1100w of solar on a 36 foot sailboat, yes please! (Calico Skies Sailing, Ep 75)

In this episode we complete a major upgrade to to our solar generating capacity. We add an additional 600w of solar to our existing 510w. 1110w of solar on a 36 foot monohull sailboat must be some sort of record lol! Earlier this summer we upgraded to 600 amps of lithium LiFePO4 batteries courtesy of our buddies on S/V Delos. We need a means of regenerating power to properly utilize the huge potential of this lithium bank.

In addition to the new solar panels we also upgrade to Victron solar charge controllers to increase the efficiency of our existing solar panels. After a bit of research we learn that we are better off wiring our existing pair or solar panels in series rather than parallel.

With the wiring work complete it’s time to get down business of installing the new solar array. First step is to remove the old davits. We modified our existing davits to accept the panels. We are doing all the prep work ourselves to keep the welding costs down. We figure out the dimensions, geometry, and cut the stainless to size prior to dropping the davits off with the welder. While the davits are removed from the boat we do some fiberglass work to stiffen the transom where the port davit has been flexing and cracking the gelcoat.

Now that all the prep work is done it is time for the big lift. The two panels bolted together weigh over eighty pounds. The easiest way we could think of installing the panels was to raft up to our buddy’s fifty five foot catamaran named Avalon. We take advantage of Avalons high freeboard as a perfect work platform as well as use the mast as a makeshift crane. The new solar array is installed without any issues. Never a dull moment over here on Calico Skies 🙃

0:00 Intro
0:49 Solar Charger Upgrade
2:33 Recap
3:02 Rewiring solar panels from parallel to series
4:20 Davit removal
5:00 Fiberglass work to support the weight of improved davits
11:53 Metal work to prep the davits for welding
12:35 Re-Installing modified davits
15:43 The big lift; rafting up with our friends 55ft catamaran to lift the solar panels

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