Power requirements sanity check

[Ru88ell]

That's my aim too. I've ordered a 100Ah Enduroline for this season to replace a ten yr old Delphi 60Ah which has been great. I've got: LED interior lights, Tricolour and anchor light; NASA Duet; Garmin 451; VHF; iPhone and iPad to charge. I calculate that a 5 hour passage and night at anchor will use less than 13Ah, so with a 10w solar panel giving a bit back I'd hope to last for 4 days. If I turn stuff off if it's not really needed then make that 5 or even 6.

 

[Iliade]

Ah! a true amateur who enjoys getting away from the snares of modern life and it's little luxuries!!

Just try living aboard for 6-9 months on end with no fridge, music playback, heating, computer etc.

Previously over ten years aboard. fridge - gas (dangerous), music - flute & rum, heating - gas (dangerous) & rum, computer - pen & paper. Lighting - oil, tilley and incandescent, all either carp or dangerous. etc - endless flat knackered batteries, gas, petrol or a very noisy 2T generator. All rectified when plugged into the mains which, for the aforementioned reasons, was most of the time. (add smiley)

Rose tinted spectacles? No chance! Give me LEDs, powerful alternators, affordable deep-cycle batteries, lithium powered pocket-sized android computers, GPS, GPS plotters and wind & solar generators every time. About the only bit of kit from then of which I rue the departure was the seafarer echo-sounder, as the flashing lights gave me more confidence than the simple numeric output of modern sounders. Hence I now run the chart-sounder. (add smiley)