Artistic Installation

   We mounted the four kill-switch lanyards to a piece of 25” x 6” Starboard, marine plywood, which was mounted to the helm station on the boat. Then all four switches were wired into the engine for testing. The whole procedure was relatively simple for even a novice electrician. If you have ever changed an electrical outlet in your home you can probably install one of these kill-switches. The only one that gave us trouble was the Cole-Hersee, which required drilling an oddly-shaped hole to accommodate its awkward profile. But its unusual shape is what makes it more convenient to use. Designed as a simple up-and-down switch with a protective cover surrounding it on three sides, it was the only kill-switch we tested that allowed the engine to be restarted without the lanyard attached.  
   The wireless systems were a bit more complicated. Using another piece of 20” x 27” Starboard, we installed the components of all three systems and ran all the wires along the back so they were exposed at the top of the board where we could use alligator clips to hook each system to the engine individually when we were ready to begin testing. It looks just as complicated as it sounds as you can see from the pictures here. You’ll likely need to bring in a professional marine electrician for your installation for some of these models, especially if you plan to connect it to your GPS or chartplotter.