Bonding System Missing

[dennismenace111]

I recently purchased a 35 year old 30 foot sloop.... The other day i was making sure that all the thru hull valves were working propterly and noticed that none were bonded... then I looked at the chain plates...none were bonded...then I dug around in the dark, dirty, hot, cave of an engine room and cant seem to find a bond on the fuel tank or the engine.

Is this normal? or do I have a really big problem?

[sailorboy1]

My boat isn't bonded as a whole boat (a 2001 boat). There are some things that should be "bonded" meaning "grounded" and I feel you should do some research instead of taking a bunch of forum answers. The thing with bonding is that if all the valves etc are bonded the connections need to be kept corrosive free and in good condition or you just set up a potential instead of preventing it. There are old threads here if you want to speed up your reading, but I would do some real research.

[YANDINA]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it! The primary purpose of bonding is to put all underwater metal at the same voltage so there is no electrolytic corrosion due to current flowing between them. If you don't have corrosion, you don't need bonding.

[smac999]

There are lots of arguments for and against. It’s really for safty (Incase a wire shorts against the engine or thriugh hull) and not for corrosion reasons. It Actully introduces more chances of corrosion issues.

Just make sure all the ac and dc wiring is safe and secure And get an elci / rcd main breaker .