Bonding

[mherbert]

I have a 1941 Ed Monk Sr. 45' Sedan. The previous owner ( he owned her 30 years) suffered electrolytic degradation at the stuffing box and had to replace it. With the best of intentions he completely bonded the boat. After I bought the boat I had her completely rewired to 2002 specs and after reading Giffy Full and others removed all of the bonding. I now am getting some "bloom" on bolts in the engine room and a few other places. I assume that this caused by stray currents. Any advice on how to isolate the currents and solve the problem would be really appreciated.

Mike
Anacortes, WA

[Lew Barrett]

Hi Mike,
Lew here. Did you remove all the bonding wires when you upgraded or are they still in place?
I go with the idea that everything should float at its own potential. My boat's not bonded in other words. It was, but I had issues, so I removed the old system. As it was explained to me, it is more or less impossible to completely bond an iron fastened boat; better to let the fittings float and keep an eye on them. This seems to be the consensus around here. Also in Anacortes (or La Conner...I think they moved recently) is Malcolm Munsey. You might want to get in touch with him....good wooden boat surveyor/engineer and helped me a great deal in rewiring Rita and things are looking good two years on.
Love those Monks......

http://www.imagestation.com/picture/sraid197/pee9da6f49240ca84c7cc6816f296b325/f106c3e5.jpg

[mherbert]

Lew - removed every last piece of copper. Have talked to Malcom often and will consult him on this.

Mike

[Lew Barrett]

Say Hi to Malcolm for me. Also you can contact me offline for some other ideas or resources if it gets sticky, not that I'm the expert by any means but I can help talk you through the process if you think you might benefit from that.

[Tom Kenny]

Hello Mike, I had some problems with stray current affecting some of the strut bolts. After replacing the bolts, I also removed ALL of the bonding wiring from my boat. For the past couple of years I have not had any problems.

Tom Kenny
Independence - http://www.ftkltd.com