Shorepower issues on AICW Loop Segment

gulfcoast john

Shorepower issues on AICW Loop Segment

We trailered 700 miles to launch the boat at a new Loop segment start point on the Waccamaw River in South Carolina. We docked and connected shore power with all green LEDs lit but had no voltage despite trying two Smartcords, two 50A adapters and four 50A power pedestals. Eileen called a local marine electrician who happened to live nearby (Frank, owner of Boattech). He came by at 6:30 PM and got power back on by 9:30. He found two bad connections deep inside the AC breaker panel (a place I never go into…”builder errors”), along with improper size (14AWG he replaced with 8g) inlet to panel cable, improper bonding at the galvanic isolator (so it wasn’t protecting anodes) and a bad GFI outlet…all fixed the next night between 6 and 8:30 PM for $540 plus a $100 tip. Aborting this trip would have cost twice that.

Check your inlet to AC panel wire size.

Trip report is at

Findpenguins.com/ancient-isles

Highlight/choose the SC AICW to Erie Canal Loop Seg.

Credit to Betty on Molly Brown for finding that easy to use site.

Safe Travels!
John

colbysmith · Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2024 6:13 pm Post subject:

gulfcoast john · Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2024 8:53 pm Post subject:

Hi Colby,
try

https://findpenguins.com/ancient-isles/trip/sc-aicw-to-erie-canal-loop-seg

John

thataway · Posted: Sun Jul 14, 2024 12:12 pm Post subject:

John, Your profile is "Private" so I am not able to view it--also a member for several years.

I wonder why the electrician put in #8 wire when the cable from the plug to the boat is only 10 gauge for 30 amps. Unless your boat for some reason has 50 amp cables (which are #6-the reason that they are so much more expensive). The #14 wire is rated for 15 amps. The #12 wire is rated for 25 amps. I believe that most of our boats are wired with #12 from the plug to the main breaker in the AC current panel in our C Dorys.

Another possibility is that many marinas now have the much more sensitive Ground Fault interrupter. This is required in all new or revisions of marina wiring. Many old marinas have not upgraded because of the issues which most boats have with any grounded appliances (Battery chargers are especially an issue) and with the galvanic isolator. In other words, the way your boat was built was most likely to code when you bought it--code has changed only for new and upgraded electrical systems. In some marinas all of our boats will immediately trip the more sensitive Ground Fault interrupter.

gulfcoast john · Posted: Sun Jul 14, 2024 8:52 pm Post subject:

Bob,

Thanks so much for your comments!

Converted the Fingpinguins to Public; hope that helps.

We spent many hours on this boat cramped up with Frank in 96 degree heat (but only 95% humidity) in conversation regarding current and past electrical wiring regulations…. and I agree with you that I over simplified the issues regarding the C-Dory electrical build standards. They complied with the code at the time of build.

I agree that the new dock pedestals are much more picky in determining which boats have no issues.
An inverter or generator is much more likely to generate an issue at the pedestal, as in shutting it off.

Thanks so much for your contributions to the boating community, and to the C-Brats!

John

Molly Brown · Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2024 9:00 pm Post subject:

We’ve been on the loop for about 4.5 months now and have used all sorts of power supplies, some suspect and some state of the art. So far we’ve had no issues. We have 10ga from the shore power plug to the main breaker panel. Granted we don’t have a complicated wiring set up and our total draw with everything up and running is only 12.5 amps. That includes a 13.5 BTU rv air conditioner, high performance Starlink unit with it’s own power supply, a Norcold fridge, an Engle cooler and a 20 amp battery charger.I think the main issue with the new fault interrupters is how the boat handles their ground and neutrals especially if they have any 240v appliances.

colbysmith · Posted: Thu Jul 18, 2024 11:11 pm Post subject:

I echo what James said. With all my travels, I have not had any issues with shore power. I'm pretty sure I have 12 gauge wire from the boat's shore power inlet to it's distribution panel. Although it could be 10 gauge. I'll have to look. I've also made my own shore power cord out of 50' of construction 12 gauge power cord. I did this to get a smaller diameter cable. And it's more than enough to handle my power needs. (I have another short cable out of 14 gauge to use from my generator. Again, it can handle any load put on the 2K watt generator.) I also have the smart plug connector on the boat end. Colby