We have about 6 120V outlets on the boat, that are powered either by shore power (when we are plugged in at the dock) or by our inverter running off the boat batteries (when we’re not).
GFCI outlets are the ones with a “test” and “reset” button in between the two plugs. GFCI stands for “ground fault current interrupt”. Here’s an extremely abbreviated explanation of what it does: it measures the current in and the current out, and if they don’t match, it trips. If you stick your finger in the outlet, some of the “current in” doesn’t make it to the “current out”, rather it takes a route through your body to get back to ground. The GFCI senses that current is going elsewhere, and trips.
GFCIs do not completely eliminate the risk of electrocution: they do not trip instantaneously (though they do operate very fast) and so during the millisecond that it takes for the GFCI to trip, you may have got enough of a dose to kill you. They do, however, significantly increase the protection and safety.
You can get them from home depot–I think they’re about $7 apiece (not including the box to mount them in and the plate to cover the front).
The GFCI outlets were bulkier than the old outlets, so I had to cut out the mounting hole a little bit on every one (wouldn’t expect any less frustration from a boat project).
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