The original dc/ac electrical panel just is not cutting it on the ac side anymore.
When Hunter designed these boats 30 plus years ago people did not have all the fancy electronics of today such as microwave ovens, laptop cumputers, TVs, air conditioning and so on. Now with all these luxury item the 30 amp circuit just can't take it anymore. Plus I started to get tired of having to reset the power every time the wife turned on her hair dryer with the air conditioner and hot water heater on.
Just for the record "I go to my boat to get away from all that stuff !!"
So to keep the peace I decided to add a new secondary 30 amp ac panel and shore power service.
Ordered new custom main panel from panel tronics and shore power hookup along with about 35' wire from west marine. Drilled hole for new shore power directly under existing hook up. Snaked new supply wire thru deck coming along winch inspection plate area in the head liner in aft quarter berth to the chart table main panel. New panel fits perfectly alongside the factory 12 volt /30 amp Ac panel.
Moved the heavy load appliances such as air conditioner and battery charger off the old panel and rewired onto the new panel. I also added two GFCI outlets in the cockpit inside the cubbies on the a new panel. Installing Ac outlets in the cockpit turned out to be one of the best upgrade I have done. Wife likes it a lot, now she doesn't have to run extension cords all over to plug in her IPad/ laptop. I use it all the time plugging in my power tools. Don't know why I did do this sooner. Plan to run an outlet to the anchor well soon so I will have out side power for and aft. Outlets in cockpit I will admit very convenient.
Great upgrade and now I have about 5-6 more blank circuit breakers I can use if I need to in the future. No more overloads on old panel. Yaaa! I may move the hot water heater over to new panel later just to balance both panel load.
The entire project cost me approximately $400 buck in materials but was well worth it. Now this old boat has all the power she needs. Most new boats have dual shore power hookup. Upgrade will surely increase boats resale value.
When Hunter designed these boats 30 plus years ago people did not have all the fancy electronics of today such as microwave ovens, laptop cumputers, TVs, air conditioning and so on. Now with all these luxury item the 30 amp circuit just can't take it anymore. Plus I started to get tired of having to reset the power every time the wife turned on her hair dryer with the air conditioner and hot water heater on.
Just for the record "I go to my boat to get away from all that stuff !!"
So to keep the peace I decided to add a new secondary 30 amp ac panel and shore power service.
Ordered new custom main panel from panel tronics and shore power hookup along with about 35' wire from west marine. Drilled hole for new shore power directly under existing hook up. Snaked new supply wire thru deck coming along winch inspection plate area in the head liner in aft quarter berth to the chart table main panel. New panel fits perfectly alongside the factory 12 volt /30 amp Ac panel.
Moved the heavy load appliances such as air conditioner and battery charger off the old panel and rewired onto the new panel. I also added two GFCI outlets in the cockpit inside the cubbies on the a new panel. Installing Ac outlets in the cockpit turned out to be one of the best upgrade I have done. Wife likes it a lot, now she doesn't have to run extension cords all over to plug in her IPad/ laptop. I use it all the time plugging in my power tools. Don't know why I did do this sooner. Plan to run an outlet to the anchor well soon so I will have out side power for and aft. Outlets in cockpit I will admit very convenient.
Great upgrade and now I have about 5-6 more blank circuit breakers I can use if I need to in the future. No more overloads on old panel. Yaaa! I may move the hot water heater over to new panel later just to balance both panel load.
The entire project cost me approximately $400 buck in materials but was well worth it. Now this old boat has all the power she needs. Most new boats have dual shore power hookup. Upgrade will surely increase boats resale value.
