Fusing the Battery Cable

[sailingharry]

My surveyor on my new boat ('79 Sabre 34) dinged me on my battery cables. They need to be fused, he said (and my insurance company sagely nodded). Sounded fairly straightforward, at first. Then I found that the simple bolt on type fuses that West sells (open 1/4" hole at either end) have a recommended fuse block. Does this mean that I have a short battery cable, to a fuse block terminal, to a fuse end, to the other fuse end, to a fuse block terminal, to my battery cable? I'm not sure I gained in safety there! My thought is that it would be much cleaner (and likely safer) if I bolted the fuse directly to the battery terminal, and then using a simple 1/4-20 bolt and nut, bolted the battery cable to the fuse -- and perhaps cover the whole mess with a battery terminal cover. Is that legal?

And, is this even an appropriate finding? I can find very little guidance on this, and none of the drawings/discussions/etc on the web address it. West Marine and BoatUS have some nice web pages on battery wiring, and none show this. I also believe that the rules (at least in the past) exempted the starter cable from fuse protection.

Finally, any recommendations on a fuse size? It's a Volvo MD11C engine. I'm thinking 150A.

Thanks,

Harry