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In our daily lives when we have a problem we solve it in the most efficient and cost effective way possible. When presented with more than one option to solve an electrical problem for a marine application we will instinctively choose the least expensive one not taking into account or ignoring the fact that this decision may alter and even endanger our boats.

Although batteries are not the most expensive part on our boats, they are essential to them in that they feed the cranking power to our engine as well as keep us illuminated at night when the generator is not running. Batteries that feed the 12 - 24 volt circuit are at the heart of a boat and with a little tender loving care they will provide us with years of good service.

If you have shore power on your boat and use it at the marina to charge your batteries, then this article is for you. To protect against the damaging effects of galvanic corrosion between your boat, your neighbour’s boat and the marina, you require some method of “isolating” your boat. Of your two choices, Galvanic Isolators are inexpensive and simple to install but could fail thus requiring regular checking. Isolation Transformers are far more expensive and very heavy but almost never fail. Let’s take a look at both.

Galvanic corrosion is destructive and can amount to costly repairs. One of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to prevent corrosion is to install a DC bonding system. This bonding provides an electrical path between all the metals on your boat, which come in contact with water, to a sacrificial anode. The reason we bond a sacrificial anode, (usually zinc) to our vessels on the hull under the waterline is to provide an electrical path between metals that are connected electrically through electrolyte fluid to a higher freely eroding material. This allows the zinc to be consumed first over all the other materials on your vessel.

When we are out on the water enjoying the sights and sounds, it can be easy to forget to do checks that keep your time on the water safe. Regular checks of your vessel should never be put aside but when a good time is being had as we hardly feel like lifting hatches or floorboards to check bilges.

There are many gadgets on the market today designed to make our boating safer and more stress free. One brand of equipment I have had the pleasure of using on two occasions recently is a FLIR night vision camera. One was a roof mounted; a fully remote control version connected to a 17” Furuno display and the second was a much simpler, but very effective hand held unit.

Some times the simplest things can turn into your worst headaches, simple things, you may think. This particular event has taken place more then once and will continue to happen until it is explained and corrected.

As a boater we love to travel. Boats enable us to travel. One of the many reasons we love being a boater. As we move from place to place we can sometimes come across situations we haven’t experienced before. The following is a guide of what to do when you find your boats reverse polarity lights come to light.

Around Yacht Clubs and Marinas the sharing of MMSI numbers is becoming more common and very useful for regattas and flotillas. With clubs, the number of MMSI numbers logged, groups can be quickly developed for events.

At a recent installation I was involved with, the build included NMEA 183 devices interfaced into NMEA 2000 (N2K). This yacht had multiple fuel tanks, water tanks and a few black water tanks. It had a variety of instrumentation GPS’s, sounders, a weather station, A.I.S, radars, rudder angle indicator, bilge pump monitoring and alarms. When this vessel was being commissioned, a very interesting fault of dueling sensors was debugged.