Re: At the gelcoat stage - help needed!!!
fuel pump, wipers, and nav lights won't be on without engine and an led anchor light uses next to nothing... not sure what the hid lights are for but if you figure them for headlights, they should only be used for docking. Driving the boat at night should be done with as little light as possible to maintain your (and other people's) night vision. Your amp will not draw it's max amperage constantly but will average a bit lower unless you are playing one constant bass tone with no beat. If you are running the tv with the inverter then you don't add it to the list but rather it goes in a sub list under the inverter.
I'm not saying that you can't draw 40 amps but rather that I bet it won't be a constant average draw of that much.
I'd really consider ditching the jump pack and having a dedicated start batt. That way it wouldn't hurt a thing to run the house batts down and you'd never have to think about it. Turn key and engine always starts.... never have to wonder
I do agree with you that most items wont be on all at once, and yes my mistake i shouldn't have listed the tv as well as the inverter, it was just to give you guys a rough idea of what could be consuming the power, the inverter is solely used for the tv so again the inverter wont be drawing anywhere near the 800watts peak.
I'm not worried about any of the lights as they are all l.e.d. apart from the hid's which as you said are only meant as docking lights. The amps however are the hungry buggers.
I have finished installing/wiring my volt/current meters and even with the music turned really low my meter reads approx 35 amps, when I turn the music up this dramatically increases and although I never maxed the amps I was still reading 86amps. I will never have the amps all the way for long periods of time but its good to know I could if I wanted to and I would hate to to keep track of how long I have left before having to switch everything off.
The two batteries I am using is connected to a selector switch, battery 1 will be used for normal operation, once battery 1 has drained battery 2 will only be used for outboard electrics and limited accessories, This is basically the same idea as a dedicated starter battery although this way I can choose which battery is being used/charged. I will only be carrying a jump pack for real emergency situations.
I have looked into this further and I can source a small lightweight alternator which produces 75amps which should fit under the cowling with limited modifications, I say that now but we all know it will prob be a nightmare but i'm always up for a challenge or I would'nt be doing a restore in the first place.
Thanks for your advice its really appreciated.
I know I can make gelcoat look real good, but I can change the hull colour of my boat up in a couple years if I don't like it easier with paint . But I will probably go with gelcoat when it comes time.
