1988 Correct Craft Martinique - Nav lights issue

Good point, I agree...

Ok, thanks for clarifying...

Mine does have a buss bar for the ground, I located one wire there that was thicker than the others, I assumed that was the connection coming from the battery. I cleaned the "Green" from it but still the same result. I'm going to trace these all back and clean them up and replace as you suggested over the weekend, I'll let you know how that works out but I think we are on the right track. The biggest issue now is the horn and the drop of 5 volts when I apply the switch so I may look at replacing that too... If anything else comes to mind, let me know. I appreciate the help.

I did see some "Green" in there and started hitting it with sandpaper, thanks for the tip, I'll go through and clean all of those...

Yes, that helps... Thanks. I'll post the results then when I get things worked out.

Ok, so first the good news, I took your advice and methodically tracked down each wire, the result is the nav light now works, the switch seems to have an issue though because you have to make sure you push it hard otherwise the light does not come on, but I'll replace that. Some wires behind the cuddy panel were not connected and one ground wire had portions that were bare so I'm replacing those.

The bad news is, when replacing the horn, I noticed the voltage at approx. 10.5 while the battery is approx. 12.5. This seems to be everywhere I tested and also at the guage, it shows approx. 10.5. When I connected the horn, I measured the voltage at approx. 10.5 then when I applied the switch, the voltage dropped to 5.5 and the horn made a weak single beep sound. I connected the horn directly to the battery and everything was fine. Is there a voltage regulator or something between the wiring and the battery for me to check? Also I am thinking maybe to replace both battery cables, they look in ok shape and there is no corrosion at the terminals. How does the negative terminal get to the negative block were all of the ground wires connect? Any ideas??

yeah, you shouldn't need anything else on other than the ignition breaker.


it will be a little black cylinder between the nav and anchor light breaker on the switched side. I would remove this if it is damaged in any way.   Seems like most people remove them once they go bad and just make sure to use both breakers when running at night. If it is damaged and you want to replace it, i believe it is a 12v 1a diode.


The breaker doesn't actually have a ground attached to it, current simply flows through it.
Hot 12v in (with ignition breaker on), switched 12v out. if you stick the neg lead from the VOM to the ground cluster/bar and the positive lead to the switched side of the breaker, that should tell you if the current is flowing through the light correctly, however, the bulb should be the indicator of this :) You could test the continuity of the wires going up to the light and back so you know if the path is good or broken.


Awesome, that should help dramatically to know how it was originally wired. If the diagram is different than the ones in the reference section, try scanning it and posting it.


are any of the other devices working like the bilge, blower, stereo, etc? If this were me, i would just start at one end of the breakers and one by one test the paths to see where everything ends up. I think you might be on to something being traced back to a single source after other electrical work was done. Was a negative bus bar added or are all the grounds pigtailed? just take your time and hopefully you can find the source of the problem. My horn didn't work when I first got my boat only to find the PO had wired it incorrectly. works great now!

Thanks for your reply, I sincerely appreciate the help.

I tested the bow light with a volt meter set to DC 20 with black as ground and grey as positive, I am going by memory but I'll check this again, I believe the voltage was around 10, not up to 12.

The only scenario I used was with the key on, ignition on and nav on, I'll try those other scenarios you mentioned.

Where can I find the diode and what does it look like?

I assume to test the ground, I'd connect an ohm meter at the ground side of the switch and at the ground at the bow light?

The pic is ok, I actually have the wiring diagram and I assume all of the original documentation, there is a lot. It seems that's the one thing this guy did, he kept all of the paperwork in tact. I know he did some changes with the electrical to hook up "other stuff" and I forgot to mention, the horn and cuddy light (only the driver side) don't work either, I'm hoping it all traces back to the same source but I'll keep working through it until everything works. I wanted to test the horn too but looks like that is going to be hard to get to and replace if that's what it needs. Haven't yet been able to get in there but I know where it is...

I've just purchased a 1988 Correct Craft Martinique C/C, I have an issue I hope to get some help with. The Nav lights will not come on. The anchor light works fine by itself. I tested the bulb and socket of the bow light by connecting it directly to a 12 volt battery, it works. When the Nav switch is on, there is voltage at the bow light but neither the bow light or anchor lights come on. The dash lights also come on and on the dash panel, there are three lights in the center arranged vertically, the center red light lights up, I think it is for volts but the writing is faded. The switch lights up when selected and does not pop out the breaker. The battery is fully charged at 12.48 volts. Is there a relay or something else I am missing, I would really love to take this boat out but want to get these working first. This site was highly recommended when I contacted Correct Craft, I really hope to get some help, thanks in advance