DULUTH, Minn. _ John Hanna started messing with 12-volt electronics when he was in high school, installing stereo equipment in his car.
Pretty soon, his friends were asking them to rig their rides as well.
"Eventually I started on my boat ... And then I had friends wanting me to do their boats. It was sort of a hobby that's expanded," Hanna said.
That hobby grew into Psycho Billy Marine Service _ we'll explain the name later _ a part-time job for Hanna, a Duluth, Minn., resident and supervising carpenter for Johnson Wilson Constructors during the day.
This time every year, Hanna's phone is buzzing often with eager boaters who want new electronics and other devices installed on their boat _ installed so they actually work and don't fall off and don't start a fire.
"I get these calls and the guy says, 'Every time I turn on my depth finder the horn goes off and the motor stops,' " Hanna said, with maybe a little hyperbole. "The problem is most guys look under the dash, find the first red wire they see and splice into it. Not good."
Hanna was lying on his back connecting a transducer to a new sonar unit in a big aluminum charter boat, talking as he worked.
"If you just look around you'll eventually find the fuse panel and there are usually accessory (plugs) you can patch into pretty easily, and it will work right," Hanna said.
Hanna's wiring doesn't just look professional for looks. There's a method to making sure wiring is secured properly.
Hanna talks about "bird's nests" of electronics wiring, often stashed up under some hard-to-reach cubby or under a dashboard, including the part of the line with the lin-line fuse.
"If it was me, and I'm up at Isle Royale or whatever, and it's rough and a fuse goes out, I want that someplace I can reach quickly it to replace it," Hanna said.
He's seen some bad connections, too, including one time a boater replaced a fuse with a piece of aluminum foil.
