need advice leaving the boat

[jon and michie]

Hi hope everyone has enjoyed the weekend.
My question is - i am leaving the boat for 3weeks - do i turn off the 12volt isolator and the shore power or stay connected to shore power and isolate 12volts ???

All opinions welcomed

Jon

 

[dpb]

For us it is 12v isolator off and no shore power.
Main reason for the latter is to minimise galvanic corrosion, even though we have mercathode protection.

 

[Portofino]

Bilge pumps ?
They need to be able to function at all times .
Depends how it's all wired up -some you can not isolate / turn off .Others can be turned off eg 12v .
We leave shore power on
All bilge isolators on
Main Bat charger on
Geny ( small seperate ) bat charger on .
Everything else off

 

[l'escargot]

Turn both off - if your boat is wired up properly the bilge pump(s) should be wired direct. There shouldn't be any drain on the 12v so no need to leave the charger on.

 

[rafiki_]

For us it is 12v isolator off and no shore power.
Main reason for the latter is to minimise galvanic corrosion, even though we have mercathode protection.

Same for Rafiki

 

[jon and michie]

Thank you all for the advice - I only got the boat 2 weeks ago so there has been a lot to take in anyway after looking in the owners manual I have found that the bilge and the emergency bilge pumps are permanently switched on - so I have disconnected the shore power and the 12volts.

thanks again for your replies

Jon

 

[Seastoke]

So what if yes a big if ,you develop a leak bilge pump keeps on top of the leak for a week battery goes flat boat sinks ,fwiw I leave my charger on

 

[Portofino]

Thank you all for the advice - I only got the boat 2 weeks ago so there has been a lot to take in anyway after looking in the owners manual I have found that the bilge and the emergency bilge pumps are permanently switched on - so I have disconnected the shore power and the 12volts.

thanks again for your replies

Jon

Next time you go find a bilge pump float switch and manually trip it to see if " owners manual " correct -before you undo what you have done .
In fact ck all the float switches .
In the winter even in SoF from Oct - Easter we have oil tube heaters in every space .
So shore power + charger = Allways on .
In the summer I need to know when I arrive and turn the key to the engines thay turn / start and do not hear a dead mans click of soliniod only .

Or same when starting the Geny @ anchor to cook etc .
As sea stoke says 2-3 weeks of intermittent bilge pump (s) [ not sinking just a weep ] will kill your bats -assuming you have not inadvertently switched em off by cutting the 12 V ?
I wouldn,t trust a generic boat manual -they often make minor changes @ build not reflected in it .

 

[47GC]

I always remain connected to shore power and switch off all the 12 volt domestic stuff. I leave on the 240 battery charger and mains sockets for the fridge/freezer.

 

[Otter]

So what if yes a big if ,you develop a leak bilge pump keeps on top of the leak for a week battery goes flat boat sinks ,fwiw I leave my charger on

I can assure that your bilge pumps will keep on top of nothing more than a hole the size of a pencil. If a hose splits you're sunk if away from the boat, even on board don't even waste time switching it on, find the leak and plug it unless you have an engine driven pump or RNLI "sinking boat" portable pump. The water pressure from 1m below the surface creates a huge force of water.

 

[Pete7]

I wouldn't say a huge force of water, bit more than the garden hose but no need for panic. See the YM boat crash test.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRhcXBtmPQs

 

[Sneds]

Every thing on and shore power connected, why turn anything off?

 

[rafiki_]

Every thing on and shore power connected, why turn anything off?

Disconnecting the shore power will reduce the erosion rate of the anodes, although a galvanic isolator helps here. I tend to switch all the isolators off, reducing the risk of electrical fires. I had a near miss last summer when a battery overheated. It wasn't far off exploding. Fortunately we were on board so I was able to deal with it.

 

[Sneds]

Touch wood, I've never had any problems

 

[oceanfroggie]

For us it is 12v isolator off and no shore power.
Main reason for the latter is to minimise galvanic corrosion, even though we have mercathode protection.

+1

The Batteries will be fine once isolated. We've often left ours a few months without issue.

 

[rafiki_]

Touch wood, I've never had any problems

:encouragement:

 

[[2068]]

The "normal" state is shore power disconnected, batteries off.
The self-discharge rate of a lead acid battery with a bit of calcium in is pretty good, and not an issue unless you are planning to leave the boat for months on end.

The only exception to this is if I know the batteries are not fully charged, e.g. an overnight stop somewhere that drained them, followed by a short trip back that won't have fully charged them - I'll leave shore power and the charger connected overnight, and try and get down to the boat to turn off when the batteries are cooked (I live close to the boat, I appreciate this isn"t possible for everybody).

 

[jon and michie]

Thank you for the replies - quite a few mixed opinions - I took some advice from the broker who sold me the boat who said 12volts off and shore power with the converter switched on and if required the fridge.
So as this is my first boat and a total novice to the boating world I drove back yesterday to the boat and connected the shore power back on and turned the converter on and as I didn't want the fridge to get warm switched that back on (popped a couple of beverages in there as a nice welcome back in 3 1/2 weeks) and left the 12volts off

anyway thank you for the help

Jon

 

[rafiki_]

Thank you for the replies - quite a few mixed opinions - I took some advice from the broker who sold me the boat who said 12volts off and shore power with the converter switched on and if required the fridge.
So as this is my first boat and a total novice to the boating world I drove back yesterday to the boat and connected the shore power back on and turned the converter on and as I didn't want the fridge to get warm switched that back on (popped a couple of beverages in there as a nice welcome back in 3 1/2 weeks) and left the 12volts off

anyway thank you for the help

Jon

Jon, I think you need to check what type of battery charger you have installed. If it is a "smart" charger, one which charges depending on the state of the battery, then this should be OK. If not "smart", then you may kill your batteries quicker than you would like. I am assuming your fridge is 12V, and running off the batteries? My worry is that you are leaving something on, and assuming it won't fail while you are away.

 

[jon and michie]

Hi Rafiki - Yes I believe it is a smart charger quite a modern looking piece of kit at that - the fridge is either mains or 12volt but the 12v is isolated so running off shore power.

Jon