Standing in the main cabin and facing aft the freezer is on the ouboard starboard side and the fridge is on the inside. Both units drain into the aft head shower bilge beneath the companion way ladder. On our boat the starboard reefer compressor unit beneath the ladder step feeds the fridge and the port side unit feeds the freezer. After twelve years the fridge control module finally died. The symptom; you could hear the compressor trying to start, but the control module could not supply enough juice to get it going. A new module from WAECO costs about $230 and was easy to install. Basically, plug and play. That was in 2003 and it is still running.

Our boat has two Marine Air reverse cycle heat pumps. The main cabin unit is 16K BTU and is located inside the starboard setee. The aft cabin unit is 9K BTU and is located inside the aft berthing cabinet next to the steering quadrant. If you pull the matress away you will see two lift out panels next to the rudder post tube. The sea water through hull and pump that feeds both units must be open and on before you start either heat pump and is located beneath the small hatch next to the galley sink cabinet.

Our boat came with a Cummins (Kubota) three cylinder tractor diesel that is dedicated to an eight kilowatt AC generator on our boat. It is governed to deliver the precise RPMs to the direct drive integrated AC generator in order to produce 60 hertz and 120 volts AC. Once you start the Genset it accelerates immediately to the governed RPM.

Although it is set for a specific RPM (around 1500 I think), I do not believe this does any harm to the engine as long as you work it, which the owners manual recommends (truck, transit and other industrial diesels commonly operate in this RPM range).

When we cruise (several two month cruises covering thousands of miles) we sail about 80% of the time and prefer to anchor out as opposed to marina life. Every other day I run the Genset for about two hours, during which I have the hot water heater on for cleaning and bathing (about ten amps), plus it is bulk charging the house bank (25-30 amps). At least for the first hour the engine is working pretty hard until the hot water reaches its set temp and the charger completes the bulk charge cycle.

Normally, after two days of battery use the house bank voltage drops to the low end of 12 volts on our analog DC volt meter, which I monitor closely. It usually takes about an hour and a half to complete the bulk charge stage, then another one half hour in the absorption stage to bring the bank to about 90%. This routine has worked well for us over the years on Belle-Vie.

Each of the two wet cell 8D house bank batteries (now AGMs) are rated at 240 amp hours, or 480 combined. They can deliver about 240 amp hours before they reach 50% capacity at which time they need recharging in my estimation. The Link 1000 does a good job providing battery status and amperes consumption.