Re: Hookup for Electric start on aluminum boat

[jerry-ahrens]

Wow, interesting story Gary. I can’t tell you how many skegs that I’ve seen rotting off boats that are up, on a boat lift, and have the skeg hanging in the water. Some of them that I’ve seen [here on Lake of the Ozarks] are nearly completely eroded or rotted away. As Gary has pointed out, this is most likely due to stray current of some sort around the dock. Most of these docks were wired by do it yourselfers, and hence the problem. Here on Lake of the Ozarks, we have had several people electrocuted while swimming, over the past several years, and sadly, some of these were children. This has caused most dock owners around here to have a licensed electrician rewire/repair their dock. The electricians around here were swamped by the abundance of work. Just about every walkway down to the dock that I’ve been on lately has ground wires along with GFIs to everything. I’ts a shame that people had to loose their life for this stuff to be fixed right.
Anyway, back to the original question about grounding an aluminum boat. I agree with Frank and Don. The outboard must have a direct ground to the battery. This has always been the case, even on a brand new rig today. All acc. such as bilge pump, navigation lights, horn, etc. must also be grounded to the battery. This can be done by hooking directly to the battery, or with the use of a ground buss, that of course must be connected to the battery negative post. Do not ground any accessories to the hull of an aluminum boat, and you will be good to go.