Backman's post about his nav lights reminded me about something I have been doing.
I'm into my 4th year now (took delivery November of 2003) and I had found that the wiring inside the insulator of the 12 V leads running to my transom light and my cockpit lights were quite corroded. The corrosion ran a couple inches back up the wires from where they had been stripped. Cut them back to fresh wiring, soldered extensions and heat shrinked the connection. No big deal, kinda fun to do. But this made me look closely at my bonding system.
On my boat, the connection between the bonding wires and the ring connectors that connect to various bolts here and there (engines, all through hulls, etc.) were not heat shrinked at the factory. That little section of exposed wiring is subject to breakage either from;
1. Corrosion when located in areas that get quite a bit of salt water exposure like under the bait tank or under the fish boxes
2. Repeated motion (especially when combined with a few years worth of corrosion) when located on moving parts like our rudders
Good idea to inspect these contact points fairly often. It's easy to clip off the old ring connectors, clip the wiring back a bit, strip the insulation, slip on a piece of heat shrink, crimp on a new connector and heat shrink over that problematic gap.
I also tied my swim step brackets into the bonding system after noticing a bit of pitting on the bracket flats below the water line (Keith's suggestion).
I'm into my 4th year now (took delivery November of 2003) and I had found that the wiring inside the insulator of the 12 V leads running to my transom light and my cockpit lights were quite corroded. The corrosion ran a couple inches back up the wires from where they had been stripped. Cut them back to fresh wiring, soldered extensions and heat shrinked the connection. No big deal, kinda fun to do. But this made me look closely at my bonding system.
On my boat, the connection between the bonding wires and the ring connectors that connect to various bolts here and there (engines, all through hulls, etc.) were not heat shrinked at the factory. That little section of exposed wiring is subject to breakage either from;
1. Corrosion when located in areas that get quite a bit of salt water exposure like under the bait tank or under the fish boxes
2. Repeated motion (especially when combined with a few years worth of corrosion) when located on moving parts like our rudders
Good idea to inspect these contact points fairly often. It's easy to clip off the old ring connectors, clip the wiring back a bit, strip the insulation, slip on a piece of heat shrink, crimp on a new connector and heat shrink over that problematic gap.
I also tied my swim step brackets into the bonding system after noticing a bit of pitting on the bracket flats below the water line (Keith's suggestion).
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