A couple more Allied Seawind 30 questions

[Nick_ander]

The first, I have limited water storage. I think it is between 30 and 40 gallons. I would like to increase that to 100 if possible, or at least as close to it as I can safely get. At 8.34 lbs per gallon I would be increasing the weight of cargo 584 lbs by adding 70 more gallons. The question then becomes where do you put that much water? I thought about the v-berth, but I really don't know how the boat will support that. I am shocked at how little info I can find about these boats. Most everything out there is for the MKII which is a vastly different boat.

The second is electrical. I am going to redo the system. Right now it is a tangled rainbow of insanity. In these boats the battery bank sits under the starboard cockpit locker. I have a gasoline engine down there. It scares me to death because nothing is really fused and everything just seems like it is ran and attached to the posts. Each post probably has at least four connections attached to it. I really want to simplify this and make it safe. If anyone has any ideas, or has seen how other Seawind 30s have solved this issue I would love to know. I will be asking this question around to other places as well.

Thanks,

Nick

[atomvoyager]

My first thought about your post is that you don't need to know what other AS30 owners have done or try to copy what the builder or previous owner of your boat did with water and electrics. The answers you're looking for are common to a wide range of boats out there. Builders took shortcuts and made compromises. Previous owners added to that. Your needs are not theirs so I wouldn't lock myself into that.

Let's say you want water capacity of 100 gals. Obviously you don't want to put a 100 gall tank in the v-berth. Some of that will be in cans because you can't transport water from shore to your anchored boat without them. If you have a minimum of four 5-gal cans that means you now need tankage for 80 gals. Usually that means finding a place for two tanks. That might mean one of the tanks is an integral bilge tank as on Brian and Debbie's AS30. I think you have seen the video of their bilge tank. If you don't want to install that much for whatever reason then you add more cans to make up for it. If you don't want to build your own tank then you may need three smaller tanks placed anywhere low in the boat that you can find space for. As for the weight, if there are times you don't want the weight then don't fill the tanks all the way. Plus full tanks are a temporary state, most often they are less than full so I wouldn't worry about it. Adding a watermaker is another option many owners choose and that may allow you to reduce tankage but it comes with its own drawbacks.

It's acceptable to have up to four wires per battery post but three or less is better, particularly when some need to be fused. To clean that up you should install positive and negative 250 amp bus bars near the house bank. I'm assuming you have two banks. I have a basic 12v electrics installation guide for a simple single bank boat that you should review:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PofFOg9H_6Y

For a more complex two bank system I'll post some rough wiring diagrams below from a recent rewiring I did on a Nicholson 31 to show you how to set up the battery cables and main components. This boat's wiring is somewhat complex because of a 2000w invertor/charger, electric windlass, battery monitor and combiner along with loads of B&G electronics so hopefully you can keep yours simpler. On the drawing below I used expensive class T fuses for 250A and cheaper MRBF Fuses for 150A and under but you could use MRBF throughout. Fuses under 30 A are blade type ATO. The thin lines are light wires under #10AWG and thick lines are heavy cables 2/0 because we had it in stock but you could use 1/0 for much of it. Switch panel feed is #1.

[atomvoyager]

Battery cables wiring.

[Nick_ander]

This stuff is great thanks! I have a gas engine and having the electrical in such a proximity to the gas engine scares the hell out of me. I ask about others because I am looking for ideas as to where to move the battery bank, etc. to. If it is indeed fine in the cockpit locker not sealed of from the engine compartment then I will leave it, but that doesn't seem right to me. When I get home from work I will review the posts you sent and take a closer look. Thanks.

[atomvoyager]

Yes, I missed that you said you have a gas engine but it doesn't matter. The batteries can go wherever they fit. No need to isolate them from the gas engine any more than you can isolate the fuel line, electrical starter, alternator, and all the rest of the wiring from the engine. Or maybe I'm missing your point?

[Nick_ander]

I didn't think that a battery bank would be considered ignition protected. I may very well be wrong. I am new to gas inboards. I have been on some diesel power boats and around outboards. You always hear how dangerous gasoline and propane are. You didn't miss my point. I want to make sure that what ever I do is smart and my risk is reduced to a minimum. Thanks.

[atomvoyager]

You're right that gas is dangerous. I just doubt that batteries near the gas engine are a problem.