SOLAR PANNELS. We both love the sun and the warmer climate. Now we really love it- free power.
The boat had flexipanels which guess what?? – Were damaged and didn’t work, so the owner had taken them off. The great news was that there were two nearly new Victron controllers on board, and a great mounting platform on top of the cockpit roof 😊. Once we decided how much space we needed to access the boom safely we ordered 4 x 305w 20v 1640 x 992 x32 mm ridged Victron solar panels.
After several – “Manyarnas” they finally arrived. Transported by dinghy we lifted them aboard and within hours John had them temporarily connected. – John was like a kid in a sweetie shop, Victron have an app which tells you exactly how much power they are generating.
For the next two weeks I woke up to – "Do you know how much we are generating?", " I cannot believe this", – "its only 7am and we are already self sufficient"! "Do you know"……blah blah blah - he was impressed.
Having worked installing Solar panels on boats in the Caribbean for six months it was extraordinary to see what folk thought they needed: – Huge stainless steel solar frames hanging off the back of their boats, blocking the view and costing a fortune, fortunately they walked away happy but for us the key was to keep it simple and keep the costs down.
Handy Hardy to the solution: – four screws and bit of hard pipe to cut and use as a spacer, a bit of accurate measuring and patients,…… hey presto they are secure. - The most rewarding job ever.
Now every hour Johns face lights up as he accesses his Bluetooth app to tell me how much energy the Joline solar plant is generating. The best bit ….five days into our Sail from Spain to Tunisia we have not started the generator once to charge the batteries.
