ground to boat

lynnboy021

Chief Petty Officer
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Jan 27, 2008
Messages
553
Do I need to ground my ac grounds to the boat like my DC grounds are????
 

jhebert

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Jul 24, 2005
Messages
902
Do I need to ground my ac grounds to the boat like my DC grounds are...?

If you are adding 120-VAC wiring to a boat, you shouldn't be asking for advice on web forums. Get the ABYC recommendations and follow their recommended practices. Poor 120-VAC wiring practices on a boat can be dangerous and possibly fatal. You need to be extremely cautious in accepting random advice of this topic.
 

lynnboy021

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jan 27, 2008
Messages
553
No not adding it's already there... it's a 36 ft boat with a built in generator but boat is a Italian boat shipped to the states but just wanted to know if everything had to be grounded to the boats ground..
 

Bondo

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Apr 17, 2002
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70,464
No not adding it's already there... it's a 36 ft boat with a built in generator but boat is a Italian boat shipped to the states but just wanted to know if everything had to be grounded to the boats ground..

Ayuh,.... Don't confuse Ground, with Bonding,....

The Ground is apart of the electrical circuit,....

Bonding is connectin' all the metal parts of the boat, which would equate to the wires hooked to the copper rod, buried next to yer house,...

The boat should be bonded to the anode plates of the hull,....
 

Grub54891

Vice Admiral
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Jun 17, 2012
Messages
5,908
Bondo is right,that is why you never swim in a marina,or out on the water when the genset or inverter is running. If there is a problem that a fuse or circuit breaker don't catch,you are electricifing the water around the boat. If ya do get a shock when jumping in,and if ya can,dive as deep as ya can and swim away from the boat as far as ya can. The power follows the surface. And hope ya can get far enough away.
 

UncleWillie

Captain
Joined
Oct 18, 2011
Messages
3,995
Bondo is right,that is why you never swim in a marina,or out on the water when the genset or inverter is running. If there is a problem that a fuse or circuit breaker don't catch,you are electricifing the water around the boat. If ya do get a shock when jumping in,and if ya can,dive as deep as ya can and swim away from the boat as far as ya can. The power follows the surface. And hope ya can get far enough away.

If the boat is not connected to Shore Power, there will not be any current path from the Bonded Hull Ground to the Earth Ground.
The current wants to return to its source at the Generator, not the Earth.
Swim all you want with the genset running while off shore.

Skin effect is not applicable in this situation where the conductive path is not well defined like it is in a wire.
If you have a current leakage while attached to shore power;
if the bottom, or the shore line, or the pier, is the path of least resistance, that is the direction the current is going to take.
If you are already being shocked, swimming may no longer be an option.
 
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