Inverters?

[jewelry thief]

The 30 ft Sea Ray has AC/Heat and plenty of 110V appliances, but being made in 1979, it must have shorepowere to use these items. I am curious how an inverter would work, if it would keep the batteries fresh, and if it could handle the loads. What is a good brand and about how many Watts would be addiquette. Also is this something that can be installed by a do-it-yourselfer or must it be proffessionally installed? Lastly, is a generator or inverter my best bet?

 

[yachtjim]

In general a generator is your best bet to get good reliable power on a boat like yours. An inverter is fine but you will not be able to get one to run your whole boat like a gen would. An inverter will only allow you to operate a few items at a time: like one ac compressor, or the microwave, or a TV, but not all three at once.

You can get big inverters that will operate everything but they cost a lot and require a big battery bank.

In case you did not know all an inverter does is convert 12V DC Power into AC power.

 

[jewelry thief]

Re:

Thanks YachtJim, What size generator would you suggest? And if I were to mount it in the engine compartment would I need special ventillation or would the blower be adequate?

 

[tkennedy]

I have a Sea Ray 390 and the 110V items I use off my genset are: 1) Refrigerator 2) A/C or Heat (2 units) 3) Microwave 4) Stove 5) Coffee maker. I also occasionally plug in various items like hair dryers and small appliances.

I have an 8.5KW Westerbeke genset. Sometimes if I run everything at the same time (rare) one of my breakers will kick. The electric stove really draws a lot of power!

That said, I have no special ventilation in my engine room (genset sits aft). I generally run the blowers if my genset is on.

Yachtjim is quite right--inverters, especially large ones, require a BIG battery bank and are not cheap. If you go the inverter route, calculate all electrical consumption and work out what size inverter you will need and how many batteries.

Here is a point that some may disagree with: I NEVER run my genset all night while we are sleeping!!!! The reason is that I have conducted several experiments with my carbon monoxide detector. If I leave the blowers on, open the hatch cover, and close the cabin door I still get some residual CO in the cabin. Instead I turn it off before going to bed and if it's hot I'll turn it on for a few minutes when I get up at night to check the anchor, etc. then turn it back off. Call me paranoid, but this way I never worry! If you get a genset I recommend a good CO detector.

As to genset size, it depends on what all you want to run. I would recommend a minimum of a 6.5KW unit. These units are not cheap if purchased new and the installation, although not too difficult, should be performed by a professional. Also, you'll need to pull the boat out to put a thru-hull in for genset cooling (water cooled). If I were going to purchase a new genset I would put in the largest you could fit into the engine room (but, you don't need anything like a 10.0KW in my opinion).

Gensets are very handy, and if you have one you'll never go back to being without one, but it is another "system" which must be maintained.

You say your boat is a 1979. If you really love this boat and are going to use it a LOT and are going to keep it, then I would suggest you look into getting a genset.

I hope this helps. Good Luck!

 

[jewelry thief]

re:

Thanks tkennedy, I appreciate the insight. I'll definitely look into a Genset. Good Boating!