Removing AC power and going with DC power only.

[Simi 60]

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I feel like AC power on boats is more of a convenience for those that aren’t full time on a boat than a requirement for full timers who have all the 12v equipment anyway.

I strongly disagree

We are full time on the hook, no marinas and have mostly 240v
Advantage being that 240v (in your case 110) is far cheaper and easier.
Example being if one of my many 10 year old fridge/freezers plays up I can buy a brand new replacement easily anywhere on the coast for less than the cost of getting someone down to quote on repair of a 12v unit.

Oh, and we rarely use genset
We do have a large solar array, batteries and inverter

 

[ksanders]

I would be much more inclined if starting from a blank slate to make everything on a boat AC powered than DC powered.

AC power would come from a set of redundant inverters, a decent battery bank and a variety of recharging capabilities.

This makes your boat compatible with land based stuff. Everything from pumps, to appliances to lighting.

There is zero need to pay extra to have DC power in todays AC powered world.

In my optimum world the only thing DC powered would be the actual engine systems.

 

[tiltrider1]

Has anybody paid attention to were the car market is going. It's not 12v. The car manufactures are looking to 48v and AC. Now 12v isn't going to disappear anytime soon but you might find that the cool new boating toys will be AC powered sooner than you think.

 

[kierasdady]

I looked through the replies, but didn't see anyone talking about wire sizes. Keep in mind that 12v vs 120v means you'll need wiring that can handle 10x the amperage. That can get really bulky, very expensive, and hard to route. Personally, I'd keep the 120 & an inverter, a few hundred watts of solar, & Li batteries.

 

[socalrider]

Has anybody paid attention to were the car market is going. It's not 12v. The car manufactures are looking to 48v and AC. Now 12v isn't going to disappear anytime soon but you might find that the cool new boating toys will be AC powered sooner than you think.

I don't think that follows. The car market, particularly with EVs, is going to higher voltage DC (400V, 800V...) for pack voltage, but I don't see much AC other than accessory inverters, and not much 48V either. On the end use side, the trend is toward everything charged by USB (5V DC), and more and more efficient to maximize battery life for portable devices.

There are generally two classes of devices: things that use 100's to 1000's of Watts (water makers, electric cooking/heating, HVAC), and everything else. The everything else is getting more and more efficient, and will stay DC. Refrigeration is somewhere in the middle.

The higher power stuff is going to stay high power for the most part - you're not going to get USB powered HVAC or water makers.

If you want simple systems, you can go 12V only. In most cases it means HVAC is pretty much out, and you're cooking with propane and heating your water with diesel or waste engine heat.

But I don't need AC, actually prefer cooking with propane, and heating water with diesel seems a hell of a lot smarter than using diesel to run a combustion engine to spin a generator to push electrons through a resistor to heat water.

So as always it depends on the use case - but I AC aside I don't think you really have to give up much.

I am bald as a cueball though so I don't need a hairdryer. One could certainly do an inverter off batteries to power a couple of dedicated outlets for the few high power appliances that don't have great substitutes (hair dryer, microwave, toaster) - it erodes the simplicity thing, but it's still a lot simpler than a generator and a hell of a lot less noisy.

 

[FF]

On our Lobster boat the use for underway AC power was mostly just the microwave or on occasion a 120v power tool.

The inverter unit under the dining table and an extension cord plugged in when needed.

 

[MVDarlin]

No substitute for a genny when you need it. I have solar panels and large battery bank on my 50' motor yacht plus 3,000 watt inverter. When at anchor sailboats like to raft up and " charge their batteries". No matter how well solar works I end up running the 4.5 kwh diesel genny an hour am and pm to top off batteries, make hot water and cool down 5' freezer. Great when you want to do a load of laundry. Genny is quiet, in a sound shield with raw water cooling. No sense tossing it if you already have one.