Inverter and/or Generator for Great Loop?

"About how much does an inverter cost and how difficult is the installation."

A robust unit that will operate a coffee pot , micro wave, hand power tools , or blender will run about $150 .
It will require heavy wiring from the house batts and perhaps more batts .

It will operate a dirt house fridge , but you will need more batts

To operate an air cond or scuba compressor $2,000 to $4,000 may be required and hundreds of pounds of batts.

What is your desire to operate , and for how long?

FF said:

"About how much does an inverter cost and how difficult is the installation."

A robust unit that will operate a coffee pot , micro wave, hand power tools , or blender will run about $150 .
It will require heavy wiring from the house batts and perhaps more batts .

It will operate a dirt house fridge , but you will need more batts

To operate an air cond or scuba compressor $2,000 to $4,000 may be required and hundreds of pounds of batts.

What is your desire to operate , and for how long?

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We have a an apartment sized dirt house fridge. We’d love to be able to run it for, idk, a day? Also a TV, small fans if we just need to circulate the air.

We took off a small velocity grill so that can work using batteries. We have a propane stove but haven’t even tried it yet. That can’t use much electricity.

Guess that’s about it.

We cruise 3-4 days at at time, usually on the hook at night. We do this once-twice a month. It would be nice to be able to not have to fire the genny just to watch a movie. Also if the genny has a bad day I’d like to go have those things.

I was thinking these inverters were really expensive and it just wouldn’t be worth it. But maybe not.

To Steve91T: The Inverter Store sells AIMS Power pure sine wave (suitable for electronics) 12vDC-to-20vAC inverters, with circuit boards "coated" (for marine use) for anywhere from $406 to $735 for 1000W to 2000W, depending on whether the unit is or is not "ETL Listed to UL 458 Standards." I have no idea what installing such an inverter would cost. Peace and blessings, s/ Larry Buchman

I met a man at a dock in Canada on the Rideau Canal. He was waiting for a genset repairman. He said since he bought his high end Asian imported 46' trawler with all electric appliances and two generators he had met every genset repairman on the loop. Everything ran on a/c. He couldn't flush his toilets without a/c power.

Steve91T said:

About how much does an inverter cost and how difficult is the installation.

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Here's the cost:
Magnum 2812, 2800w-pure-sine-inverter-charger ~$1500
Labor $1200
Parts (wire, cable, fuses and blocks, etc) $499.85

Now, the labor included the install of a transformer switch to boost up to 110v at marinas with poor electricity (about 20% of them). Labor also included install of the Magnum monitor, control head, and an ACR relay. Also, an emergency switch to combine house with start. So, without those, one could probably cut the labor in half. ($600 at $100 a hour).
Used a top notch ABYC electrician.

So, no, it's not cheap if you do it right. And I could argue that and inverter install is not for the DIY weekender.

But this install has worked perfectly. The last thing one wants is some cheap inverter burning up his boat.

Is it worth it? For the marina queen, prob not. For the active cruiser or looper, absolutely.

O C Diver said:

If you're an infrequent cruiser that doesn't stray far from home, that's a very viable model. For someone doing the Loop (the OP's original question), that could equate to between 5,000 and 8,000 generator hours in one year. With that kind of anticipated use, a second generator would seem almost a requirement.

Ted

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Ted,

Can't see how one doing the Loop or a ton of causing would use the gen even 5000 hours. That's 1100 days, running 8 hour a day! More hours than the engine would run. Are you sure?

Seevee said:

Ted,

Can't see how one doing the Loop or a ton of causing would use the gen even 5000 hours. That's 1100 days, running 8 hour a day! More hours than the engine would run. Are you sure?

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Sounds like a misplaced decimal. We ran our generators at all times when underway but didn't anchor at night. Between 500 and 600 hours on generators doing the loop. We had two generators so alternated.

Back & forth between Lake Superior, all the north eastern canal systems, the Bahamas and Dry Tortugas since 94'. Never had an inverter and could not think of a use for one. We carry a 2400Watt Yamaha generator that we fire up to charge the batteries if we are anchored more than five or six days.

We do have a/c but have never needed it outside of a marina. Propane stove, bbq, DC refigerator, DC separate freezer, DC TV and solar panels. We live well and don't at all feel like we are camping or deprived in any way. Your mileage may vary.

alormaria2 said:

I met a man at a dock in Canada on the Rideau Canal. He was waiting for a genset repairman. He said since he bought his high end Asian imported 46' trawler with all electric appliances and two generators he had met every genset repairman on the loop. Everything ran on a/c. He couldn't flush his toilets without a/c power.

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Sounds like the owner didn't do any due diligence or bought the wrong hurricane flooded boat. Is there even a non 12 or 24 volt marine head?

You can do just fine with a properly sized inverter, good house bank of batteries, and a portable Honda generator. A 2200 watt Honda will run a 16,500 btu a/c if set up properly. Some will not want to carry gasoline for the genrator but that can be easily managed.

Seevee said:

Ted,

Can't see how one doing the Loop or a ton of causing would use the gen even 5000 hours. That's 1100 days, running 8 hour a day! More hours than the engine would run. Are you sure?

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If you're anchoring out as opposed to docking with shore power, generator time goes to 24 hours a day. There are 8,760 hours in a year.

Ted

O C Diver said:

If you're anchoring out as opposed to docking with shore power, generator time goes to 24 hours a day. There are 8,760 hours in a year.

Ted

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Why would you run a genny 24 hours a day? I've NEVER done that, ever.

If anchored for an overnite and underway the next day... no genny time.
If for a few days, will run to charge the batts, cook dinner, maybe 3 to 5 hours. If AC is needed, will run it more, but on my recent Loop trip I ran the genny only once for AC when the temp was 100d.

Seevee said:

Why would you run a genny 24 hours a day? I've NEVER done that, ever.

If anchored for an overnite and underway the next day... no genny time.
If for a few days, will run to charge the batts, cook dinner, maybe 3 to 5 hours. If AC is needed, will run it more, but on my recent Loop trip I ran the genny only once for AC when the temp was 100d.

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I was responding to the below post. The poster is inferring that away from the dock, he runs the generator to maintain his comfort level until returning to shore power. I'm not endorsing this, just merely extrapolating the number of generator hours required following that cruising style if you anchored out most of the time.

Mrwesson said:

I setup my genset to be very quiet and just run that SOB anytime i'm away from the dock(yes while underway almost all the time).

To be fair I don't spend too much time on the hook but most of my must haves(AC/fridge/etc) would require too much AH worth of batteries to offset the weight/cost. I'm also not a nomad and use my boat as more of a weekender so that'll play a role too(always have a slip to return to).

To each their own and I understand the want for silence and I partake occasionally but Genset outweighs any inverter setup for me.

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Ted

"We live well and don't at all feel like we are camping or deprived in any way."

No blender for mixed drinks? Or a DC unit?

"The last thing one wants is some cheap inverter burning up his boat."

Weather the heavy wiring was installed with class T fuses would be a bigger fear factor than the inverter cost.

FF said:

No blender for mixed drinks? Or a DC unit?

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One does not mix Yuengling Black & Tan.

O C Diver said:

I was responding to the below post. The poster is inferring that away from the dock, he runs the generator to maintain his comfort level until returning to shore power. I'm not endorsing this, just merely extrapolating the number of generator hours required following that cruising style if you anchored out most of the time.



Ted

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I'm sure mrwesson is vastly in the minority.

Seevee said:

I'm sure mrwesson is vastly in the minority.

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True when comparing the average boater to cruisers or offshore sporties.

More than a few of them run their gennies from lines off to lines on.

boatpoker said:

One does not mix Yuengling Black & Tan.

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Come to think of it, it's past 5 o'clock.

My set up could be improved but, I can live well, as equipped

3x200AMPs house batteries, 2x130 amp solar panels, 12 vt, 8.9 cu ft refrigerator, 1500amp inverter. I have an additional 2 small inverters to run the 2 TVs.

Maybe I should have put in a 2000 amp inverter but, if I had, I would not be so cheap with the power and draw down the house batteries faster. I have switches moving the microwave to the inverter and another switch that moves the inverter power to the 2 galley 120 outlets. No additional room for more solar panels.

Even at the dock and plugged in, if I run 2 stove burners and micro wave on shore power, everything goes dark when the hot water heater turns on. That's the down side of a 30 amp boat.

Of course I have a 6kw genny too. I think my system is pretty much bullet proof. My thoughts about the generator are, you have one, why not use it. SHRUG If you dont have a generator, why not. During the hurricane, the marina and the multi million dollar condos went dark and no A/C. I sat inside the boat, generator running, tv's A/C, drinking hot coffee, hot shower and eating hot food. (If I wanted to go 'camping', I would have joined the army. SMILE) Of course, because we are on the same feed as the hospital at the end of the street, we lost power for only maybe 20 hours. For me, those 20 hours were not bad.

When I leave the boat for an extended period of time, I shut off the 2 small inverters and the big inverter.
I dont worry about someone unplugging my shore power..... the 12vt refrigeratory keeps the food safe and fresh. I am going to install a StainlessLobster on the fridge.
https://stainlesslobster.com/fridge-optimizer. That should further reduce the draw on the batteries and the number of time I have to defrost the fridge each month. I have the food removal, defrosting and restock the fridge down to about 30 mins, thanks to a hairdryer.

I'm done but, I forgot the original question. Maybe this was a "you show me your's and I will show you mine" situation?

"everything goes dark when the hot water heater turns on. That's the down side of a 30 amp boat."

Load shedding could solve this hassle , seamlessly.

FF said:

"everything goes dark when the hot water heater turns on. That's the down side of a 30 amp boat."

Load shedding could solve this hassle , seamlessly.

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Yup, I do that often IF I remember. If I forget, shed a bit and turn the breaker back on.
If I move the micro wave to the inverter, I have space. SMILE
Of course, I could shed the hot water heater but that all depends on if my long haired beautiful house mouse is in the shower.

alormaria2 said:

Come to think of it, it's past 5 o'clock.

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Minor correction.....

Come to think of it, it's past 5 o'clock somewhere.....