While going ashore a shoal island to tie my boat, another was already there settled in for the night with generator running. I felt a tingling in my hands while handling wet lines (salt water) and at first thought I had handled jellyfish, but upon releasing the line the sensation stopped so I knew I was picking up electrical current from the other boat. His was a stink-boat manufacturer installed generator and air conditioning system with GFCI protection (which protects him on his boat just fine, of course). I only received shocks when touching my boat or wet lines (whether on shore or standing in water it was the same). I did not measure the potential but the sensation was bearable so the current was very low as well. My sailboat has an iron keel grounded to the mast and the only conductive path from there to my anchor line would have been salt over the hull and deck. I am a bit ashamed to ask about this for I am an electrician and understand the theory (albeit studied long ago) but am wondering if this is a common occurrence with marine electrical systems, and how do these potential differences occur like this in a common brine soup? One more question: would this energy have contributed to the exceptionally brilliant phosphorescence in the water that night?
