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→12 or 24 Volts
The trend in the market is to 24 VDC, so that should be your first choice, anyway. However, if your boat is less than 50 ft, 12 VDC is probably still your best price-performance option.
== Bonding ==
Second only to discussions about one house bank or two, are discussions about bonding or not bonding the electrical circuits. The simple fact is that all electrical circuits have to have a common ‘ground’. On shore, this is often the earth. Bonding means connecting all the ground points together with an extra run of wires.
In all cases in a steel hull, the DC system must be a "floating ground" (DC negative bus) type of system, with an insulated return, fully isolated from the hull and all the hull fittings. This means that no electrical items (including common appliances) have a local ground to the hull and lamps should be double pin. Instead, all ground returns are tied to a Common Grounding Point (CCG).
For example, all engine fittings are double insulated. The engine is electrically isolated from the hull via flexible mounts and flexible coupling. A grounding wire runs from the alternators to the DC negative bus. This might seem confusing, because the CCG itself is grounded to the hull. However, a CCG avoids stray electrical currents running through the hull and causing electrolysis. It also provides a grounding point for the lightening-protection system.
Having selected the voltage, the next phase in the design of the electrical system is to determine the requirements for the DC battery primary system – the [[HouseBank|house bank]].
== References ==