I fell into the camp of the bonders. It was factory installed on our last
five vessels. I have pulled bronze through-hull fittings after 20 years
service and found them as bright and uncompromised as the day they went in,
with a bonded system--not so with the unbounded. Then there is the energy
radiated about the vessel when transmitting on HF. It is enough to make
lights come on. And tanks are not always free of salt water--except on the
lakes.

I noticed the bonding systems break down over time and since it doesn't run
equipment, it is generally neglected.

So, after installing new aluminum tanks in MOONSHADOW, we had the bonding
system renewed completely and measured resistance throughout the system
using the tanks as the main buss bringing all values to as close to zero as
possible and balanced. The end values came to between 3 and 5 ohms.

I have both a large zinc plate bolted to the hull aft and a bronze grounding
plate central to the system.

Before renovations, I was bothered by a rapid erosion of zincs. It turns out
that our boat is moored near some metal boathouses and the zincs vanished
within 3 to 4 months. So, in addition to balancing the potential in all
metal, tanks and rigging included with through-hulls, we added a ground
isolator to the external power source. Life of the zincs has more than
quadrupled.

I guess bonding is wearing suspenders along with a belt. Can't hurt.

Tom

MOONSHADOW Panda 40

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Received on Fri Feb 23 10:38:47 2007