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APLUXOR Marine Electrical Library

Boat Electrical

The Owner’s Desk Reference

From symptom to a verified fix on your own boat

Read chapter 1 (Russian) Contents

Free, no sign-up. By Sergei Sysoev.

Boat Electrical. The Owner’s Desk Reference.

About this book

It’s for boat owners who want to understand their boat’s electrical system well enough to make sound calls about it — whether they do the work themselves or hire it out. You don’t need to be an electrician to use it.

What’s in it: 12 and 24 V DC in full, AC aboard as far as safety requires, and a path from a symptom to a decision you can stand behind — what’s dangerous, what you can do yourself, what to hand to a pro, and how to check the work. Every number is sourced to ABYC, 33 CFR, ISO or the manufacturer’s manual. What’s not in it: dock and marina wiring, full AC system design, and brand-by-brand detail. Those belong to the marina’s electrical contractor or to the paid modules.

It’s free, and it’s updated in versions: new chapters and corrections come out as a new version of the book, and every file shows its version number.

The English edition

I’m writing the English edition now, chapter by chapter, and new chapters are written in English from the start. Chapters 1–4 and the boat passport worksheet are out now in the Russian original. Each English chapter appears here as soon as it’s finished.

Электрика лодки · Read (Russian)

Contents

19 chapters in six parts

The parts run in order of risk: what can kill you or start a fire comes up front. Published chapters open now; the rest are released as they’re finished, each with a new version of the book.

Part I · Your Boat and Your Test Gear

  1. 1 The Boat as an Electrical System: What’s Dangerous, What Isn’t, and How to Use This Book Read (Russian)
  2. 2 What You Have Aboard: The Walk-Through, the Boat Passport, and Someone Else’s Boat Read (Russian)
  3. Boat passport: printable worksheet Read (Russian)
  4. 3 Measurements: What the Number Tells You and What the Meter Can’t See Read (Russian)

Part II · Wire, Connections, Protection: What Burns

  1. 4 Overcurrent Protection: The Fuse Protects the Wire, Not the Device Read (Russian)
  2. 5 Wire and Connections: Why Things Get Hot and Why Voltage Drops In progress

Part III · Energy: How Much You Have and Where It Comes From

  1. 6 Batteries: What You Have and What Shape It’s In In progress
  2. 7 How Much Energy You Have: Energy Budget, Time Away from the Dock, Battery Monitor In progress
  3. 8 Switching: Battery Switches, Two Banks, Charge Splitting In progress
  4. 9 Engine Charging, Shore Charging and Starting In progress
  5. 10 Solar and Wind In progress
  6. 11 Lithium: What Changes on Your Boat, Before You Buy and After In progress

Part IV · Loads

  1. 12 The Bilge Pump and Water in the Boat: Why Boats Sink at the Dock In progress
  2. 13 Loads and Electronics: Powering What You Add Yourself In progress
  3. 14 Heavy Loads: Inverter, Windlass, Bow Thruster, Trolling Motor In progress

Part V · Hull, Water and Shore

  1. 15 Bonding, Anodes and Corrosion: Why Your Anodes Get Eaten In progress
  2. 16 Metal Hulls: Aluminum and Steel In progress
  3. 17 Shore Power, the Inverter and the AC Essentials In progress

Part VI · Projects and Passages

  1. 18 The Older Boat: Audit and Upgrades by Priority In progress
  2. 19 When You’re Not Aboard: Layup, Extended Cruising, Long Passages, Failures Underway In progress

Reference

  1. Legend: how to read the sidebars, notes and cross-referencesRead (Russian)
  2. Emergency pages: "If it’s happening right now"In progress
  3. Appendices, glossary and symptom indexIn progress

Terms and safety

This is the free edition: share, copy and print it freely, in whole or in part, as long as it’s unchanged and shows its version.

Electricity on a boat can kill a person and burn the boat. This book explains how a boat’s electrical system works and how to make decisions about it. The person who does the work on a boat is responsible for that work. This book does not replace current standards, the manufacturers’ instructions for your equipment, or your insurer’s requirements.

Report an error

Found a mistake, or a passage that confused you? Write in. Include the version, the chapter and section or figure number, what it says, and what you think is wrong and why. If you have a source, add the link. Corrections go out as a new version of the book, never silently.

Report an error

Beyond the handbook

The handbook is free. It continues in paid modules: AC systems, electrical from scratch, yearbooks on boat types, engines and equipment, and diagnosis as a craft. See the modules in development

Rather not do it yourself?

I work on boats in Everett, Mukilteo, Edmonds and nearby marinas. Describe the problem