I've checked through the archives and found a few on this subject but
none that clearly state if there is any real advantage of running a
24V system.

Obviously the current draw for a given load will be less but I've
not seen any mention of 'standard' instruments that run on 24V. I've
read somewhere that fishing trawlers use higher voltage systems
(24/36V?) but do they have DC-DC conversion (36-12V) for their
instruments? Or do they use 24/36V instrumentation? I assume, as 12V
is 'standard', that costs of higher voltage instruments will be more
expensive than 12V ones.


Thanks,

Peter