Who's got the most solar?

S

serpa4

New member
Where do you put it all?
My last boat was a Cutwater C30. I had two 435watt panels on it. I've seen it pump out 55amp DC. It ran everything! Anchor alarms, 2 phones, 2 tablets, lights, inductive stove, convection microwave combo, two fridge/freezer combos, blender, stereo, etc. I could survive indefinitely on it power wise. Usually about noon it was fully topped off.
I'd like to get my 26 Venture upwards of 500 watts. BUT, I need room for a radar at the front of the boat that flips down to make clearance for a bridge at my favorite anchorage, roof mounted RV AC, and the solar. In my Venture, I'd like a convection micro, the fridge/freezer, a portable compressor driven icechest (small), phones, tables, anchor alarm, and my induction cooktop also.
The Venture has a single 170Ahr lithium already, but may put in my "other" battery which is 206Ahr. Heck, I could put in two for less weight than a single G29 lead acid.
Quick math for "worse case" scenario is about 800 watts for 5 hours a day sun. So, ya, probably too much. But what have you all fit on your roof?
 
Only question is are the 175 and 205 Li ion batteries balanced for each other? When I added a second 100 amp hour Battle Born battery, the engineers at Battle Born needed the number of cycles and hours use, capacity of the previous install ed 100 amp hr battery.

I have had zero solar panels on my C Dories. What we have in Florida for sunlight is entirely different from what you will find in the PNW.

You are going to need either mains power or a generator to run that AC in the daytime in your area anyway. (There are some 12 volt air conditioners and perhaps your boat would be a candidate for one.). You may get reasonably short runs of the Roof AC from the li battery--but it will be limited.
 
Serpa,

I have more questions. That is a very interesting list of solar desires, but it conflicts with the ‘design brief’ of NON overwide trailer boat pocket yacht boat designers.

Are you sure you’ll never want an inflatable Saturn K dinghy up there, along with a SUP and maybe a bike as well as the RV type AC, radar on a dome high enough to be above the AC, with a GPS ant and anchor light above all that at all sea states at anchor? There is simply too much shade and not enough room on the roof compared to your R-31 (which is a VERY nice, but oversize, boat).

We are for solar on the right boat. The surprising consensus among many hundreds of non oversize Loopers and cruisers we’ve met over many years is that we can all get about two nights at anchor off conventional batteries (three G31 in our case) with a typical 2.3 to 2.7 CF Danfoss-35 compressor fridge (with the thermostat turned down after the last opening for the night) and the other typical loads. Even less in Canada, and you should cruise there too.

Spreading solar panels over the bimini is not practical when you have to remove it all to trailer.

The hive might agree that one alternative answer is the Honda 2300 Companion suitcase generator, which puts out 2,000w (not just 500) directly into your NEMA 30A shore power inlet without an adapter, even at night or on a cloudy day. It will run a 15K BTU rooftop AC (with ‘load management’), cost half as much, and charge your batteries (through your onboard smart charger) five times faster.

Full disclosure, we bought three Northstar G31 AGM batteries over six years ago (for $1500) that still load test ‘strong’ but replaced them with three West Marine FLA G31 on sale for $163 each. (We plan on cruising remote areas of Georgian Bay this summer). In three years we plan on replacing them with lithium drop-ins that are rated for engine-start use and have a reliable ten year warranty.

Hope this is helpful in not making any decisions that are expensive to reverse until you consider all the possible alternatives. Now I am going outside to hug all of our trees, even though it’s 47 degrees and raining.

John
 
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