GFCI Problems on a Tiny Houseboat

[sdowney717]

What Happens If GFCI Is Not Grounded?
Nothing will happen, or at the very least, nothing serious. A GFCI receptacle doesn’t use the ground wire in its operations. The sensor in the receptacle keeps an eye on the incoming and outgoing current. The GFCI’s main focus is the hot and neutral wires.

It doesn’t care about the ground wire, so you can trust it to do its work of keeping you safe from ground faults. Admittedly, a grounded GFCI is better than a GFCI without grounding. They provide superior protection.

A GFCI without a ground will shock you. But the shock won’t last long enough to kill you. A ground wire can keep you from getting shocked.

 

[sdowney717]

On my boat, I have a tight AC system.
It came with a small Square-D QO panel of 8 breaker positions.
I kept it and few years ago upgraded by buying a bunch of AFCI GFCI combo breakers, so 75% of the panel circuits is very well protected. I left the stove and fridge without GFCI protection. I do not want my fridge nuisance tripping off, and the stove we never use.

All outlets, and AC heat pump cruisaire, 2 electric heaters, are AFCI-GFCI
Water heater is GFCI
My water system is all copper pipe.

Only nuisance trips are sometimes during heavy rains, I might lose one side of electric outlets, which I dont know why it happens, humidity?
Outlets are port or starboard circuit, I have 2 circuits for outlets. All outlets are child safety shuttered.

One thing got be careful with is the generator, if AC voltage goes too high, it can burn out GFCI breakers. They do not like surges, that can get very expensive.

The system is tight enough that when I plug in a GFCI extension cord to the inlet on the boat, all the power stays on.

I do believe having AFCI-GFCI electrical protection on a boat is a good idea and desirable. Since I do my own work, it is parts only. Having a boat and a house you can learn a lot of useful things. I even replaced my entire home distribution panel myself and the meter base.