On Oct 11, 8:13 am, richard wrote:
On Oct 11, 7:33 am, "Roger Long" wrote:





Sounds like you moved in next to somebody who has an electrical problem on
their boat. Marinas are scary places. Those zinc fish on a wire clipped to
the bonding system of your boat or the motor if you have an outboard are
absolutely essential. Not only do they provide additional protection, you
can tell that there is a problem if they disappear rapidly.

If the boat is back in the water and other boats haven't been hauled yet,
you might get an marine electrician to come out and take a look. First buy
the zinc fish and a digital multimeter. Put the fish in the water with the
meter hooked in between. Record the voltage. Then turn off the breakers
one by one on nearby connected shorepower outlets and see if turning off one
produces a drop in voltage. If so, that's probably the culprit. His props
are probably disappearing as well so he might appreciate knowing.

--
Roger Long

as soon as I saw the damage, I got one of those zinc fish while
waiting for a week to get the boat hauled. I wonder if you can be more
specific. Can I attach the clip to the negative on my battery?

NO. NO..And NO!

If you have a grounding strip attach it to that. If not attach it
directly to the engine, or whatever you are losing metal on.

Best thing to check is do like Roger said and get a meter and measure
for stray AC and/or DC voltage. DC will do far more damage faster.

The best way to do it is to put one lead into the group terminal where
the boat plugs in at each slip, and one lead in the water, get a long
wire so you can walk out around the boats. If you have more than .4
volts DC and 1 volt AC then you have a problem. It sounds like either
you have a short to ground or one of your neighbors has one. If you
find high voltage around another close boat give him a bill for the
haulout and zincs and insist he pulls his boat until he gets the
problem fixed.

Joe


some
have said yes and others no. I have an 25 ft four winns IO. With the
fish hanging off the side of the boat, where do I put the two leads
from the digital multimeter? how far from each other ?
thanks Roger as always for your help- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -