Note the divider between the AC and DC sides of the panel. New ABYC standards say the AC side should be covered. In this case, a warning tag could be added.

Note the divider between the AC and DC sides of the panel. New ABYC standards say the AC side should be covered. In this case, a warning tag could be added.



Question: Here's a picture of the electrical panel board on my boat. The boat is a 1995 model year and everything works fine. But I just had a survey done for insurance purposes and the surveyor recommended that I cover the AC portion of the panel to comply with ABYC standards. This seems like kind of a waste to me since the boat has been great and I’ve never had any problems. What’s the purpose of this ABYC standard, anyhow?

Answer: First of all, the photo of the panel board shows a compliant panel at the time your boat was new. The divider between the top portion of your panel and the bottom portion where the AC circuit breakers are installed was all that was required by the ABYC E-11 electrical standard back then.

The reasoning behind the later requirement for covering the AC side of combined AC-DC panel boards was to provide safety for anyone working on the boat who opened up the panel, so that they would not come in contact with live AC terminals. In general this is required for all AC terminals on boats -- that they be located in areas that require the use of hand tools to access. Well, in your case, the panel you show is in fact a screw-in panel, so hand tools are required to get to those live terminals.

When I work with marine surveyors I constantly remind them to “pick their battles” when it comes to recommending things, especially if things were compliant at the time the boat was built. This is analogous to the seat belts in your car. Are the seat belts in a 1985 car compliant with those in a 2010 car? Probably not, but are you going to get 2010 belts retrofitted into the older vehicle? I doubt it.

I’d leave your panel just the way it is. If anything, tie-wrap a warning label to one of the AC cables that says “CAUTION: Live 120 volts AC."

Written by: Ed Sherman
Ed Sherman is a regular contributor to boats.com, as well as to Professional Boatbuilder and Cruising World, where he previously was electronics editor. He also is the curriculum director for the American Boat and Yacht Council. Previously, Ed was chairman of the Marine Technology Department at the New England Institute of Technology. Ed’s blog posts appear courtesy of his website, EdsBoatTips.