Hi all, I'll find out this week if I'm a new owner. God help us all.

The boat is a 30' Wellcraft.

We're going to use the boat almost exclusively on weekends with probably 1
or 2 times in the summer where we'll be able to spend a week on it. It will
basically be our cottage. We're not new to cruising, just new to having our
own boat for cruising.

The boat doesn't have a generator and I'm not sure if I need one. Here is
what I'm thinking, hopefully you guys can give me some advice.

What if I set it up with 2 deep cycle batteries, a high output alternator on
one engine and an inverter.

We're not looking to run a small city, just make some coffee and toast in
the morning, possibly run a bit of stove or microwave at lunch or dinner and
maybe watch a movie in the evening. If I'm working then I'll probably want
to either charge my laptop or run it on ships power for a while.

This of course on top of regular DC usage for water, fridge, lights, etc.

It doesn't have air although if we go hardcore into the later fall season
and early spring we'll want to bring a little heater with us.

My thinking is this. It will be hooked up to shore power all week with the 3
stage charger making sure my house bank is topped up. If we run down below
the threshold while were at anchor I can run the engine (I know, it's a very
expensive generator) to get us back up to about 80% charge.

That's assuming we anchor the entire time and not go for a mid-day cruise
which will have the benefit of charging us back up. And also assuming that
we don't go for a visit to somewhere with dockage and shorepower -- which we
would most definitely do for a day or so during the weeklongs, and probably
do during some of the weekends.

It also seems to me like I could configure for this and try it out to see
how it works. If I find I'm running the engine too much I could then buy a
little generator since the rest of the setup as described above would be
required anyway.

Do this sound like a reasonable approach?