CD36 ground

[Russell]

Okay, the grounding plate is on the base of the keel, and so I assume somewhere on top of the encapsulated keel must be a grounding wire going into the keel to ground the rig. Can anyone tell me where this is? I have not found it in my searching. With bolted on keels its ussually just attached to a keel bolt, but of course thats not the case here.

[Parfait's Provider]

Parfait's grounding plate is on the starboard side of the keel and the bolts penetrate the hull into the bilge just forward of the fuel tank where they are easily reached. If your plate is on the bottom of the keel, it might not be a factory installation and you may just have to dig a bit to find the grounding wire.

[Russell]

Ken, what year is your CD36? While there is a chance mine isnt the origonal factory setup, I cannot imagine a previous owner removing the old plate and redoing it in a different spot, so I wonder if CD changed their setup? Mine is a 1984.

[David VanDenburgh]

Russell,

I'm not at the boat so I'm going by memory, but I believe the bolts from Ariel's ground plate (sintered bronze) protrude into the bilge sump on the starboard side and connect with the grounding wires there. Take a look into your sump and see what you've got. Ariel is a 1979 CD36.

Dave

[Parfait's Provider]

Parfait is hull #84, built in 1983. The plate and wiring certainly appear to be in the original location.

[bottomscraper]

Mahalo has the ground plate attached to the starboard side of the keel. The bolts extend into the bilge aft of the fuel tank about 5" above the apparent bottom of the bilge.

On Mahalo the main portion of the holding tank is forward of the engine. The holding tank also extends even further forward so that what appears to be the bottom of the bilge is really the top of part of the holding tank.

[ricks]

Parfait's grounding plate is on the starboard side of the keel and the bolts penetrate the hull into the bilge just forward of the fuel tank where they are easily reached. If your plate is on the bottom of the keel, it might not be a factory installation and you may just have to dig a bit to find the grounding wire.

Does it seem like a really bad idea to anyone else that the bolts connected to the grounding plate enter the bilge "just forward of the fuel tank" or does it not really matter?

[Parfait's Provider]

It wouldn't surprise me if the aluminum tank cover and the fuel fill cap are electrically bonded to the plate so there is no possiblity of a static discharge. Of course with diesel fuel there is much less volatility than with gasoline and, therefore, much less chance of an explosion. If lightning strikes, it will tend to follow the path of least resistance to earth and that probably would not involve the fuel tank.

[Russell]

I found it, its in the same location are the others. I just couldnt see them well since my bilge was such a mess. Spent the day today cleaning it out.

One thing I noticed, is water seems to have no way to drain from underneith the engine and into the lower bilge. The factory installed holding tank is installed in the bilge right under the companionway. The only way water can make it to the bilge from there is for the level to get high enough for the water to flow over the top of the tank. Is this how everyones is? Seems annoying that there is no way for that water to get out unless you manually pump it dry occationally.

[Parfait's Provider]

I think the rationale may be that the engine sump ought to be separate from the bilge so that drips from the engine don't get pumped overboard. One of the advantages of the Robinhood bed is that the oil drips are further separated and don't even mix with the drips from the stuffing box. Keeping a mat in the pan makes it easy to wipe out any drips that occur.

It may be that there is supposed to be a separate pump for the engine sump, but I am not certain. We hand pump the sump.

[David VanDenburgh]

Ditto Ken. The engine sump is separate from the bilge sump so that engine oil won't get into the bilge water. If the engine sump overflows into the bilge sump, you have an oily mess. Keeping an oil absorbant cloth in the engine sump and cleaning it out regularly keeps the oil out of the bilge water and keeps your bilge clean. If oil gets into your bilge sump and your bilge pump switch kicks on the bilge pump and pumps oily bilge water out to the sea/lake/river, the Coast Guard is going to get mad at you! (Read: "expensive")

You may also find that your shower sump is a separate box with its own pump. It is better to keep it pumped out than to let it overflow into the bilge sump. Soap scum, hair, etc. is not good stuff to have in your bilge.

[Dalton]

On Colleen Marie, a 96 RH36, I have the sump under the engine and the sump created by the shape of the top of the holding tank. At first I too questioned the reasons. The engine sump is obvious and catches anything from the engine. I keep it clean and it's white and I can see if the engine is losing anything. I keep oil pads in there as well. The sump on top of the holding tank tells me what's coming in the boat under the cockpit. And if it does fill up it will run over the top and into the bilge, and really no problem as any oil is captured above it. I sponge out the top of the holding tank periodically. It's also a spot that needs to be cleaned and dry before the winter freezes here in NJ.