Above the Waterline

Electronics

1.  Mount your electronics high and dry in the boat.  

2. If there is a window above them, even if it is sealed, make sure there is a drip edge to keep water away from them.

3.  Protect your electronics that are mounted outside with a Sunbrella fabric cover.   If not protected, they will go through massive temperature and humidity changes every day.    Although many electronics are rated for exterior placement, the difference of protecting them will be how long they last.

4.  Power your electronics on a clean battery free from noisy appliances.    Starter motors, compressors, electric motors, solenoids and inverters all produce noise on the wiring.   Install a separate battery just for your electronics.

5.  Keep your electronics, power cables, and communication wiring as far away from electromagnetic interference as possible.   EMI is caused by magnetic fields radiating from speakers, motors, and inverters.    Oversize power cables.   Larger wires are less affected by EMI.

6.   Insulate your ground wires.   The bare wires intertwined with the shields are often left bare and need to be insulated.

7.   Hook up your ground wires to a common grounding bus that attaches to underwater metals.

8.   Beware of voltage drop on power supply lines.   Don't run to many instruments in series.   Don't power a series connection from both ends.   If there are too many instruments on one power supply cable, run a second cable.

9.   Keep your VHF antenna cable as far away from other cables as possible.

10.  Fuse your electronics power wire at the source of power.

11.  Observe safe mounting distances away from compasses.

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