Are solar and wind enough for cruising?

[conachair]

Originally Posted by Pizzazz

If you run the engine or Genny for 1 he a day, you will be covered. My suggestion is, go that route for about a season, fhen decide if you need solar or anything else. Save the money, though do not now it on a dinghy or something.

Important to note that the batteries will never get fully charged like that, probably the most common way batteries die early on cruising boats.

[valhalla360]

Short answer: Solar is great for 12v DC and modest 120v AC loads. Do an energy audit and add 20-30% (or allow for upsizing when designing).

Air/Con is not going to happen without an extreme system and even then will have significant limitations. If you like to have air/con now, don't buy the argument that suddenly, you won't need it. Yes, you can survive without it but most people choose to go cruising to enjoy themselves not prove what they can survive.

[barnakiel]

With AC, heating and cooling, etc. you are likely looking towards a genset.

Cheers,
b.

[john61ct]

Likely? It's 100% certain!

The loads OP list guarantee extensive genny use.

AND solar will be required to get the bank to 100% for longevity.

All the test is details.

[Suijin]

The best thing a new boat owner can do as far as voluntary upgrades is wait. Wait until you've spent time on the boat. Wait until you've lived on it awhile in the manner you expect to. You'll figure out your energy requirements, your water requirements, you're navigation and instrumentation needs etc. Too many buyers new to big boats and living aboard spend a ton on upgrades only to find out later it was money that would have been better spent elsewhere, or at least later down the line.

One thing you can count on is that pretty much any technology upgrade will be better and cheaper later than it is now. Wait until you really need it before you pull the trigger.

[carstenb]

Here is our empirical data. 40 ft boat, 2 persons. we have all the nav stuff, radar, AIS, chartplotter, autopilot etc. Only run the radar i fog.
We have 2 Sunpower 335w household panels, mounted flat on our targa bar. 'Outback MPPT 60/80 controller.

We've found that our solar gives us something between 200-220 amps per day IF it is not cloudy and we are down south somewhere - best output was one day at noon where it was pumping 45 amps

We have a fridge, lights, electric water pumpe, watermaker (runs every 3rd day for about 5 hours - 30-40 amps) and an ice cube maker (runs every 3-4th day couple of hours - 15-20 amps total).

We also light up our 40 liter electric water heater in mid morning and heat the 40 liters - we then ahve hot water all day.

We normally bathe off the platform and rinse completely with fresh hot water


ok - so what does all that tell you? Do as everyone here suggests - make a spreadsheet of your usage, then look at how to put that much back intothe battery system.

Forgot to mention - we have 600AH AGM housebank. You also need to spend a fair bit of time thinking about the sizing of your battery bank

We run almost exclusively off the solar - we only run the engine if it is and has been cloudy for a couple of days .

air conditioning is not on unless you run the genset ALL THE TIME you are using the air conditioning (and you will not be popular in anchorages for running you genset all the time)

microwaves pull an unreasonable amount of juice - so unless you are completely hooked on - dump it.

Rigth now we are looking at installing a freezer - average 1.5AH per hour, This might make us run our engine a bit more

We've been on the water for 18 months now, and the above is how it all averages out.

Don't forget - you genset needs diesel - so you'll have to carry more.

We are also in agreement with those that sy you don't need airco - in anchorages there is almost always a cooling breeze-beside you will spend most of your time in the cockpit where the airco does you no good anyway

[zeehag]

cruise 3000 miles before you make up your mind. your needs will change as you progress.

[Cheechako]

You need the generator for AC. It's likely you dont need the AC at all offshore or if anchored, not often then. At a dock you may.

[AJ_n_Audrey]

With regard to the watermaker, bear in mind that Bernard Moitessier sailed one and a half times around the world without one, and without ever docking. Fewer systems means fewer problems, but if you love gadgets and like working on them, that's fine.

[Cadence]

Heat, AC, water heater, Plan on using a generator.

[Locquatious]

Second, consider running the hot water off of the waste heat of the generator instead of the engine. We do that and almost never run out of hot water.

We used the generator waste heat for years for our hot water, till the generator threw a piston rod. (In our case, the failure was due to not following the exhaust advice of Northern Lights rather than using the waste heat.) Even though Northern Lights appears to make provision for tapping the waste heat, they advised against it. The reason given by Parts and Power was that a generator should work hard for maximum life. Now we turn on the electric water heater when the peak charge period for the batteries has passed. And sometimes it is nice to turn on the AC toward the end of the charging cycle, after the water heater cycles off.

Even if you do your primary 3-stage charging by main or gen, go ahead with the wind and solar charging, up to battery float voltage. The batteries will last longer when you avoid the deep cycles. In our case, we have chosen one source, the gen, for the 3-stage charging. All other sources stop charging at battery float voltage. It just has to be too much when more that one source decides to 3-stage charge the batteries several times a day.

[cottonsail]

Installed my 500 watt 2 panel system 2 years ago. The panels are Sanyo and the MTTP controller is Outback. Brackets and bracing are stainless from Garhauer. 2" 6061-T6 aluminum tubing was acquired locally. Total price was $1040. A DIY project. The panels came from Sun Electric in Miami Fl. The boat has 6 group 27 deep cycles(not included in the price). This seems to be almost too much electricity.

[Rorzech]

Just remember that lead acid batteries drink distilled water.
The more you discharge and charge them the more water they drink.

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by zeehag

cruise 3000 miles before you make up your mind. your needs will change as you progress.

My thoughts too, your needs are going to vary depending on were you intend to sail.

Pete

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by AJ_n_Audrey

With regard to the watermaker, bear in mind that Bernard Moitessier sailed one and a half times around the world without one, and without ever docking. Fewer systems means fewer problems, but if you love gadgets and like working on them, that's fine.

Sounds like Bernard took very few showers if any and sailed solo... most likely due to his personal hygiene.