Power Storage

The energy storage solution is going to be well oversized, init.

Baseline

Most sailboats in the 25+ foot range have two battery banks, increasing in size as the boat increases in length.

There is a ‘starter’ bank, which has enough power to cold-start the diesel engine, and a ‘house’ bank, which contains sufficient power to run the house electrics for a certain amount of time.

The Catalina 42 MkII, a 42 foot / 12.8 meter vessel typical of its class, was manufacturer with a single deep-cycle marine battery for engine start, and two deep-cycle marine batteries for the house bank. You can expect similar outfitting for any vessel of sufficient size to live aboard.

It is generally advised to keep 3-4x your daily power consumption in battery capacity. This keeps the batteries from getting heavily drained on a daily basis, adversely affecting their lifespan.

It is similarly advised to have an alternator appropriately sized to charge that battery bank.

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