New owner question

[Carsons_11]

Looking at a 5 hour drive next week to use the boat (2018 Cutwater 28) at a different lake during spring break. Will the house batteries run the fridge for that long?
Does the truck alternator charge the house batteries while towing?
Thanks for any input.

 

[BB marine]

The house batteries if fully charged will last with no problem. I usually fill the fridge before leaving on a trip and have the shore power plugged in charging the batteries. Unplug shore power just before leaving. Make sure the small latch is flipped out to secure the fridge door from opening. We have trailered two days to a destination and the batteries are still at 12.4V. While trailering the fridge door is never opened so it doesn't draw down the batteries as much as when you are using the boat at anchor.

 

[Carsons_11]

Thank you Brian.

 

[scross]

Your truck alternator will not charge the boat house batteries while towing. If you start with the house batteries fully charged it’s no problem going just 5 hours with the refrig (only) running. If you have solar, you can turn it on and it will keep the house batteries charging while towing.
If you are going to tow for more than one day you can “boat camp” at many RV parks (call ahead to see if they will take a boat) and use your shore power cord to run everything in the boat at night. Plus you can keep your fresh water tank full. Just don’t expect to be able to pump out the black water tank at an RV Park! And they may have restrictions on dumping the gray water too.

 

[Nmontagno]

Try to make sure the fridge is cold first before putting your items in it. Try to ensure that the items you do store in it are already cold before you put them in prior to your trip. If you have any additional space in the fridge try putting one or two frozen water bottles to help it stay cold.

 

[CaspersCruiser]

A five-hour tow with refrigerator running should be no problem for your house batteries. All of the advice offered about starting with freshly charged batteries, pre-cooling the refrigerator and its contents on AC power before departure will almost certainly assure success.

An option to make sure the refrigerator doesn’t deplete the house batteries that I use while towing over a couple days is I place a Honda 2000 generator in the cockpit and hook it to the shore power inlet to power the battery charger.

You mentioned that you’re a new owner and you may already know this, but the subject of using portable generators on boats arouses intense debate. I do not take it on the boat while cruising. I have an onboard diesel generator. I only use it to charge the batteries on multi-day tows.

 

[BB marine]

Does the truck alternator charge the house batteries while towing?

It does not. I wonder why Fluid motion didn't install this option in the trailering harness. During the build the additional (2) 10 gauge wires and a small single input isolator added to the trailer light harness is all that would be needed. The vehicle battery output is already at the trailer charging the brake battery. Simply adding these two wires with a protected fuse circuit and the isolator would provide a charge to the batteries on board while traveling down the road the same way a tow vehicle to camper does. The fuse and isolator would protect the circuit. When I ran the raw water wash down line to the anchor locker and the additional 120V power to the fwd section of the V Berth I ran (2) future 10 gauge wires in a protective casing up to the locker for this purpose.( this wire pull is not that easy when the boat is built) I thought I would use this if I towed to PNW or places that would take more than three days to get too. We could then use the boat as a camper and not worry about the batteries. I have never completed this project because I haven't had the need to use it. Really the reason is I just never finished this project! :shock: The raw water and outlet is completed trailer power was not.

 

[Maggie Anne]

I was checking the current draw last week with a clamp meter and found that the addition of both refrigerators (cockpit and cabin) added about 5 amps. So in my case five hours would only use up 25 amp-hours from my 200 amp-hour capacity.

 

[bluestreak]

Do you have a solar panel on the cabin top?
Provided you have some sunny hours, it will go a way toward keeping your battery topped up.

 

[Carsons_11]

I do have a solar panel. I appreciate everyone taking the time to respond with great input. Looking at a trip from Dallas to San Francisco area this summer also.