Shore power cord

[Dougiestyle]

How long is your shore power cord, 25 or 50 feet?
My plug in is mid-ship. I will be ordering one in the near future.

50 seems long, but 25 Hmmm about right

[Tomfoolery]

50 ft is long, but 25 ft wouldn’t make it to the power pedestal in my marina. Many times when traveling I’ve been glad it wasn’t short. I just coil the extra either in the cockpit, or around a lifeline stanchion. My shore power connection is just forward of the cockpit, on the port side, which is also where the power panel is.

It’s heavy, too, but it could be worse - a 50 ft 50A cord is VERY heavy. One more conductor, and they’re all 6 gauge instead of 10 gauge.

[ris]

50 ft is the way to go. We have never been short but we have had only 2 or 3 feet extra many times. We also use the smart plug on the boat and the standard marine plug on the dock. Also if you travel a lot and use marinas at some point you will need a 50 amp to 30 amp pigtail. Sometimes the 30 is burned out and only the 50 amp is available. We have even been to marinas were all they had were 50 amp dock pedestals.

[DaveC426913]

Agree with 50ft.

Consider the downside of having more cable than you need.
Consider the downside of having less cable than you need.

You can't cross a canyon in two jumps.

YMMV of course. If you always visit sites where you know the distance to the post, then you're fine - but if that were the case you wouldn't be here asking what's best.

I also find an adapter or two is important. Some clubs near me don't have 30A plugs.

[Dougiestyle]

Kind of figured a 25 foot would probably be too short, so 50 foot it is.
I will also look into 50 to 30 amp pigtail. $177.00

[Tomfoolery]

Consider also your actual needs. My boat only has a small 6A x 2 battery charger, which takes very little shore power to run. I can run a small high-velocity fan for cooling, and an electric water pot for my morning oatmeal, but with judicious load management, I could easily stick with a light gauge extension cord and a 15A receptacle. Which is what powers the boat when it’s in the driveway, just for trickle charging the batteries.

Point being, if you’re sure you’ll only need a short shore power cord almost always, but want to be able to have power in parts unknown, you could always use a 25 ft marine cord at your home marina, assuming you keep it in one, and keep a 50 ft or 100 ft light-gauge cord on a plastic reel for times you need a long one. As long as you can keep the power needs low.

But I’ve never regretted having the 50 footer, though my shoulders may not agree when coiling and handling that thing.

Oh, and for the land based version of that, my Class B RV came with a 25 ft 30A shore power cord. Which is plenty in an RV park, but in my driveway, and in other folks’ driveways where I’ve stayed this past fall, I needed a 25 ft extension. A light cord would have overheated from the house battery charger alone (I tried it, and it did), but a cheap (Camco is a ‘budget’ brand) 25 ft 10-gauge extension cord with NEMA TT-30 male and female ends (unique to the RV world), worked just fine. So maybe that’s something to consider in your case, if you’re sure you’ll only need a short one most of the time but want to be able to connect in some other location where power isn’t so close.

[Starscream]

If your power needs are less than 15A (that covers all Macgegors that I have ever seen) consider this:

https://www.amazon.ca/Conntek-Marine-Pi ... er+&sr=8-4

and a simple extension cord. That's what I do, and my marina is fine with it. They are happy that I use a simple 120V plug and leave the big connectors for the big boys.

[vkmaynard]

Vote for 50'

Highly recommend buying two adaptors, 50-30a and 30-15a

We bought this 50a to 30a adapter when it was $40 https://amzn.to/2ZQ0ugM

Other options
https://amzn.to/37H3Sxk
https://amzn.to/2ZQ0Tji

The 30-15a allows you to connect to a generator or house. https://amzn.to/2Fji4QV

Victor

[Signaleer]

If your power needs are less than 15A (that covers all Macgegors that I have ever seen) consider this:

https://www.amazon.ca/Conntek-Marine-Pi ... er+&sr=8-4

and a simple extension cord. That's what I do, and my marina is fine with it. They are happy that I use a simple 120V plug and leave the big connectors for the big boys.

I do this as well at my home dock.

[Dougiestyle]

I think a 30 to 15 amp adapter, and a 50 foot, 14 gauge extension cord might work. Should be all i need at this time. No big stuff at this point.

[dlandersson]

Ditto

50 ft is long, but 25 ft wouldn’t make it to the power pedestal in my marina. Many times when traveling I’ve been glad it wasn’t short. I just coil the extra either in the cockpit, or around a lifeline stanchion. My shore power connection is just forward of the cockpit, on the port side, which is also where the power panel is.

It’s heavy, too, but it could be worse - a 50 ft 50A cord is VERY heavy. One more conductor, and they’re all 6 gauge instead of 10 gauge.