"Glenn Ashmore" wrote in news:l_2kg.112247$Ce1.77235
@dukeread01:

http://www.abycinc.org/lucas_ritz.pdf


I agree with the REAL solution to this problem that would make both the
protection of the boat's underwater metal parts and electrical safety
possible:

"If a Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) breaker had been installed
ahead of the boat’s shore power, 10ma of current would have tripped it
off. The bottom line was that if the boat had been properly wired or a
GFCI placed ahead of the shore power cord, we would have our son today.
This started my asking questions as to why GFCI’s were not required. In
every other place in this country, where you have this deadly combination
of AC and water, it is required. Why is it not in this situation? After
asking around a little, I was told that GFCI’s would never work in this
situation because the moisture content around marinas was too high. But
this did not make much sense to me since GFCI’s are always placed in damp
places such as bathrooms, kitchens, hot tubs, etc. We decided to do some
testing of our own. At this point I decided that I must do something so
that another family does not have to go through what we have and continue
to go through on a daily basis. First, we installed a 30 amp GFCI/Breaker
Thomas & Betts #GFB130 into the breaker box ahead of the shore power cord
of our boat. A $30.00 part. We then duplicated electrically what had
happened the day that Lucas died. The results were clear! The GFCI
tripped in a millisecond, as it would have when the AC problem first
developed on the power boat. We left the GFCI in to see if we would, over
the next few months, develop problems and have nuisance trips. To date we
have had no failures or nuisance trips but we did have a real trip and
the problem was traced to a hot water heater element (see photo). The
GFCI worked"

We simply must make it mandatory by a certain date....or we disconnect
the marina's power and take away their business licenses, giving them the
only incentive a marina ever pays any attention to...the loss of money.

Commercial GFCIs can be set to higher than 7 to 10ma of leakage before a
trip. Humans can withstand 50ma for long times. The current leaking out
of a boat to kill a human swimming in the water is MUCH higher as the
current passing through the swimmer NOT touching hot parts, directly,
quickly spreads through the water. This example, bearing on the "it's
for the children" ploy always used to get human sympathy pumped up, is
very rare. Any boat leaking as badly as this example is very rapidly
going to experience catastrophic failure of all underwater parts from the
intense electrolysis being 120VAC above ground will cause in a few days.
The metal parts underwater will just fizz away rapidly, unless it trips
the marina's cheap breaker from the overload.

Boaters will scream bloody murder for a while as all the GFCIs on the
posts trip when they plug their boats in. That's the price boaters are
going to have to pay because any boat that trips it IS causing AC safety
problems for the kids swimming in the marina.

Immediately, marinas could simply post a sign until the GFCIs are
installed demanding NO SWIMMING IN THE MARINA as you walk aboard their
docks. Of course, as with all the other signs, this would also be
ignored.

Don't you find it amazing how many divers are cleaning the bottoms of
lots of boats and come up still alive and not cursing being shocked?
They all are directly touching all the underwater fittings. I'd think
they would be the first group to demand GFCI installations! They're not.

Typical kneejerk reaction. The rear gate of a 1989 Ford Exploder pops
open and some kid falls out on the street who just happened to be
standing up pushing on the tailgate. Government bureaucrats, and
politicians trying to make the news to get re-elected, overreact and
demand the CPSC recall every Exploder ever produced to force Ford to
spend $23M to replace all Ford Exploder tailgate latches installed since
19XX, causing the price of Fords to increase 4.2 percent next year. If
an adult had fallen out, we'd have said, "Don't lean against the
tailgate, stupid!"

Just knowing how many boaters are secretly ****ing in the water flushing
their heads directly overboard with the Y valve in the let's-not-fill-up-
the-holding-tank position is more than enough to keep me and any kids I
know out of the marina's ****y water....(c;

Yecch!