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I am not trying to tap a known ground, I was just wondering if there was a ground bar in the bay. A car is easy but a fiber glass boat is a different story.There are plenty of "ground" wires in the engine compartment. The issues you will increase the current on whatever path you connect to and will it be big enough for the added current? Think of it like current having to go in a circle starting from the positive of terminal of the battery into the positive side of what you are powering where some gets used before coming out the negative side on its way back to the negative side of the battery and then starting its trip over again aka a circuit. You want the shortest and strongest path possible for the circuit with no weak or choke points. For my float triggered backup bilge I wired the positive to the hot side of the battery switch and the ground to negative terminal of the battery. This is how I would recommend anyone else do it as well.
For those EE types out there yes I know this is not complete nor 100 percent accurate but for the purpose of explaining to a diverse audience I think it is just fine.