If you are considering your spec on a new 461 please check out the alternator size that will come with your engine and I'd suggest you think about your battery charging needs carefully.

We've had one season with some electrical issues (all sorted thanks) but found a fundamental miscalculation in our alternator v battery specifications.

Due to the added electric winches plus our Maxpower thruster, the battery count with the boat rose to 8.  We had also specified the lower maintenance 80 ah gel batteries.

So our charging need is therefore to fill 8 x 80 ah - 640 ah capacity - and gel batteries take longer to recharge than conventional lead / acid anyway.

Our 'standard' alternator on our 75 hp Yanmar came as 60 ah - and it's proved woefully too low an output.  Conventional wisdom is the alternator v battery rate should be 1 v 3 - ours is around 1 v 10!

The answer is to obviously increase alternator output and really consider if gel battereis make sense.  If we were we to order again I'd re-spec the alternator up to at least 80 if not 120, ensure I had a smart regulator fitted to ensure maximum output when the engine is running, and go for the cheaper lead acid batteries.

It is a lot easier to do this before you buy the boat - as opposed to retrofitting after!  Hoping this experience helps others.

JOHN

Hi Keith,

Just remember it is an expensive yacht location compared with Denia before you decide to relocate - lovely but pricey..............

Our guys name is Erich Forner.  He is a German (so can chat direct to Hanse Germany if ever required) and was recommended to us by Hanse Palma's Michael Heinig (a V useful local contact point).  Erich charges 30 euros per hour and his mobile is +34 630081092.

He found quite a number of 'inappapropriate connections' when sorting out our issues (and Hanse actually agreed) and some may indeed be common to your model.

Good luck

JOHN