Grounding System On Sailboat
It may be a grounding wire running from the bow or the stern hidden somewhere behind a panel and it will connect to iv the vessel s bonding system which could be the keel or a metal strip on the hull.
Grounding system on sailboat. On a boat things are considerably more complicated. For the most part all metals touching sea water should be bonded including seawater pumps strainers and plumbing. The old school notion of leading a big copper strip from the base of your mast in a straight line to a single grounding plate on your hull is the process of being discarded in favor of a more sophisticated technique that connects the mast as primary conductor to a network of dissipating electrodes installed just above a boat s waterline the idea being in effect to make all of the boat s hull something like a faraday cage so that the equipment and people within will. In virtually all cases it s insulated copper wire with a covering that s green or green with a yellow stripe.
Moreover all electrical equipment and large metal objects should be grounded to prevent electric shock and increase lightning safety. The iii bonding system or the common grounding system may be a bus bar with a strip with screws or clamps. One of the classically misunderstood and overlooked systems on board most boats is the grounding bonding system which is fairly easy to identify. The grounding system may be connected to the engine negative terminal or connected to a grounding buss that is connected to the engine negative terminal.
It consists of the green grounding wire in the ac wiring system and serves the purpose of preventing shocks or electrocution. The wire that connects to the grounding leg is green and this wire is also connected to ground ashore or to the safety ground and the neutral on the genset or inverter. Grounding is making a connection between systems or equipment on a boat to bring that system or equipment to zero voltage potential or earth ground. Fuel tanks and fills should be linked with the main dc negative bus or a battery terminal.