The Marine Electrical School. Start a new career today in sail-boat repairs

ABOUT THE MARINE ELECTRICAL SCHOOL

Do you want to repair sail-boat and motor-boats. Enroll and learn about marine electrics and electronics at The Marine Electrical School. This is the world’s only online education college for training and learning about marine systems. These courses will help you gain a level of knowledge that previously belonged only to your service technicians and engineers. It will answer questions and allow you to start your sail-boat or power-boat project with a good basic understanding. Looking for my books, or gear for your boat? West Marine- America's Favorite Boating Supply Source

ABOUT YOUR TUTOR

Your tutor, trainer and online professor is John Payne. As a cruising sailor and power and sail-boat owner with 30 years of commercial shipping and offshore oil rig experience as a consultant, surveyor, engineer and marine electrician, I know what can happen out there. If I can stop you suffering any major failures, then it has been worth the effort. I have done many repairs and troubleshooting on many sail-boat and power-boats. Problems are not an inevitable part of boating and cruising, and reliability is possible. The keep-it-simple (KISS) approach to sail-boat systems is the best. Boating and sailing should be fun, don’t let problems with your motor or sail-boat spoil your vacation, holiday or fishing expedition. Look at the information filled pages on this site to see what you will learn about.

The School offers a range of Distance online e-Learning Courses available over the Internet using the worlds top e-learning system. Complete Marine Electrical and Electronics courses, as well as single subject modules which are specifically designed to suit a wide range of people wanting to acquire or enhance their sail-boat technical skills. If you want to start a new career this is a good place to start. The school is operated by John Payne, recognized internationally as a leading authority on marine electrical and electronics systems. Personal tuition and attention is guaranteed along with advice on starting your own business.

WHO ARE THE COURSES SUITED FOR?

Course modules for sail-boat and power-boat owners, Skippers and Crew of sailing yachts, motor and power boats of all types who want to acquire skills and knowledge of marine electronics equipment and systems. Course modules are priced lower than the average hourly rate of a service person. One module may save you much more than a single service call and be a valuable investment. With some knowledge it will also be possible to know when some unscrupulous service person is trying to sell you needless equipment or confusing you with jargon and technical theories. These course will save you money!

WHAT WILL YOU LEARN?

Course modules for those wanting to start a new career or interested in upgrading the skills and knowledge of those with qualifications and experience wanting to upgrade and enter the Marine industry. Course modules for upgrading the skills and knowledge of Marine Engineers, Marine Mechanics, Shipwrights and Power and Sail-boat Boat Builders in the pleasure boat industry.

WHAT IS THE BASIC CERTIFICATE COURSE?

Module 101 - Batteries and Charging Systems * Module 102 - Boat Wiring Systems * Module 103 - Engines, Electrical and Control Systems * Module 104 - Corrosion and Lightning Protection * Module 105 - DC Equipment and Lighting Systems * Module 106 - Marine Electronics* Module 107 - Communications and GMDSS * Module 108 - Water, Sewage and Pumping Systems * Module 109 - Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Systems * Module 110 - Generators, Inverters and AC Power Systems.

DO YOU WANT TO START A NEW CAREER?

For those planning a career or business in the pleasure boat marine industry, these courses will be of great benefit. There are no formal courses available, or formal requirements for performing DC electrical work on power or sail-boat, although some organizations and equipment manufacturers offer various certification schemes. Success in the marine industry will result from carrying out work for clients to a high standard and building a reputation for reliability and competence. These course modules are designed to help you learn what you need to know about power and sail-boat electrical and electronics.

Click on to the course description and enrollment pages and see how an online course enrollment will help you. Use e-learning to work and learn at your own pace.

DO YOU WANT START A NEW CAREER IN THE OFFSHORE OIL INDUSTRY, OR ON CRUISE LINERS or ON MERCHANT SHIPS? CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW FOR COURSES TO PREPARE FOR RETRAINING AND ENTRY INTO THE INDUSTRY

CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS OF COURSES AND JOBS FOR OFFSHORE OIL RIGS, SHIPPING and CRUISE LINERS

If you are only interested in pleasure boats and looking after sail-boat, yacht and motor boat electrics and electronics then click on below for enrollment details and how to get started Click here to enroll now in The Marine Electrical School. Learn everything about Marine Electrics and Electronics for power and sail-boat. Start a new career or be able to repair your own boat and save money

QUESTION 4

I have a 14ft boat with an 18 hp Nissan electric start. I have a small Minnkota hand controlled trolling motor on the front of the boat. Can I just buy one deep cycle battery to run the trolling motor and to use to crank the outboard? I have a wiring system ran where I could keep the battery in the rear of the boat. I was hoping to save some cash and lighten the load by not buying two separate batteries. Any help would be greatly appreciated

ANSWER 4

This is not recommended, you may end up with a battery to dead to start the engine. Also deep cycle batteries are not designed for starting outboard engines. In any case you can mount the new battery close to the trolling motor and this is cheaper than running large cables forward which would be required to avoid the voltage drop. The outboard doesnt have enough charge really to top up the trolling motor so you will charge it and that will be at home with charger. My new fishing electrics book would give you all the options on this

QUESTION 5

I have just purchased a 2nd hand Furuno GP-31 GPS for my sail-boat. I wish to know about grounding the unit. I have the power with 1amp inline fuse going to my connection block and the earth wire connected to all the other earths from sounder, interior light and navigation lights. Now there is a separate ground connection point on the GPS unit at the back. Do I run an earth wire from this to join my other earth wiresor do I ground it to the hull. The manual shows to ground to what looks like hull, picture only shows a wingnut/bolt/cross section of plate. The manual also says Caution! Ground the equipment to prevent mutual interference. and in the section for grounding it says. The signal ground and frame ground are separated, however the power line is not isolated. Therefore, do not connect the signal ground to the frame ground when connecting other equipment to a positive ground battery. Starting to get confused about which way to go? any help appreciated

ANSWER 5

I used to have the same model myself and many yachts do, good units, simple, and easy to use. To answer the question I grounded mine to the hull, when I had it on metal boat. On a GRP one I had a common ground point for all the electronics and ran a larger cable down to the common ground point for battery negative. It is important to ground it though and a lot do not. You see this in my books. RE the instructions on a positive ground battery. This is often a warning however relates to arrangements (which I have never seen yet in 30 years on any yachts) where the positive is grounded and negatives are protected with fuses etc

QUESTION 6

Q1 - I need to locate and purchase a speed transducer for a Dataline speed instrument. The existing one has no markings on the cable or transducer. The only thing I saw was that it was white and had T handle on top running fore and aft. Simrad got me this number but I would question it's validity. Q2 - I am wanting to replace a masthead unit for a Stowe windspeed and direction indicator

ANSWER 6

I used to install this equipment on many yachts. Contact Alan Williams of A.W.Marine, Marine Electronics in the U/K. http://awmarine.com as they have recently purchased all spares and main line products of Stowe Marine from Simrad, and now supply most parts, service and repair the following ranges :- Navigator, Micro, Dataline and IS11, and the Navico range. They are also back into manufacture of many spare parts for the mast head units, transducers etc. Any enquires please do not hesitate to contact Alan on the main Stowe number +44(0)23 9250 4253 or e-mail info@awmarine.com

QUESTION 7

I am rewiring an old sailboat. Here is my problem: There are running lights, cabin lights and an anchor light. Between the three types of lights, there are four colors. All for colors run back to where the battery is. If it is any help, the four colors are red black blue and white. How do I connect four colors to three switches on the fuse panel and the battery?

ANSWER 7

A common scenario for many sail-boats. You have to trace out where each wire goes, you cannot do this connection based on the colors, as it doesn’t represent anything that can be relied on. There will be positives and negatives, and you need to know which is which. To trace where each wire goes, and draw that on paper. You might also work back from the running lights, cabin lights and anchor lights and do the same. Then when you have that you will be able to see which is positive, which is negative and then connect up. Normally a wire running back to a battery is an auto bilge pump or similar otherwise all should be from switch panel with fuse protection.

QUESTION 8

My 41 Gulfstar sailboat has a battery setup I think needs changing. House bank is 4 -6v gels series/parallel for 12v output, the starting is 2 12v deep cycles, only one hooked up. Alternator output (150amp) is directed thru battery selector switch. I was thinking of: Truecharge 20+ charger, smart regulator, and wiring the batteries as follows: the 6volts into 2 banks on a selector switch(house), and the 2 12volts on another selector switch(starter). Alternator output thru the house switch, and using 2 Xantrex echo charge units from house to starter banks. Battery charger output ( there are two outputs) directly to each house bank. Does this make sense or is there a better way????

ANSWER 8

This applies to most sail-boats. Breaking up the battery banks is fine however what are you hoping to gain by having two house banks, as you have to charge them anyway, only good idea if splitting the switch panel and electronic and electrical loads. I would keep it simple by having one house bank and one engine bank (although not normal to have deep cycle on starting, when they finally fail put in start battery) but I would steer clear of using switches as they are so unreliable. Smart regulator charging all battery banks via either a diode isolator system or battery bank combiner such as Echo unit is better option. Alternator outputs via switches is common cause of alternator damage or destruction on many cruising sail-boats. Best advice is keep it simple. My book Marine Electrical and Electronics Bible is specifically for yachts and has all the info on these suggested arrangements. The Xantrex charger is not an issue, and is straight forward enough. Keep it simple!