How To Maintain A Small Boat’s Electrical System

Over 50 percent of onboard fires stem from electrical failures so maintaining your electrical system is essential to help prevent a catastrophic blaze when you're miles from help.

By
Stephen Burnage
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1
We prefer "barrier" blocks (aka terminal strips, third row above) for connections, but when joining tiny wires, some other - albeit less robust - options are available.

Well intentioned friends and relatives often make comments along the lines of, “Aren’t you scared of being out on the ocean, all alone, in a small boat?” to which I invariably respond, “No, with modern navigation, communications, weather forecasting and reliable engines, the risks that prior generations of sailors faced have been greatly reduced.”  Two significant risk areas largely remain beyond the reach of modern technology, however: lightning and the risk of an onboard electrical fire. Onboard electrical fire risk has increased over the decades due to a significant increase in the complexity of boat systems, which has increased further still in recent years due to higher capacity batteries.

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Stephen Burnage
Stephen Burnage is a full-time cruiser, having retired in 2017. He left Vancouver, Canada and headed south for warmer climates, on his 1975 Cal 34 sailboat “Moonrise”, in 2018. Since then, Stephen, Moonrise and occasionally his wife Anita, have cruised the West Coast of North and Central America. They are presently in Boca Chica, Panama. Stephen originally trained in the UK as an Electrical Technician Engineer and then proceeded to have a forty-year career, managing high voltage electrical systems around the world. Career highlights include building new power infrastructure on six continents; writing a comprehensive paper on how the North American Power Grid operates (and needs to be rebuilt) and; later, owning and operating his own renewable energy business. Stephen is a joint Canadian and British national and a resident of Chile, with an extended family across the world.

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1 COMMENT

  1. Thankfully, boat fires are rare events. So far, the only sailboat fires I have witnessed have come from the starter motor. The ABYC codes don’t require fuses or breakers on starters. When the rotor locks up, things get hot in a hurry. Usually alternators are also not fused.

    It’s not very expensive to add a high amperage fuse. Blue Sea makes a fuse holder the goes on the cable. I fused my starter at 300 amps and never had a nuisance trip on a 40 HP Yanmar 4JH2E.
    Blue Sea Systems 5191 Fuse Block Terminal 30-300 AMP