MacGregorSailors.com

Hi All,

In preparation for two weeks in the Sandy Straits/Fraser Island in December, I took my wife for a two day weekend in Pumicestone passage off Bribie Island last weekend, it was very windy so sailing was kept to a minimum, I did do about 45 minutes under just the headsail with a following wind, we averaged 5.5 knots by GPS until the wind got too gusty, pretty good travelling I thought. We had a nice time regardless and anchored off Caloundra for the night close in to Bribie. I tested many new items and now have a hundred things I need to do before December. I gave up on the idea of solar and bought a 2.4Kva generator, it sits under the captains seat but I need to raise it so it doesnt foul the steerng gear, worked very well though. New mattress is too hard, hoping that will soften with use. New fridge was heaven although I need to re-wire some of the 12V to cope with the extra load, that small white wiring McGregor used is only just good enough for lighting. Anyhow, heres a few pics of the weekend with captions.

Beached on Bribie just opposite Golden Beach Caloundra.


Soldier Crabs Heading for my boat.


Just had a wonderful swim, time for a coldie.

Good stuff Dennis, Sounds like you have been spending way too many boat dollars lately too......

which model genny did ya buy then? What kind of charger are you running off it?

Hi Paul,

I really needed the gennie so I could polish the boat where I store it, there is no electricity there, however I thought I could use it on the boat for longer trips too. It is just a cheap Chinese one at $400 for 2.4 kva which is about 1500 watts continuous, I have run it about 6 hours so far and am very happy with it, it runs my 1300 watt polisher fine. See details here.

http://www.crazysales.com.au/online-fre ... 77613.html

It has a 12v 4 amp output as well with cable and clamps so I can charge the boat battery direct if I want to, however that is not how I use it on the boat, I have shore power throughout the boat so I plug the gennie directly in to the boat and run everything off 240v direct. When I dont run the gennie I can plug the fridge in to 12v off the boat battery, it stays below 4 deg and only runs about 5 minutes every 40. If it every flattens the boat battery then 30 minutes on charge from the gennie and the motor will start again, I thought this is the most efficient use of $400 I could think of when it came to powering the boat.

Cheers, Den.

We ran out of power out the front of Kingfisher resort one morning and decided then that perhaps we should buy a genny

The one I was looking at appears to be pretty much the same thing:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/2-5-kVA-Gene ... 540d8d41a2

Got to set up shore power too when I have time to work out how its done....

Hi Paul,

I was lucky, my boat came with shore power when I imported it from the States, it has one light fitting above sink and three double power points, one in toilet at bottom of basin stand, one above battery seat next to galley and one under table on forward seat. They were US sockets so I checked the marks on the cable and found they were rated for 240v, in the toilet above the light was a double pole circuit breaker which was also rated for 240v, the inlet is on the starboard rear cabin behind windows, so all I had to do was buy 3 Aus outlets, 1 light globe and 1 caravan inlet and fit them, I then tested all outlets and circuit breaker, too easy. When I am in the Marina it was awesome to have power for fans and bright lighting, now with the genny I have it anywhere. Happy to show my wiring to you one day when we finally meet.

Cheers, Den.