I need to equip a sailing boat for battery charging for a single long haul
trip of about 35 days.
This will be a delivery trip for a boat that will not need any such
capability once it arrives at it's destination. Much of the power
requirement will be to drive an autopilot and attendant instruments and nav
electronics.

I've looked at Solar but I don't think it will be economical to buy the
solar panels that would be required.
I could run the 30 horse diesel for a couple of hours per day but I know
that diesels don't like light loads for extended periods.

I've discounted wind systems because of cost and also some concern about the
ability to reliably generate enough juice as well as noise and safety
issues.

I'm also thinking about using a Honda Portable generator with it's output
connected to the existing shore power system battery charger. Upon arrival
I could easily sell the generator for something like 75% of it's cost or
just keep it. The main disadvantage I can see to this approach is that I'd
need to carry petrol (gasoline) to power it and that consitutes a
significant bit of a safety issue.

Anyone care to comment on the Honda Generator idea?
Any other good ideas that I haven't considered or flaws in my logic?

Run the boat diesel engine under load and go a bit faster as well as
charging the battery.

Alec


"Hobbs" wrote in message
...
I need to equip a sailing boat for battery charging for a single long haul
trip of about 35 days.
This will be a delivery trip for a boat that will not need any such
capability once it arrives at it's destination. Much of the power
requirement will be to drive an autopilot and attendant instruments and
nav electronics.

I've looked at Solar but I don't think it will be economical to buy the
solar panels that would be required.
I could run the 30 horse diesel for a couple of hours per day but I know
that diesels don't like light loads for extended periods.

I've discounted wind systems because of cost and also some concern about
the ability to reliably generate enough juice as well as noise and safety
issues.

I'm also thinking about using a Honda Portable generator with it's output
connected to the existing shore power system battery charger. Upon
arrival I could easily sell the generator for something like 75% of it's
cost or just keep it. The main disadvantage I can see to this approach is
that I'd need to carry petrol (gasoline) to power it and that consitutes a
significant bit of a safety issue.

Anyone care to comment on the Honda Generator idea?
Any other good ideas that I haven't considered or flaws in my logic?

"Hobbs" wrote in message
...
I need to equip a sailing boat for battery charging for a single long haul
trip of about 35 days.
This will be a delivery trip for a boat that will not need any such
capability once it arrives at it's destination. Much of the power
requirement will be to drive an autopilot and attendant instruments and
nav electronics.

I've looked at Solar but I don't think it will be economical to buy the
solar panels that would be required.
I could run the 30 horse diesel for a couple of hours per day but I know
that diesels don't like light loads for extended periods.

I've discounted wind systems because of cost and also some concern about
the ability to reliably generate enough juice as well as noise and safety
issues.

I'm also thinking about using a Honda Portable generator with it's output
connected to the existing shore power system battery charger. Upon
arrival I could easily sell the generator for something like 75% of it's
cost or just keep it. The main disadvantage I can see to this approach is
that I'd need to carry petrol (gasoline) to power it and that consitutes a
significant bit of a safety issue.

Anyone care to comment on the Honda Generator idea?
Any other good ideas that I haven't considered or flaws in my logic?

You're right about the engines not liking light loads, but doing this for a
few days isn't going to hurt it. You could run it every other day and/or run
it under load (motor sail).

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

Unrelated question: are you delivering the boat to a buyer? How much do
you charge for something like that? I am looking at buying a boat in
the spring and will need to factor that into my #'s.

Thanks,
Jim

"Hobbs" wrote in news:45376b26$0$24649$5a62ac22@per-qv1-
newsreader-01.iinet.net.au:

I could run the 30 horse diesel for a couple of hours per day but I know
that diesels don't like light loads for extended periods.


Silly me.....Why not put the diesel IN GEAR and let it POWER the boat while
charging the batteries for a few hours....shortening the trip in the
process. You're not in an ocean sailing race where that's forbidden and
I've checked with the Pope and he said it wasn't a serious sin so you could
make a little confession to a local priest at your destination and it would
be alright with God.

Why does everyone think running the diesel in a sailboat is such an
atrocity?!??



--
There's amazing intelligence in the Universe.
You can tell because none of them ever called Earth.

There's nothing wrong with running a diesel at moderate RPM for the
time period you're talking about. Actually, why not run it an hour or
two a day when the wind is light? If you intersperse several hard
runs with the light load runs, there will be no problem at all. Lots
of cruisers use the diesel for charging while hanging out at an
anchorage for a week, then run hard for a few days while traveling.

Also, the power usage of an autopilot and instruments shouldn't be
very high, unless its a large AP for a large boat (in which case, the
alternator should also be large). A Ray 4000, for instance, is less
than an Amp on average. The engine run time should be an hour a day,
maybe less if there's no fridge involved.

Buying the Honda just to sell it in a month is silly. On the other
hand, if you're looking for an excuse to buy one to keep, this would
be a good rationalization. I wanted one for years, and then when I
had a chance to get one at half price, I convinced my wife we needed
it as backup so a vacation wouldn't be ruined by a bad alternator.
Its sitting in the garage now, looking very manly!

Hobbs wrote:
I need to equip a sailing boat for battery charging for a single long haul
trip of about 35 days.
This will be a delivery trip for a boat that will not need any such
capability once it arrives at it's destination. Much of the power
requirement will be to drive an autopilot and attendant instruments and nav
electronics.

I've looked at Solar but I don't think it will be economical to buy the
solar panels that would be required.
I could run the 30 horse diesel for a couple of hours per day but I know
that diesels don't like light loads for extended periods.

I've discounted wind systems because of cost and also some concern about the
ability to reliably generate enough juice as well as noise and safety
issues.

I'm also thinking about using a Honda Portable generator with it's output
connected to the existing shore power system battery charger. Upon arrival
I could easily sell the generator for something like 75% of it's cost or
just keep it. The main disadvantage I can see to this approach is that I'd
need to carry petrol (gasoline) to power it and that consitutes a
significant bit of a safety issue.

Anyone care to comment on the Honda Generator idea?
Any other good ideas that I haven't considered or flaws in my logic?

I've used a Honda 2000i on my boat for crusing and at anchor since.
After Ivan we didn't have any marinia in Pensacola and the generator
kept my batteries up and ran the power tools at ancho it worked fairly
well.

Last spring we spent two months cruising down the west coast of
Florida and I used it to charge batteries through the intstalled shore
power connector. Had to run the generator for long periods of time, it
really only puts out 13.5 amps, but it will run for 7 hours under light
load on about a half gallon of gas.

Running the engine works, if you have enough fuel.

/David


Hobbs wrote:
I need to equip a sailing boat for battery charging for a single long haul
trip of about 35 days.
This will be a delivery trip for a boat that will not need any such
capability once it arrives at it's destination. Much of the power
requirement will be to drive an autopilot and attendant instruments and nav
electronics.

I've looked at Solar but I don't think it will be economical to buy the
solar panels that would be required.
I could run the 30 horse diesel for a couple of hours per day but I know
that diesels don't like light loads for extended periods.

I've discounted wind systems because of cost and also some concern about the
ability to reliably generate enough juice as well as noise and safety
issues.

I'm also thinking about using a Honda Portable generator with it's output
connected to the existing shore power system battery charger. Upon arrival
I could easily sell the generator for something like 75% of it's cost or
just keep it. The main disadvantage I can see to this approach is that I'd
need to carry petrol (gasoline) to power it and that consitutes a
significant bit of a safety issue.

Anyone care to comment on the Honda Generator idea?
Any other good ideas that I haven't considered or flaws in my logic?

If you only get 13 Amps from the Honda you're not using its full
potential. I run the output of mine directly into my Heart 2000
inverter/charger. Although I should be able to charge at 100 Amps, it
trips the breaker on the Honda. I have to back off with the "power
sharing feature" on the Heart which limits the AC draw, and the the DC
charge into the batteries is about 75 Amps. Sisterships with the
identical setup claim they got 86 Amps, so I was a bit disappointed,
but still its not bad.

My hunch is your charger is 15 or 20 Amps output.


dcarl wrote:
I've used a Honda 2000i on my boat for crusing and at anchor since.
After Ivan we didn't have any marinia in Pensacola and the generator
kept my batteries up and ran the power tools at ancho it worked fairly
well.

Last spring we spent two months cruising down the west coast of
Florida and I used it to charge batteries through the intstalled shore
power connector. Had to run the generator for long periods of time, it
really only puts out 13.5 amps, but it will run for 7 hours under light
load on about a half gallon of gas.

Running the engine works, if you have enough fuel.

/David

I have a Honda 2000i which has performed marvelously for several years
now. The one thing I might complain about was that the DC output was
useful only for powering devices at 12v, there was no mechanism for
recharging batteries directly. Instead one needs to use the AC output
into a dedicated battery charger. It'd be nice if there were some
version you could buy that had this extra feature built in. Otherwise
it is a great unit.


Hobbs wrote:
I need to equip a sailing boat for battery charging for a single long haul
trip of about 35 days.
This will be a delivery trip for a boat that will not need any such
capability once it arrives at it's destination. Much of the power
requirement will be to drive an autopilot and attendant instruments and nav
electronics.

I've looked at Solar but I don't think it will be economical to buy the
solar panels that would be required.
I could run the 30 horse diesel for a couple of hours per day but I know
that diesels don't like light loads for extended periods.

I've discounted wind systems because of cost and also some concern about the
ability to reliably generate enough juice as well as noise and safety
issues.

I'm also thinking about using a Honda Portable generator with it's output
connected to the existing shore power system battery charger. Upon arrival
I could easily sell the generator for something like 75% of it's cost or
just keep it. The main disadvantage I can see to this approach is that I'd
need to carry petrol (gasoline) to power it and that consitutes a
significant bit of a safety issue.

Anyone care to comment on the Honda Generator idea?
Any other good ideas that I haven't considered or flaws in my logic?

"Hobbs" wrote in message
...
I need to equip a sailing boat for battery charging for a single
long haul trip of about 35 days.

Anyone care to comment on the Honda Generator idea?
Any other good ideas that I haven't considered or flaws in my
logic?

*If* you decide on a petrol generator shoving out 120v or 240v,
make sure the accompanying battery charger is a modern multi-stage
charger, capable of outputting up to 14.4v (for lead acid). Only
at this voltage will you be able to re-charge reasonably quickly.
Once the batteries are up to 70% or so, the modern chargers will
sense this and cut the charge voltage to 13.6v or so to prevent
battery overheating.

Many older chargers will only output 13.6v, and at this voltage
you will require hours of running to top up the batteries. Fine
when you're at the dockside . . .

Most petrol gennies which output a nominal 12v, will limit their
outpput voltage to 13.6 or less, so that won't help.

Drive that boat a bit faster with your main diesel!

--
JimB
http://www.jimbaerselman.f2s.com/
Describing some Greek and Spanish cruising areas