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Jack Marchand
#1 Posted : Friday, March 11, 2011 8:08:26 AM(UTC)
Jack Marchand

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Guys, I'm putting dockside power in this spring and before I shell out what appears to cost a bit less than a grand ($720) to purchase, I was wondering if any of you have some input on those electrical petestals that are dockside and are there any that will not cost an arm and a leg? Here's a link to what I found (the unit on the right is the one I was quoted for, with (1) 30amp and (1) 20amp GFIC, with water spiget) and I asked if being an electrical contracter will cut me any deals for the same. The rep said that the rate I was quoted is for contacters and that to get 5% more of a discount, I have to buy 25 more at a time and quarterly thereafter to maintain that discount and that ain't gonna happen. Any sugestions? JAM

http://www.seatechpower.com/products/products.html
75 FB express, "Big Enough II" twin 318s, 950hrs, raw water cooling, 1 to 1 transmisions, Beautiful Lake Charlevoix, MI
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MetalHead
#2 Posted : Friday, March 11, 2011 8:31:49 AM(UTC)
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Will you be doing it or paying an Electrician to do it?

I would take the brochure of the stand and show it to an electrician. They may be able to fab one up and install it cheaper. That UL Rating adds to the costs and the safety of course.

I use boxes from this place (Many people sell these) http://www.factorymation.com/ . Look at the fiberglass enclosures NEMA4X

One of these on a pedestal with plugs and you have the same solution.

But that Docksider is a nice prefab setup.
Mike Ray
1959 Family Cruiser
Central Alabama
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BCassedy
#3 Posted : Friday, March 11, 2011 12:08:14 PM(UTC)
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Jack,

This may sound a bit odd, but have you considered contacting a marina about a used unit? Being an electrical contractor you could potentially refurbish any needed areas, give it a paint job and be in business.

Bill
Bill & Sharon Cassedy
" Sunset Seeker "
1988 32' Fly Bridge
Twin 318 Cu In / 240HP Chrysler power plants
Raw water cooling
Freshwater boat
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Jack Marchand
#4 Posted : Friday, March 11, 2011 12:22:11 PM(UTC)
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No I haven't Bill but that is a good idea, just looked in craigs list and ebay and search the tower/petestal itself...I will make some phonecalls, metalhead I am an electrician too and do most of my own work and checked out your site. Thanks to both of you and I will keep looking.
75 FB express, "Big Enough II" twin 318s, 950hrs, raw water cooling, 1 to 1 transmisions, Beautiful Lake Charlevoix, MI
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BCassedy
#5 Posted : Saturday, March 12, 2011 2:38:27 PM(UTC)
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Jack,

I'll check at my marina and see what I can come up with.

Bill
Bill & Sharon Cassedy
" Sunset Seeker "
1988 32' Fly Bridge
Twin 318 Cu In / 240HP Chrysler power plants
Raw water cooling
Freshwater boat
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MetalHead
#6 Posted : Sunday, March 13, 2011 12:21:45 AM(UTC)
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Shoot. Fab a nice one for about half the price and you may have a new line of work Drool .
Mike Ray
1959 Family Cruiser
Central Alabama
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dougrose
#7 Posted : Sunday, March 13, 2011 1:30:34 AM(UTC)
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My marina has never seen anything that fancy. All you need is a waterproof box, since you are in fresh water. And there is no reason for the water spigot to be in the same box except that it looks neat. You can get what you need at home depot or lowes. Or, am I missing something here? In any event, be sure to use GFI breakers in the box. My marina does not use them, but my ac feed goes directly to an isolation transformer so I don't worry about it.


1975 32' Flybridge Sedan, twin Perkins 6-354 diesels, 1:1.53 velvetdrives, 16 X 19 props. Merritt Island, Florida
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Jack Marchand
#8 Posted : Sunday, March 13, 2011 5:09:30 AM(UTC)
Jack Marchand

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Doug, I plugged the 'M' into a GFIC and it tripped out imediately, I'm assuming that the nuetral isolation circuitry in the boat did that. Darn GFI's can be touchy but nessessary. I really want to be able to run the boat on shore power when not there, and I'd like it not to look too rednecky....(one of the problems with being on a rather popular/pricey lake, ya gotta look the part) I do suppose I could hide it on the side of my dock so as not to be seen directly off the water. 30amp for the boat and a 20amp GFIC for while working on the dock oughtta be about right, spiget was just for washing down the boat and power washing the dock, and runs off the lawns sprinkler system water (pulled from the lake). I know I could fabricate one, just don't want it to look like I fabricated it and wondered if any of you guys got around this problem sucessfully.
75 FB express, "Big Enough II" twin 318s, 950hrs, raw water cooling, 1 to 1 transmisions, Beautiful Lake Charlevoix, MI
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Ed
#9 Posted : Sunday, March 13, 2011 8:42:39 AM(UTC)
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The GFCI tripped because it was doing it's job. Most often the white (sometimes neutral) wire is grounded where it should not be. Should be grounded at the first disconnect at the service, only. Then on, the white wire and the green wire are separate and have a different purpose. --Ed
BUSIA
32 foot, no flybridge, twin 350 (chevy) Crusaders, closed (freshwater) cooling, 1:1 Velvet drive transmissions.
Proud to be IBEW.
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dougrose
#10 Posted : Sunday, March 13, 2011 2:08:38 PM(UTC)
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Jack,

I didn't mean to put something nasty looking there - I use NEMA enclosures with doors on the front and a panel inside that takes the twistlok and breaker. They are nice looking, but I don't really know all the ins and outs, I am not an electrician. At any rate, the fiberglass box with clear plastic door, on a piling with conduit running back to shore looks pretty good. I didn't mean to use a zinc-plated box with Romex.....

The GFCI is trying to tell you something, and you should listen to it. Try this:

=> shut off all the breakers on board, and see if the shore GFCI still trips. If it does, you likely have a short from neutral to hull. If it does not, turn on all the breakers one at a time until the shore GFCI trips. The short is in something controlled by that breaker, or in the wiring from the breaker. Disconnect stuff until you find it.

=> finding a neutral to hull short is harder. First, unplug everything from the port and starboard circuits. If the shore GFCI does not trip, plug stuff back in one at a time, etc. If it still trips, then pull your AC panel and disconnect all the neutral (white) wires from the terminal strip. Connect them back one at a time, until you find the one that trips the GFCI. Do not touch anything when the boat is live, unplug it when you are messing behind the panel.

This is all a big pain. I redid my ac panel with each of the eight breakers feeding a plug, and the boat circuits plugged into them. This allows me to disconnect a circuit by just pulling the plug, a big help in troubleshooting, and if a circuit is bad I can just unplug it without affecting the others. I wrote it up for the forum, or you can find it on my website.


1975 32' Flybridge Sedan, twin Perkins 6-354 diesels, 1:1.53 velvetdrives, 16 X 19 props. Merritt Island, Florida
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Jack Marchand
#11 Posted : Monday, March 14, 2011 12:56:07 PM(UTC)
Jack Marchand

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Doug, I did read your write up on your site and liked the ideas you used. Everythings nice and tidy too. I will find out whats goin on with that GFI when I head up next time. I think I'll see if I can find something along the line of PVC for the dock power and fabricate something with that. If it looks to hokey tho I may be shellin out the sheckles. Thanks all for your comments and time! JAM
75 FB express, "Big Enough II" twin 318s, 950hrs, raw water cooling, 1 to 1 transmisions, Beautiful Lake Charlevoix, MI
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