Why Hire a Certified Marine Professional
When dealing with straight service work (something just doesn’t work), we start by verifying the concern. Next comes a visual inspection of the relevant equipment in that system (as much as possible, sometimes access makes this not practical initially). From that point we go into diagnosis to determine the problem. Often this involves some basic existing electrical system tracing and labeling to determine what needs to be addressed, as well as makes the system more intuitive the next time someone needs to look at it. After diagnosis comes the solution/repair. If it is a failed part, before replacement, the question of “Why?” has to be answered. Was it just time/had the component reached it’s service life? Was it the correct component for the desired application to start with? Is it corrosion related? Was it installed correctly (adequate wiring, location, ventilation, protection, etc.)? The replacement of that component needs to address any issues as much as possible to prevent premature replacement or issues moving forward. While this may seem like a drawn out process, it typically moves very quickly.
When installing new equipment, every effort is made to install that equipment in a manner consistent with the manufacturer's recommendation. Beyond that, the same level of effort is made to meet either or both of ABYC and NMEA installation standards. More times than not, (and frequently during service work) this involves removing abandoned equipment and/or wiring. Sometimes, with new electronics installations, abandoned components and wiring can be found from multiple past installations. This abandoned equipment has no business on the boat, and typically, beyond adding dead weight, is clogging and complicating wire runs and impairing visual inspection moving forward. Electrical diagrams are almost always helpful when available and we are able to use programs like Autocad to create new diagrams for existing systems or upgrades if so desired.
