After surveying thousands of powerboats and sailboats the one thing that comes up at each survey is electrical problems.
None of the electrical problems I find are ‘OK’ or “not a big deal’ – Each of them is a problem that needs to be resolved now.
A marine exhaust hose must be carefully designed to carry toxic and/or noxious gases outside. Indoor enclosed spaces can quickly fill up with poisonous exhaust gases such as hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides, if they are not properly vented to the outdoors.
You may have heard that zincs should be replaced when they are 50% depleted. In most cases this not correct. As the surface area of the zinc anode is reduced, its effectiveness is reduced exponentially. In addition, the attachment of the zinc to the metal that it is supposed to be protecting has been greatly reduced which means that the contact surface between the zinc and metal is not good. For the zinc to properly protect the metal, continuity (connection) must be 100%.
When I’m inspecting the bilge of a boat I naturally test bilge pumps, both electrically and manually operated and I often find problems.
Here are the top problems I find with electric and manual bilge pumps:
I was inspecting a boat for a client and I turned on the water heater that was reported as newly installed. A few minutes after that, I started checking the AC electrical wiring for polarity and found that there was no ground wire connection in the boat. So I turned off the main circuit breaker for the AC system.
I inspected a boat a few days ago and noticed that there was oil in the forward cabin bilge area. Quite a surprise and a good find so I turned off the forward bilge pump automatic float switch and went to work to determine where the leak was coming from.
We all know that it’s getting harder and harder for people to buy boats because of the ‘economy’. Everyday we hear about consumer confidence slipping, eroding, you name it. To believe ‘them’ we’re all going to the really hot place, really fast, in a hand basket.
