Shore power cord length

Considering cutting my 50' 50 amp 250 volt power cord into a 20' and 30' length. Have power inlets at bow and stern now and doubt I will need the 50' length. Dragging the 6/4 50' cable around is a PIA. Wondering how often you would find yourself needing more than 30' on a 45' boat with inlets at both ends? Guess I could connect the 2 cords in a pinch. Opinions?

Ted

We have a 50' cable and there have been times in harbors we've visited where we've needed all of it. Based on this we would not want a shorter cable. It's easy enough to coil up the excess.

We use most of 50' frequently on both 30 and 50 amp cords. My credo is when I can no longer easily do the necessary boat labor I'll sell the boat.

I have needed longer than 50' for rare occasions when bow in was better because my connections were only at the stern.
In your case I would indeed cut the cord into more easily manageable lengths. I cant see any downside as long as you can always keep the connector out of the water when using both.

Was the need for all 50' based on the cord running 2/3rds of the length of the boat before crossing to land? Without side decks running the length of the boat was difficult. So having 2 inlets seem to eliminate the need for length to run down the deck.

Ted

sunchaser said:

We use most of 50' frequently on both 30 and 50 amp cords. My credo is when I can no longer easily do the necessary boat labor I'll sell the boat.

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My credo is work smart to make life easier. Haven't been anywhere yet where 30' or 20' from one of the inlets wouldn't have reach the power post.

Ted

My boat is 68' LOA and has mid-ship inputs on port and starboard. Often, 25' is enough, sometimes 50' is required, and at least once, 50' has not been long enough. My solution is to have a 25' and a 50' -- covers all the bases.

O C Diver said:

Considering cutting my 50' 50 amp 250 volt power cord into a 20' and 30' length. Have power inlets at bow and stern now and doubt I will need the 50' length.

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Interesting! I'm considering doing the same thing but with one difference....adding a "Smart Plug" connection at both inlets and both cords. I hate the screw on connectors.

I carry a 50' cord. If I had to do it over, two 25's would be better. 90% of the time a 25 would do the job.

So cutting the cord sounds like a decent idea. Just make sure to never drop the connection in the water!!!

MYTraveler said:

My boat is 68' LOA and has mid-ship inputs on port and starboard. Often, 25' is enough, sometimes 50' is required, and at least once, 50' has not been long enough. My solution is to have a 25' and a 50' -- covers all the bases.

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That was my other option. 25' is 80+% of the cost of 50' cord and really wanted a 30' for bow in docking.

Ted

Codger2 said:

Interesting! I'm considering doing the same thing but with one difference....adding a "Smart Plug" connection at both inlets and both cords. I hate the screw on connectors.

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Wanted to be able to combine both cords in a pinch. Smart plug on both cords wouldn't allow you to combine them. Only real downside to smart plug being different than the power post twist lock. Have thought long and hard about switching to smart plugs though.

Ted

As long as you are willing to have both a 30' and 20' along with you it is a smart idea. Frankly I carry two 50' cables and have had to use them. I would prefer to have two 25' cables in place of one of my 50' cables for the same reason as the OP.

O C Diver said:

That was my other option. 25' is 80+% of the cost of 50' cord and really wanted a 30' for bow in docking.

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Your idea is valid because the excess cord is being damaged by the sun. If you can get by with shorter, that sounds about right. I believe Bay Pelican recommended two 50's. So buy a second then whack your original into two pieces, 20' and 30' in length.

That's a wonderful idea. In my opinion that is.

And yes, as a matter of fact I do have two shorter power cables on Seaweed.

Bay Pelican said:

I would prefer to have two 25' cables in place of one of my 50' cables for the same reason as the OP.

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If I were going to cut a 50' cable into two pieces, I think I would make them 20' and 30'.

MYTraveler said:

If I were going to cut a 50' cable into two pieces, I think I would make them 20' and 30'.

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I agree!

But in Bay Pelican's case, I inferred that he has to run 2 power cords (2 power inputs), so needs the shorter cables to be the same length.

Ted

Twenty feet of cord would be sufficient at my home berth, but I've used all 50 feet at other berths/docks, so I won't alter it.

When we got this boat, I wasn't concerned that it didn't come with the Cablemaster option installed. Hadn't worked with 50-amp shorepower cord before, so didn't realize how much the weight adds up. And of course the bulk is always easily manageable. Not.


First thing we did was dedicate a short cord to our home dock. Don't need to bring it aboard when we travel. That helps a lot.


But we did indeed find places where we needed more than 50'. In our case, partly because our inlet is in the cockpit, port side, which in turn means direction matters... and also because we launch our dinghy off the port side, so prefer starboard side tie-up when possible (direction matters, again). Hasn't happened often, but occasionally enough so that we carry a spare 50' cord... so we have more flexibility in choosing our docking direction.


Eventually we had a Cablemaster retro-fitted. With 65' of cord. Nice. And we still keep the dedicated home slip cord in place, so only about 2" of the cord on the Cablemaster reel is exposed when we're at home.


We've used our extension once, since then -- loaning it to a bud at one of our owners club parties, because his own shorepower pedestal went south for a night.


OTOH, I think back to one of the marinas we stopped at a few years ago... BC (Before Cablemaster)... with mostly inadequate power supplies for our needs. We had to run our cable pair a long distance to reach a working pedestal... and I'd guess we could be faced with having to do that again occasionally, even with the longer cord on the reel.


-Chris

We've used all 50 and then some quite a few times when cruising the eastern US. We carried two 50 footers anyhow, as the boat has two 50AMP circuits for when we want to go hog wild and have all the AC and appliances on.

I can almost guarantee that as soon as the OP cuts that cord, he will wish he hadn't on the next stop or soon thereafter. I didn't like having to plug my two cords together and carried some plastic tubing from one of the boat yards to cover the connection and tape it up, but still, its anther connection to go wrong.

O C Diver said:

I agree!

But in Bay Pelican's case, I inferred that he has to run 2 power cords (2 power inputs), so needs the shorter cables to be the same length.

Ted

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If I were cutting a 50' cable I would do the 30' and 20' lengths as it would give more options. The majority of time I have needed to use two cables 70' would have been enough.

O C Diver said:

Wondering how often you would find yourself needing more than 30' on a 45' boat with inlets at both ends?
Opinions?

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Cut it. Like you said, you can just plug the two together. And a 30' and 20' cord are easier to move around on their own that a single 50' is.

You could do something like find another 50' cord with bad ends and cut it back to say 30'. Then you could have two 30' cords on board both of which are easy to move around. But together would give you 60' if you ever need it.

I like a Cablemaster with a remote control so I can hold the end of the cord in my hand and push a button to reel the cord into the boat.

Where I moor full time, the marina has regulations that require any shore power cord to be no more than 10' longer than the distance needed in order to minimize coiling which can produce heat. In addition, shore power cords are required to have factory ends - No cut cords and user installed ends.


These regs have never been enforced, so we have quite a variety of solutions.


This summer, I needed both my 25 and 50 foot cords at two marinas where the closest pedestal outlets needed repairs.

yachtbrokerguy said:

I like a Cablemaster with a remote control so I can hold the end of the cord in my hand and push a button to reel the cord into the boat.

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We just pulled into Roche Harbor. The 50 A cord length needed was 48' with my wife doing the run and hookup. She chuckled a bit when I told her of this thread. But she grew up on a farm.

sunchaser said:

We just pulled into Roche Harbor. The 50 A cord length needed was 48' with my wife doing the run and hookup. She chuckled a bit when I told her of this thread. But she grew up on a farm.

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Ok, so why did you need 48'? Was the power inlet on the boat in the stern and you were bow in to the dock or vise versa?

Ted

We have two 75' 50A cords on Cablemasters so we only run out what we need. They are on the back deck. In most places we go around the PNW-20-30 feet has been sufficient but we have been a few places that needed 50'+. AS was noted-it is great to have the remote and be able to hold the plug and either let it out or reel it back in.

O C Diver said:

Ok, so why did you need 48'? Was the power inlet on the boat in the stern and you were bow in to the dock or vise versa?

Ted

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Our vessel has power hookups fore and aft. The Admiral chose to string the cable in the most foot friendly fashion for her. As she says, use it or lose it.

Jay N said:

Where I moor full time, the marina has regulations that require any shore power cord to be no more than 10' longer than the distance needed in order to minimize coiling which can produce heat. ...

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Sounds like paranoia as I've never sensed heat passing through the coiled portion of my cable. Perhaps you guys are (energy hogs?) drawing too much current with all your air conditioners, electric stoves, microwave ovens, ice makers, coffee makers, and so on.

Prior to neatly coiling:

sunchaser said:

Our vessel has power hookups fore and aft. The Admiral chose to string the cable in the most foot friendly fashion for her. As she says, use it or lose it.

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Ok, so 48' wasn't required to get shore power, it was needed for aesthetic reasons. That's fine, best to keep the admiral happy. In that situation, I could certainly have put the 20' and 30' cable together.

Ted

O C Diver said:

Was the need for all 50' based on the cord running 2/3rds of the length of the boat before crossing to land? ....So having 2 inlets seem to eliminate the need for length to run down the deck.

Ted

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You make a good point. In our case the single groundpower connection on our boat is in the port side of the main cabin in the galley storage compartment under the sink. As such this puts it a bit forward of the halfway mark down the length of the boat.

We prefer a starboard tie as this puts the main cabin door next to the dock. We can run the cable to the dock beside the boat across the top of the forecabin or across the top of the aft cabin. So no need to run all the way to the bow or stern.

But in most of the harbors we visit here, including our home harbor, the power pedestals are on the main dock, not the fingers. And they are often on the center-line of a two-boat slip. So we need to run to the main dock, usually over the bow, and then sometimes off to port or starboard to the power pedestal.

If we had groundpower connections in the bow and stern of the boat as you do, the times we would need a longer groundpower cable would be reduced considerably.

I think we would still want the longer cable, though, as there are some harbors here where the guest docks are linear, not slips, and the power pedestals are fairly widely spaced. So depending on where the boat ends up on the dock it can still be a somewhat long run even to a bow or stern mounted on-board connection.

But if these situations are rare to non-existent where you boat, then shorter cables with the option to combine them into a longer one would seem to make good sense.