total-recoil
Well-Known Member
I was talking to this guy yesterday for ages. He was an ex submarine diver and owns a boat he now owns for his retirement. It became clear to me he is a wealthy person and he showed me his boat (which is far better than my own). Anyway to get to the point. This guy has been totally at a loss to deal with issues that concern electrics on his boat. He had a totally flat battery bank that resulted from a charging problem. He has spent a small fortune hiring marine electricians and the majority of these were either out of their league or cowboys. Finally he did find someone who seems to me to be perfectly O.K. but what really interested me was (no1) the free-for-all basis and lack of regulations on marine electrical installation and (no2) the shortage of specialists. I can only guess that what has happened is less people can afford to study marine electrics as a speciality and the majority either do auto-electrics or domestic installation (which is highly regulated licence-wise).
So, I think I finally hit on a choice of career. Actually I should point out marine electrics is a totally different ball game to domestic or auto electrics, For example, household cable isn't technically legal on a yacht and often a boat is limited to a maximum of 3 Kilowatts and supplied by a shoreline cable. Maybe the reason marine electrics is less regulated is because mostly 12 volt systems are used although personally I believe a badly wired boat can be a dangerous environment. Anyway, electricians working on yachts basically need a damned good knowledge of battery banks, charging systems, solar energy, circuit breaker ratings, A.C. electrics and generators and also corrosion issues resulting from stray current.
Theoretically I'm maybe just over half way there but lack actual experience. Anyway, one thing I could see for certain is my friend's problem was basically an overcomplex system with way too many guages and monitors that still inevitably led to a battery bank of dead, sulfated batteries. There is clearly a decent living to be had from sorting out such electrical issues brought about by electrical systems on boats that all too often haven't been logically planned.
So, I think I finally hit on a choice of career. Actually I should point out marine electrics is a totally different ball game to domestic or auto electrics, For example, household cable isn't technically legal on a yacht and often a boat is limited to a maximum of 3 Kilowatts and supplied by a shoreline cable. Maybe the reason marine electrics is less regulated is because mostly 12 volt systems are used although personally I believe a badly wired boat can be a dangerous environment. Anyway, electricians working on yachts basically need a damned good knowledge of battery banks, charging systems, solar energy, circuit breaker ratings, A.C. electrics and generators and also corrosion issues resulting from stray current.
Theoretically I'm maybe just over half way there but lack actual experience. Anyway, one thing I could see for certain is my friend's problem was basically an overcomplex system with way too many guages and monitors that still inevitably led to a battery bank of dead, sulfated batteries. There is clearly a decent living to be had from sorting out such electrical issues brought about by electrical systems on boats that all too often haven't been logically planned.