Cost of Cold Beer

[sailorboy1]

So for 4 years I have been wanting to be able to leave the refrigerator on during the week with it out on the mooring and no one around. I also wanted to get my batteries fully charged at the same time. So solar became the answer to me.

I chose solar over wind even though there are a lot more wind generator on boats out in the mooring field than there are solar panels. I also figured that it would be less expensive than wind once I did all the mounting etc. and that a 290W panel was 1/4 the cost on a wind generator.

So what is the cost of cold beer? I have the system up and running and the cost has come to $1469 which includes the panel, controller mounting, wire and connections (and 12 hours of my time).

The panel itself at $269 was the cheapest part of the whole system!

[sailorboy1]

BTW the cost of cold beer is ................ priceless!

[colemj]

It seems a silly question to me. The cost of cold beer is....

...priceless.

Mark

[colemj]

Arrgh, I'm slower than Don L (hanging my head in shame...)

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by Don L

So for 4 years I have been wanting to be able to leave the refrigerator on during the week with it out on the mooring and no one around. I also wanted to get my batteries fully charged at the same time. So solar became the answer to me.

I chose solar over wind even though there are a lot more wind generator on boats out in the mooring field than there are solar panels. I also figured that it would be less expensive than wind once I did all the mounting etc. and that a 290W panel was 1/4 the cost on a wind generator.

So what is the cost of cold beer? I have the system up and running and the cost has come to $1469 which includes the panel, controller mounting, wire and connections (and 12 hours of my time).

The panel itself at $269 was the cheapest part of the whole system!

Don the price will be worth it many times over

[KnuckleDragger]

And the more you drink the cheaper it gets...
Win/Win situation!

[dockbumdan]

it will be 1000 times cheaper after you drink 167 six packs.

[savoir]

Does it work out different for full strength and light ?

[atoll]

Originally Posted by Don L

So for 4 years I have been wanting to be able to leave the refrigerator on during the week with it out on the mooring and no one around. I also wanted to get my batteries fully charged at the same time. So solar became the answer to me.

I chose solar over wind even though there are a lot more wind generator on boats out in the mooring field than there are solar panels. I also figured that it would be less expensive than wind once I did all the mounting etc. and that a 290W panel was 1/4 the cost on a wind generator.

So what is the cost of cold beer? I have the system up and running and the cost has come to $1469 which includes the panel, controller mounting, wire and connections (and 12 hours of my time).

The panel itself at $269 was the cheapest part of the whole system!

you forgot to add in the cost of the refrigerator,and depreciation on the boat

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by dockbumdan

it will be 1000 times cheaper after you drink 167 six packs.

Would love to see the math on that.

I figure it will take 368 days boat use for the solar to break even with having just gotten a bag of ice for the beer.

Or around 500 hours of engine operation just to charge batteries.

But in the end it doesn't matter because cold beer is .............. priceless!

[Wench'sCaptain]

I wish folks would post pics of their solar install. I am toying with the idea and just can get past where to install them that don't look like crap or in the way.

[Liam Wald]

Originally Posted by Don L

BTW the cost of cold beer is ................ priceless!

I kind of disagree.
Although beer is really good when it is cold, IMHO it is almost as good when it isn't.
I nearly never worry if it is cold or not.
My old friend Skipper Mick who lived aboard the Scami 30 THE RITZ used to refer to warm beer as being, "Rodeo Temp", and drank it with gusto in enormous quantity.
I can only hope to live up to that standard.

[Ecos]

I think you need to re-figure. Down where you really need cold beer, like Panama, El Salvadore etc. beer is only .50-.75 cents per can. It is going to take you a lot longer to pay for your system than you thought, something like over 2,000 beers? If you where down there anyway. How many years(months) of beer drinking is that anyway?

[sailorboy1]

the purchse price of the beer isn't part of the costs; only the cost of keeping it cold

but if it takes drinking 2000 cold ones so be it

[ohdrinkboy]

If you had a big CF party on your boat you could recover the costs faster.