Sailboat Power

[Sunking]

No rudder ?? Do those Royal Caribbean boats angle those large screws or just use side thrust ??

No the Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas uses 3 AZIPODS (think trolling motors on steroids) rated at 20,000 Kw (26,800 hp) that pivot a full 360 degrees. It also has 4-5,500-kilowatt (7,380 hp) transverse bow thrusters for docking. No tug boats needed as they can move in any direction and do pirouette turns. At St Thomas I was up when we left port. Boat moved laterally away from the pier, backed out of the harbor, then did a pirouette turn and headed out for see. What was really cool was watching the Harbor Pilot boat pull up next to the ship going some 15 knots and watching the Harbor Pilot Captain jump off the ship onto the Harbor Pilot Boat. That takes some brass balls as the Oasis of the seas is the largest passenger ship operating on the seas today. Amazingly the ship does not make as big of a wake as one would suspect.

I had the honor of playing golf with the Captain on St Thomas with his girl friend. Just dumb luck as I was a single and he was a double and the course paired us up to play. Real interesting conversation. He was Norwegian and I noticed he had a Harley Tattoo on th eback of his leg. He said his bike was on board and he takes it out once in a while. Told me all kinds of technical details about the chip (that is how he pronounced it). Damn thing has 24 elevators which are not enough in my opinion for the 18 or 19 passenger decks. Other than that I hated the ship or more specifically RCI. It is like checking into Circus Circus in Lost Wages or jail with no exits. Rug Rats everywhere.

[ChrisOlson]

No the Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas uses 3 AZIPODS (think trolling motors on steroids) rated at 20,000 Kw (26,800 hp) that pivot a full 360 degrees.

Those cruise boats are pretty much a floating disaster, as far as I'm concerned. But they do come in handy sometimes because we are able to get their WiFi on our Rogue Marine WiFi system when we encounter one at sea. So we quick download a few emails on the tablet computer off it before we lose the signal. LOL!

[D_e_n_n_i_s]

Azipod - A fixed pitch propeller mounted on a steerable pod, which also contains the electric motor driving the propeller.

I had heard that a lot of tankers use powerful electric systems to drive huge screws, apparently kinda like your U-Boat except with larger props, but have never heard of an Azipod. Google it and there are plenty of pics so I see how it swivels 360 degrees. Very cool !!

Holy crap - jumped off that huge boat onto a harbor pilot boat !!! Dude is c-r-a-z-y !!!

[D_e_n_n_i_s]

Chris - I'm going to have to explain why I'm laughing in my cubicle here at work ... You WiFi Pirate !! Um, you mean that free, public WiFi, right? ... lol

Disasters? They're terrific, huge petri dishes !! How else can we keep those nasty microorganisms alive and spreading into the next century

Reminds me of when I went out on a gambling cruise. They use flat bottomed island hopper vessels that they convert into a gambling ship. I'm used to being on a boat, but had to go outside to keep from getting sick because those flat bottomed boats roll hard with any small wave ... Not that I'm comparing the lack of wake from the cruise ships with that small gambling boat, but hull shape is everything. That's why I'm on a Columbia 50

[ChrisOlson]

That's why I'm on a Columbia 50

We see a few people cruising with Columbia's. With the double-ended hull design they have a short LWL so they're not real fast. But it does give them a nice comfortable motion at sea.

We had a Hallberg-Rassy 54 and we now traded down to a Legend 37. The Rassy was too much boat for us to handle. It had in-mast roller reefing, which I didn't like. We had continual problems with the watermaker. And way too much work keeping the teak on the deck nice. The Legend is a lot less maintenance and she is faster than hell. The Legend has a HUGE main with a small foretriangle and a B&R rig. It's nothing to swap out the genoa with a storm jib on the Legend because one person can handle the sail. The H-R's have too much "push button" stuff that's nice when it works. But when it breaks at sea a crew of four would be better suited.

[D_e_n_n_i_s]

The Columbia 50 was actually designed as a race boat by naval architect Bill Tripp. They still race 'em ... They do about 7-8 knots, but definitely more of a cruising vessel. They are very responsive boats and naturally track well with a 7ft keel.

B&R Rig - No backstay !! It must be tough to tension the jib in high winds, I would think. Nice sloped back design. Not a fan of in-mast roller furling either and also stay away from the "push button" stuff ... Keep it simple

I bought my Columbia 50 from its original owner, who had another 1/16" of fiberglass added to the hull at the Costa Mesa site as well as had them properly align the chainplate and double-core the deck. I looked around the world for the right one and found mine in Costa del Rey.

[D_e_n_n_i_s]

To bring things back on track, so far I have feedback to run two Kyocera 300 watt solar panels hooked in serial to a 60 amp MPPT controller (I'm thinking the MPPT controller should be mounted near a battery bank to which it will connect).

6-8 MasterVolt Super 8D AGM Batteries (12-volt 270AH) broken down into how many banks --> 3-4 banks of 2 batteries each for greatest flexibility ??

So I'm hooking 2 panels per MPPT controller into a bank of 2 batteries ?? Sound right?

What happens when I connect multiple banks of batteries to the main panel? They will all be interconnected at the panel through ... a switch or secondary panel ?? ... How should this be handled and will I get to toast marshmallows when I flip the switch(es)? Thoughts ??

[ChrisOlson]

B&R Rig - No backstay !! It must be tough to tension the jib in high winds, I would think. Nice sloped back design. Not a fan of in-mast roller furling either and also stay away from the "push button" stuff ... Keep it simple

The B&R is a different animal and they can't be sailed like a regular fractional rig. Bergstrom & Ridder convinced the late Warren Luhrs to try it and Luhrs won race after race in single-handed trans-ocean races with it. Luhrs, of course, went on to found Hunter Yachts and today the B&R rig is used on about 70% of racing monohulls. It is the standard rig on racing cats. It has many advantages over a standard rig with the non-continuous shrouds. It can handle extremely high loads and if you break a shroud the rig won't come down. One of the downsides is that few riggers outside the racing world know how to tune one.

The sailplan with the B&R carries a huge main with a big roach that develops unbelievable power. All the genoa does on a B&R is provide a little balance. The drive and power is in the main. So boats with a B&R can point really high with a small jib and on a reach you'd better hang on because you're going for a ride. On a run they're not so great because of the angle you can swing the boom being limited by the rig. They're still VERY fast on a run. But an accidental gybe is always a possibility so experienced sailors rig a preventer on them. You swing a 16 foot boom stop to stop under full sail and you'll break either the mainsheet or the traveler car.

Overall, I like the B&R. It's like driving a ho-hum Camaro with a 2Bbl 350 vs the same car with a ZL-1 427 big block.

Back to your battery problem, what exactly are the daily loads on your boat? The first thing you buy, before you spend money on anything else, is a Bogart Engineering Pentametric Battery Monitor. The Pentametric is designed for multiple shunts so it can track more than one battery bank. It is almost the defacto-standard battery meter used on sailing yachts.

[ChrisOlson]

6-8 MasterVolt Super 8D AGM Batteries (12-volt 270AH) broken down into how many banks --> 3-4 banks of 2 batteries each for greatest flexibility ??

You are going to have TWO banks of batteries. And a starting battery for your diesel. And I would scrap the 12V batteries and go with 6V.

[Naptown]

You are going to have TWO banks of batteries. And a starting battery for your diesel. And I would scrap the 12V batteries and go with 6V.

I agree it is better to use 2 or 4 volt batteries to get to the high amperage of the 8D's than to put them in parallel/
Concorde makes a 2V 1100AH battery and smaller too if you want to have 2 house banks.

[ChrisOlson]

I agree it is better to use 2 or 4 volt batteries to get to the high amperage of the 8D's than to put them in parallel/
Concorde makes a 2V 1100AH battery and smaller too if you want to have 2 house banks.

We need to have a good idea of kWh or amp-hour consumption per day at sea. What equipment is running, and especially high-draw equipment like the watermaker. Dennis already mentioned he ordered an Aries windvane and that makes a huge difference right there. But over-sizing the bank is as bad as under-sizing it because a bank that is too big will eat up your solar power in what it takes to float it. A properly sized bank for the loads will take the minimal amount of your solar to float it, and your solar can go to directly powering loads when the battery is charged. So the batteries on this boat can't be spec'd until you either spend a couple days at sea with what you have now and a Pentametric so you know what you got - or less preferably, adding up your expected loads. Something as minor as using a laptop with OpenCPN vs a chartplotter can majorly screw it up. A laptop running 24/7 at the nav station can eat up 1.5 kWh/day where a chartplotter will eat 550 watt-hours in a day.

Without knowing this you can't just throw batteries in the boat based on a guess.

[D_e_n_n_i_s]

OK, I did some quick deletions and need to do a lot more editing on this, so it is not correct, but will give you some idea of the thought process, at least. I want to leave work for the day so I'm sending this as-is. Please don't beat me up too much because I really need to re-do all of this as it was preliminary, cursory work. I also have a minimum requirements list, but I'm not going to go through and delete stuff out of it now so here's a list of some equipment onboard and future additions on a wish list:

Power Requirements

A/C Power:
Origo Alcohol/Electrical Stove = 18.5 Amp Max for both burners; 120V A/C
2200 Watts at 120 VAC / 18.5 Amp Max. (1100 W per burner)
18.5 Amps x 120 Volts = 2220 Watts when running on A/C power

Skyworth 19” A/C-D/C TV ($549.99 from West Marine)
48 Watts (4 Amps at 12-Volts) – Verify this as info obtained online

George Foreman Grill = 1400 Watts
12.1739 (12.2) Amps x 115 Volts = 1400 Watts


D/C Power:
Norcold DE-490 Refrigerator:
- Data from West Marine = 0.4 Amps@110Volts -
A/C Draw: 0.4 Amps x 115 Volts = 46 Running Watts
D/C Draw: 3.1 Amps x 12 Volts = 37.2 Running Watts

- Data from Norcold = 0.83 Amps@120Volts -
A/C Draw: 0.83 Amps x 120 Volts = 99.6 Running Watts
D/C Draw: 3.1 Amps x 12 Volts = 37.2 Running Watts

Refrigerator to Panel requires 23 ft of wire (46 ft “round trip”). For 3% voltage drop=8AWG recommended
Currently using a 10-Amp fuse for D/C power to the refrigerator

Groco K-H 12-volt Head draws 12-18 Amps (Recommends a 25-Amp breaker) - Time use and times/day used
25 Amps x 12 Volts = 300 Watts Max; Averages 144 Watts – 216 Watts (12-18Amps)
Groco Head to Panel requires 23 ft – 25 ft of wire; Figure 50 ft “round trip” for 3% voltage drop=6 AWG recommended or for 10% drop=12 AWG recommended
Note: Can manually pump Groco head so this is not required.

Primary Bilge Pump; Jabsco Model 36600-0000; Recommends a 15-Amp breaker
11.0 Nominal Amps x 12 volts = 132 Watts
Bilge to Panel requires 18 ft of wire (36 ft “round trip”); For 3% voltage drop=8 AWG; For 10% voltage drop=16AWG; Used 14 AWG solid wire with red casing (approximately 7% voltage drop)

Replace Rule 3700 below with a non-submergible Jabsco pump instead like Primary Bilge Pump !!
Rule 3700 Secondary Bilge Pump = 15.5 Amps

There will be a tertiary bilge pump installed - No idea of model yet

Note: Replace 25 Watt bulbs with LED lights = 0.33 Amps x 12 Volts = 4 Watts
Bow Lights = (2) x 25 Watt bulbs --> 2.083 Amps x 12 Volts = 25 Watts for each bulb
Note: Bow Lights updated with LED bulbs so re-calculate power consumption

Stern Light = 10 Watt bulb --> 0.83 Amps x 12 Volts = 10 Watts -> Will replace with LED bulb !!
Masthead Light = 25 Watt bulb --> 2.083 Amps x 12 Volts = 25 Watts --> Will replace with LED bulb

Spreader Lights = ? Check Amps of Breaker// Replace with West Marine 55 Watt sealed beam lamps
Draws 4.6 Amps x 12 Volts = 55.2 Watts

Weems & Plath Commercial Grade Chartlite - $160
Draws 0.33 Amps x 12 Volts = 3.96 Watts (4 Watts)

Aft Stateroom Light by Clothes Locker = ? (10-20 Watts = 1-2 Amps)
Aft Head Light = ? (Probably 20 Watts = 2 Amps)

Water Pump = Paragon Workhorse; 14 Amps at mid-operating pressure range (16-30 PSI). Pumps from 18-34 PSI currently.

Coleman Iceless Cooler = 4 Amps (May not use on boat, we'll see-Buy real frig)

Fore, starboard 12-Volt Socket by Taylor heater = 15 Amp Breaker
Aft, starboard 12-Volt Socket in aft stateroom = 15 Amp Breaker

12-Volt D/C Outlet Plug under shower sole by Taylor heater = Run with 14 AWG solid, twisted pair wire
The following two devices recommend 16 AWG for the 12-Volt D/C Outlet Plug

Endless Breeze 12-Volt Fan:
Low: 1.18 Amps x 12 Volts = 14.16 Watts
Medium: 1.62 Amps x 12 Volts = 19.44 Watts
High: 2.58 Amps x 12 Volts = 30.96 Watts

Katadyn Watermaker 160e (6.7 GPH) = 18 Amps; 18 Amps x 12 Volts = 216 Watts


Starboard Lights
Total Amps for all Starboard Lights is 11.84-14.54 amps (134.84-164.84 Watts) depending on Hi/Lo selection
Now on a 10 Amp breaker

Note: For all “10 Watt” bulbs, call it 0.9 Amps x 12 Volts = 10.8 Watts (21.6 Watts on High)

Fore Clothes Locker – West Marine Interior Dome Light 5 ½” High/Off/Low Stainless
West Marine Model 151084 - $26.99; Has two 10-Watt bulbs (High uses both bulbs)
Replacement Bulb (Clear) = Model 460388; 0.8333 Amps x 12 Volts = 10 Watts on Low (20 Watts on High)

Fore Sink–Taylorbrite Cold Cathode Fluorescent (CCF) Single Brass Light; West Marine Model 3731734-$120
Dimmer Switch (Brass) Model 3731700 - $129; 0.63 Amps x 12 Volts = 7.56 Watts (Accurate Amps!)

Shower Shelf – West Marine Interior Dome Light 7” Clear/Red Stainless Model 540625 - $34.99
1 Red / 1 Clear 10 Watt G4 Xenon Bulb; 0.9 Amps x 12 Volts = 10.8 Watts for either bulb

Shower – West Marine 5” Exterior Dome Light – White, powder coat over chrome-plated zinc
West Marine Model 488478 - $39.99; 0.92 Amps x 12 Volts = 11 Watts (Bulb rated a generic “11 Watts”)

Saloon–Taylorbrite Cold Cathode Fluorescent (CCF) Double Brass Light; West Marine Model 3731759 - $180
Dimmer Switch (Brass) Model 3731700 - $129; 1.29 Amps x 12 Volts = 15.48 Watts (Accurate Amps !)

Fore Saloon Locker – West Marine Interior Dome Light 5 ½” High/Off/Low Brass (Titanium Nitride Finish)
West Marine Model 3292828 - $39.99 with two 10-Watt bulbs (High uses both bulbs); 10 Watt G4 Xenon bulb
Replacement Bulb (Clear) = Model 460388; 0.9 Amps x 12 Volts = 10.8 Watts on Low (21.6 Watts on High)

Fore Brass Swivel Light – Existing brass light believed to have a 20-Watt Xenon bulb
Aft Brass Swivel Light – Existing brass light believed to have a 20-Watt Xenon bulb

Aft Saloon Locker - Marine Interior Dome Light 5 ½” High/Off/Low Stainless
West Marine Model 151084 - $26.99; Has two 10-Watt bulbs (High uses both bulbs)
Replacement Bulb (Clear) = Model 460388; 0.9 Amps x 12 Volts = 10.8 Watts on Low (21.6 Watts on High)

Quarter Berth Brass Swivel Light – Existing brass light believed to have a 20-Watt Xenon bulb

Aft Stateroom Light – 20 Amp bulb x 12 Volts = 240 Watts


Port Lights
Total Amps for all Port Lights is 8.53 amps (106 Watts Max / 102.36 calculated Watts from 8.53 amps)
Note: For all “10 Watt” bulbs, call it 0.9 Amps x 12 Volts = 10.8 Watts (21.6 Watts on High)

Fore Double Swivel Light – Probably a 10-Watt bulb (35 ft of wire)-12 AWG for 10% drop

Fore Port Locker Light – 7” Stainless Steel Xenon Nav Dome Light; West Marine Model 540625
1 Red 10-Watt G-4 Xenon Bulb, 1 Clear 10-Watt G-4 Xenon Bulb (35 ft of wire)-12 AWG for 10% drop

Fore Berth Swivel Light – Existing brass light believed to have a 20-Watt Xenon Bulb (27 ft of wire)-10 AWG for 10% voltage drop

Galley Fluorescent – 2 Bulbs (Red/White) & 19 ft of wire; Rocker only allows 1 bulb on at a time (Each bulb is 15Watts, but a single bulb on website is shown as 16 Watt draw; 1.33 Amps x 12 Volts = 16 Watts

Galley Teak Swivel Lights (Two) – (22 ft of wire for one // 21 ft of wire for the other)-10 Amp bulb in each
For a 10% voltage drop=14 AWG wire recommended

Aft Head Light – Existing plastic light believed to have a 20-Amp bulb (35 ft of wire)-For 10% drop=8 AWG


Equipment Purchasing:
West Marine 8D Battery is made by East Penn Manufacturing in Pennsylvania
8D AGM = 245 Amp-Hours; Cost = $510; L=20.75” x W=11” x H=10”; 158lbs
20 Batteries = 4900Ah; ½ of this is 2450Ah; 30% of 4900Ah = 1470Ah

MasterVolt reviews show much better than Seavolt ... Update battery data from West Marine website

Page 397 of new catalog (http://ecatalog.westmarine.com/full.asp?page=397)
ME Series Modified Sine Wave Inverters/Chargers
ME3112-U = 3100Watts continuous/6000Watts Surge/160Amp Charger Output - $1489 + Accessories
ME-RC Remote Control = $187.99; Battery Monitor Kit = $142.99
-Or- Page 390; Link 2000 Inverter/Charge Control & Two-Bank Battery Monitor = $354.99


Daily A/C Equipment Amp Hour Requirements:
A/C Watt Hours divided by 10 approximates Amp-Hours for battery
For example, (1000 Watt microwave x 1 hour) / 10 = 100 Amp Hours

Cooking & Entertainment:
Electric Stove = 2400 Watts x 3 hour/day = 7200 / 10 --> 720 Amp Hours/Day
TV = 40 Watts x 10 hours/day = 400 / 10 --> 40 Amp Hours/Day
DVD Recorder = 29 Watts x 10 hours/day = 290 / 10 --> 29 Amp Hours/Day
George Foreman Grill = 1400 Watts  12.1739 (12.2) Amps x 115 Volts = 1400 Watts
(1400 Watts x 1 Hour)/10 = 140 Amp Hours (vs. 240 Amp Hours for 1 Hour of Electric Stove)

Note: DVD Recorder was deleted from mix, but there will be laptops to add back so leaving as-is until I can update this

Total Daily Amp Hour Requirements:
720 Amp Hours for Stove (Use of alcohol for stove or George Foreman grill will reduce this)
40 Amp Hours for 10 hours of TV
29 Amp Hours if using the DVD Recorder for 10 hours (Or same as 15 hours of TV without DVD)
Microwave time has not been figured and will compete with grill time – Figuring 1 hour/day = 100 Amp Hours
Total: 889 Amp Hours/Day

Got to break this up as it's too long ...

[D_e_n_n_i_s]

Daily D/C Equipment Amp Hour Requirements:

Groco Head Flushing (Can Manually Pump):
18 Amps x 15 minutes/Day = .25 Amp Hours --> Call it 5 Amp Hours/Day

Katadyn Watermaker 80E (3.5GPH) = 8 Amps x (4 hours = 14 Gallons) = 32 Amp Hours/Day

Bilge Pumps (Shower & under the motor)
Primary Bilge Pump (Figure 10 Seconds/15 Minutes = 40 Seconds/Hour = 16 Minutes/Day --> 0.25 Hours/Day)
11 Amps x 0.25 Hours/Day --> Call it 3 Amp Hours/Day
Shower Bilge = 4 Amps x (0.5 hours – 1 hour)/Day --> 4 Amp Hours (Max)/Day

Weems & Plath Chart Light: (Figure 10 Minutes/Hour x 12 Hours = 120 Minutes/Day, i.e. 2 Hours)
0.33 Amps x 2 Hours/Day = 0.66 Amp Hours --> Call it 1 Amp Hour/Day

Refrigerator: 3.1 Amps x 24 hours/Day --> Call it 75 Amp Hours/Day

Water Pump: (14 Amps or 20 Amps??) x 3 Hours/Day? = 60 Amp Hours/Day

Endless Breeze Fan: 2.58 Amps (On High) x 12 Hours (10-14 Hrs/Day) = 30.96 (Max=36.12) Amp Hours/Day
Note: Will be using several of these on low

Interior Lights:
Foreword Sink CCF Single Light: 0.63 Amps x 0.5 Hours/Day = 0.3 Amp Hours/Day

Shower Lights (Would use one or the other below so figure 1 Amp Hour / Day)
Shower Light: 0.92 Amps x (0.5 hours – 1 Hour)/Day = 0.92 (Max) Amp Hours/Day
Shower Shelf Light: 0.9 Amps x (0.5 hours – 1 Hour)/Day = 0.9 (Max) Amp Hours/Day
Fore Brass Swivel Light: 1.66 Amps x 6 Hours/Day = 9.96 Amp Hours/Day
Saloon CCF Double Light: 1.29 Amps x 6 Hours/Day = 7.74 Amp Hours/Day
Aft Stateroom Light: 20 Amps x 1 Hour/Day = 20 Amp Hours/Day
Aft Head Light: 20 Amps x 1 Hour/Day = 20 Amp Hours/Day
Fore Berth Swivel Light: 20 Amps x 0.25 Hours/Day = 5 Amp Hours/Day
Galley Fluorescent: 1.33 Amps x 10 Hours/Day = 13 Amp Hours/Day

Future Devices (Add Later):
Radar
Ham Radio
Autopilot

Total Daily Amp Hour Requirements:
Total Daily D/C Requirement without Future Devices = 293.12 Amp Hours

Miscellaneous A/C Device Requirements:
720 Amp Hours for Stove (Use of alcohol for stove or George Foreman grill will reduce this)
40 Amp Hours for 10 hours of TV (May not be used)
29 Amp Hours if using the DVD Recorder for 10 hours (Or same as 15 hours of TV without DVD)-May not apply
Microwave time has not been figured and will compete with grill time – Figuring 1 hour/day = 100 Amp Hours
Total = 889 Amp Hours/Day

Total = 293.12 Amp Hours (D/C) + 889 Amp Hours (A/C Total) = 1182.12 Amp Hours/Day


Battery Computations:
Charge from 50% - 85% (35% Battery Capacity) charges quickly; Slow charge from 85%-100%
Always keep a battery charged over 50%

35% of 245 Amp-Hour Battery = 85.75 Quick Charge Amps/Battery
50% of 245 Amp-Hour Battery = 122.5 Full 50% Amps/Battery
85.75 Quick Charge Amps x 12 Batteries = 1029 Amps/Day (Per Charging rather than Per Day)
122.5 Full 50% Amps/Battery x 12 Batteries = 1470 Amps/Day (Per Charging rather than Per Day)

10 Amps Charge x 24 Hours = 240 Amps/Day for each wind generator

293.12 Amp Hours/Day + 889 Amp Hours/Day = 1182.12 Amp Hours/Day
1182.12 Amp Hours/Day Divided By 85.75 Quick Charge Amps/Battery = 13.79 Batteries
1182.12 Amp Hours/Day Divided By 122.5 Total Amps/Battery = 9.65 Batteries
Need 12 Batteries under aft berth and 2 new batteries under Nav seat
1182.12 Amp Hours/Day Divided by 40 Charging Amps = 29.55 hours (Over a day)
1182.12 Amp Hours/Day Divided by 50 Charging Amps = 23.64 hours (Less than a day)

Note: More charge with solar panels will reduce the number of batteries needed since power can be used and restored during the day for many items. Additional items like radar must be factored, however, to come up with new totals.

[D_e_n_n_i_s]

This was going to be at the top of the previous posts ...

Bogart Engineering Pentametric Battery Monitor-Look at all the toys on that website ... Thanks for the reference as I really needed some good monitoring tools. These look perfect !!

TWO banks of batteries ?? So if I buy 8 batteries, I'll have two banks of 4 batteries each ?? Is that right?

The West Marine MasterVolt batteries come highly rated if you scour the web. I don't get why hooking a pair of 6 volt batteries in series, then hooking up pairs of these in parallel is any better than simply hooking up 12 volt batteries in parallel ??? I've seen that multiples of smaller batteries don't have the staying power that the larger batteries have in real work application - regardless of what the number say. Sorry, just don't get this one. From what I read online, the MasterVolt was a better battery in performance tests than the Concorde, though it is a reputable manufacturer.

[ChrisOlson]

TWO banks of batteries ?? So if I buy 8 batteries, I'll have two banks of 4 batteries each ?? Is that right?

Dennis, I have only seen these kinds of loads possible on boats with a 24 or 32V system and that have an onboard marine generator like our H-R 54 had. For instance, running a 2200 watt AC load on 12V power with an inverter requires ~210 amps with voltage "sag" to 11.5V on the bank under load. You simply cannot do that on a sailing yacht with a 12V system.

I mean, getting rid of the George Foreman grille and replacing it with a Magma Marine grille for instance. We do ALL our cooking on the Magma grille and it doesn't consume a single electron.

Things like the NorCold 'fridge...........well...........that's debatable. We just have a good old fashioned ice box in our boat that again doesn't consume any power. And it keeps meat and fish that we catch while cruising just fine for a 10 day passage.

I don't know if you are a crew of two, or if you are single-handing your boat. But things like how many hours a day the watermaker has to run depends on how many souls there are onboard.

If you are an experienced sailor there is folks in just every port looking for crew that will work for room and board to get to a different location on the planet. IF you have never done any cruising I would suggest finding somebody looking for crew, and crewing on a boat on a passage to get a better understanding of what is possible to do and what isn't. Your list of just the AC loads are totally undoable without an onboard genset and a 24V system.

And you did not include the important things like nav gear, radar, VHF, etc. that are essential for safe and legal operation of a sailing yacht on the high seas. Those are primary. The rest is secondary.