Switches...

I took apart my dash and have replaced the old, stock switches with the newer style rocker switches from Carling Technologies. I have wired them up almost identical to the way they were originally wired. I was recently asked a wether or not I put breakers or relays back in the wiring since I removed the stocker "breaker switches". So my question is, do I need to put a breaker or relay or fuse into these switches? I am not an electrical person so Im kind of out of my element. Any thanks is much appreciated.

Will, I would put some sort of protection on the electrical system. When I first got my comp, I think three switches had short circuit protection on them and the major items like the bilge pump and blower did not. Ended up having to replace the bilge pump and found three separate butt splices in the lead wire with no insulation on them... All you need is for your blower leads to short out somewhere while you are running it to get gas fumes out of the engine before starting.

I would add an inline fuse at the very least. Water & electricity don't play well together. If you have the old breaker/switch it should be stamped with the amp rating. You are going to want to get that correct. Too low and fuse blows all the time. Too high and its not doing its job (will fry device or wires before fuse). Good luck.

Like the others, I'd definitely add some fuses or breakers. If they're properly sized and the equipment's in good condition, in-lines would be fine. They're only a hassle to trace and replace when they blow. A fuse block would be handy for this & you can get them in all kinds of multiples. Or if you've got room in the panel, surface push breakers like found in the modern boats are convenient to reset but take up valuable space. I know I had fun trying to cram all mine in.

any idea what amperage fuses for each switch? I am running both blowers on one DPDT switch, both bilge pumps on a DPDT switch, Nav/Anc DPDT switch, interior lights on a DPDT, and a horn switch.

My new blowers are 3 amps each, but I think the originals were more like 6 amps each. You could try a 5 amp on each & bump to 10's if it blows. Bilge pump depends on your size/model (might be stamped or labeled), but a typical 750 gpm aerator will pull about 3 amps, so a 5 amp should work. I don't remember the sizes on my original lights, but can't imagine it'd be much, maybe a 5 amp? I think I put a 3 amp on my LED lights. 5 amp on the original horn. I'll try to check my build notes - I had it all diagramed out when I redid mine.

Wait, I just remembered - in the 21-23' User's Manual available for download on this site: there's an electrical schematic for the dash. I think it's for 1990, but never found any differences from my 89, so probably close to your 88 as well. Pretty sure it showed all the original push breaker/switch sizes.