Trolling Motor Wiring [170 Striper] Where?

[Joey]

Question, and this goes to all the rebuild people.  On a 170 Striper, is there any space below the deck that you can fish wires for electronics?

I would like to eventually add a trolling motor to my 170.  I have a locker up front that is holding my anchor and rode, so nothing there.   I was thinking about putting the batteries in the center console but didn't know if I could run the wire up front or not.

If there is space, I thought about cutting the wires for my navigation lights and using them as fish to tie a new set of wires to for both navigation lights and a trolling motor and using the old wires to pull the new ones back to the center console.  If there is ample space under the deck to do this I will do it.  But I don't want to attempt it and get partway only to have it bind up and then I am SOL with no navigation light wiring.

If you guys this will work, I will pre-wire now and put a plug up front for the trolling motor.  Then when I find one I can afford I will buy it and just have to install it and not worry about how to get to power.

Joe

[wingtime]

getting the wires run under the deck would be tricky.  Along the inwales between the liner and the hull is one option...  but getting the wires there is the trick.  If you run the wires from the console forward you have to deal with the fuel tank coffin.  You might be able to run them forward if you can get them down thru the deck just in front of the tank coffin.  open up your starboard side casting deck storage bin.  You should have a 4" pie plate on the inside wall to gain access too the fishbox drain.  Get a flashlight and look aft thru the pie plate and see how far back you can see.  I was surprised at how much unused space there was in there.

Edit:  I found a pic of my boat looking aft through that pie plate.  In the upper left of the pic appears to be the forward face of the fuel tank coffin.

[GoneFission]

You can also run the wiring under the gunwale with a little effort.  You may need to drill and seal some holes in the verticals so you can get the wiring up tight in the corner.  Do it right and no one will know it's there.   You will probably be running #6 or #8 wiring (depending on what motor you use), so it's not flimsy stuff.