Secondary Ground/Terminal Bus

[CTsalt12]

Hi All,

Hypothetical question here.  Like most of you, I have a negative terminal bus mounted inside the console of my 175.  The negative wires from all my electronics run here in some fashion. 

I have a 4 electronics stemming in the stern of the boat, and +/I wires running in the chase below deck.  Bilge, raw water washdown, two speakers.

Would it be possible in theory to create a second negative terminal bus in the stern of the boat?  Wire it to the existing negative bus, and all other negative wires from speakers/bilge/washdown/speakers?  I'm thinking for simplicity sake, why wouldn't boat builders do this?  I'm sure it's a dumb idea just wondering what the reason is.

Thanks

Jimbo

[jdupree]

That is exactly what I did when my transom was replaced on my 222CCP.  I had a wash down pump, trim tab pump, bilge pump, and something else that was mounted in the stern.  I simply mounted a ground bar up on the stringer under the deck in the stern which made life so much easier than having to run ground wires back up to the console.

I just simply ran maybe an 8 or 10 gauge ground wire from the battery to the new ground bar in the stern.

It's not a dumb idea.  It makes sense and worked great for me.

[boatnamesue]

You can use as many bus bars as you want...a good ground is a good ground.  My question is....if this bus is below deck, how are you keeping it dry?  Saltwater corrodes incredibly fast.  I imagine it wouldn't take long to begin having ground issues. 

[jdupree]

You can use as many bus bars as you want...a good ground is a good ground.  My question is....if this bus is below deck, how are you keeping it dry?  Saltwater corrodes incredibly fast.  I imagine it wouldn't take long to begin having ground issues.

As I stated above, I mounted mine high up on the stringer near the access hatch.  Mine never got wet and when I sold the CCP 2 years after that ground bar install, I did not have a bit of corrosion.  My boat was used in saltwater pretty much all of the time.

[CTsalt12]

Thanks for the responses.  I suppose for that matter, you could add a positive bar in the stern as well, and wire it via larger gauge to the batteries.  I would mount my bus on the inside of the cap where the stern hatches are, by the water separator, if you can visualize that.  There is some dampness in there though, as it's not far from the bilge.  Not totally sure I will do this, but definitely considering it.