I’m not a simple, minimal sailor, and while a short holiday on the broads on a boat with nothing other than a tilley lamp in the way of technology seems a nice proposition, it’s not my idea of fun for a long term liveaboard. When refitting Kudu I made sure she had a top notch shore power system, and because of the round Britain trip, and me being away from a shore power supply for so long, I have expanded the entire system to be quite extensive.
With careful power budgeting, Kudu is self sufficient in terms of power generation.
The shore power system comprises of a Marinco stainless inlet socket, which is located in the cockpit. The Marinco was expensive at £70, but is much more seaworthy and weather proof than the cheap plastic inlets. The associated Marinco plug was not cheap either, but it is water proof, and I did have a job when I bought it all :p
Kudu carries a 25m shore power lead. It’s a bit too long for most uses, but I have on a couple of occasions had to use almost all of it to reach the power hookup.
I fitted the electrics myself, and suggest if you plan on cruising, you do the same. It makes sense to know your power system inside out. The shore power is connected to a sterling switch mode charger, via a distribution box. One circuit runs the charger, and the other circuit supplies a standard 230v socket. Ok, it’s not quite standard, it’s a flush mounted polished gun metal socket and looks fantastic! :p
Away from shore power, thing get a bit more involved.
I have two 20w solar cells mounted to the pushpit, and a Rutland 503 wind turbine on the back too. These both run through separate charge controllers and into the battery bank which consists of two 85ah flooded batteries, securely mounted and strapped in under the cockpit.
On the go, I still have access to 230v if I need it to, for example, charge the laptop, but since this is running off the batteries via an inverter, I have to be very careful about how much I use it.
This is an old picture, before I had fitted the inverter, wind gen, and solar cell controllers. I have also since added a second battery... but you get the idea :p
I know budget is kinda tight for you, but this might be worth a mention.
You say you are using a 230v to charge your laptop, obviously inverters are a great way to squander power, but inverting DC to AC only to run it through an adapter to get it BACK to DC is madness.
For not toooo much money you could get a laptop charger that runs right off your DC.
Have a search for a car charger for your model of laptop and you’ll have to sacrifice less of your power budget to run your laptop.
I’m currently saving up for my first boat, I’m not 100% sure yet, but there’s a fair chance I’ll be getting, yes you guessed it, a Corribee. The biggest uncertainty at the moment is the eternal bilge vs. fin thing – I just can’t make my mind up.
It’s a bit of a run from Manchester to the coast, but I’m sure I’ll manage.
Once I’m finally on the water I’ll be all over the place though, I’ll keep an eye out for Kudu.
If you get a Corribee, go for a bilge keel since they are apparently the stiffer of the two.
I have yet to find a laptop adaptor to run my mac off 12v, but I’ll look into the PC laptop charger. That said, I have no 12v at the moment either, so it wouldn’t have helped last night.
All the best with your boat hunting. Today would be a good day to go buy one and be done with it
I just had a quick search and found this via a link on some random forum that came up.
http://mikegyver.com/IdeasnProducts/Kensington-Magsafe/index.html
Of course, that’s not a jot of help without 12v to charge it from!
Maybe you need some kind of pedal powered dynamo with a 12v output for when all else fails.
I hadn’t heard the bilge keel was stiffer before.
Until now it had been a tough choice between upwind ability with the need for legs to dry out, and shallower draft, easy drying but pointing a bit lower. Why can’t these things be easier?
The other thing is, if a bilge keeler, why not point a bit lower still, get a super-shallow draft, the easiest beaching in the world all strapped to a much faster boat and get a cat? (Price aside of course!)
Today WOULD be a good day to buy one and be done with it if I had the money (though if I had the money – I’d probably already have one!)… but I’ll have to hold off for a while yet. Soon though, soon.
LOve reading your adventures.
I’ve got a Pandora and wondered if Will had thought of one as ABERSOCH is probably closest nice water to Manchester and there are quite a few Pandoras there.
Hi Justin,
I’ve never so much as heard of a Pandora until now so no, I’ve not considered one. I was put onto the idea of Corribee by a former client of mine who has some big fancy Benetau up in Scotland somewhere. We got talking about boats and when I mentioned I’d love to own one and finally indulge my love for sailing he said a Corribee might be my kind of thing – inexpensive and seaworthy.
I’ll have a look into Pandoras, though it’ll take a mighty effort to make me go for one over a Corribee.
I don’t know much about what makes a “nice” water, though I’ll most likely head towards Abersoch, Menai, Kriby and the likes if I also have a trailer. I’ve really not considered where I might leave a boat if I wasn’t trailing it though.
Can you suggest any good sites to start readong about Pandoras?
http://pandorasailing.com/