New 1995 Hunter 29.5 - lots of questions

David in Sandusky · Jan 5, 2016

Hi, Elie! Welcome to boat ownership, and to this forum!

I assume you have an inboard Diesel engine. If so, you certainly have an alternator.

Inverters are usually aftermarket add-ons. So it depends if your prior owners added one or not. It's not hard to add one, but you have to provide the battery capacity to run any loads (lights, instruments, refrigeration, entertainment, etc.) you want to run when on the hook, or moored.

It's a good idea to have a mechanic check out your engine, and show you how to maintain it (change filters, impeller, bleed the fuel line, for instance) and, of course to check for any problems with your starting system.

Enjoy your boat!

Dave602 · Jan 5, 2016

Elie, the 29.5 is a great boat. We have had ours about 5 years or so. Like Dave said the inverter is an owner add on and you will need batteries and wiring to use one. If you are unfamiliar with wiring one consult your boat yard. They should be able to help you out. I'm going to assume your engine is a Yanmar 2GM20F. Yes they have Alternators. As for cold starts, depends on the temperature. Mine can be a little stubborn when it gets cold. Most of the time about a 5sec crank and she is running. I would assume you had a survey done? I should tell you everything about the boat. If not I would recommend having a mechanic give her the once over.
We have done a lot of upgrades to our boat including 3000w inverter, battery monitor, tank monitors for water, fuel, and waste, added buss bar system and fuses for batteries, Autopilot, wind instruments, stereo remoted back to the helm and a new folding wheel, and a rudder position sensor.
I would be glad to answer any questions you might have on the boat.

Enjoy!

kloudie1 · Jan 5, 2016

Welcome, Elie.. on the engine, If you aren't comfortable working on it, get a mechanic (or a gear headed pal) to go over the engine looking for any fuel leaks and to make sure that the fuel lines are not drooling.. Several of the connections may leak air into the fuel lines while not running, yet not leak fuel out when running. Lots of times, a hard start on the Yanmars is a tiny air bubble that must get purged by spinning the starter. Bleed the fuel system thoroughly after all connections and filter gaskets are leak free.. Next, verify that the valve clearances are set to factory spec..

kloudie1 · Jan 5, 2016

Some instrument panels had the hour meter in the tachometer.. If there is none there then you should go ahead and install one. Many boats came without one until fairly recently.. unless a previous owner installed one. Most are installed out with the other instruments, but it really can be put close to the electric panel since it is not a gauge that you'd normally read while motoring. This site has some: http://shop.sailboatowners.com/prod.php?10139/ Many people also add a voltmeter so you can tell if the alternator is working, and some install coolant temperature and oil pressure gauges so that they can keep track of how the engine is doing.. Many boats don't have fuel gauges and by monitoring the hourmeter and knowing their fuel consumption rate, can have a pretty good idea of how much fuel they have aboard.

Craig Cook · Jan 5, 2016

Our h-27 has/had a digital hour meter in the tach but it was unreadable when we took delivery. Some of the other Hunter owners in our club told us that was all too common with the instrument supplied by Yanmar. We did as suggested and purchased an analog meter that I will install come spring. We did a guess on the number of hours per season the PO used the boat after talking with the broker, I hooked the hour meter up to a small battery charger in my workshop and ran it up to our estimate. I had planned on installing it in the instrument panel in the cockpit for no real good reason, putting it down next to the electrical panel is a great idea that will also solve the problem of water leaking.

Dave602 · Jan 5, 2016

No hour meter from the factory. I added one on ours. It was a pretty low priority on upgrades.

Craig Cook · Jan 6, 2016

I suggest putting a procedure in place. Our boats have always had the same setup, battery A/1 is for starting, battery B/2 is the house bank. Our boats live in a slip with shore power and we are always plugged in so the charger is charging and the batteries are topped up. When we leave we know to turn the A/B switch to A or 1 for starting, motoring, etc. When we get out to where we raise sail and shut off the motor, the switch goes to B or 2. The instruments, stereo, VHF, nav lights, (12 volt load) run off the house bank. Should that battery go flat we always have the other as backup to start the diesel.

BTW, group 24's are the smallest marine battery you can get. Our h-27 came from the factory with two group 31's (845CCA). In the past we have set up the house bank with the largest battery we could get, in the case of our Catalina 25 we added a third battery, two group 24's for the house, one group 24 for starting. The PO of our boat let the batteries go dry which we discovered when taking them out for the winter, we are looking at two new group 31's this spring.

Craig Cook · Jan 6, 2016

Oh, and regarding the hour meter, I didn't consider it an upgrade (sorry Dave). I use the hour meter to track time on the oil/filter, fuel filters, figure fuel use, and generally our time on the water each season,etc. When selling a boat is usually one of the first questions a potential buyer will ask, "how many hours on the diesel?"

jcela · Jul 30, 2018

Eli,
I am sure that by now you are an expert on your 29.5 since 2 years have pass since you posted your question. I was looking at old forums and I noticed that no one mentioned to you that the 29.5 is factory wired to only charge battery A, the only way for the alternator to charge both batteries is to have the battery selector on ALL. There is a simple wiring schematic posted by some one that shows how to modified the wiring so the engine will charge both batteries all the time it regardless where the selector is. The battery B can only receive charge if the selector is in ALL. Myself I start the engine with both batteries and while the engine is on my selector is always in ALL to insure the alternator is charging both batteries. As soon as the engine is off I move the switch to B to only drain that battery and keep A charged for when I need to start the motor. Every so often I use A for my instruments to use up some of its charge.
Happy 29.5 sailing

billybee41 · Oct 3, 2018

I just found your post and no one seemed to answer your question about cold starts. On my 29.5 I turn the key counter clockwise, which is a heat or glow position for 15 seconds.This will heat the glow plugs and then turn the key to start. If there are no other problems the engine should start easily. Following is a link where you can download a Yanmar Manual if you don't have one. file:///C:/Users/billy/OneDrive/Documents/HUNTER%2029.5/YANMAR%20GM-OPERATORS%20MANUAL.pdf

plenny7 · Oct 3, 2018

billybee41 said:
I just found your post and no one seemed to answer your question about cold starts. On my 29.5 I turn the key counter clockwise, which is a heat or glow position for 15 seconds.This will heat the glow plugs and then turn the key to start. If there are no other problems the engine should start easily. Following is a link where you can download a Yanmar Manual if you don't have one. file:///C:/Users/billy/OneDrive/Documents/HUNTER%2029.5/YANMAR%20GM-OPERATORS%20MANUAL.pdf

@billybee41 that link you posted points to a file on your C drive. It won't work for anyone but you. You would need to share from your OneDrive app to provide the OneDrive link.

New 1995 Hunter 29.5 - lots of questions

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