Services
Marine electrical troubleshooting, diagnostics, and corrective work for sailboats and powerboats.
What I Work On
DC Power
Charging & Battery Systems
Alternators, regulators, shore chargers, DC-DC charging, and battery bank performance verification.
Lithium Battery Conversions
LiFePO4 system design, BMS integration, alternator protection, and conversion from lead-acid.
DC Power Distribution
Main panels, busbars, fusing and overcurrent protection, switching, and circuit reorganization on systems large and small.
Solar & Inverter Systems
Solar array integration, MPPT controller setup, inverter installation, and system sizing for liveaboards and offshore passage makers.
AC Power
Shore Power & AC Systems
Inlet and distribution faults, GFCI and galvanic protection verification, grounding and bonding.
Single & Split-Phase AC
120V and 120/240V distribution, transfer switching, panel work, and onboard AC circuit troubleshooting.
Three-Phase Systems
208/480V distribution, three-phase motors, pumps and thrusters, and generator paralleling on commercial vessels and larger yachts.
Generators & Inverter/Chargers
Genset electrical faults, automatic transfer switches, inverter/charger integration, and load management.
Critical Systems & Documentation
Bilge & Critical Circuits
Bilge pumps, float switches, alarms, auto/manual logic, and corrective wiring.
Communications & Navigation
VHF, AIS, GPS antenna systems, feedline integrity, radio installation, and chartplotter integration.
Wiring & Documentation
Circuit tracing, labeling, termination upgrades, routing improvements, and correction of unsafe modifications.
System Mapping
Panel circuit index, battery and charging path, shore power path, and annotated photo set, delivered as a PDF.
Finding Gremlins
Most electrical problems on boats aren't so obvious. They're hidden in connectors, buried in bilges or bulkheads and invisible until something stops working at the wrong time.
A couple examples here: A failing solder joint caused an intermittent power glitch, and a corroded pin inside a connector. Both types of faults are intermittent, hard to find unless you know what to look for.
What's that smell?
A factory wire tie was never removed from this VHF during installation. At some point the steel core inside the plastic sleeve made contact with an exposed terminal.
The current through the wire tie generated enough heat to melt not only its own plastic cover, but the insulation to the negative VHF wire, leaving bare copper exposed.
Luckily, this only melted the insulation of a short section of wire. It could have been much worse.
Rates
Diagnostic & Corrective Work hourly
Troubleshooting, repair work, consulting, design, and new installations.
$150 per hour, two-hour minimum on site.
All work billed at a single hourly rate. The minimum covers the trip and setup to your boat, so there's no separate trip charge within the central East Bay Area.
All work performed to ABYC standards using marine-grade materials.
Sample Report PDF
Here is an example of a typical job report with the root cause identified, and other findings along the way. Issues ranked by severity, annotated photos, and a prioritized work scope that you can plan around.
View Sample Report