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So I am looking at adding shore power to a Catalina 27' that has never been wired up for it. She has clean wiring from the battery to the breaker for all the normal stuff. What I would like to run on the shore power is:
Microwave
Heater
Small dehumidifier
Small air filter
Charge a PC and phone
Charge the boat battery
Possibly a small cooling unit for the ice box
I probably won't do it myself and I was wondering what a decent price would be for a qualified marine electrician? Anyone have a setup on a small boat like the Cat that can run all these items?
I'm thinking you'd pay between $500 and $1000, depending on exactly what you wanted to do. Simply installing a shore power inlet, a circuit breaker, and a single outlet near the inlet - this shouldn't take much. I would think you could make that happen for around $500. Maybe less.
But, installing additional outlets, it can start to get pricey since it takes some time to run the wire safely very far from the inlet.
This is something most people can do themselves. You just have to read up on it and, if there's something you don't understand, ask an electrician. It's a really simple job that just takes a little time, but the stakes are high for doing it wrong.
@Faris good to know, I'll probably need 2-3 outlets but they can all be near the inlet so hopefully that won't jack up the price too much. I've got a good bit of experience on the computer and mechanical side, not a lot with wiring but I might dive into it and see if I feel comfortable.
Would you feel comfortable using something like this: westmarine.com/buy/marinco--dockside-30a-to-15a-adapter-with-ground-fault-protection--10066835 in the interim just to charge computer or phone, boat battery, and constantly run a small fan/dehumidifier?
Would you feel comfortable using something like this: westmarine.com/buy/marinco--dockside-30a-to-15a-adapter-with-ground-fault-protection--10066835 in the interim just to charge computer or phone, boat battery, and constantly run a small fan/dehumidifier?
I would be comfortable using it as long as I was on the boat. I wouldn't leave it plugged in while I wasn't there. I can't point to a specific reason why - it's just not something I'd be comfortable with.
Don't ask an electrician, ask a marine electrician. A land based guy may not know that the AC ground must be bonded to the DC negative, that the ground and neutral must not be joined onboard or that the first outlet on any circuit must be a GFCI. ABYC also requires a galvanic isolator and an ELCI which a land based electrician is probably unaware of.
$1000.00 to do it right if you do it yourself or less than $500.00 to do just what some other guy has gotten away with ..... so far.
Yeah I'm planning on investing in a good setup. I've got it in the budget currently. But just to confirm, if I do have a good setup would you still advocate against running a couple systems 24/7?
Because I'll be living aboard I'd like to have a little refrigeration unit in the ice box along with the dehumidifier running all the time. Now of course I'll be checking in on it every evening because I'll be living there so it won't be running for weeks unmonitored or anything. Maybe 2-3 days max. Curious if others would feel safe running these items if they have a solid, professionally done, shore power setup.
Suggest you install a 'SmartPlug' or equivalent when you get around to this.. More protection and your insurance company may well give you nearly equivalent credit.
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