R 22

Rhodes 22

 

Electrical Grounding

The "Dynaplate" is a trademarked product manufactured by the Guest Corp. Dynaplate is a porous sintered bronze material. The porous structure provides tremendous surface area for good electrical contact with the water. I have the smallest size unit, about 6" long x 2" wide x ½" thick. It comes with special gold plated fasteners with a silver-based electrical contact paste. I mounted the Dynaplate nearly amidships on the starboard side of the hull as close as possible to the shoal draft keel. It is approximately right below the main electrical switch panel on the rear cabin bulkhead. I inset the Dynaplate about 1/8" into the hull with a router, epoxied it in place, and then thru-bolted it up into the bilge area with the two gold plated nuts, bolts, and washers. The thru-bolts are sealed with polysulfone sealant. This installation technique makes it less likely the Dynaplate will fall off in the event of a collision with a submerged object or a problem when putting the boat onto the trailer.

The Dynaplate is pretty streamlined, so this insetting/epoxy step may be overkill. Maybe I just worry too much! I connected the ground bus on the boat's electrical system to the Dynaplate with #0 multi-strand copper wire with the terminals soldered to the wire and connected to one of the gold plated thru-bolts. I was able to get gold plated connectors from Radio Shack.

This system has been completely trouble free since installation in 1988.

You need to be careful to mask off the Dynaplate before you bottom paint!

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium

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