I'm becoming convinced as well as educated. Certainly, the only place
I would connect the charger would be to the other end of big, fat,
short, battery leads. I certainly wouldn't even do that if I had
expensive electronics on board, was living aboard so that there was
significant time with DC loads being drawn while charging, or charging
via a generator.

For our simple boat however, where everything will be off 95% of the
time that it is plugged into shore power, I may still connect at the
switch. I'll see which looks most convenient when I put the charger in
and layout the leads.

The charger I bought has a standard plug. Rebuilding my rudimentary AC
panel so there is a switch for the charger is not in the cards. The
yard suggested putting an outlet box in the engine room (can a place
with no room be called a "room"). I would then have an outlet for a
light or tools as well and could disable the charger when necessary.

I'd appreciate your opinion on that Vs hardwiring.

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Roger Long