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I am trying to decide how to ground the electrical system on my Tango. Is it a good idea to attach it to the centerboard or should there be an grounding plate attached to the hull?

I think your confusing , electrical system ground and lightning protection. Your electrical system is always grounded to the source, in a boat usually a battery. For lightning protection a marine engineer would probably be your best bet. It is a common misconception that lightning protection is provided to attract and ground lightning. The exact opposite is what it is supposed to do and that is repel lightning. It is all about electrical charges and how they attract and repel.

Actually, I understood (reading Nigel Calder's "Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual") that the DC and shore power AC should be grounded in the same place as lightning protection. Am I missing something?

Actually you're both right. There are 2 grounds. One is the circuit ground bacl to the battery. The other is a static ground to the ground or water. The water/ground side releases static electricity or stay voltage from the boat.

Bill

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Mini -Tug, KH Tahoe 19 & Bartender 24 - There can be no miracle recoveries without first screwing up.
Tahoe 19 Build

I always grounded everything to the Engine Block. I used a Braid from the Boat wiring to the block (because I was told to...that's why), but a Battery Cable from the Battery to the Block.

Bigger or larger sized Grounds will help drain off Hi frequency spurious signals, as well as Lightening strikes.
In my ET Training, the Lightening Striking a Boat came up frequently.
There aint no answer to that, unless you have a dialog with Mother nature?

When lightning strikes a device designed to repel it, it's called failure.

Given that the Tango has an outboard, does anyone have any other suggestion on where to ground?

Robert,if you are just using 12 volts DC, I'd just ground to the battery and not worry about to the outboard (if it has a charging system, it'll be grounded anyway)

When I had my old outboard powered Catalina 25 with just 12 volt, no 110 Volt shore power, it came from the factory with the 12volt DC grounded to the battery only, and I hooked up - and + to the charging system of my 10 HP Honda outboard

On my 38' Morgan, I can't remember any tie between the AC and the DC, but it may have one,I just don't remember any

My hull doesn't have a ground plate, and the DC is just grounded through the engine, shaft and prop.

I have had no problems with lightning, or any other since the boat was new in 1977.

We live in a high lightning strike are, and keep the boat in salt water year round.

From what I remember, there are two schools of thought on grounding, and they both have pros and cons, and neither side will admit they are right....just a personal choice

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Boat building can best be defined as an endless series of
tragedies obscured by the occasional miracle, followed by a good bottle of beer.

Don't Dream Your Life, Live Your Dream

Try this article.....

http://www.sailmail.com/grounds.htm

_________________
Bob
Sea Knight on the water/Malahini in progress