I can't understand why us having a fridge is such a big deal to you Walt. I could care less that you don't have one.Well.. just pointing out that when I see the pictures of Sumner’s solar panel on the back of the boat and that gas generator.. I cant help to think to myself that if he did get rid of the fridge, he could get rid of that generator and probably get by with 50 watts of solar (I said ½ earlier, should have said ¼).
But.. I know Sumner likes having that fridge and doesn’t mind the tradeoffs.
Regarding the battery capacity, we should also be considering how deep the batteries get cycled. If you look at the ratio of daily amp hours used to battery capacity, in the case for Chis’s boat, its probably about 20 / 160 = .125 I.e., for Chris, his daily use is about 12.5% of the battery capacity.
For Sumner case, I think he said he uses 35 + 9 + 10 = 54 amp hours (fridge + cpap + computer). ...
I've said over and over in this thread and others that 1 battery is probably all most people need. I'm just offering suggestions for those few that want to do things a little different. It was you that put us on to using two 6 volt batteries vs. one 12 volt battery and as of now we still haven't done it since the 12 volt batteries haven't given out.
We never did let the batteries go below 50% because we did have that ugly generator hanging off the back of the boat and also for one fact you didn't account for. We don't discharge and then re-charge entirely as your scenario suggests. The fridge is off at night, coasting and is on during the day when the panels are producing.
If you were to read the first page on our site....
...it might become a little clearer what we have a sail boat for.As you read through the mods we have made to our Mac please keep the following in mind. First this is our first sail boat and we had never sailed until we bought the Kera-Jane in the spring of 2009. We are moving into our late 60's so we are setting the boat up for easy handling on the water and trailer and also for extended cruises of over a month, sometimes not resupplying on the water for over 3 weeks. We anchor almost every night, so good anchoring equipment and shore lines have become a top priority for us.We are explorers more than sailors. This boat is our Jeep on water combined with the hauling ability and comforts of the Suburban that pulls it down the highway. It is meant to take us about any place on inland and coastal waters in some comfort and hopefully safety. Some of the mods have certainly hurt the sailing performance, but that is OK as we are retired and in no hurry.With that in mind hopefully some of what you find here will help you or someone to some degree with "your goals and wants" in mind,Sumner and Ruth
I often receive e-mails from people saying that at some point they too would like to do some extend trips/exploring with a boat also and appreciate what we have done to our boat and would like to do something along the same lines.
The more I'm on some of these boards the more I realize why people lurk and don't post or just quit altogether. I've cut back my participation here and probably will a lot more. I tried to make my posts constructive, sorry if I failed and I don't see the point in your questioning our decision to do having the fridge and other things that make our trips more enjoyable,
Sumner
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