Amp wiring in a '95 Sport Nautique

[Blamey]

I am looking to add an AMP to my 1995 Sport Nautique. I currently have a Hifonics Brutus BRX616.4, although I am thinking about replacing it with a small amp (possibly a Wet Sounds). I plan to mount the amp in front of the driver kick panel.
I know I need to run new power and ground wires for the amp but I have a some questions.

• Where do I run the power and the ground wires? Can I run them through the Bilge? This seems like the most direct route and will prevent interference with the speaker wires.
• I have an interstate battery that has regular and marine posts. Currently the boat is hooked up to the regular posts. Can I wire the Amp off the marine posts?

[azeus17]

Where is the battery located on a 95 Sport? You could run through the bilge, but I would try to zip tie the cables up high at least and use good marine grade cable. The battery in my 02 SANTE is in the bow and I just ran the cables under the bow seats to the observers seat.
Yes, you can connect to the same battery on the marine posts. Just be sure to fuse the positive side as close to the battery as possible, within a foot for sure.

[Blamey]

The battery is under the rear seat.

I read I should fuse both ground and power wires. Should I also fuse the ground wire near the battery?

[a.klos]

I just worked on my super sport and this is how I did mine:
- I run power wires under the gunwell and used zip ties to attach it. I think it is better way because it is a dry area.
- You using only one battery so you would bring power wires to it. Positive to positive, ground to ground. You don't ground to chassis- it is not a car. Usually a battery has two terminals of each to give you options of connecting things. So use whatever convenient.

[MLA]

No circuit protection needed on the ground side. Cant short a ground to ground.

[Blamey]

A couple more questions on the wiring of the amp. I have done a lot of reading where it suggests that the head unit should be wired on the same circuit as the amp. This is supposed to help with interference issues.

In the cars I have installed amps on the amp power wire is run directly to the amp and is not on the same circuit as the head unit. The ground however is shared to the car frame.

Would running the head unit ground to the amp ground work in preventing any static issues?

If I did run the power wires (constant and switched) back to the amp, how do I determine what size fuse to put on each wire.