Having bought an inverter and washing machine before upgrading alternator and batteries, I'd planned that this shouldn't be a problem if I use the cold wash option that the washing machine has, thereby not heating any water. This was approved as a good interim solution by the boss. So I made the assumption (yes I know what assumptions are) that running the engine whilst running the washing machine would help provide the necessary amps, I fired up the engine before starting a cold wash cycle. Monitoring the inverter, I can see a 200-400W flowing as we fill and start the cycle. Then (on a cold wash) this jumps to 1700W. The alternator does not like this. After a few seconds we got a lot of heat and smoke! Turn off the washing machine, and run a rinse and spin cycle without problems (20-400W). The alternator quickly cools down and runs normally. On a second occasion when I think the incoming water was warmer, we got through approx 3-4 minutes of 1700W, before reducing back to it's non-heating 200-400W operation, and no smoke, but lots of load from the sound of the engine having to work harder. It's a Beta 35 with a standard (65A I think) alternator, and I currently have 300Ah of batteries. Any ideas on how I can run with the existing set up - just run on the batteries for the 3/4 minutes of heavy load perhaps (I think that's about 150Amps from the batteries)? And of course advice on an updated set up - alternator, batteries. Update both? What size? Would be much appreciated. Many thanks....