zmk1962

That’s great additional protection. Running negative back to the battery just minimizes electrical interference on sensitive gear from stuff like motors or pumps as you are grounded at the source. The only comment I’d make on the circuit is to have a master fuse that can carry the total electrical load under normal operation as close as possible to the battery. I’ve indicated two locations in red circles. This is to protect the wiring from a short circuit somewhere along the length of the positive wire supplying the 4way switch. Eg say the cable coating wears out and the positive wire touches a negative source (the hull), the full energy of the battery would try to discharge- the wire itself could start to burn back to the battery. A fuse located close to the battery would blow before that happened. I can’t quite make out the drawing but you may already have a master fuse: if not, then consider putting one at either of these locations indicated in red: Call me or send pm if this is not clear or you want to discuss. cheers Z

Forgot to say. In fact your radio, gps and other static sensitive gear is less likely to get interference. Cheers Z

Not at all. Terminal blocks or bus bars for negative are just a convenience for additional wiring- so that you don’t have to run back to the battery each time. cheers Zoran

Glad that its fixed and thanks for posting back to close out. 👌 Cheers Zoran

Hey @Fishop When you say "apparently" is that your experience or or what you've heard? All GPS systems run of signals coming from satellites that participate in the GPS network. Some of the older GPS units only tracked 6 or 8 satellites, some of the newer ones track 12 to 16. The GPS unit then triangulate off the signals. The bigger the spread of the tracked satellites across the full visible sky, the more accurately the GPS can calculate your location. If all the satellites currently in the southern visible sky are clumped low on the horizon then you will have a poor location calculation. etc. This would explain why the raymarine was also having trouble. Anyway, as you say you have to be comfortable with what you have, so why don't you do some tests. I did. I have an Eagle SeaCharter (now LEI) combo. I navigated with it side by side with the iPad and iPhone for a few trips. I did not see a perceived difference in plotting the location or the accuracy of speed etc up to 40km offshore. Way out of range of cell towers and without a SIM in the iPad.once comfortable, the Eagle is dedicated as a sounder and the iPad is the navigation. You can also test in your car. I have an iPhone and switched it to flight mode - so all wifi, bluetooth and mobile network (cell tower) communication was switched off. I then used TomTom on the iPhone and it correctly located my vehicle and speed compared against the vehicle odometer and the in-car GPS system. I also tested the Boating app (first download the map and switch on the satellite overlay - that will give you a view of the roads), then switch on flight mode and go for a drive. In my case it picked up the correct speed and location etc. That was enough to convince me the GPS was good enough for my purposes. Anyway, if you have the app on your phone it's simple enough to try. Just make sure your iPhone or iPad has a reasonable clear view of the sky, you are relying on exposing its GPS receiver to as many overhead satellites as possible. Cheers Zoran BTW, In the past, the US DoD used to insert a random error in the satellite signals that would vary accuracy from the 5-10m range out to 150-200m to prevent mis-use of the GPS network (think missile guidance). The GPS unit manufacturers figured out how to perform additional correction by triangulating off all sorts of signals, on land, off other shipping, off planes etc So triangulating off other sources is not new, and navigation without them is also not new. Various vendors have different names for this like AGPS - Assisted GPS etc.

I used a similar technique (described earlier in this same post) for many years... These guys were anchored in extremely calm waters so factor that into how "easy" they made the anchor retrieve.... add swell and wind effects, perhaps being closer to a rock face and I'd bet they would have had to hurry much much more on the rope and chain pulling. But generally speaking, it's a good technique to deploy the anchor from the back. Makes it a lot easier. @Stash just make sure you have all the open waters safety gear in place before you start anchoring outside the heads in a 13ft tinny. It can be done, but just be safe. BTW, watching this makes me so glad I installed an anchor winch. Cheers Zoran

Glad mines a HUNTER then ! 😂 Cheers Z

Planning to overnight, hit the hairtail on a cold winter's night? ... my crew and I love the cabin, bunks, dry storage, out of the wind and drizzle ! Cheers Zoran

@dmck hahaha. Thanks for the vote of confidence. I prefer subtle and there is always someone smarter to learn from. Just speaking from experience. cheers Zoran

@T_Bert83 is correct that the voltmeter is measuring potential difference. To my understanding, you cannot get a potential difference reading from your multimeter unless there is a circuit path from positive and negative back to the SAME battery. So in your case, if you have switched off the isolator (negative in your case), you must have another connection to the hull from the negative somewhere. I suspect the small black lead that you said goes to the console is connected to a device that is "earthed" to the hull (maybe through the mounting screws and that is providing another path back to the negative terminal of the battery through the hull. So your boat is negative earthed through that small black lead...and if one side of your tester is connected to the positive of the battery, anywhere you touch the hull will give you a voltage reading. It's simple to test. Disconnect the small black lead at the battery and repeat the hull touch test you did... I am sure you will see zero reading on your multimeter. PS - If you want to test my statement that you need a path back to the same battery, do a simple test with the multi meter and any 2 batteries (AA, AAA, 6V etc). Put the multimeter on positive of one battery and negative of another battery and you will not see a potential difference on the meter as there is no connection, no path back to the same battery. PPS - I always fit the isolator on my positive circuit and leave the negative circuit connected. There is some debate on this, but most of it leads to isolating the positive. Cheers Zoran

@jordy it’s difficult to visualize where you connected the tester and hence what that implies. If you connected one terminal of the tester to a solid working negative source then : 1. Starboard- led lit up because where you connected tester you have completed the circuit and hence can conclude that light is missing a negative connection 2. Port: no led light because that circuit may be missing a positive or the led is faulty. Where are you based? Cheers Zoran

LEDs need the positive and negative wires to be accurately connected. Did you rewire something and maybe swap the positive and negative wires around. Cheers Zoran

Great job ... and very tasty 😋 cheers Zoran

Hey Antony - yeah likewise we need to do a session out soon. Re Gummy, I haven't had a chew as yet, but all the reports are they they are excellent flake. Two fillets (990g each) came of that gummy. So my buddy and I each have about a kilo to play with and try in various ways. Will let you know. Just to close this out, I did have the gummy about a week ago and just now remembered I had committed to report back. Happy to report that they are awesome table tucker. I prepared the fillets as fish cocktail size chunks, rolled in flour salt and pepper, shallow fried in oil with a few whole garlic cloves. Served with two side dishes: a warm kiffler potato / string bean mayo salad and coleslaw. The gummy had firm white flesh, very delicate flavour and obviously was completely boneless. Just awesome tucker. Can't wait to come across a few more. Cheers Zoran