Solar Powered & a New Crew Member

SOLAR POWERED

After we returned from the Tortugas I took a little break from working on the boat and enjoyed just living in the keys. Since we got to Boot Key it's been a constant assault on the boat and I was burned out and needed to relax, but now it was time to get things done and I was ready to get back to it. Being off season hours are limited at work and this has given me some extra time to get things done on the boat, however the money is being missed. 

The latest project was getting the solar panels wired up. This involved drilling holes in the hull, something I wasn't exactly excited about doing. It turned out to be no big deal and our friend Zach was more than happy to be the trigger man. When I was researching solar I picked my components carefully and spent weeks deciding what I wanted, you wouldn't believe the hours spent. I figured our amp hours used each day and what would be needed to support that. I settled on 2 140 watt Kyocera panels because for me they seemed to have the perfect balance of cost vs efficiency & need. It allowed me to use smaller, less expensive controllers due to lower voltage and I managed to find a setup that give me everything I wanted. Due to some people asking, here is the setup on Kainoa. 

Kainoa Solar/Power Setup

2 Kyocera 140 watt panels

Blue Sky Energy SB2512iX-HV

Blue Sky IPN-PRO Remote

Around 40 ft total 10AWG wire

With this we are averaging 12 to 13 amps per hour input on a normal day and we have seen 17+ several times. Our panels are mounted on rails port and starboard, placed horizontal and not repositioned during the day. 

(*Older photo showing how we installed the panels*)

I wanted to just set it and forget it, you know like a Ronco oven! (<----- click) These are connected to our 2 extremely large 370 amp hour 6 volt batteries. We have a second battery bank as well, however it is on the way out and is several years old. I will be replacing the second bank with 4 smaller 6 volt batteries, giving battery bank 2 430 amp hours. This will give us 800  total amp hours of use overall. But.....

Quick 12 volt battery lesson.. 

We will have 800 amp hours, but you never want to discharge your batteries that much, as a matter of fact if you can keep them between 70% and 90% they will last much longer. Our batteries are industrial deep cycle and can tolerate routine 50% discharges, so that makes our usable amp hours around 400. Our daily use averages less than 40 amp hours. Theoretically that would mean we could go 10 days without any input and we would still be at 50% battery life. That is running our fridge, lights, fans and charging ipods, ipads etc. Doing the math right now it is looking like we are putting 2x as much in daily as we take out and that doesn't even add the wind generator into consideration! 

I also wired up a new distribution panel right next to my charge controller and display/battery monitor. This panel has USB ports to charge devices, a 12 volt plug for other items like an inverter to grind our coffee and the fridge is wired here as well. I've spent my fair share of time chasing wires through the boat! These are all mounted so I can monitor everything while sitting on the couch or dinner table ;-) I plan on doing a more technical walkthrough to show people how exactly our solar is hooked up and how it works down the road. 

Here are a couple photos

Thanks to Gate, Zach and Alex for help and technical guidence!

 NEW CREW MEMBER

On a non technical note we have taken on a new crew member, meet Buoy.. 

What sailing vessel in the Caribbean would be complete without a parrot? Even though she is the size of a parakeet, Bouy is every bit a full blow parrot in a small body. She is an 8 week old Pacific Parrotlet and has quickly become a member of the family. Pacific Parrotlets are known for their attitudes and wit, they are also quite good talkers. The kids have been bothering us for a bird for 2 years, we finally buckled when we found Buoy. Colby spent about 2 weeks studying everything about Parrotlets months ago and even made several trips to the small pet shop that hand raises them to ask questions and handle the ones they had. 

MISC

Things are going well and the boat is almost done.. I know it will never be truly "done" however almost all the projects that needed to be complete are just about finished. We need to do some tweeking to help with her sailing ability and will be buying a much larger headsail, as well as some repositioning of blocks and rigging next. Other than that it's hard to come up with blog ideas while sitting here at anchor, otherwise I would just post a bunch of amazing sun rises, sunsets and say how wonderful life is, I know people want more than that though! Right now our lives revolve around what activities are going on in the harbor. We have flotillas, where several people tie their dinghies up and everyone brings a snack and their beverage of choice, potlucks, tiki hut movie nights, bocce ball, community park movie nights and a ton of other activities. There is wing night, taco Tuesdays, it goes on and on. 

There are several kids in the harbor right now, Colby and Peyton are constantly playing, exploring and enjoying the company. Tuesdays are homeschool P.E. and there are about 30 kids of all ages that meet with a teacher from the high school for physical education. (it wears them out!) Colby has his first official girlfriend and I couldn't be more proud, she is a bright, beautiful young girl named Shannon. She and her brothers live on a 51ft boat here in the harbor and their parents are good friends. Peyton has a crush on one of the twin boys but I'm still leery on that idea, that wasn't supposed to happen until she hit 26!!

We are still here, struggling to make it through another rough day /sarcasm.. More updates soon. 

Till next time, 

S/V Kainoa