On Tue, 04 Sep 2007 05:40:09 +0000, Larry wrote:

If I bought a 50' 50A 125/250 DROPCORD from Waste Marine Pirates with a
new 50A hull connector to wire the really nice French GFI to....IT WOULD
COST NEARLY $800!

You might do better if you buy the wire at Home Despot or Lowes and
put on your own connectors. I know that HD used to sell yellow, heavy
duty multi-conductor cable. If not you should be able to order it
from any good electrical supplier.

Wayne.B wrote in
:

On Tue, 04 Sep 2007 05:40:09 +0000, Larry wrote:

If I bought a 50' 50A 125/250 DROPCORD from Waste Marine Pirates with a
new 50A hull connector to wire the really nice French GFI to....IT
WOULD
COST NEARLY $800!

You might do better if you buy the wire at Home Despot or Lowes and
put on your own connectors. I know that HD used to sell yellow, heavy
duty multi-conductor cable. If not you should be able to order it
from any good electrical supplier.

I think the answer is to hang a dual 15A breaker box, out from the 50A
plug on the dock, then I can use a STANDARD #14 drop cord, safely, and
have plenty of 240VAC power for the French stuff in the boat. 15A =
3.6KVA at that voltage, more than enough to power everything in the boat!

It's really stupid marinas put megadock power systems on 35' finger piers
that need 20A of 115/230VAC for sailboats.

Larry
--
Search youtube for "Depleted Uranium"
The ultimate dirty bomb......

On Tue, 04 Sep 2007 22:45:47 +0000, Larry wrote:

It's really stupid marinas put megadock power systems on 35' finger piers
that need 20A of 115/230VAC for sailboats.

Most docks in the north east have outlets for both 30 amp cables (120
volt) or 50 amp (240 volts split). Smaller boats without shore power
connectors usually carry an adapter which converts a 30 amp twist lock
plug into a conventional 15 amp socket. You could do the same thing
with a 50 amp plug just using one leg of the 240.

Wayne.B wrote in
:

Smaller boats without shore power
connectors usually carry an adapter which converts a 30 amp twist lock
plug into a conventional 15 amp socket. You could do the same thing
with a 50 amp plug just using one leg of the 240.



There's an interesting discussion that needs to be aired out.......

The breaker on the 50A outlet on the dock is 50A. I'm not sure how much
surge it will produce before it trips, but it's a thermal breaker, not
magnetic, so it takes time to heat up and trip on a short.

So, here comes Joe Boater with his "adapter". Joe plugs his adapter into
the massive 50A jack, then plugs his #12 30A boat cord into the adapter.
You've all seen it and thought nothing of it.

Now, if this were in a building, it would be called a "violation of the
National Electrical Code" because the 50 amp branch circuit was
"adapted" to a way-too-small-for-50-amp cable leading to the fire in the
boat. If the cable shorts, because someone pinched it in a hatch for
instance, the cable will explode in flames all the way back to the
adapter. This will set the flammable plastic boat and wooden dock on
fire, just because the marina did not provide the PROPER circuit for Joe
Boater's 30A (or worse less) circuit.

There are lots of "splitters", even provided by the marina staff!, to
plug your 20 or 30A boat into this 50A branch circuit.....still a
violation as far as I am concerned.

And you're gonna SLEEP in there?!

Larry
--
Why bother to put breakers on the dock at all??

On Wed, 05 Sep 2007 03:23:14 +0000, Larry wrote:

So, here comes Joe Boater with his "adapter". Joe plugs his adapter into
the massive 50A jack, then plugs his #12 30A boat cord into the adapter.
You've all seen it and thought nothing of it.

Now, if this were in a building, it would be called a "violation of the
National Electrical Code" because the 50 amp branch circuit was
"adapted" to a way-too-small-for-50-amp cable leading to the fire in the
boat.

Technically correct but in practice it doesn't seem to be a problem.
Most shore power fires are at the boat end of the cable due to bad
connections.

Wayne.B wrote:

Smaller boats without shore power
connectors usually carry an adapter which converts a 30 amp twist
lock
plug into a conventional 15 amp socket.

"Larry" wrote:

There's an interesting discussion that needs to be aired out.......
snip

Why?

You plug an "adaptor" into the 50A receptacle, then you plug a 50 ft,
12-2 with ground extension into the "adaptor", then plug in the hot
plate that you leave on the dock.

If you develop a short, the magnetic portion of the 50A c'bkr will
clear the fault.

If you develop an overload that is less than 50A, first something will
start to smell. then smoke, then burn.

No, the magnetic portion of the 50A c'bkr will NOT clear the fault,
but so what?

Pull the plug, let the faulty device cool down, then scrap.

No boat caught fire, no one got electrocuted.

If you are foolish enough to walk away from your boat, with an
electrical load connected and operating, you deserve what ever
happens.

SFWIW, NEC is concerned about the insulation on the conductors of the
distribution system which does not include temporary extension
cordage.

Lew

On Wed, 05 Sep 2007 03:23:14 +0000, Larry wrote:

There are lots of "splitters", even provided by the marina staff!, to
plug your 20 or 30A boat into this 50A branch circuit.....still a
violation as far as I am concerned.

And you're gonna SLEEP in there?!

Larry
--
Why bother to put breakers on the dock at all??

The circuit breaker can be on the boat and it will work. The entire
circuit carries the same current, after all.

Casady

"Wayne.B" wrote:

You might do better if you buy the wire at Home Despot or Lowes and
put on your own connectors. I know that HD used to sell yellow, heavy
duty multi-conductor cable. If not you should be able to order it
from any good electrical supplier.

Problem is that is not marine grade hardware is not found at your local DIY
or dood industrial electrical distributer.

Marine grade electrical is strictly a speciality business.

Marine graide uses fully tinned cable and the connector devices are also
receive special plating.

Lack of volume drives up the cost, not greed as you might expect.

Want some bedtime horror stories?

Chase down the history of problems attempting to use welding cable for
onboard applications.

Hint: Welding cable is not tinned.


Lew

On Tue, 4 Sep 2007 16:18:59 -0700, "Lew Hodgett"
wrote:

Chase down the history of problems attempting to use welding cable for
onboard applications.

Hint: Welding cable is not tinned.

If you tin it yourself with a soldering iron when it is still new and
shinny you shouldn't have too many problems. Once it goes to green
grunge however, fuhgetabahdit.

"Wayne.B" wrote:

If you tin it yourself with a soldering iron when it is still new
and
shinny you shouldn't have too many problems. Once it goes to green
grunge however, fuhgetabahdit.

That must be some solder tinning process that allows you to tin a
cable, 6" back under the insulation with out damaging the insulation.

Lew