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I have a 13 foot whaler that i am in the process of breathing some life into. I have bought new wood interior pieces for it am in the process of getting it shipshape. I have dove into the motor . Upon inspection i have found that the wiring harness is in poor shape. Where it plugs into the bottom of the underside of the flywheel is fine but the wires going to the switchbox are corroded thru in some places. and its basically in poor shape. I have checked with the mercury web site and they do not offer that part apparently. I dont know if that have a newer version part or not. I have found some websites that have it listed as a part where i can get it. I am just wondering as to if anyone has done it before and if so is it something that is something a shadetree mechanic can handle or is it something that a shop should do? I appreciate any and all help.
thanks
art

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My friend in Lake Worth Florida, Whaler central ID screen name protek9543, has 1984 50hp Johnson 20" shaft for sale that runs beautifully.

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I recently had major problems with my wiring harness recently. I spoke with somene that does the electrical work on new yachts. He said that I should cut out the harness and just have the wires running where they need to go. He said the harness is a comon place to have problems. I cut mine out and it now runs great.

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shouldnt the wires still run back up to were the plug goes up by the stator? What exactly are you meaning by cut out the harness?

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There is an external wiring harness from the remote control box(shift & throttle) to the motor and an internal wiring harness from just inside the cowl to the terminal block at the ignition box. The wires from the stator go to the terminal block there if I remember correctly. I downloaded a wiring diagram from "Maxrules" website a couple of years ago. I'm not sure if they are still available there but it's worth a try.
If the harness is bad you can just run new marine grade wire in its place. The old Mercs had really bad wires in them.
Mike