Thank you all for your advice and for the time you spent replying, it's much
appreciated.

I laughed when I realized that it never occurred to me to use a small
invertor for the laptop ... when Peggie said it I realized it was the most
obvious thing in the world but it had never occurred to me and probably
wouldn't have for a while. Geez ... I can be thick headed.

Laptop also solves the problem of watching a movie in the evening ... built
in dvd player.

My friend has a 1kw Honda generator that he offered to me and now I'll give
it another think. I also wouldn't mind having it here at home in the winter
in case we lose power (I'm in Ottawa, everyone here remembers the ice
storm).

I've been worried about propane on a boat because of its tendency to settle
low but I'll see how everyone else is rigged and check out the rules on
that, perhaps that deserves a rethink too.

I appreciated the math on the coffee maker but I'm going to run those
numbers myself. It seems to get pretty complex.

I have about a million more questions ... thanks again for your help on this
one.


"Paul" wrote in message
le.rogers.com...
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?