B323: Adding a house battery

[S/Y Obelix]

Has anyone added a house battery to their Beneteau 323?

I am planning to add Solar, and with that think an additional house battery would make sense. Its meant for overnight anchorage. Ideally would like to keep the fridge running and enough power to keep my mooring light on..

Big question is... Where to place the Battery? Who can share his or her upgrade project?
Other boat owners idea's always welcome, but looking for specific B323 intel.

Thanks,
Ricardo

 

[CapitalistSailor]

Obelix,

Do you have one or two batteries now? I have a Beneteau 311, which is very similar, and I have two Group 24 batteries just in front of the engine, under the steps. These two barely fit. I have decent battery boxes for them and straps to hold them down, but I cannot fit the battery box covers. I do make sure the positive terminals are covered so I don't accidentally get something shorting across the terminals.

There has been discussion elsewhere in this forum about placing a second or third battery more amidships. My 311 has room under the port side settee for another battery, but this location would require that a size or two be added to the battery cables to make sure voltage losses are low.

I often use my two batteries in parallel, or frequently alternate from one to the other. Using both in parallel is a little more efficient and will not drain them quite as quickly. But there is an alternate and equally valid train of thought that says one battery should always be held in reserve to start the engine.

A mooring light will not drain the battery too quickly, but a refrigerator load is a big load. You might need a whole battery and then some, especially if you sail in a warm place, and you don't have the refrigerator type that has a cold plate that builds up a reserve of frozen liquid for cooling. adding extra insulation will help a lot, and if the lid build up condensation, add some insulation there also or maybe just lay a PFD cushion over it at anchor/dock. My boat barely has enough capacity to run the refrigerator and charge the batteries when motoring.

I don't have high tech batteries, and I don't know what you are considering. I used to buy expensive AGM batteries but never seemed to get much extra out of them, even though I watched the charging times and voltages. Now I just use basic deep cycle batteries (not dual-purpose) with the most amount of lead for the dollar. Even a 3/4 drained battery seems to be enough to start my Yanmar 2GM20F engine.

 

[Ron20324]

I don't know where your OEM batteries are, but I know there were at least 2 different arrangements. My 2006 B323 came with one under the steps, and one alongside the prop shaft, against the short divider panel under the aft berth. I added one battery outboard of the one under the berth, on the other side of that divider. I'll look around for a picture. I have three, 31-size wet Duracell from Sams Club. I have 2, 40- watt solar panels on the bimini. I put ALOT of thought into this, as the boat was still fairly new and I was doing several projects at the same time, like anchor windlass, 3rd batt, solar, Victron (600?). At first I used the OEM Xantrx 20, but on the first outting it blew the main 20 fuse. I replaced the 20 unit with a 40, and all has been well. The 40 has three putputs, one for each battery. /// Folks wonder why Beneteau has the main switch for the main ground. I replaced that with a red one to use for the 3rd battery. With one battery per switch, it is easy to rotate which batt will be on standby overnight while the other two do the loads.

I do alot of weekends with my sailing club and did 500 miles/16 days/4 crew once, and this has always been good. When using the 4 fans, I use 50 to 55 amps overnight. WITHOUT FANS, 40 TO 45. either way, with fridge on. Some folks shut off the fridge overnight, after no one will be in it. I've done that without a problem, but with more than enough amps, why bother shutting it off? I would be glad to help you aLONG, AND ROUND UP SOME PICTURES. I Might might have typed up the process to post under "owner mods" - one of these days. Questions?

 

[S/Y Obelix]

@CapitalistSailor Thanks for the insights, I will put these in my owner-mod process.

@Ron20324 Wow yes that is what I was after.. thanks for the info, pic's would be appreciated if you would still have some around. Yes I have two batt under the steps, and was at a loss where to park the second Batt. for the house group. I think I'll set it up thru a Batt monitor, and have the engine batt separated. As sun is here mostly in abundance I will most likely get two solar panels on the Bimini, and one walkable one on the coachroof. Harvesting all this power will be the challenge.. Maybe just one solar panel on the Bimini will be sufficient. Ill start calculating..

And yes next project after this is gonna be AC.. as in the summer it will get about 115F/50C... but it will have to wait.. cash is only going so far.. especially these days..

and Ron, you run a 3YM20? I think I will have to replace the cutlass bearing.

Thanks
Ricardo

 

[CapitalistSailor]

Obelix, your cutlass bearing is probably similar to the one on my Beneteau 311 (Yanmar 2GM20F engine). I replaced my bearing two winters ago (the water freezes from December to April here so we have to haul out). If yours is similar, it is a hard rubber sleeve that is not too hard to replace. I recommend that you also replace the two (or one?) nylon screws that act as set screws to hold the bearing in place. After a few years in the water the screws become brittle and may not be reusable.

 

[S/Y Obelix]

@CapitalistSailor is there an online source for the type of cutlass bearing? Im after dimensions,
thanks
R

 

[Ron20324]

I recommend that you also replace the two (or one?) nylon screws that act as set screws to hold the bearing in place. After a few years in the water the screws become brittle and may not be reusable.

IIRC both times I changed my bearing, the 2 screws were ss, flat-headed cap screws. Slotted?

 

[CapitalistSailor]

S/Y Obelix, I have just noticed your question about the source of the cutlass bearing. I bought mine through the US Beneteau parts site, spareparts.beneteauusa.com. I still have the 2018 invoice. The cutlass bearing is listed as part number 059320, and the description is "CUTLASS BEARING 25x40x100+L R". The set screws are part number 937200, and the description is "SCREW M MACH NYLON 6 x 8". I bought 4 screws so I would have a set of spares if I ever had to remove the cutlass bearing. These screws are not shown on the Beneteau parts diagrams, so I had to make several calls and send several emails until I found a Beneteau dealer that would intercede for me with Beneteau (at the time there were no dealers near me).

The cutlass bearing has little indentations to receive the screws, so little if any compression is applied to the cutlass bearing. The screws just keep the bearing from rotating or moving axially. Note that the cutlass bearing is for a metric 25 mm shaft and not a 1 inch shaft. Also please note that my boat is a Beneteau 311, which may not be the same as your 323.