Simple power for a simple boat

I have spent some time looking over the fantastic site No Frills Sailing and it has inspired me to put together a few more articles for this site and ultimately revisit the design of my own web site. So I'm picking up on Lars topic about power on a boat and what is and is not needed on board.

My little yacht has very little need for power as I've equipped her with LED lighting which are mainly internally powered but I have still pieced together a small battery set up the allows me to charge the obligatory phone and laptop at a push. However its main function is to provide power to the bilge pump, lighting for the compass and the anchor light when needed. So what have I done with the everything else you would normally worry about?




Navigation Kit - NA
All my navigation and communication kit is hand held owing to the boat being so small and so they are all battery powered, rechargeable mostly. The VHF is hand held and the GPS is also hand held and my depth sounder is a fish finder powered by 2 AA batteries! I also have a high powered hand light for MOB needs.

Cabin lights - NZ$10

With the wonder of energy efficient LED lighting I have a simple set up with one over head on the ceiling (secured with a glue gun) its a simple push to turn on and push to turn off affair. I also have the same to port and starboard with one over the galley box and the other over the shoulder of the bunk. Plenty of light and no worries about the ships battery. 

Nav table night light and Sole light - NZ$10

This is very simple affair with a cheap low power red bike light I have attached to a flexible clip on stand that I can clip onto the edge of the map table. the sole lighting is the other half of the bike set I used for the night light and is at foot level pointing across the sole of the deck rather than up in the air to help keep your night vision.
NZ$10 


Entertainment - NZ$15

This comes in the form of music from rechargeable speaker (approx 4to5 hours per charge) that can be plugged into my phone with a 3.5mm cable (it last longer this way too) or blue tooth attached.
If it's a movie I'm craving on longer journeys then its my trusty cheap 7" Tablet which can be recharged from the boats battery if needed, but it can do a least 4 movies before it needs charging again. This is a different story of the kids come aboard though. 
I also have a pocket recharging pack (5000mA) which I picked up for next to nothing which I can use for charging the phone or the speaker rather than using the boats battery pack, which I prefer to do.

12V Battery set up - NZ$100

Click on the image for a better look

This is very simple set up, the only fancy bit is the Power distribution unit that I have that has a built in digital volt meter, a very handy addition. You can readily get them from the likes of TradeMe (NZ) Amazon and AliExpress for about NZ$40

Volt Meter, USB points (1A and 2.2A) and Car 12V plug

My battery is a 85MAh Leisure battery I was given, which is housed in a home made battery box under the 1/4 berth with the wiring going to a small distribution board, a fuse and master switch and then 3 switches for the Anchor, Compass light and the last for the 400GHP Bilge Pump. All in about NZ$100 mixed in with a few freebies I was lucky to acquire on the way. The Anchor light is a home made affair with a single LED bulb housed in a water proof case and mounted on the mast top.

Keeping it going

Being a small boat I don't have the ability to take shore power to charge the battery, so I use a cheap and cheerful solar panel to recharge the battery while I am away. Its only 5 watts but this enough for my use of trickle charging. I just clip it onto the battery terminals when I leave the boat, making sure I have turned off the Master circuit switch to prevent accidental discharge while charging. I place my solar panel against the window as this stops debris and damage to the unit if I were to mount it externally. It's not ideal but works fine for me.

I'm going to try and set this up so I can have it permanently in place and just have a switch to turn it on and off as needed. But that's another project and another post for a later date. 

So that it, simple to understand and make as well as simple to maintain. Here's a list of items I used in the on-board circuit.

1. Leisure Battery 85(MAh)
2. Plastic Box with a clip on lid to act as a battery box (DIY Store)
3. 2.5mm Twin core cable (non marine). About 15m of it.
4. Car style in line Fuse holder rated at 5A.
5. 8 way Terminal block used as distribution bar. One for Positive and 1 for Negative.
6. Master On/Off Switch from an electrical store.
7. 3 x On/Off rocker switches for Compass, Anchor Light and Bilge Pump, bought online.
8. 12V Car Lighter power, with USB power and Volt Meter. Bought from TradeMe.
9. 5 Watt Solar Panel kit for car battery charging was bought online.

Would love to hear of your small boat power plants and what you get by with.