

The factory diagram may not be much help, as there were several levels of wiring every year, depending on options, etc. I have a 1976 26' Bertram with lower helm with very impressive factory wiring, and my 1976 28' Bertram has the barest panel in the forward berth - only 8 circuits! The later boats (28 II- 1983- up) had much more sophisticated wiring systems. I took advantage of Mark's generosity to get his '88 diagrams to use as a starting point for a proper rewire.

But if you want to just diagnose what you've got, start with the engine package diagram.

Cheers!

John

[Skipper Dick]

John is on the right track here I think. Most engine OEMs' since the early 90's use their own engine wiring harness with various types of plugs to plug into the boat harness if one was used. Earlier boat models just ran wires and never used a harness. Sometimes the engine plug doesn't match which is the case with an 89 Bayliner I repowered in 98. The color coded wires were the same, so I spliced and diced the boat harness to the engine harness after I bought a matching plug to fit the engine harness. It worked just fine until one day I was out halibut fishing about 25 miles out of Seward, Alaska when the engine quit. Fortunately, I had the troubleshoot ,manual with me and found the problem and jumped the bad connection. As soon as I could, I went to the engine OEM and bought a 25 foot boat harness that was neatly packaged and ran it to the bridge to the various gauges and circuits. Problem solved. The rest of the circuits are pretty easy to follow and mark. My B28 was repowered in 99 with new Merc horizons complete with it's own boat harness. The installers just cut and left the other wires where they were. I pulled all the cut wires one day and my dock looked like a spagetti factory when I got through throwing all the wire on it.

By the way, I have the diagrams for an 83 if it would help.

Dick