Amp Ground?? Where?

I tried to install a sub and amp in my boat last night and cannot get power to the amp. I know the amp and sub are good because they came out of my jeep and were working that morning.
The power wire runs from my primary battery, and the remote wire from the stereo... I am thinking I may have a problem with the ground. I don't have enough ground wire to run it back to the battery, so I used the tower mount...around one of it's bolts.

Will this give me enough ground? Where do you guys have your amps grounded?

Thanks in advance - going to ride after work and I would love to find a quick fix.

I personally ground all my amps at the battery

You need to ground it directly to the battery, or a marine grounding strip. Grounds in boats are not like cars. Your tower probably isn't grounded to the battery, so your amp won't be

Nate are you getting the power light on? The tower bolt is not an ideal ground. Buy a longer wire and ground to the battery.

Adam, the light is not turning on on the amp. No power whatsoever. Jeff, your right, the tower is not grounded to the batter. I don't know that I have ever noticed a marine grounding strip in my boat - any ideas of where to look?

I might go today and get a longer ground wire to run it to the battery. If I am not getting a ground, I will not get power, right?

thanks guys!

yes no ground, no power light. Buy the wire and ground to the battery.

the tower is not a ground -- however, i ran my antenna to my tower mount bolt -- much better reception out here in the sticks...

I just ran to the store and bought enough wire to ground the amp to the battery. I won't be able to give it a shot until after work.

Hope the thread ends here. If it doenst, I will be on again tomorrow! LOL

Thanks a lot guys!

I just installed my stereo last night. Wiring is a b#$ch. Battery is in the rear and stereo is on the oposite side. About 16 feet of wire ran through the engine compartment and around the gas tank. Not fun. Though as soon as I grounded to the battery it worked perfect. I also fused both hot leads

Jay - your right - wiring can be a nightmare..

Jeff - you were right! I grounded the amp to the battery - and the sub began bumping

Thanks for your help!

You can't ground to the tower as there is no conductive link back to the battery. You need to run the wire all the way back to the battery. Another idea would be to run a wire from the battery to a distro block near your amps & then ground them all to the block.