Great stuff, Capt K! I used to be a lot tougher in my youth, but I'll be the first to admit that I've grown soft.
When we bought our boat, it was strictly 12V and propane. It met the basic needs, but the microwave was only usable with shore power and making coffee without shore power became a camping-like event. We don't like feeling like we're camping on the boat. Moving up from this level was a bit like the book,
If You Give A Mouse A Cookie.
So, I thought, why not add a larger battery bank and a small inverter to allow limited MW and coffee maker use on the hook?
With a larger house bank, now I need a SOC meter to keep track of all those AH's. ....oh and also a larger alternator for charging.
Since we have a larger 660AH house bank and inverter, we might as well take advantage of this capability with a small 110V refrigerator that's no longer needed by the college daughters.
Now the house bank is getting drawn down after a couple of days. We could run the mains, but then, who wants to run the main engine(s) long hours for charging at anchor? Better get one of those Honda generators to allow charging at anchor. Besides, we could also use it to power the microwave and coffee maker to relieve the load on the house bank.
BTW, isn't that 30A charger looking a bit undersized for the job of charging the 660AH house bank? Maybe it's time to upgrade the house charger to something like 75-100A.
It's a never-ending saga of upgrades and mods. Not that it is not without its own pleasures, but it's been a long road of incremental improvements. Any regrets? Heck no, but I think my next boat will have all the comforts built-in before purchase.