New owner of a 340 and need advice

CnC

Wondering if someone could assist with several questions I have regarding our recently purchased 2001 Rinker 340 Fiesta Vee? 

Aqua_Aura

List all your questions. There will be plenty of help. 

CnC

OK so here goes. And remember I'm coming from an 18' bassboat to 34 feet of fiberglass and a wife at the stern telling me not to hit anything!
1. Shore power vrs Generator power. How should the dials look on shore power vrs under way? Also, if I'm stranded out on the water can I simply connect a booster to these two pos/neg leads to start the engines?

CnC

2. Breaker Panel. Shore power Generator. Should the mains stay in this position always unless I'm running the generator? What does the reversed polarity mean?

CnC

3. Backing 12' beam up without using the steering wheel is super challenging. Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated. Having a hard time understanding how wind affects this

CnC

4. will adding an invertor of some sort help with having 120 power for charging phones and low draw items while off shore power and without having to run the generator? 

CnC

5. I think our anchor might be a bit light for the boat (the surveyor said he felt it might be?) and I want to change it. It being a 34' at around 14000lbs what size and weight should I consider in the CQR type? What weight can the windlass handle?

CnC

6. Water system. There is a water inlet on the port side for a garden hose at the stern opposite the fresh water tank on Starboard. Is this simply for flushing out the system or a separate water source for shore to save your fresh tank water?

CnC

7. Trim tabs look to be hydraulic. These are used only to initially plane out the boat and then out drive trims take it from there??

CnC

8. Flame arrestors. How can I clean them and could they account for poor fuel consumption?

CnC

9. Definitely need to work out the battery/power situation because my wife and I went on our first trip without others to help the day before yesterday and after sitting for a couple hours on anchor the engines wouldn't turn over. Luckily there seemed to be enough juice to start the generator and got them going. was not looking forward to calling for a tow on out first solo trip out?

Aqua_Aura

CnC said:

OK so here goes. And remember I'm coming from an 18' bassboat to 34 feet of fiberglass and a wife at the stern telling me not to hit anything!
1. Shore power vrs Generator power. How should the dials look on shore power vrs under way? Also, if I'm stranded out on the water can I simply connect a booster to these two pos/neg leads to start the engines?

The dials can be like this for underway and with generator running. I leave my batteries off when I am on shore power, that's just me but others may have something else they do. The post are supposed to hook to a battery so you can open the hatch if your batteries die, I don't recall if it will start your engine or generator. 

Aqua_Aura

CnC said:

2. Breaker Panel. Shore power Generator. Should the mains stay in this position always unless I'm running the generator? What does the reversed polarity mean?

Reversed polarity is letting you know if you have reversed connection when connecting to shore power. Not sure on the rest of your panel, mine is different. 

Aqua_Aura

CnC said:

6. Water system. There is a water inlet on the port side for a garden hose at the stern opposite the fresh water tank on Starboard. Is this simply for flushing out the system or a separate water source for shore to save your fresh tank water?

Separate system to connect at the marina so you don't have to use your tank. You can flush out the system as well but if you had antifreeze in the tank it won't flush the tank just the lines. 

CnC

When I turn off all the batteries on shore power certain things don't work. Is this normal? Also, when I leave the dock should I turn all the batteries off and just let the charger recharge them? I've been leaving them as is in the picture?

Aqua_Aura

Yes when my batteries are off at the dock certain things don't work, I think mostly if not all 12v with the exception of my bilge pumps. I should clarify I leave the batteries off at my marina while I am away from the boat not while I'm using it. Leaving the dock batteries should be on so all your systems work. 

CnC

Thank you so much for advice so far. Things are becoming a little clearer. So being on shore power the 120 plugs should work for any additional lighting or items we want to plug in? The fridges will switch from 12V to 120 as well?

Aqua_Aura

Yep that's correct. I'll add some confusion,is your refrigerator dual voltage? Someone recently discovered there's was not so they were diagnosing a problem that didn't really exist. 

You can run a lot of systems off of batteries for a long time so don't be too concerned with running them dead. Just make sure you have good deep cycle house batteries and good starting batteries. 

Aqua_Aura

Where are you located? Always curious where everyone is 🤷🏽‍♂️

I don't mean your address just curious what area your boating. 🙂

CnC

Ontario Canada

CnC

Will do for the batteries as well. Thanks so much

CnC

How can I tell if the fridges are dual voltage? I think the marina said they were?

Aqua_Aura

They probably are, I was just reminded of that. You can see if it's running when you are just on battery power. 

Ontario.... There is atleast a few people in your area on here. 

Willhound

@Aqua_Aura is providing good advice. I'll add that there is a battery switch setting that isolates your starting battery so that your on board systems don't kill it when anchored out. This also assumes that the batteries are all in good shape. Get a voltage tester and check them all once fully charged but charger shut off. You should get a minimum of around 12.8 volts or so.

CnC

So when we go on anchor should I turn both the engine batteries to off?

CnC

Willhound (Lake Simcoe?) We bought this boat at LeFroy Harbour a couple weeks ago and had it float trucked all the way to Kingston. 

Aqua_Aura

You could turn them off however there shouldn't be any draw on them so I don't think it would make a difference. 

One thing I have wanted to do when I am sleeping at a marina on the boat is only use my batteries with no shore power just to see how long I can get out of it. I forgot last time we went out 😕

CnC

I'll definitely try that for sure. Thanks

LaRea

CnC said:

5. I think our anchor might be a bit light for the boat (the surveyor said he felt it might be?) and I want to change it. It being a 34' at around 14000lbs what size and weight should I consider in the CQR type? What weight can the windlass handle?

What anchor do you have?  For most people, a 22-pound Delta with at least 30 feet of chain is a good solution.  The more chain, the better it will hold.  Just make sure you get the right size chain for the windlass (probably 5/16" G4 chain), and make sure the anchor will fit into the bow pulpit.  

LaRea

CnC said:

2. Breaker Panel. Shore power Generator. Should the mains stay in this position always unless I'm running the generator? What does the reversed polarity mean?

Yes.  The slider prevents connecting to the generator and shore power at the same time.  If you connect to shore power and the "reversed polarity" light comes on, it means there's a problem with the shore power wiring on the dock.  Disconnect and try a different plug on the dock.  Don't use one with reversed polarity.  

LaRea

CnC said:

OK so here goes. And remember I'm coming from an 18' bassboat to 34 feet of fiberglass and a wife at the stern telling me not to hit anything!
1. Shore power vrs Generator power. How should the dials look on shore power vrs under way? Also, if I'm stranded out on the water can I simply connect a booster to these two pos/neg leads to start the engines?

You can't use the posts to jump the starter batteries.  As stated, they will raise and lower the engine room hatch.