Mouse over for more images:
"It seems like the "little things" can take as much time (and money!) as the big things. We finished most of the structural refitting months ago, and the money pit doesn't seem to have filled all the way up.
The neatest thing we found for this section was from Glen Raven Mills. They make Sunbrella, which every boater I am sure knows about, but they have a new product out.
It's a woven cloth, made of the same kind of fabric as Sunbrella, but it is a mesh-like materiel. You can use it for sun covers on your Lexan, plastics and Eisenglass, as well as on hatches and ports. The beauty of this stuff is that you can see through it.
After we built the new dodger with the two-tone Sunbrella (Black on the exterior, tan on the interior) we wanted to cover up the Eisenglass so it will last longer. The problem is, when you live aboard, you like to be able to look around. With solid cloth sun covers you can't do that, but with the new mesh, your plastic is protected, and you can still see out. Very kewl!
We also wanted to see if we couldn't get a little free power from mother nature, so we contacted Paul over at Four Winds Marine, and discussed ways to do this. We ended up with solar energy. There were a lot of reasons for going solar, but the biggest was its simplicity.
For the past 15 years I had four solar panels on the Lost Soul. I sailed about 75,000 miles and never had to touch them. How cool is that?
So we decided to see just how much power we could get from the sun. We settled on the Kyocera brand solar panel, and at first decided to go with six of the KC65T panel. They are 25.7' X 29.6' and have a maximum 3.75 amps at 17.4 volts. That's a total possible 22.5 amps per hour.
I'd planned to mount three atop my dodger, and three atop my new bimini. As the construction of the dodger proceeded we realized we couldn't mount three there, as the dodger has to collapse to access the mizzen mast. So we decided to mount the other three on top of the house, where we used to have our old solar panels.
Then Woody and I were talking, and figured free power is a good thing, so we found places for a few more panels. We mounted a KC130GT on the davits, over the dinghy, where it is completely out of the way. It is 25.7' X 56.1' and delivers a maximum of 7.39 amps, also at 17.5 volts. We ordered two more with stanchion mounts that Fourwinds has. These we plan on mounting on the aft stanchions, port and starboard. We will only use them when we are anchored. Then you just flip 'em up. They are not pictured here, because they are not installed yet.
We also mounted a couple of Blue Sky Charge controllers. They are the high performance Maximum Power Point Tracking photovoltaic charge controllers. They can increase charge current up to 30% or more and are fully protected against reverse polarity and overload conditions.
When all are installed, on a sunny day we should be able to make over 40 amps (if we kick our booms out of the way!) If we can just get 5-6 hours it could keep us topped off without running the generator.
Installing the solar panels is not a simple bolt on. One thing I learned years ago was to be sure they are well mounted. You get into a gale or (heaven forbid!) a hurricane, you want them puppies snug. To do this I contacted Tea over at House of Stainless. He designed the bimini with a heavy-walled 1" stainless tube mount.
We are having a bimini cover made from Sunbrella that will mount under the panels, so you won't even know they are there.
Of course, having a lot of free electricity will free us for a little relaxation, and when relaxing there is nothing like listening to the stereo and the soothing tunes of Eric Stone and the Stoners. In order to get the very best sounds, you have to have a good sound machine and speakers to match.
Last issue we told you about the new Polyplanar stereo we had mounted, and all the neat goodies that they now have, like an MP3 instant connect, and amplifiers, and multiple station sound stuff. Very kewl, but to get the sound to the ears, you need great speakers. These we found by mounting Polyplanar's new waterproof sub-woofer (yes! They make one!) and two 5' X 7' speakers on the aft deck, with a pair of their humongous 6' X 9" full size box speakers with a two-way vented port design that give full range response and are rated 100 watt RMS maximum power input per speaker.
Yes, they do kick ass!
A couple other little goodies we've added this month, were some fancy Gul winch covers. These are heavy duty covers that actually snap in place, so you can't lose 'em. They outlast regular canvas covers ten times or more, as they are layered with heavy canvas.
We also mounted one of the Solar Rail Lights that we have at the Ship's Store. No wires, and it turns on automatically every night!
Okay, once again we have reached the end of the paper. Next issue? Who knows. It depends on what I can get Captain Woody to install."
