Insulate All Electrical Connections
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.
Take for instance the photo you see here. The back of the main shore power circuit breaker and the back of the AC electrical outlet are not covered. If someone put their hand in that area they could be electrocuted!
And, oh, by the way, they are mounted in a storage cubby along with other electrical parts and systems as well as stored items like keys, metal items, etc – things that could come in contact with the exposed electrical connections and cause short circuits or fire.
Another problem is that they are mounted directly into the plywood and should instead be mounted in composite (not metal) electrical boxes. Isolating the electrical fittings from direct contact is recommended and the box accomplishes that.
The wires attached to the back of the AC electric outlet are just wrapped around the outlet screws and in boat electrical, this is not recommended as all connections should be secured with captive (ring or captive fork-type type lug end fittings so that they can not pull out or vibrate out. Boat wires are multi-stand and are not designed to be wrapped around screw fittings like household, solid wire (Romex). Never use solid wire on a boat.
