Hi everyone, I'm in the middle of cleaning up a new to me 1983 O'Day 30 C/B and apart from the rotten boards, dirt, messes and aging parts, I've come across a something I've never seen before, as in my previous boat ownership my old boat had an outboard. At every point where there is a hose, a ground wire had been installed to connect the two metal parts and runs parallel or if the hose is long, its been wrapped around the hose. Is this normal?
Everywhere a ground wire!
- Thread starter twodzusfittings
- Start date
Somebody thought it necessary to ground every thruhull fitting to a common ground. A result of the “too much free time” club.
It probably won’t hurt but the conventional wisdom is that doing this is completely unnecessary either for grounding or as a counterpoise for an HF radio antenna.
It probably won’t hurt but the conventional wisdom is that doing this is completely unnecessary either for grounding or as a counterpoise for an HF radio antenna.
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If a hose isolates a metal part from ground I think I understand what they were trying to do. Usually though both ends of a hose are grounded somewhere.
The wire connected to through hulls sounds like the boat's bonding system to me. Read this: https://www.boatus.com/magazine/2017/february/understanding-the-green-ground-wire.asp
The OP doesn't say what hoses these wires are on. Do we assume it's the thru hulls? Engine hoses?
For clarification, every thruhull, every engine hose and the hose to the fuel tank, have ground wires. It looks like a wire mess. I read the boat US article and all of it makes sense. Sounds like a previous owner was taking every precaution. Multiple grounding points on the engine along with the fuel tank should be sufficient as long as two sacrificial anodes are attached to the prop shaft,
What BoatUS article?
Sounds like a sure fire recipe for exacerbating electrolysis by multiple ground paths, all of which at different ‘potential’.