Boat Electrics & Mechanics

Courses and Advice:

How to do it the RIGHT way

  • You're a boater or a sailor?
  • You want to understand what's going on inside your engine?
  • You want to fix and maintain your boat electrics like an expert?

We teach you how to be self reliant on the water and save money by fixing things yourself.

Check out our online courses on electrical systems:

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As Featured In

Your Expert Teachers

Nigel & Jan

Dr. Jan C. Athenstädt

Nigel Calder

We are passionate about technical systems on boats since the 1970s (at least one of us) and we have a mission

We offer the internet's most profound knowledge on
boat mechanics and electrics.

Click here to learn more about our goals and values and here to get to know us.

By now, over 1000 students have taken our first two courses on marine electrical systems: Boat Electrics 101, covering marine DC systems and Advanced Marine Electrics, covering a large variety of advanced topics.

We received more positive feedback than we could ever have imagined! This motivates us even more to keep working on great courses, articles and videos. Our next project will be a course on Marine Diesel Engines.

Want to stay tuned? Sign up and we'll keep you posted...

Friends & Partners

We work together with various partner organizations fostering high quality marine education and other services

Click here for a full list with more info on our friends & partners

What students say about us

An evolving learning platform


Miro Peternelj

Having access to up-to-date materials on Boat Electrics is very handy for someone who deals with small boat design, like me. The best part of the whole course is that it actually isn't only a course, but it is an evolving learning platform.

Learning with you in 2022 has been a highlight of the year for me


Jonathan Mastin

I'm so thankful for you guys and all the hard work you put into sharing your knowledge with us. Learning with you in 2022 has been a highlight of the year for me.

I now understand all the electrical systems and how everything works together.


Bob Russell S/V Spartina

I want to let you know how impressed I was with the BoatHowTo course!!
From the very basics, through creating a detailed circuit diagrams of the electrical systems on my boat, my knowledge is years ahead of where I thought it would be at this point.
Thanks for a wonderful, extremely useful (and fun) course that takes a lot of the mystery out of sailboat electrical systems!!

Click here for more testimonials.

Check Out Our Latest Articles & Videos

Refinements in solar power technology offer significant opportunities for marine applications, and some risks as well. BoatHowTo expert Nigel Calder delves deep into today’s solar cell technology with recent developments and possible pitfalls. An earlier version of this article was initially published in Professional BoatBuilder Magazine. For a decade or so, in the technically, financially,

Marine Photovoltaic – Advances in Onboard Solar
Lin Pardey & Nigel Calder – Two Cruising Legends Chat About Their Sailing Adventures

Nigel Calder and Jeff Cote got back together for another round of expert talk on marine electrical systems. Here are the other parts of the series:

Dock Talk with Nigel Calder & Jeff Cote – 2nd Edition

Click here for more articles & videos and here to learn more about our courses.

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