grounding a boat from stray currents

[iliohale]

I installed one of these on my Hanse and it was the best investment I made.

Electro-Guard, corrosion and cathodic protection specialists for boats, yachts and small ships.

Never had to replace zincs again and it provided protection even in really hot harbors and would always warn me when there were stay currents. Every boat with a sail drive should have one.

[Nicholson58]

We are bonded throughout the boat with copper strip. This includes engines, mast, shrouds, SSB ground plane. Our shore power is by way of an isolation transformer so hot boats and floating grounds in marinas is not so much of an issue.


After a couple of lightening hits I think we will be adding a couple fish or perhaps bonding to a metal piling.

[boatpoker]

This is a very complex issue, to the point where Yanmar requires all their saildrives to be bonded and Volvo will void your warranty if you bonded their drives.

There is much misinformation on this thread (as there is in every other thread on this topic), a lot of it caused by the incorrect use of terms .... grounding, grounded, bonding and electrolysis or even interchanging terms such as grounding and bonding which are two entirely different things.

A far better use of your time is to learn from a reputable source. I highly recommend the Boat Owners Guide to Corrosion by Everett Collier. Or google "Ed Sherman Corrosion", Ed has a number of excellent articles on line and he has the credibility of ABYC and BoatUs behind him.

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Agreed, mine is attached to the engine block, then almost everything on the boat is attached to the engine block. I clip my fish to a stanchion also, but only because it is bonded electrically, pretty much my entire boat is, and has been since it was built.
It seems bonding or not, both have failures, if like my boat has had no issues, I wouldn't change things, meaning if she has had no problems and is un-bonded, I don't think I would change things, unless I was seeing a problem.
I do not understand exactly how, but I have seen enough problems in a Marina to believe that a new neighbor's boat and or the Marina electrical system can cause problems, I hope my fish would warn me in time before my really expensive Autoprop is eaten up.

Ya...I've been in the non-bonding crowd for years and years. Both have their merits. I've seen people do crazy things. One friend had a steel boat, so no bonding necessary...but did install a diesel heater with a fan nad wired the black wire to the hull and red wire to panel. I basically had to go in every crook and cranny to find the problem and isolate the battery.
I helps him with a haul-out a few months later. Major pocks on the plating.

[smac999]

Originally Posted by exMaggieDrum

But it is entirely possible to "overzinc" your boat. More is not better in that case.

you can't over zinc a fiberglass boat. more just wastes more money.

wood hull you can over zinc.