Low shore power voltage

Really? In 25 years of moving boats I've never found the need, and there's only so much we can reasonably carry. Whenever I've run into a problem I make whatever emergency repairs are needed, and make my way to where I can put the boat into the hands of the appropriate professional in the field. When I move a boat I carry appropriate clothes, my GPS, charts, cruising guides, a roll of atomic tape and a leatherman (my belt is my strap wrench). If those and whatever tools are on board can't get things going it's time for Sea Tow. If the owner wanted to have en engineer on board he could have hired one. A captain is not an engineer and an engineer is not a captain although their jobs may overlap from time to time. If I were ever to make a major repair and something happened later on I wouldn't have a satisfactory answer to the question "What made you think you were qualified to do this?". I couldn't point to a license or even formal training, and 'Well I've done it on my own boat' would have the lawyers laughing as they booked their next vacation.

Ov-glove and fire extinguisher handy. If I call my wife from one more ER she's going dump my sorry butt. (Last call started with 'I'm laying in the middle of 107 waiting for the ambulance').

Guess I have, because I'd no sooner rewire someone else's 50 amp service or a marina's pedistal than I would hook someone's house up to the grid. 'IF properlu done', 'If I follow ABYC standards, using marine wiring, connectors, etc... ', That's a lot of IFs. "Gee sorry... Shore power is out, I m afraid to be sued I won't troubleshoot"? No, I'll be happy to troubleshoot, and then I'll call the guy to make your repair, and you'll pay an electrician his rate. There's a reason he gets $100 an hour and I don't.

Don't get me wrong, I can change an outlet or a light switch. What I'm not going to do is mess with the main feed or do a permanent installation of something like a voltage booster.

My job is to narrow down what he has to focus on and make sure we don't pay for his lunch break, thereby saving the boss money. Beyond that, if the boss can't afford what it cost, he probably can't afford me or the boat either.

Pascal, if there's a chance of a fire or such, that's an emergency repair. I do emergency repairs. You're getting a little far afield. I have a Hat that probably needs a voltage booster. A few days ago all I knew was that it showed 180V. Today I know what probably needs to be done and how to confirm that it is what's needed. I'm also familiar with what's on the market and how it needs to be installed. That's what I do as captain, and it didn't cost the owner one cent, instead of paying an electrician's rate for doing what I'm doing. So the electrician won't have to come out to troubleshoot the situation, and then order the part and come back out for a 2nd visit. If I were to install the voltage booster a) it would be a waste of time since it would easily take me three times as long as it would someone who does it all day, every day and b) I'm a lot more likely to screw up than a guy who does it all day, every day.

I'll bet there are a lot of electricians who can dock a boat or make that go - no go decision, but there's not many who can do it as well as me. Every man to his trade.

Don't forget the suntan lotion for the ladies.

They do, don't they. No need to look for more.

Years ago my friend bought a car that the previous owner re-wired. Besides the shorts, all the wires were the same color. Must have been a sale.
I'm not perfect nor all things to all people, but I'm pretty good at what I do. But I'm not afraid to draw the line where it works for me. I don't want my ears to burn when someone curses me like we cursed that guy who did the re-wire.

Just started walking (hobbling) yesterday. Hope to be back on board before the weekend and will be checking voltage throughout at that time. Will let you know what I find, but I expect to find somewhere between 208V and 190V at the pedestal.

Absolutely and exactly my plan.

Well, I got back onto the boat today and found all good news. The marina did have a power supply problem and now had a transformer on our boat. It boosted the power supply to 190V (metered at the transformer), and that's exactly what we showed on the ship's meters. We're also able to run what we need on the 190V. But it gets better. In the generator room I found that we have not one, but two voltage boosters. Rather than being between the shore power and the panel (supplying the entire boat's grid) they are dedicated to the a/c's and the Galley. So, when we hook up to shore power, part of my routine will be to also turn those on. (On generator power they aren't needed.)

Oh, you've seen her. Don't think she legal though you old phart. I shut the main breaker when leaving and shut the camera, but asked the yard to turn it back on. Hope to have the ok from the doc to start changing the view on that camera in about a week and a half.

BTW can anybody tell me around what voltage I could expect problems with the other systems (lights, pumps, TVs, etc.) Everything but the a/c's seem to run at 180V, and the a/c's at 190V. Reason I ask is that the yard is still recommending that we add a 3rd voltage booster, this one supplying the entire grid, and I'm wondering if it's necessary. Most other boats that don't have the draw of 5 a/c's and household appliances seem to cope with what they get.