Enigma Houseboat Restoration: 5 Must-Have Additions!

[@sletanl]

Lovely videos hope you continue making videos. Cheers from Sweden!

[@Motiv8Labs]

Thanks I appreciate the feedback!

[@FreezyAbitKT7A]

Slushy machine and Root Beer on tap FTW!!! (Or whatever beverages that works in that equipment)

[@ew1421]

Hey you might want to check Rhodan trolling motors they make a 36v with a 96" shaft for big offshore boats with quad outboards. It would definitely work for a bow thruster plus you would have gps spotlock

[@ready4pullback]

Diesel genset is the way to go- no worries of CO poisoning. I would skip the fly by wire controls, go with a thruster, definitely go with marine AC, and you could probably skip the marine fridge (small capacity, heat exchange really isn’t that big a deal).

[@igotatan1]

I would fix the old gas engine, and maybe look around for OEM parts for back-ups. Those are simple components to diagnose when not working.

[@Motiv8Labs]

True that’s one of the best things about the old stuff, a lot simpler to diagnose and fix if you have the spares.

[@ew1421]

I cheated on my bow thruster for my houseboat. I added a 24v trolling motor with remote and spotlock... works great.

[@lee8652]

That's a good generator.. parts can be found, you just have to think outside the box. For example, the fuel pump is from an old Jeep Willys. More info on it can be found on Smoke Stack. You have to think about how you want to use the boat. It sounds like you take it out on the weekends only... you might not need a generator if you size the house battery bank big enough. My setup is 2-Victron Quattro, Cerbo and Victron charge controllers with 20 kWh lithium battery house bank. The Cerbo will start the generator and keep the batteries between 50-60%. This allows us enough energy to sleep through the night without the generator running when needing heat or AC. If we are running both rooftop AC's, we end up with 4-5 hrs of generator run time every 24hrs. Thats with everything on the boat being electric, including two refrigerators, ice maker and electric hot water heater. You might want to look into mini splits over the marine AC. When the rooftop gives up, i'm replacing with mini splits. Bow and stern thrusters are a must on boats like ours. Flyby wire might not be worth the effort.. New engine, transmission cables and controls will probably outlive you. Marine fridge is a must. Will be making that switch when redoing the kitchen. For us a windless is a must.. getting too old yanking that thing up!

[@Motiv8Labs]

Thanks for the comments. The Victron and Cerbo are on the list for sure! I used the original 7.5kw Kohler generator for years until the selenium rectifier exploded and burned up the transformer. Was a good generator other than burning a lot of fuel through the night just to keep the fridge on. It does mean we have an entire generator nearly for spare parts which would be good. Excited about a battery bank and being able to get through most of the night without a generator running.

[@lee8652]

@@Motiv8Labs The fuel burn does hurt, mine burns about 1gph at 6,000 watts. But when you're putting that 6,000 watts into the lithium for a short period of time vs running 24-7 burning 0.4 - 0.8 gph, its not so bad. To put it another way, pre lithium we had to change the generator oil every 2-3 weeks. Post lithium for two years now, the generator has run a total of 28hrs!

[@FreezyAbitKT7A]

fix the old generator, get a fridge that runs on propane also

[@michaelgries8214]

I still say 2x 5.3l LS truck motors!

[@br5498]

With a diesel Gen set you can run it at night and not worry about not waking up…