Mainship 34 battery setup

[newbernbuck]

Hello group,

Curious about how others have their batteries setup on their MS 34 trawlers.
Mainly the number and sizes. I recently bought a 1982 MS34 MK1.
Mine has a genset, bowthruster, and an inverter (not connected at present).
The battery box located under lower steering station seems to be sized for one 4D or 8D battery.
Currently I have 4 batteries spread about the boat: 1 forward for bowthruster, 1 for genset, and 2 batteries in the battery box under lower steering station (1 start, 1 house). All are group 24 except 1 group 27 house.
Want to hear what others have done before I make any changes.
Thanks everyone,

 

[clynn]

I had the same setup, but without the bow thruster. I'm not an expert on batteries, but I do know the house and starter batteries were big ones and the genset battery, which was located under the cockpit hatch, was a car starter battery.

 

[Bacchus]

MS 34 Batt'y / Charging Arrangement

Hello group,

Curious about how others have their batteries setup on their MS 34 trawlers...

Want to hear what others have done before I make any changes.
Thanks everyone,

newb...

Here's a link to a previous post that shows what I have on my '08 MS 34HT.
MS 34 HT Charging System Mods

I have 3 8D's - 2 start / house and 1 thrusters (B & S)
The links include schematics etc. I also have a Gen w/ a separate Gp 24/27 batt'y.
The write up includes some rationale for separating it from the other charging circuits as I didn't like the diode isolators MS installed.

 

[ranger58sb]

Seems to me our '87 Mk III had one 8D on the starboard side (i.e., under the lower helm) and that doubled as start and house. And then we had a genset start battery, probably Group 24-ish or 27-ish back under the cockpit with the generator.


We had no bow thruster, no electric windlass, and inverters hadn't been invented yet.


Were I doing it today, I suspect I wouldn't bother to isolate house from engine start. Instead I think I'd just cram about six 6V golf cart batteries where the 8D lived (assuming I could make all those fit) and call it good. There should be plenty of cranking amps to start the relatively small diesel... and there's always the genset and charger as a back-up.


And never having to lift an 8D again... priceless.


-Chris

 

[Jeff F]

On the mk1 I recently bought there is one battery dedicated to the genset and two banks of two batteries each for house and/or starting immediately aft of the helm under an access hatch. They are all gel well mounted without battery boxes.

 

[slowandsteady]

My 83 Mainship III has two starting batteries under the hatch at the helm, 2 house batteries in the same place on the port side, a generator start battery and a battery for the thruster/windlass. The single battery for the windlass/thruster is charged by a trickle charger when we're on shore power or when the genset is running. I have 3 solar panels that charge the house bank and I also have an inverter on the house bank.

 

[jrow]

I have 1 8D Starter/Windlass battery (Battery #1) under lower helm. 1 8D (Battery #2) house aft port side, beside the genset. 1 Grp 27 Genset starter.

I have a battery selector for house service that I keep on 1 + 2, i.e. I'm paralleling house and engine starter to supply house service.

I also have a small inverter that is just enough to power the TV/DVD/phone chargers.

 

[newbernbuck]

Thanks everyone!