First the usual CYA stuff -- electricity can be dangerous in a whole
variety of ways. If you don't understand it, hire an expert. There's
a lot of good information available on the web, including here, but
good electrical practice finally comes down to details that you need
to do because you've learned, somewhere, to do them right. And BTW, a
boat is not a house, so a license to do wiring ashore says nothing
about a person's skills in wiring boats.

With that said, an isolation transformer is a pretty simple device --
two wires in and two wires out -- although there are often a lot more
leads than two, as they can usually be connected for different or
multiple voltages. Figuring out the leads is like figuring out how to
wire a 120/240VAC motor -- it's just cookbook and often there's a
diagram. If not, we have ways....

I usually refer people to Nigel Calder's Boatowner's Mechanical and
Electrical Manual for all mechanical and electrical stuff -- in this
case there's a diagram and a couple of paragraphs.

This is not a bad little piece on the subject:
http://www.smpstech.com/qa/qa0002.htm

This has more than any ordinary mortal needs to know, but a number of
details can be picked out if you're strong enough to ingnore the heavy
math.
http://www.du.edu/~jcalvert/tech/transfor.htm

Aside from actually connecting the thing, the only other issue is
sizing. Generally, if you plug into a standard 30A 120V shore outlet,
you'll want a 3.6kw transformer (30x120 ~=~ 3.6kw). Larger won't hurt
(other than being heavier) within broad limits. Smaller is OK, too,
provided you put a circuit breaker on the shore side of the
transformer that is the same rating as the transformer. Of course,
smaller means you can't run as much stuff....

If you have a larger boat and regularly use 240VAC, then you can run
50A 240 from standard marina outlets, but this takes a 12kw
transformer, which is starting to get heavy and pricey.

Don't forget, it's got to mounted somewhere that can stand a big
weight, is dry, and won't get too hot with a couple of hundred watts
being thrown off. It may hum a little, so you won't want it as a
pillow.

Jim Woodward
www.mvFintry.com

(Lee Huddleston) wrote in message . ..
Jim,

Thanks for all the information, leads, and offers. At this point, I
do not have enough knowledge to make any kind of informed choice
regarding an isolation transformer. Can you direct me to a source
where I can read and learn more of what I need to know?

Lee Huddleston