Electrical
Marine Electrical & Power Systems
Diagnosis, rewires, charging and networks — Anacortes & La Conner
Most marine electrical work we are called for starts as “something is draining the batteries” or “this trips when the fridge starts.” The job is finding out why, not replacing parts until it stops.
On the power side we are a Victron Energy dealer and Washington’s largest EPOCH lithium dealer, we are an Interstate Batteries stocking dealer for conventional banks, and we build switching and protection around Egis Mobile Electric — marine-rated remote battery switches and NMEA 2000 digital switching. Starting is its own problem, and we solve it with KBi Kold‑Ban supercapacitors.
Navigation and electronics is a separate trade and a separate bench. There we are dealers and installers for Raymarine, Garmin and Simrad, with NMEA-trained technicians and systems designers, at both yards.
What we do
From a bad ground to a full rewire
- Fault diagnosis — parasitic draws, nuisance trips, intermittents, and the ones that only happen underway
- Corrosion and stray current — reference-electrode measurement, bonding, shore-power isolation. Cheaper to find than to replace running gear.
- Panels and distribution — rebuilt, labelled and documented
- Charging systems — alternators, external regulation, DC-DC, shore chargers, solar and MPPT
- Inverters and shore power — sizing, transfer, galvanic isolation
- Lithium conversions — see marine lithium battery systems for what that actually involves
- Electronics and networks — MFD and NMEA 2000 installation, planned and labelled rather than accumulated over twenty years
- Full rewires on older boats where the wiring has become an archaeological record
Why we build on Victron
One ecosystem that talks to itself. Inverter/charger, solar, DC-DC, shunt and battery share data, so charge sources coordinate instead of each one guessing. Firmware is updatable, the documentation is public, and the gear is still serviceable years later.
The part owners actually feel is remote monitoring — we can look at your system from the shop while you are anchored in the San Juans, which turns a mystery into a diagnosis and a part in the post.
Documented, not improvised
Work is done to manufacturer specification and to our own written procedure, and the boat leaves with a record of what was changed. Our electrical technicians work through in-house certification covering marine electrical, LiFePO4 conversion, alternator and charging systems, and MFD and NMEA 2000 installation — see Essential Shipyard University.
Capacitive starting
Starting power that does not depend on a battery
We fit KBi Kold‑Ban KAPower supercapacitor modules — sold for boats as BoatStartPlus. A capacitor is not a battery. It holds cranking energy and delivers it in one short, powerful burst, then recharges in about thirty seconds from any 12‑volt source and sits ready for months. Charging and discharging do not wear it out.
It belongs with a lithium bank
KBi build it to work alongside a cranking battery and to supplement the cranking limits of a lithium system. When we convert a house bank to LiFePO4, this is the piece that keeps starting independent of it — and KBi rate it as reducing strain on the batteries you keep.
It outlasts the boat
KBi rate the KSM module at over a million start cycles and up to twenty years. It is sealed and maintenance free, needs no ventilation, and mounts in any orientation — KBi photograph one installed upside down.
It takes weight out of the engine room
Rated from −40°F to 149°F, so cold mornings are ordinary. The larger KSM modules crank without lead‑acid at all, and one module can start several engines — which removes a whole starting bank and its weight.
Navigation and electronics
One system, from the through hull to the anchor light
A modern vessel’s electronics are one network, not a shelf of instruments. The transducers in the hull, the engine and autopilot data, the multifunction displays, and the digital switching that reaches every circuit on board all sit on the same backbone. We design that network, then fit it.
Three brands, one bench
Raymarine, Garmin and Simrad — sold and installed at both yards. Which one suits the boat is a design decision, and we make it with you before anything is ordered.
Trained to the standard, and to ours
NMEA 2000 is a standard, and it repays being built to the standard: a proper backbone, correct drops, terminated once, powered once and labelled. Our technicians are NMEA trained — and trained again here, through Essential Shipyard University, to our own written modules. The designers draw the network before a hole is cut.
Automation to the anchor light
Digital switching puts circuits on the network that used to be a breaker and a length of wire. We design the whole progression — through hulls and transducers, engine and autopilot data, the MFD, and the switching that runs all the way down to the anchor light.
Free for every customer
A complimentary 18-point inspection
An expert technician tests the boat’s systems and writes up every point as Excellent, Good, Monitor, Attention or Critical — a written report telling you what is sound, what to keep an eye on, and what has to be dealt with before she goes back in the water. Free with every job.
EXCELLENT
GOOD
MONITOR
ATTENTION
CRITICAL
Essential Shipyard 