Where is your shore power receptacle located?

1) Where is the shore power receptacle located on your boat?

2) Would you please post a pic of it's location?

3)If you could relocate the receptacle,where would you put it and why.

4)What advice would you give regarding shore power receptacle for a new build?

Thanks in advance for the input.

Mine is portside-forward on the pilothouse, about 10 inches above the deck. In the photo, it is partially visible just above the gunwale adjacent to the piling. It is a good location since its adjacent to most all the primary electrical systems.

ben2go said:

1) Where is the shore power receptacle located on your boat?

2) Would you please post a pic of it's location?

3)If you could relocate the receptacle,where would you put it and why.

4)What advice would you give regarding shore power receptacle for a new build?

Thanks in advance for the input.

Click to expand...

We have two inlets being a larger boat. (Aft&fwd) I only have a pic of the aft inlet though. We also carry four shore cords, so we have a good reach, also if the marina has the capacity we hook up our dedicated HVAC inlet so we don't have to worry about overloading the ships main service.

My last personal boat (42' GB motor yacht) had 50a 125/250v recepticals at the bow and stern. Don't recall ever using the one at the bow.

We have two receptacles, one in the cockpit port side and one just forward of midships, also portside. If I had to choose only one, it would be aft, since we almost always berth stern to.

Sorry, but i don't have any pix.

ben2go said:

1) Where is the shore power receptacle located on your boat?

2) Would you please post a pic of it's location?

3)If you could relocate the receptacle,where would you put it and why.

4)What advice would you give regarding shore power receptacle for a new build?

Thanks in advance for the input.

Click to expand...

Protected a bit under the P/H overhang. It is 10 inches away from the main panel, and no, I wouldn't move it. The only advice is to place it where it is as close as possible to the panel.

Both receptacles located on the starboard side aft of the pilothouse door. The electrical panel is located right behind them inside. Wouldn't change a thing.

Ours is starboard, in front of salon slider entry door; few inches off deck.. Less than 1'6" distance to main panel. I like it there! You might see it in avatar... have no special photo of it.

Now that I look more closely - its the dark spot just to rear and a bit lower than port hole on forward cabin. That's the power cord plug jutting out.

We have three shore power inlets.

They are located right outside of the main panel in the pilothouse.

Each of the three inlets feeds a separate AC panel.
We also have a rotary switch that will connect all three panels into one inlet, or combine two panels into one inlet with another inlet for its own panel, or all three panels separated.

I've seen my share of AC panels, and I have to say Bayliner did a great job with this one.

Two locations

Both of my shore power locations have the ability to utilize one 240 volt 50 amp and two 30 amp 120 volt. One location is on the side of the bow dorade / hatch one is located in the aft cockpit. Each inlet is protected at the plug with a cassette buss fuse. My shore power panel has the ability to combine all three cords for a total of 90 amps, or utilize any combination of the three including just one 30 amp 120 which is stepped up to 240 volts at the isolation transformer. That would net 15 amps 240 volts. This is a very flexible if not a little confusing. In fact if I wanted to I could supply power to the boat using all six inlets or a combination of the two shore power locations. Using all 6 would give 180 amps 240 volts. I also have the ability to assign different shore power cords to different subpanels within the boat. I have three ac subpanels and two dc panels. If that's not confusing enough I have two generators and two inverters.

Scary, your setup is very confusing. Thankfully, mine is simpler.

Like most GBs of a similar vintage, ours is mounted to the port side of the main cabin below the galley window. This puts the wiring side of the recepticle in the cabinet below the sink where it is very easy to access if necessary.

There are other locations on the boat that would be perhaps a bit more convenient to use, but the present location poses no problems.

Our PC is on the starboard side on the cabin side as per pic.

Since most of us moor bow in and the power source is on the floats ahead of the boat having the PC on the fwd end of the boat makes sense.

More importantly the PC should be on the side you usually tie up to. CCW prop = stbd and CW prop port for graceful landings per prop walk.

The power coming into the boat at the distribution point like where the panel is a plus too and accessibility inside of the boat behind the PC inlet on the outside helps as well.

Finding a place where the plugged in PC is not tripping people or being a PITA to walk around is another plus. Mine was but I found a 90 degree plug that mostly solved that problem. See pics.

I have 2 (50 amp 125/250 volt). One is in the center of the front of the pilothouse under the overhang 2' from the breaker panel. The other is on the starboard side of the salon's rear wall in the corner. 2nd one I'm reinstalling as a previous owner removed. Looking forward to having a short power cord. Dragging that 50 amp 125/250 volt 50' cord is a pain (weighs a lot).

Ted

If cost is no expense...I would think one full set forward and one full set aft so the leads could be kept out of the traffic areas.

It would be great to not have them inboard of the gunnels to keep the cords off the decks.... but then that gets tricky in just attaching and supporting cables.

Another biggies is the type of outlet being used. If you are going to use cords with 90 degree plug ends (there are short 90 degree adapters for standard plugs) not big deal.

But if using conventional cords with straight ends...I would angle the inlets down at least 45 degrees to take some of the strain off and to reduce the distance they stick out into the walk areas.

manyboats said:

Since most of us moor bow in and the power source is on the floats ahead of the boat having the PC on the fwd end of the boat makes sense.

More importantly the PC should be on the side you usually tie up to. CCW prop = stbd and CW prop port for graceful landings per prop walk.

Finding a place where the plugged in PC is not tripping people or being a PITA to walk around is another plus. Mine was but I found a 90 degree plug that mostly solved that problem.

Click to expand...

We can't get off the boat if we're bow-to in a 4-way slip with only a short finger pier.

Our shorepower inlet is in the cockpit, recessed in a panel on the port side. Earlier models of our boat had the inlet mounted higher, and in between stairs to the bridge and steps to the port side deck. In the way, if moving from the cockpit to the port side decks... serious trip hazard... but the builder modified that by the time ours was built.

We usually dock starboard-side-to -- at least in our home slip and if given a choice at transient marinas -- because our dinghy off-loads to port from the davit on the swim platform. We haven't found the port inlet location to be any particular issue, and in fact sometimes reduces the potential for a trip hazard on the starboard side... but then it does sometimes mean we need a long cord run to the power pedestal.

We finally retrofitted a Cablemaster system for our transient shorepower cord; schlepping the 50A (125/250V) cable was getting to be more like work than fun. We still also carry a 50' spare, in case reach is an issue at a transient marina, and we leave another short cord installed at our home slip all the time... so disconnecting and reconnecting is very easy/fast.

Seems to me like carrying a spare is a reasonable substitute for inlets at the bow... in our case, for a boat that didn't come fitted that way.

-Chris

Just under my Father-in-law's left hand. two 30 amp receptacles one for airconditioning and heat the other for the rest of the AC power loads. Close to the lower helm and AC/DC panel.

psneeld said:

If cost is no expense...I would think on full set forward and one full set aft so the leads could be kept out of the traffic areas.

.

Click to expand...

Our Mainship has this setup. So either bow in or stern in works for us.

You can see in the photo where it's located. It's in a good place, I wouldn't have it anywhere else.

Well, I might move it an couple of inches. It's right over the fuel fill for the starboard tank so the power cord has to be disconnected to take on fuel. Not a big issue though.

We are always stern to or side tie up. Getting off over the bow would be difficult.

Mine is aft. There were a few times in transient situations where my 50' cord was not long enough but I don't remember the details. An extra outlet forward would have been nice for those occasions.. I would not want it on the side where it would interfere with walkways.

For anyone who has or who is thinking of installing an additional power inlet, it is imperative that there be a switch to determine which inlet is active. Simply connecting an additional inlet in parallel with the original will result in the exposed power pins being electrically hot. That is a serious electrocution hazard.

Also, there is a maximum distance the inlet can be from the main breaker on the electrical panel without additional circuit protection. I believe this is ten feet measured along the conductors but you should check to be sure.

Scary said:

In fact if I wanted to I could supply power to the boat using all six inlets or a combination of the two shore power locations. Using all 6 would give 180 amps 240 volts. I also have the ability to assign different shore power cords to different subpanels within the boat. I have three ac subpanels and two dc panels. If that's not confusing enough I have two generators and two inverters.

Click to expand...

Don't you have a selector switch or switches that you have to throw in order to choose whether you are using the aft or forward incoming recepticals?

As Ron points out, if you don't you'd have hot plugs on the recepticals you're not using. Not to mention the other issues you'd run into feeding your boat with 6 cords plugged into different dockside power poles coming in to fore and aft recepticals all tied together directly one way or another at the panel.

Just fwd of the stbd door at the top of the 2 steps up from the cockpit level. It's a good location for access, close to the electrical panel and out of the way for most movement around the boat. When powering with the Honda gen on the FB, I drop a cord over the FB rail down to the plug.

ronlord said:

Our Mainship has this setup. So either bow in or stern in works for us.

Click to expand...

Mine too. Mainship did some good thinking when they added a bow and stern outlet as a standard feature on many of their models. No matter which way we head in, forward, backward, or face docking, it is easy to hook up.

Steve said:

Just under my Father-in-law's left hand. two 30 amp receptacles one for airconditioning and heat the other for the rest of the AC power loads. Close to the lower helm and AC/DC panel.

Click to expand...

Ditto plus we have a Cable TV/Phone hookup at the same area on our 1984 Monk 36.

Hate it when there are only two outlets for every two berths and one boat is using both plugs!
.....
Have a 90-degree connection too. Very helpful.

Better photo of the setup.

We have one power cord 75 ft long it is located Starboard side in hull and is a glendinning spool unit. It works great and is a consideration for new build. We do always dock Starboard to dock and have never run short of cord. Our boat is highly maneuverable so the demand for stb. dockside is no problem bow or stern in.

Our shore power cord is on the starboard side just in front of the helm sliding door. Only a 12" run to the AC selector switch, perfectly positioned for accessing shore power as we always starboard tie for boarding and it is amidships.

We're on the starboard transom with a glendening. Being 50amp it is a necessity. We have 50' but I've determined that 80' is the required minimum so I'm about to upgrade this. We need a port side tie if we want to drop the dink hence 15' for each way of beam plus length.

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I'll post a picture of my shore power panel

Capt.Bill11 said:

Don't you have a selector switch or switches that you have to throw in order to choose whether you are using the aft or forward incoming recepticals?

As Ron points out, if you don't you'd have hot plugs on the recepticals you're not using. Not to mention the other issues you'd run into feeding your boat with 6 cords plugged into different dockside power poles coming in to fore and aft recepticals all tied together directly one way or another at the panel.

Click to expand...

I could be mistaken, I may only be able to use three of the supply circuits at a time. I'll post a picture of the panel. They can come from any end of the boat.