Shore Power Cords

[mbevins]

Management of loads is always a juggling act on any but the largest boats.
My wife can still manage to pop a main on our 50amp 240v system.

[CaptTom]

Originally Posted by mbevins

Management of loads is always a juggling act on any but the largest boats.
My wife can still manage to pop a main on our 50amp 240v system.

I guess there's just a lot of variability in what people consider "roughing it."

I'm not averse to being comfortable, but I also take some comfort from understanding my power needs. It's no inconvenience to have to consider my power usage before turning something on. It's part of the self-sufficiency that makes boating so rewarding.

If you get enjoyment out of knowing you never have to think about your power demand, then by all means, rig your boat up accordingly.

In fact, you may be in the majority there. It's rare to find a boat owner who truly understands their electrical system, be it the DC or AC side. I'm always amazed at some of the really bizarre systems I've encountered. I could write a book on what was wrong with the last two used trawlers I helped deliver. And those were some of the better ones I've seen.

I think, in general, the folks on this forum are miles ahead of the "average" boat owner in this regard. Maybe that's why we get into these detailed discussions. But these discussions are how we all learn.

[dhays]

With a 50A/120V system, we periodically will pop the breaker. Usually it is because I haven't communicated well enough with my wife as to what is currently running. If I have flipped on the hot water tank, have the stereo system running, a couple of electric heaters, battery charger keeping up with all the 12v loads, I need to tell her that she probably also can't run the micro-wave, toaster, or Keurig without shutting down something else.

[Bay Pelican]

I have a hertz meter which measures the output of my 8 kw generator (about 40 amps) and with a couple of chargers starting up, the refrigeration running and the water heater all on, the output of the generator in terms of hertz drops from 60.5 to 57.5. Clearly at this stage we exercise power management and do not turn on another other large load without turning something off. Since this is only a 10 minute bubble in usuage it is not a problem for us but is shows how easily you can load a system.