Essential Boat Electics – Carry Out On–Board Electrical Jobs Properly & Safely (Boat Maintenance Guides)

Very very good reference text. Takes you through AC and DC circuitry and all manner of installation set ups. A good book to have to hand and even for a reasonably qualified DC installer like me without a electrical certificate to my name, this is a go to book everytime

Found this book covered all the basic in an easy to understand language. The part of the book I was most pleased with was page 44 which mentioned my engine Yanmar 1GM10c information not supplied in the latest Yanmar operation manual (ALTERNATOR charging system )

Good book

Being a plumber/heating engineer I am familiar with most electrical tasks but this was a very good read and a book I will keep whilst wiring my new boat in the very near future.

My background is in electrical engineering although I have not worked in the field for many years and may be considered an amateur. Although I picked up a few practical tips on fitting and maintaining boat electrics I found it somewhat light weight and lacking in detail when perhaps some specific examples would have been useful. Many of the diagrams had such small text I was using a magnifying glass to read them, it was clearly a cut and past job from other sources. The information for fitting a solar panel with diagrams of light levels, maps, calculating energy consumption of appliances I just don't have on my boat and how much energy you might get etc were I thought superfluous when the best recommendation if you choose to fit one is the largest panel you can comfortably fit on the boat (I have a cheap 75 Watt panel which fits comfortably on the foredeck with bungees and the cable is wired through to the battery charger via the air vent above the head, when not in use the panel sits under the cusions in the forepeak). You can never have enough power. I bought my boat cheaply second hand and so have very practical needs to keep it maintained so more detail on the practice of wiring up instruments, switch board, feeding cables through, what to avoid and what is best practice and with some practical walk throughs would have been helpful.

I like the style of the book as I am a beginner however some of the photographs should be labelled with what they are discussing. Using fig1 or equivalent plus lines to the item would be beneficial. I also thought this was more up to date - mentions current NMEA 0183 from 2004. NMEA 2000 is now the current and should have really been revised in a book that is being sold/reprinted in 2018

For the most part I find this book easy to read. As I’m a complete beginner though, there are a few paragraphs that I had to read over a few times to get the gist. The pictures are very helpful and tool list.

It has helped me to upgrade the electrical system in my boat

This book is well presented with lots of colour illustrations and diagrams. The information is elementary, but it is a good first book or reference manual for basic facts. You can pretty much read it through in a few hours, and it will give a good grounding for further study. Five stars for what it is.