Bonding Systems

[first230sl]

I am re-doing some/all of the bonding connection on my boat.

Pascoe says:

"Do you have wires attached to sea cocks with hose clamps? Forget it. This is putting stainless and copper together, which are galvanically incompatible and it won't work."

While it makes perfect sense that you'll likely get a lousy connection with a hose clamp, my question is what do you do instead if there is no bolt on which to attach a ring terminal?


BTW - I could have sworn that I'd read a number of posts on bonding, but using the BB search function for "bond" and "bonding" yielded articles only over the last two days??? Am I doing somethign wrong?

Thanks and best regards - Murray

P.S. sunny and 65 degrees here yesterday - had an incredible day on the boat with 24 other poeple (for my daughter's b-day party). Sorry if it is still cold where you are.

 

[NANPO 41]

sunny and 65

Thanks a lot!!!! Snowing and 25 here yesterday.
Just kidding. Glad someone can enjoy their boat. Spring will come to those of us in New England shortly.
Fred

 

[Genesis]

Find a way....

... seacocks are bolted - the bolts make good places to attach bonding wires.

Transducers are a potential problem. I do use hose clamps there because there is no alternative. The trick is to use a copper terminal (most are plated copper, and reasonably acceptable) and SEAL THE CONNECTION, so the terminal is against the stem, and clamp serves ONLY to hold the two together (that is, the clamp is NOT part of the conductive path) and the entire mess is sealed with liquid electrical tape.

That's about the best you can do.

Pascoe is right that copper and stainless are galvanically incompatable. Where he's wrong is that its not necessary to put those two metals in the current-carrying part of the path.

 

[Nonchalant1]

Bonding

On mine, everything that has a bolt uses that bolt for a eye-hole crimped connector on a copper wire, but all of my tank sensor fittings and a few other things use bare copper wire against the bronze fitting with a stainless hose clamp, just to hold it tight together. It's copper to bronze, which is no problem.
Based on a prior posting, I'm going to go back and clean these up and then put "No-Co" battery terminal non-corrosion dressing on these connections during the next year. I think stainless is fine to hold copper or brass things together. I would not want electrical connections that are stainless to brass, but stainless is good as a clamp where any electricity goes direct from copper to bronze.

Doug
1978 53MY

 

[Jackman]

Bonding

If copper and stainless are not galvanically compatible, which I believe to a degree, why did Hatteras put stainless screws through my copper bonding strap and there are some stainless items attached to the bonding system. IMHO if Hatteras did it that way its acceptable. So far I've seen nothing but evidence that they built the boat to the highest standards and according to basic science. The only problem I've seen so far with my bonding system since I got the boat was poor connections or crimps...which were done by the owner by the way. I've replaced everything in my bonding system as per the Hatteras specs outlined in the manuals and technical drawings. I intend to keep it that way.

 

[Nonchalant1]

Re: Bonding

Stainless screws are OK to attach copper straps to the boat for the same reason that stainless straps are OK to hold copper wires to bronze fittings.....because the electricity doesn't go through the stainless and the copper. If stainless is not part of the electrical "path" it's OK. Any electricity in the bonding system goes through the copper straps and just goes around the screws. If the screws were the grounding point or were somehow connected to the flotation water, then it would be a problem, but they're not.