hello everyone. This is my first post, so I hope I get it right. I am the proud new owner of a 76 32 sudan. We bought her about a month ago and had her trucked in to Ft. Loudon in Knoxville Tn.from Old Hickory at Galitan Tn. On the whole she's in pretty good shape, but there are still plenty of issues I want to take care of. High on my list is to check and correct any grounding mistakes that may have been made by the previous owner. To that end I need to find the main common ground. Capt. T tells me that this is the place to ask. There are many Marimettes on Ft Loudon. I have already mey half a dozen owners. All friendly people with great boats. I hope to meet many more in the future, and look forward to an educational and enjoyable association with this forum. I'll try to post picks. as soon as we have our renaming cerimony. All advice is greatly appreciated.

Welcome! We are over 500 posters, by the way, and nearly any question you might have on any subject will have someone here to answer it!

Jeff (the motorhead)

PS: Friend at my marina picked up a "good deal" last year on an Egg Harbor. This year, in reparing the interior, he discovered acres of rotted wood! Should have bought a Marinettte.

BTW, if you have any problems out of the Mopar power in the bilge ask Fast Jeff. He has helped me out greatly on the Chrysler Inboard Site.

Thanks Norm, I'll see if I can find that old artical. Thanks for the welcome fastjeff I'm sure I'll have plenty of questions for you. Yes Capt. Cad that was my wife and I. A raft up sounds like fun. Thanks all.

ccgraham1,
I've just moved my Marinette from Loudoun to Pickwick (last Spring) and know you will enjoy the cruising on Loudoun and on Tellico. We berthed at Choto Marina for almost four years and liked the small marina environment. Good luck and you can be assured to find good friends and the best Marinette info on the forum.
Jim

EVERYTHING should be grounded to the hull except the props/ shaft(s) and rudder(s). The battery ground cables go directly from the motors to the hull grounding lug, as should every other 12 volt acessory on the boat.

Jeff

Grounding to the "hull" means only 2 precise locations. The 2 ground points to the hull are the negative battery grounds which in most cases are right between the engines just below the firewall. All grounds for everything should ultimately ground only to those 2 points.

The idea is to eliminate a network of grounds throughout the hull.

You can have ground buses all around the boat but they all must isolated from the hull and run directly to the negative battery ground points and only at those points should they be grounded to the hull.

Its convenient to ground instruments etc to the hull wherever they are being installed but that is a bad idea.

The only thing I've seen grounded right to the hull is the trim tab motor. I'm assuming the factory did that and its not something that runs for long periods of time, they probably figured it wont hurt anything. Probably a little corner cutting there.

-Karl