Overnight on the hook?

Escapade

Well-Known Member
SILVER Sponsor
Jan 10, 2007
1,231
Lake Michigan
Boat Info
44 Sundancer
Engines
QSC500
While we are no strangers to boating and currently run an 05 390 Dancer. We stay at marina when over-night stays. Most of our lights are LED, concerned with draw from Fridge / Freezer. Do you recommend keeping closed and off for the evening and fire the genny back up in am? any thoughts / ideas/ Thanks Mike
 
The biggest factor with how long you can stay “on the hook” will depend on a number of factors, the biggest issue being the size and condition of your battery bank. The other big factor will be all of your 12 V usage. In addition to the fridge/freezer, anchor lights stereo tv usage all consume some power (or a lot). You’ll need to go out and do a couple of nights to see if your battery set up is up to the challenge.

We for the most part run the genny in the morning to cook breakfast as the big AC items like stove water heater are AC only. I take that opportunity to recharge the batteries for the day. Typically repeat in the evening for dinner.

Keeping the fridge closed overnight will use less electric, but if I can’t access cold beer what’s the point??!!

If you find you don’t have the battery capacity you need, you’ll have to get new batteries (if old) or increase your battery size or add more batteries to your bank.
 
It all depends what you have. We have 3 group 31 AGM’s for our house battery bank which gives us roughly 300 amp hours when fully charged. We’ve stayed out in the hook for 4 days a few times with minimal generator running before spending a night at a marina for a good recharge. I’ve also got digital battery monitors for each bank to keep an eye on things. So just depends what your capacity is and the condition of your batteries.
 
On same page. Just looking to see if there is something that's gonna blind side us.
 
I had the same concerns when I first got my boat. What I did was a couple of "trial runs" at my marina to gain peace of mind. From the safety of your slip, unplug your shore power, turn on your anchor light, and go on about your business. When it comes time to "weigh anchor", fire up your engines (non-house bank first). If they turn over slow or not at all, you'll need to increase your capacity, or adjust your usage pattern.

My house bank is 210 Ah AGM. I can anchor out for an entire weekend without a second thought. Now that said, all my lights are LED, including the anchor light, and I don't crank my stereo, although I may watch TV for a few hours in the evening.

Another trick is to have a cooler of ice containing your beverage of choice. That way you are not opening and closing the fridge door too often.

Finally, it may seem obvious but bears mentioning. Never operate your windlass without the engines running, and immediately after setting the anchor, I allow my engines to run for a few minutes, to top-off before shutting them down at anchorage.
 
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If batteries are over 4 years old replace them all then you will know boat will start in the morning.
 
I turn the fridge down overnight so it doesn't go on as often, but keeps everything cool. Definitely all LEDs helps. I do turn on the generator in the morning to recharge some for a bit.
 
I had the same concerns when I first got my boat. What I did was a couple of "trial runs" at my marina to gain peace of mind. From the safety of your slip, unplug your shore power, turn on your anchor light, and go on about your business. When it comes time to "weigh anchor", fire up your engines (non-house bank first). If they turn over slow or not at all, you'll need to increase your capacity, or adjust your usage pattern.

My house bank is 210 Ah AGM. I can anchor out for an entire weekend without a second thought. Now that said, all my lights are LED, including the anchor light, and I don't crank my stereo, although I may watch TV for a few hours in the evening.

Another trick is to have a cooler of ice containing your beverage of choice. That way you are not opening and closing the fridge door too often.

Finally, it may seem obvious but bears mentioning. Never operate your windlass without the engines running, and immediately after setting the anchor, I allow my engines to run for a few minutes, to top-off before shutting them down at anchorage.
Spent many 3 day weekends on hook when kids were small. 1 start batt, 2 deep cycles. 2 coolers, 1 beer (this was a big one), 1 food, don’t run fridge. Run engine every morn for a while to recharge batts and heat exchange water heater, never had problems. Just remember to never flip the perkco to the start batt so you can get home. If out 4 days , I plugged shore power into a buddy boat who had a gen to recharge. In case you didn’t know, you can plug shore power to another boat outlet so you can power 2 boats off 1 gen.
 
It all depends what you have. We have 3 group 31 AGM’s for our house battery bank which gives us roughly 300 amp hours when fully charged. We’ve stayed out in the hook for 4 days a few times with minimal generator running before spending a night at a marina for a good recharge. I’ve also got digital battery monitors for each bank to keep an eye on things. So just depends what your capacity is and the condition of your batteries.
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We had three strong batteries, a genny, an ice maker, all 12 volt entertainment systems, a fridge with a holding plate, microwave, coffee maker, a transom wash down that doubled as a shower to conserve potable water, a good cooler for food and drink, and lots of storage for food. Could easily go a week and pulled the hook out of boredom. Routine was to run the genny in the morning to cook, make coffee and add ice. Fill the cooler with fresh ice, and then enjoy the day reading or whatever. Snack during the day. Run the genny for dinner, A/C and to make more ice and watch movies. Shut things down and go to bed. If we were in clean Lake Michigan water, our showers were from the transom wash down under the aft curtain for privacy. The day we pulled the hook we took hot showers using up our tank water and would go to a slip to replenish things and pump the holding tank. The holding tank was the limiting factor, although I believe could have lasted 10 days. With a dingy, much longer.
 
The biggest factor with how long you can stay “on the hook” will depend on a number of factors, the biggest issue being the size and condition of your battery bank. The other big factor will be all of your 12 V usage. In addition to the fridge/freezer, anchor lights stereo tv usage all consume some power (or a lot). You’ll need to go out and do a couple of nights to see if your battery set up is up to the challenge.

We for the most part run the genny in the morning to cook breakfast as the big AC items like stove water heater are AC only. I take that opportunity to recharge the batteries for the day. Typically repeat in the evening for dinner.

Keeping the fridge closed overnight will use less electric, but if I can’t access cold beer what’s the point??!!

If you find you don’t have the battery capacity you need, you’ll have to get new batteries (if old) or increase your battery size or add more batteries to your bank.

We keep a small Yeti for drinks to cut down on fridge open/closings.
 
I’ve spent many weekends on south manitou island on the hook. Run the genny for an hour in the morning and an hour at night and never had a worry. When traveling I do keep a charged jump box onboard for any emergency. Other than that, I’ve replaced bulbs with LEDs. The two fridge’s and the freezer don’t seem to draw enough to worry about. I use one of the fridges for drinks so the other fridge only gets opened a few times a day. I’ve never had an issue. I know its worrisome. Once again a charged jump box is cheap insurance.
 
My twin 6v golf cart house bank easily gives me 3 days on the hook. Now I don't have a big-ass stereo or TV, so that helps. I also use a small cooler with ice in it on deck to minimize fridge use for beer/drinks so that helps too. Having a separate house bank and the emergency start system eliminates my battery anxiety. My other bank is a pair of group 27s with lots of CCA to start both engines. (I don't have a generator on my boat)
 
I’ve spent many weekends on south manitou island on the hook. Run the genny for an hour in the morning and an hour at night and never had a worry. When traveling I do keep a charged jump box onboard for any emergency. Other than that, I’ve replaced bulbs with LEDs. The two fridge’s and the freezer don’t seem to draw enough to worry about. I use one of the fridges for drinks so the other fridge only gets opened a few times a day. I’ve never had an issue. I know its worrisome. Once again a charged jump box is cheap insurance.
Exactly the place we plan on going. I'm anal so last 10 plus years we have had a jump box. It has come in handy for stranded boaters. Hope to spend 3 -4 days weather permitting at South Manitou.
 
Exactly the place we plan on going. I'm anal so last 10 plus years we have had a jump box. It has come in handy for stranded boaters. Hope to spend 3 -4 days weather permitting at South Manitou.
C3B49088-512B-4AB9-94F5-014A419D1003_sRGB.JPG

Make sure you pick 4 days with out an east wind.
 
I’ve gone as long as 5 nights with very little generator use. I hate the racket anyway.

All cold food and drinks go in a large Pelican cooler with an ice replenishment at the 2 or 3 day mark. Anyone who knows I’m out there will call and offer to bring a few bags out since they’re passing by anyway.

Generator runs an hour every morning for coffee, hot water and battery top off.

My wife and I used to marvel at how little “roughing it” we did but not anymore. Every bit as comfy as home but the scenery is better.
 
Interesting how everyone turns off generator. We do a lot of overnight on the hook and I leave the generator on all night. I have heat/AC I don't worry about opening the fridge or freezer. The generator is capable of running for thousands of hours, why not use it. We have almost 4000 hours on ours. Is it because you all are gasser? I used to have a 340 and we ran that as well. Run it and sleep well.
 
Interesting how everyone turns off generator. We do a lot of overnight on the hook and I leave the generator on all night. I have heat/AC I don't worry about opening the fridge or freezer. The generator is capable of running for thousands of hours, why not use it. We have almost 4000 hours on ours. Is it because you all are gasser? I used to have a 340 and we ran that as well. Run it and sleep well.

We don’t out of consideration of others. Most other boaters at anchorages we frequent will not be happy with you and your generator running all night. It’s generally frowned upon after 8-9pm. Now things might be different in winter but most people I know who boat in winter have a quiet diesel heater. No need for AC overnight up here. It’s usually in the 60’s overnight on the water even on the warmest days of summer.
 
Yep, open the windows and hatch and throw a light blanket on the bed. Perfect.
But I’ve been down south and the humidity can make things uncomfortable at night if the boat is open and no air on.
 
I just like the calm at night when everything is off, but wouldn’t have a problem running it if needed.

Interesting how everyone turns off generator. We do a lot of overnight on the hook and I leave the generator on all night. I have heat/AC I don't worry about opening the fridge or freezer. The generator is capable of running for thousands of hours, why not use it. We have almost 4000 hours on ours. Is it because you all are gasser? I used to have a 340 and we ran that as well. Run it and sleep well.
 
Dear god, love you all, but I got boats to get away from the house, no gens, no big flat screen tv, want something different. I don’t camp in tents, but somewhere in the middle works. When I out in a quiet cove and some fool running his gen I swear I wish RPGs were legal!
 

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