The boat in the slip next to me has been abandoned for about 3 years. Recently someone has cleaned it up a bit (which is great) but connected this shore power cord. Looks a little sketchy to me. Should I worry?
dock neighbour's shore power cord?
- Thread starter Richard19068
- Start date
Yep. you should be concerned and express those concerns to the marina's management.
There are a bunch of faults here. The biggest is the undersized wire. The outlet is likely a 30 amp outlet protected by a 30 amp circuit breaker. The appropriate sized wire is 10 gauge which is what the wire from the pedestal looks like. The remaining extension cords appear to be pretty standard light duty cords probably 14 gauge or maybe even 16 gauge. 14 gauge wire is only rated for 15 amps. If something on his boat draws more than 15 amps the cord will be overloaded, but the circuit breaker will not interrupt the circuit until the it is drawing 30 or more amps. This will cause the cord to over heat and possible start a fire.
The plugs are not water tight and are exposed to the weather. This can cause ground faults. If the marina has any ground fault protection for the docks, the GFCIs will trip when even a little bit of moisture enters the plug. Additionally moisture can accelerate corrosion which will increase resistance in the plug potentially causing it to over heat and become a fire hazard.
California has enough problems with fires, it doesn't need a fire on the your dock. Talk to marina management.
There are a bunch of faults here. The biggest is the undersized wire. The outlet is likely a 30 amp outlet protected by a 30 amp circuit breaker. The appropriate sized wire is 10 gauge which is what the wire from the pedestal looks like. The remaining extension cords appear to be pretty standard light duty cords probably 14 gauge or maybe even 16 gauge. 14 gauge wire is only rated for 15 amps. If something on his boat draws more than 15 amps the cord will be overloaded, but the circuit breaker will not interrupt the circuit until the it is drawing 30 or more amps. This will cause the cord to over heat and possible start a fire.
The plugs are not water tight and are exposed to the weather. This can cause ground faults. If the marina has any ground fault protection for the docks, the GFCIs will trip when even a little bit of moisture enters the plug. Additionally moisture can accelerate corrosion which will increase resistance in the plug potentially causing it to over heat and become a fire hazard.
California has enough problems with fires, it doesn't need a fire on the your dock. Talk to marina management.
A few years ago some new dock "neighbor" not only re-plugged all of the adjacent shorepower cords into different outlets, but stole my 15A to 30A adapter. We don't have pedestals for each slip, but rather a big electrical panel with meters for each slip and breaker boxes for 10-16 slips at a time.
I advised the marina management and didn't touch anything myself until our marina manager came down to look with me.
She agreed that something looked weird and agreed to start looking for my adapter. We found it in someone else's wire. She allowed me to retrieve it and plug my shorepower cable into my own proper outlet and meter.
I documented all this with emails and photos.
A few days later she emailed me back, thanking me for identifying the problem and said she was sure who had done it but couldn't prove it. We left it at that.
Document it, tell management. Simple.
Telling us does YOU no good.
I advised the marina management and didn't touch anything myself until our marina manager came down to look with me.
She agreed that something looked weird and agreed to start looking for my adapter. We found it in someone else's wire. She allowed me to retrieve it and plug my shorepower cable into my own proper outlet and meter.
I documented all this with emails and photos.
A few days later she emailed me back, thanking me for identifying the problem and said she was sure who had done it but couldn't prove it. We left it at that.
Document it, tell management. Simple.
Telling us does YOU no good.
I depends on what it goes to. Some small boats were never equipped with 30 amp inlets and only use 15 amps or less. If the boat can use over 15 amps it would probably have a 30 amp inlet, so possibly not as scary as it looks. Many or most smaller boats do not have a 120V system at all.
For example, I have done this on two boats I have owned. The first, it was to run a charger (before solar was practical), which included a 10 amp inlet breaker. No problem. The other to run a dehumidifier, which ran through a power strip with 10 amp breaker. No problem in either case with wire size, because there was a secondary breaker or fuse. Not much more you can do if the marina does not have 15A outlets, which they typically do not.
The weather proofing of 30A to 15A is tricky, and this adapter should be thrown away. The simplest solution is splice a sufficiently long cord dirrect to the 30A cord, and weatherproof with heat shrink. No exposed plugs. That is what I did.Basically a 25-foot long adapter.
For example, I have done this on two boats I have owned. The first, it was to run a charger (before solar was practical), which included a 10 amp inlet breaker. No problem. The other to run a dehumidifier, which ran through a power strip with 10 amp breaker. No problem in either case with wire size, because there was a secondary breaker or fuse. Not much more you can do if the marina does not have 15A outlets, which they typically do not.
The weather proofing of 30A to 15A is tricky, and this adapter should be thrown away. The simplest solution is splice a sufficiently long cord dirrect to the 30A cord, and weatherproof with heat shrink. No exposed plugs. That is what I did.Basically a 25-foot long adapter.
NO.
It depends on what it comes from. Dock breakers are usually 30A and that wire would probably overheat if it took 30A.
And where does a 30A load come from on a small boat ?
A partial short anywhere past the undersized wire.
Fair enough.
What are you going to tell him (please post it here too)? I'm assuming your pedestals do not have 15A weather proof outlets. And don't use the words properly or meeting code unless you narrow it down. If not, you are asking him to leave and not providing services for smaller boats.
- If you expect him to provide the fusing at the other end of the cable, define what is acceptable to you.
- Define what type of adapter is acceptable.
No is easy. Define your solution, since marinas often don't provide 15A outlets.
NO is simply a response to your statement:
......... which is incorrect.
The marina's solution (not my solution) is to hand transient customers a 30A to 15A adapter and say "Go to it." If the boat's electrical cord is rated for 15A, there is a potential for an overload.
Higher amperage to lower amperage adapters are listed for temporary use only and don't ask me how long "temporary" is. Some of these devices actually carry a UL lisiting because the entire adapter is rated at the higher amperage. No consideration is given to what's beyond the adapter.
Using these devices for anything longer than "temporary" is a hazard.
I think the marina either:
- supplies a 15A outlet in addition to the 30A outlet at their supply box or
- puts the onus on the boat owner to comply with all electrical requirements.
Having said that, I have a neighbour who has a skinny, ratty looking, electrical cord supplying his boat. I haven't looked, but I'll give you two guesses as to how the cord is plugged into our 30A only electrical pedestals
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You response is technically correct... but it does not solve the problem for smaller boats with no AC system. They are NOT going to install a 30A inlet and panel just to power a battery charger, for example. There are pedestals with 15A outlets, but they are scarce. In a nutshell, the marina created the situation by supplying the wrong equipment for smaller boats. If they have an inlet, it will be this:
There are also many, many entire marinas with only 15A plugs.They don't seem to have the plug heating problems so common in marinas with 30A plugs, because they don't run heat of AC. The only load is a battery charger required to keep the sump pump running. Since the engine actually keeps the battery up, the normal current is no more than a few amps.
You can fuse at the boat end to protect against devise failures on the boat, but protecting the wire from mechanical damage requires protection near the pedestal. Fused adapters, like fused extension cords, would be possible solution, but I have not found one. The marina could also install a 15A breaker at the pedestal.
Here is a thread on the topic. thread on 15A shorepower
There are also many, many entire marinas with only 15A plugs.They don't seem to have the plug heating problems so common in marinas with 30A plugs, because they don't run heat of AC. The only load is a battery charger required to keep the sump pump running. Since the engine actually keeps the battery up, the normal current is no more than a few amps.
You can fuse at the boat end to protect against devise failures on the boat, but protecting the wire from mechanical damage requires protection near the pedestal. Fused adapters, like fused extension cords, would be possible solution, but I have not found one. The marina could also install a 15A breaker at the pedestal.
Here is a thread on the topic. thread on 15A shorepower
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Maybe King Harbor has changed recently, but I wouldn't be surprised if that WAS the harbormaster's boat or one of his buddies.
Haven't checked the electrical supply in our marina where smaller boats are moored. Be curious as to what size their outlets are.
As for A/C in boats in this neck of the woods, 72° F here is considered a scorcher so few if any units are found on boats. Larger boats do have a minimum of 30A inlet for the minimum necessities such as hair driers, theatre systems, jacuzzis, and what have you but require next to nothing when parked and no one is aboard.
Just about the only was to do it safely is to plug one of these (ignore the GFI feature) into the 30/15A adapter:
And with the average boater's obsession for electrical safety, I don't know why we don't see more of these on docks
.If nothing else, this has given me a reason to take a closer look at the many 15A (and less) weathered, beaten up, UV degraded, bedside lamp cords I see leading into boats in our marina. One good marina fire is one too many.
^^ Unfortunately, that is only GFI (it's in the Q/A section). It does not provide overcurrent protection.
They exist, but are less common. I have not seen a 30a/15a adapter with overcurrent protection (some include GFI). That is what we need.
They exist, but are less common. I have not seen a 30a/15a adapter with overcurrent protection (some include GFI). That is what we need.
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I have a suspicion you may be correct. I think the old owner abandoned the boat and has not paid fees for maybe 3 years or so and the marina couldn't do anything about it during the covid problems so the boat just deteriorated. I think the marina is now trying to get it fixed up a bit to auction off.
I'm just going to send an email with the photos and let the marina know I think it is an unsafe condition.
Hopefully they do something. What I see is a 30a shore power cord cut about 18” or so from the plug that was spliced to a 10a extension cord with a DIY repair plug on the end of that. Then wrapped in black electrical tape that is coming apart. That is then plugged into a 15a extension cord that is then plugged into a 10a extension cord. That is a fire on top of a fire waiting to happen even with a 5 amp load.
What I find odd with this whole thread is, I am thinking there is a 15 Amp outlet right here
