slowgoesit wrote:
That is a LOT of solar. Happy to enter a discussion about this; we have had to do the calculations you will. What latitudes will you be cruising in, and will you be running air conditioning off your solar–house system?
Initially, we will be in Puget Sound and British Columbia, Canada, thinking 12 to 18 months, then a leisurely trip down the West Coast, to Panama Canal, into Caribbean, Keys, Southern Florida and Bahamas for 4 to 5 years . . . then? Who knows.
We are not currently at the boat, will not be there for several months while we sort things out here in KY, so we can do general planning, but not in depth on the solar system. We are looking at either beefing up the aft cloth over stainless steel bimini, or more likely, building a new cored fiberglass bimini cover which will be designed to support the solar array. We have room for roughly 16 each 43" x 26" or so solar cells. Works out pretty much to around 1600 watts. Figuring 600ah to 800ah Battleborn 12v, LiFePO batteries, Victron Quattro inverter charger, Victron 2 ea 100/50 Charge controllers, battery monitor, associated shunts, fuses, etc. That's right off the top of my head. Don't expect to get a tremendous amount of power in the PNW from solar, but it should help.
Lighting is mostly LED, and some CFL, which will be changed out for LED shortly. Cooking is propane stove/oven, electric induction plate, microwave, Instapot, or propane grill. Heat is diesel hydraunic throughout, except for pilot house, which is electric resistance heating (for underway use, more on that later)
The boat has a 12kw electric generator that is driven by a hydraulic motor. When the main engine isn't providing hydraulic power to the bow thruster, it can be used to run the generator, effectively providing 12kw of 110v power anytime while underway. At anchor, the plan is to run 110 off of the 5kw Victron Quattro inverter, from batteries, or if necessary, the get home engine can run another hydraulic pump to run the hydraulic motor on the 12kw generator, but running a 40 hp Isuzu engine just to run a 12kw generator isn't the most efficient use of resources . . .
Thoughts?
Air conditioning will be strictly generator or shore power usage, and probably won't even needed in the PNW, but definitely be nice the further South we travel.