More Power Scotty!

BRRRR - It's been really cold out and with no shore power there is no heater. As I'm already paying for shore power at the club (it's mandatory) I decided it was time to install a proper plug and breaker. Bob the local boat safety guru at VRC has been going on about these smart plugs - Apparently all the cool boats have them. A little research showed that they are actually a well thought out replacement for the traditional marine plug which is a design from the 30's!

As is with any boat project it is never as simple as simply installing one component. Installing a Smart Plug meant I needed to also install a proper marine breaker, a galvanic isolator and a GFI outlet for my heater. While I'm doing all this I might as well add a battery charger... what's one more component!?

Here's what I opted to get:

•     Smart Plug
•     Blue Sea 30a 110v Marine Breaker
•     Marinco Galvanic Isolator
•     Guest 12v charger with dual outputs (to charge the house and starter batteries)

All in all the installation was really easy. I opted to put the plug at the back of the cockpit under the tiller as it was the least intrusive place I could mount it. Ideally I would have liked to install it on the side of the cabin top near where the panel is but my boat has no interior liner which meant that there would be a very large plug protruding in to the cabin which could easily get knocked about and would certainly be unsightly.The only real pain was mounting the charger under the port quarter-birth as the area is really confined and I kept dropping the stupid nuts!

Lessons Learned:

1. DO NOT TO READ the Marine Electrical and Electronics bible by John C. Payne - While I'm certain there is loads of useful information in this book for other installations, in this instance he seriously over complicates what should be a really simple installation!
2. Despite the suggestion in the smart plug manual DO NOT use Vaseline to help get the rubber collar on the 30A cable. It made it almost impossible to pull the cable through... not unlike trying to hold on to a greased pig!

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