When I looked for a liveaboard boat to call my own, some of the first things I thought about were appearance, seaworthiness, age, cost, and hours on the engine. That certainly was how I started out on my journey to find the right boat for my wife and me to do America’s Great Loop. Sure, we had our more specific criteria for the perfect boat that included two cabins, two heads, well designed kitchen, flybridge, a single engine, comfortable salon, and overall length less than 40 feet, but it had to be seaworthy, look great, not be too old, fit within our budget and have a reasonable number of hours on the diesel engine.   To our great joy we found our perfect boat in a 2001 Heritage East 36 Sundeck trawler, so we took the plunge and made an offer that was accepted contingent on the sea trial and professional survey.   The haul out and professional survey result were positive and most encouraging since the deficiencies could be easily corrected; there was nothing major that appeared to be of significant concern.  The sea trial also went well except for discovering I had a lot to learn about piloting a large full keel powerboat with a single engine! The electrical systems, both AC and DC, were found to be serviceable.   I happily took possession of the boat.

As I got to know the boat, I grew used to the sound (grrr!) of the inverter providing power to the AC system.  Then when we invited my next door neighbor at the marina (a 79-year-old retired sea captain) over for dinner, he heard the “grrr!” and said, “what’s that sound?”  After I told him that it was the inverter he said, “that’s not right…you better get that checked out!”   The question was then, “where do I find someone  I could trust to come look at the boat’s electrical systems?”   Soon thereafter a large Great Harbor trawler pulled up in a slip close to mine.   I found out the owner had piloted his Great Harbor trawler all the way to Jacksonville from the upper Tennessee River to have an electrician do work on his vessel!  He said that this guy in Jacksonville, Eric Weatherly, was an unusually talented boat electrician who came highly recommended by some of his friends who earlier had Eric work on their boats.  That seemed a pretty good recommendation for me, and I found out the day when Eric was scheduled to work on my neighbor’s boat.   When Eric came to the Great Harbor trawler to fix my new neightbor’s vexing electrical problem,  I made my move and walked over to introduce myself to Eric and to ask if he would be willing to schedule a time to come and evaluate my boat’s electrical systems.  He said he would be happy to schedule a time to come to my boat and a date was set.

On the appointed day and the appointed hour, Eric knocked on my starboard hull.  After a brief conversation, he took his shoes off and came aboard with his tools of the trade.  I didn’t realize right away that my education in Boat Electrical Systems 101 had begun, but it didn’t take me long to make that assessment and whatever Eric charged I was going to chalk it up to tuition for my boat electrical education.  Within a very short time of testing and assessment, he sat down on the edge of my floor over the open engine room and started explaining what he found in terms I could understand even though I soon realized I was “drinking from a fire hose”….I had found a master marine electrician who was also an extraordinary teacher.   I am a retired university professor with lots of experience in classrooms and I know a good teacher when I see one!   Some of Eric’s news, however, was jarring.   Four of the five Group 31 AGM house batteries were completely dead and the fifth one was only 25% charged, but the news got worse.   He explained to me how the Victron inverter was designed to work with a separate house bank and a separate inverter bank.  Unfortunately all of my batteries were connected together so there was only a house bank and it was virtually dead.  Furthermore, the primary wire carrying power from the inverter to the main panel was sized for 20 amps of electricity.   Eric explained that when the inverter gets the call to supply extra power to the main electrical panel that wire could carry significantly more amperage than it was currently sized for.   So, he was shutting down my inverter because the installation did not meet ABYC codes and was an immediate fire hazard such that he would not be leaving the boat with that sort of hazard in play.  He then described a solution to the problems for me to consider.   No pressure on his part, just facts and a clear story explaining what needed to be done so that we would be safe and have a well-functioning electrical system.   After he left, I kept my inverter off and reflected on what I learned.   It started to sink in that maybe a crucial part of boat buying ought to be an electrical survey by a knowledgeable and ABYC certified electrician.   New boat batteries aren’t cheap and neither is upgrading wiring to insure standards of safe installation and function.  After taking the time to process the information as best I could, I told Eric to put our boat on his schedule for work to be done even though I wouldn’t be able to be on the boat.

So, why was I willing to trust Eric?  First, he was friendly and willing to engage in conversation.   Second, he appeared to be quite thorough and systematic in his work while at the same time he was efficient and time conscious.  Third, he had the right tools. Fourth he had the credentials from ABYC and experience in the field.  Fifth he explained things well.  Sixth and this was the clincher, he thought carefully about problems with an openness to discovery.  I believed I had found someone who mastered his vocation and was also willing to learn and to listen even from a boat rookie like me.  

We are now closing in on completing America’s Great Loop after a year of travel on our boat.  During the trip I called Eric several times for help with an unforeseen electrical problem that cropped up at an inconvenient time (I now appreciate that is the nature of boating with a larger vessel!), and he has graciously helped me sort through the issues and empowered me to fix the problems.  Clearly, I want him on my team and am most grateful for all the wisdom, expertise, sound advice, and help I have received from him from the time I first encountered him till now!

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Charles C.

36' Heritage East Sundeck Trawler

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Eric was recommended to us after our Nautitech 40 sail catamaran was struck by lightning.  Our entire energy management system was destroyed.  We decided to take the opportunity to replace the original digital switching system with conventional manual switches.  This meant completely re-designing and installing new wiring and panels.  It was a very complex project.  Eric recommended a number of additional improvements which we implemented.  The result is a much simpler and more reliable energy management platform.  His work was creative and meticulous.  We would highly recommend Eric to anyone, especially if you have a complex electrical system like ours.  We set sail soon with a much higher level of confidence because of Eric and New Point Marine!

Mike D. 

Nautitech 40 sail catamaran

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