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SEAWORTHY
The BoatU.S. Marine Insurance and Damage Avoidance Report*
2010 BOAT SHOW BUYING GUIDE — THE BEST DEALS AT THE FALL SHO WS
When Your Shore Power
OCT/ NOV 2010
Boat Owners Association
of The United States
Loses Its Cool
N
ot long ago, Kevin Ritz, an ABYC master technician
and author of the Seaworthy story “A Preventable
Dockside Tragedy” (October 2009), walked down the
docks at a local marina with an infrared camera and
Magazine snappedsomeshotsofshorepowercords.Thepictures
he took (see page 12) are sobering; the camera shows
significant heat buildup that the naked eye can’t see.
Shore power cords have a tough life; they spend months
out in the elements, get tossed in lockers, and are
pulled on, stepped on and sometimes dropped in the
How to get water.Despitethe“abuse,”powercordsareexpected tocarrycurrenttotherefrigerator,waterheater,lights,
your lover to batterycharger,andmaybeanairconditionerorheater. Notsurprisingly, shorepowercordsareoccasionally 11percentofboatfiresarecausedbytheACsystemand
According to a study done by Seaworthy a few years ago,
damaged, givingthemthepotentialtooverheatand mostofthoseareduetocordproblems.Knowingwhere
love your boat Annapolis — Come for the boat sho wsstartanfired. Seeawnorjth oy cyomtbhedethehcla iismtfiolesrtyofindout themostcommonproblemsareandtakingsometimeto
howtoavoidgettingburnedbyshorepowerproblems. inspectyoursetupcanpreventacatastrophe.
HIT THE WATER WITH ROCK STARS, friction—run too much current through a wire and the
The Crux of the ProbSleEmP: T/OCT 2010
FIGHTERS, WRITERS, AND GURUS
Resistance (Impedence)
“friction” will create heat. It is increased by using smaller
wires or running higher current through the wire.
See our new people section, p. 32
Plug a heater into a typical household extension cord
Conversely, resistance can be reduced by either running
and there isn’t much chance you’ll have a problem. Now
less current through a wire, or using a larger wire. Too
LIFE IN THE FAST LANE! plug t wo heaters into that same cord and suddenly you
much resistance in a shore power cord can cause the
have the potential for a
cord or connections to melt or even ignite.
THE SEASON’S COOLEST
big problem. The cord
NEWTRAWLERS is designed to carry Question: Why doesn’t the shore power pedestal just
In This Issue . . .
a maximum amount
trip the breaker before a damaged cord overheats?
of current based on
The ans wer is that the breaker will only trip when its
MAYDAY PROTOCOL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
6
thesizeofthewires
cutoff current—30 amps for standard cords—has been
PREDICTINGSURGE................. (about enough to
8
exceeded. But if some of the strands of wire in the cord
Two 10 runoneheater)and aresevered,thecordiseffectivelysmalleranditmay COPINGWITHSURGE............. ifthecurrentlimitis onlybeabletosafelycarry,say,20amps. Ifyouwereto BOATSANDBIRDS ...............16 exceeded, the wires thenrun30ampsthroughthecord,resistancewillcause
begin to get hot. The
the remaining wires to get smoking hot well before the
For The
breaker trips. According to Bill Drake, vice president of
*The BoatU.S. Damage Avoidance Program
reason is resistance.
Resistance is like
Continued on page 12
Water
Vol. 28 No. 3 ••••••••••••July 2010
Road map to teach
young skiers
Fair winds, good company and savings with West Marine add up to a great day on the
water. As a BoatU.S. Member you earn the highest level of savings at West Marine just for
buying the equipment you want and need. When your purchases total $250, you'll receive a
$10 West Advantage Gold Rewards certi cate. This kind of savings really adds up!
Call 1-800-BOATING
or visit BoatUS-store.com for your West Advantage
Gold Rewards balance or to find a store near you.
Top Schools For Boat Techs
PART 2 OF OUR EXCLUSIVE SERIES ON HIGHER EDUCATION
Two For
The Road
Charting your journey
along I-75 and I-95
Visit us online at BoatUS.com/membership, call us at 800-395-2628 or email us at
membership@boatus.com for more information on how to get the most out of your Membership
