Quote:
Originally Posted by Cheechako
Just asking , because the HC38 and another boat I had had maybe 2-2.5 cu ft fridges. With that and some laptop use etc. I found I needed to replenish 100-120 AH a day. With the wind gen churning often.. I still needed to run the engine at least 1 hour with a 100 amp alternator... and If I didnt move to another anchorage and motor longer every 3-5 days.. I needed to run the engine twice a day...
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I can believe it. I just don't think that the manufactures are welling to spend the
money on putting in really well insulated boxes. That also cuts down on the box size and most people would buy the boat that has the 5 cu. ft. box over a 2.5 cu. ft. box if everything else was the same. I see it all the time in home construction. People would buy homes with 4 inches of insulation in the walls vs. 6 because the one house was cheaper. Then even with the 6 you have no way of knowing how well the insulation is put in and after building my own home and being on construction sites there is a big difference. Like I said it isn't easy or even
cheap, but some boat owners might be best off ripping out the inefficient fridge and starting over. You should be able in most cases to re-use the compressor/condenser and maybe the evaporator if they are in good shape.
On the computer laptops can use 6 amps or more. First thing is don't run it off an
inverter use a good DC-DC converter like a Lind. Second look for as effecient laptop as possible up front or if you can use it get a notebook which uses way less power. I took it to the extreme and instead of spending $600 on a new laptop made a computer for about the same
price that is way more effecient as it is base on the same chip set as in some notebooks. The computer and 16 inch
monitor use right at 2 amps and run directly off of 12 volts and has
serial ports for NEMA
communications (use it as our chart plotter), has lots of USB
ports,
DVD drive and long distance
WiFi......
Compurer-Chart Plotter-Navigation Index
...you can buy these already made and ready to go for a little more,
Sum