MacGregorSailors.com

Vaseline saturated cotton balls are great fire campfire starters! Campers use them often.

The area under the helm seat here is protected from all water and rain. Also, there is no need to drape a wire over the boat to get to a dock box on the port side of the dock with an outlet on the starboard side of your boat - by having the outlet on the aft you can go either way without draping cords all over your boat. The best place for shore-power is either the very aft as shown or the very bow (like in the chain locker) as they afford the cord to go either way - port of starboard.

Another thing about location of shore power - people say they want it as close as possible to their panels and stuff - ?? What??? That is silly. Only DC power cares about distance and resistance - this is the shore power AC - it's alternating current - it does not matter how far away it is from the panel - there is no resistance on such a tiny boat when your talking 120 volt AC. The place to worry about that is the connections from your inverter/chargers to your DC stuff - not on the AC line.

This hookup is great - I can back into the slip too and lift the helmseat as a pass thru to the dock and the cable is not in the way there as i step around the starboard side of the motor (same side where the boarding ladder is).

The only reason to put the shorepower on the side of the boat factory style (exposed to the weather) is because it's easy installation there.. Easy does not make it good.

Another thing - Vasoline is flammable - don't put it on your wires. Ideal Industries makes a good compound called NO-LOX if your really worried about the corrosion but if you stick with good marine grade wire with copper core and tinned coatings your good to go. For chafing surfaces the factory uses the proper material - is that foam rubber they stuff between the wires and the liner - that's the stuff you want because it melts instead of burns and makes a huge stink when it melts so you know ASAP if there is a spark. The foam rubber is soft and squishy and binds up around wires and crevices real well and provides great vibration protection and is easy to remove when working on the wiring. I love the stuff.

ABYC gUidelines say the run from the shore connector to fuse panel should not exceed 10 feet.

I have enough respect for a 3 kW power source that I put a two pole disconnect switch 6 inches from my shore power plug so that if I ever an AC problem in board, I can kill the power on both poles instantly from below or cockpit.

The unprotected 6 inch wiring is inspected twice annually by removing the shore connector.

Remember that the shore power cord is on a 30A GFCI breaker in the pedestal, or should be if it's wired per the NEC, unlike the service conductors in your house (from the pole), which have no such protection (depending on system, usually on the primary side of the transformer which serves 3 or 4 residences, and the max current the x-former can deliver when saturated). But the incoming mains conductors should still be as short as possible before the first disconnect on the boat.

As to putting it under the helm seat, that's an attractive place for the inlet, but in my case at least, my shore power cord won't reach the pedestal when docked bow-in, even on the side of the finger, and I never back in. The connection with threaded weather collar is rain proof, as is the inlet with cover. A little dielectric grease keeps potential corrosion at bay. They're designed as rain/splash proof connections, and while not industrial connections, they seem to stay dry inside (mine does, at least, connected 24/7).

my set-up with dock cord
http://i235.photobucket.com/albums/ee20 ... 010044.jpg

or my house or gen-set hook-up . this is the set-up I,m using right now when I,m charging my batts with my gen-set , the gen-set runs my onboard smart batt. charger while also providing a/c in the boat when I,m working on it in my outside storage area , finishing up & planning my new mods , in Victoria BC
http://i844.photobucket.com/albums/ab1/ ... 010021.jpg

J

Tomfoolery wrote:As to putting it under the helm seat, that's an attractive place for the inlet, but in my case at least, my shore power cord won't reach the pedestal when docked bow-in, even on the side of the finger, and I never back in.

Most sailboats never back in. So why are most power connections someplace aft on the boat?

RussMT wrote:

Tomfoolery wrote:As to putting it under the helm seat, that's an attractive place for the inlet, but in my case at least, my shore power cord won't reach the pedestal when docked bow-in, even on the side of the finger, and I never back in.

Most sailboats never back in. So why are most power connections someplace aft on the boat?

Because the power cords r 50ft long !!!!!
http://www.westmarine.com/buy/marinco-- ... zoomImages

J

Highlander wrote:

RussMT wrote:

Tomfoolery wrote:As to putting it under the helm seat, that's an attractive place for the inlet, but in my case at least, my shore power cord won't reach the pedestal when docked bow-in, even on the side of the finger, and I never back in.

Most sailboats never back in. So why are most power connections someplace aft on the boat?

Because the power cords r 50ft long !!!!!
http://www.westmarine.com/buy/marinco-- ... zoomImages

J

But even though it's 50 ft, my cord wouldn't reach if the inlet was in the stern. The pedestal is on the other side of the dock. Just sayin'.

RussMT wrote:

Tomfoolery wrote:As to putting it under the helm seat, that's an attractive place for the inlet, but in my case at least, my shore power cord won't reach the pedestal when docked bow-in, even on the side of the finger, and I never back in.

Most sailboats never back in. So why are most power connections someplace aft on the boat?

Here I am backed into my slip @ one MMOR event the forth Mac from the front


And all I heard from the guy,s was that I was buckin the trend & screwing up a photo opp.

J

Tomfoolery wrote:See my post above. Run the 14 gauge (assuming you install a 15A branch circuit breaker after the 30A inlet breaker) through the headliner in the aft berth on the port side, into the space covered by the blue corduroy panel in the stern, then down into the 'bilge' area, and back forward to the galley space. It won't be easy, but it's doable. The DC wiring for the stern nav light goes through there already, by the way.

Hi,

Winter is gone and I'm ready to finally work on this shore power. I've checked everything. Going "into the space covered by the blue corduroy panel in the stern, then down into the 'bilge' area, and back forward to the galley space" is easy, no issue. But going "through the headliner in the aft berth" doesn't look straightforward! How to push the line through the headliner? Do you recommend a tool?

Thanks!

Mine has an access panel in the 'ceiling' on the port side, under the cockpit seat. There's a big hollow area there, behind my electrical panel. Hard to describe without pictures. But wiring runs through there, along the port side, to the empty space in the stern. Perhaps an electrical snake, which is strong, stiff (relatively), and should be able to punch its way through the foam along the bottom. But I haven't tried it (yet). There's also space between the hull and liner, along the port side, which is accessible from that access opening.

Highlander wrote: Most sailboats never back in. So why are most power connections someplace aft on the boat?

Here I am backed into my slip @ one MMOR event the forth Mac from the front


And all I heard from the guy,s was that I was buckin the trend & screwing up a photo opp.

J [/quote]

It depends how friendly you are - the friendly people have their cockpit and cabin door pointed towards the dock so people feel welcome to come visit and it makes boarding easier for guests - the unfriendly people put the cockpit and cabin door away from the dock for privacy so it's hard to board the boat and so people will not bother them.

BOAT wrote:It depends how friendly you are - the friendly people have their cockpit and cabin door pointed towards the dock so people feel welcome to come visit and it makes boarding easier for guests - the unfriendly people put the cockpit and cabin door away from the dock for privacy so it's hard to board the boat and so people will not bother them.

Hmmmm, I guess that puts me in the 'unfriendly' box.

Or maybe I just don't want to scare the kids and bring disapproving tsk-tsk's from passersby when they see how it looks, and maybe what's going on, below decks.

I don't believe I've ever backed a boat into a slip.

That MMOR reminds me of the stink potterrs who,s boats were backed into their slips beside us with their stereo,s blaring full blast & nobody on board u guy,s were bow in so not so bad as it was for me , anyway someone quietly & discreetly went on board these boats turned off their blaring stereo,s & disconnected there Hydro connections on the dock , next day when these boater,s quizzed me about it , I suggested they talk to the Harbour Master or marina crew & Police !! , needless to say the rest of the wk-end was reasonably quiet lol

J