Loved your expression Grace, at 21:08 - I had to rewatch to figure out what the he-- are those crazy guys doing?!" :) Go Calico Skies! and yes, Delos sent me . . .
I just found you guys a couple of days ago from SV Delos. Had to binge watch to catch up. I love how good you guys have gotten with your videos as compared to the early ones. Good job Grace. Keep sailing!
Great job. I hope boat builders take note and make their new boats solar ready. Obviously not every boat is going to be a cruiser but I have seen several boats go through this modification process and the builders could do a lot to make it easier. Makes life better to have good power supply off grid. Comgrats. I am long time Delos fan also.
A friend converted a school bus and had Panels on top of their bus. The wind lifted up the panels because they were only held on by 4 small areas per panel. It was pretty obvious after that the metal that is used on these solar panels are very thin. I cannot tell your exact design but please make sure you distribute the load more than just those 4 1x1 or 2x2 spots. May not be an issue but super high winds could definitely break them off like a kite. (just trying to be helpful but I know you all are smart but maybe this didn't cross your mind). I love seeing more power added!!
I found your channel from your interactions w/ SV Delos. Good video and work on the boat. Now you've got the power! :-) Stay safe, strong and enjoy the adventures. I am a subscriber now.
I guarantee Grace is itching too🥴I do fiberglass as a profession and the smallest amount will make you itch.That brace will really strengthen your transom.I would leave out the music on your how to episodes because we really want to hear you two talking.And the background sounds are really nice to hear 👂 Great job and great video!!!👍👍
I know all about being "itchy" from working with fiberglass, many many yrs ago when I was still just a teen (mid 70s) I worked after school and during the summer for a canoe and kayak making company... Vermont Tubbs we produced Keewaydin canoes, my primary job was cutting out all the fiberglass cloth patterns for each different canoe made... I showered in cold water after work to close the pores and force any tiny fibers out... learned the hard way, after washing my hands in warm water and breaking out in a rash near my wrist where the cloth would ride as I cut through it... What did I know, I was just a hippie teenager...lol
😂we have a love hate relationship with fiberglass, one hand its an amazing material, so strong, can mold into many shapes, one the other hand it is SO ITCHY LOL
Nice work there, with that kind of power you are sailing around with now you could probably even run a small airconditioner for those pesky tropical days in the carribeans when the boat (crew) gets cooked down below... 😉 As a sailor and a metallworker I was sort of wondering: I saw rustsplotches on your dingy, what on the aft is it that "leaks" onto it? Stainless steel of the right type for boats isn´t cheap, I know that, and some retailers cheat on quallity, but if something "stainless" starts to rust it is either the wrong sort or under tension. And if under tension, even high grade stuff will corrode in sea/salty conditions! Thank you for another lovely video, hope the south caresses you with warm weather, fair winds and following seas!
I'm not sure what causes those rust spots on the hypalon! Our davits are stainless steal, I've seen other peoples AB inflatables have the same spotting, not sure if its some reaction of the hypalon on and stainless. There is no visible rust on the davits themselves. We would love to add a small a/c ;)
@@CalicoSkiesSailing A friend (Also a sailor and welder like me) just answered the rust on the dingy question, apparently the rubbing against the davits creates small electrical currents which releases some of the iron from the stainless, so now I know that to! 😄 Yupp+, I bet some a/c would be nice!!! 😎 And maybe a laundrymachine? 😉
@@klasandersson7522 Any stainless steel that is fabricated in a steel fab shop should be passivated after fabrication to prevent rust streaking. Molecular sized ferrous particles in the shop atmosphere from grinding and welding in the shop lands on and embeds itself into the stainless steel. That ferrous material will rust and cause streaks. Even alloy 316 for marine environments will streak rust. Also when ferrous grinding wheels or brushes are used to grind and clean up welds, the ferrous material from those items will cause rust streaking. Passivation uses light citrus acid to eat the ferrous material away. It's safe, made from oranges and washes off with water.
@@lowellmccormick6991 That´s true! But i did not factor in the galvanic current from the rubbing of dingy against davit to start... Even passivated 316 will rust in those conditions, I should have rememberd that because we did a practical test with low current and different steel alloys in saltwater at school! Mind you, that was some 25 years ago... 😄
Back in the early 70's we used powdered asbestos as a thickening and we only wore masks when we were spray gelcoat and chopped glass. We never knew it was bad for you. I'm lucky to be alive
It's really increased our quality of life on the hook :) All that power coupled with lithium batteries opens up a lot of appliances :) Hot showers off our running out AC watermaker off the batteries 😂
New subscriber here from the Delos crew, great first video to start out with as I just installed 1240 watts on my 30' soverel in key largo. Hope to see y'all in the keys soon.
I built it all solo out on anchor, yes all of it solo. All four panels are bolted together making one "seamless" panel over the swim deck and up to the boom swing. I was inspired by Delos and did solid handrails on my boat made from the same material as the solar arch. The water gets warm in 30 days!!!
wow thats impressive! We got "creative" hoisting ours up as you'll see in this episode lol. Installing solar is big and awkward alone, kudos! Yea we are excited to get some time in the water soon! It's been a while (since the Bahamas last June lol)
Cool to see your channel - congrats! Calico Skies looks pretty awesome with all that gear of the stern - I dig the look of her too with the reverse transom, What kind of vessel is she?
Got to feel good to get that extra power! Connecting in series to achieve that lower voltage pull was a great tip. Do you see expanding your battery capacity at all or are you good? Bill, how do you fit into that lazarette? Carefully is my guess : ) Great stuff guys! Thanks!!
The sailing community has to be the best aspect of this lifestyle. We have made so many amazing friends out here the last few years. Everyone is always willing to lend a hand!
A nice start to my Sunday, watch Calico Skies. Another informative video, maybe you should go in for teaching. Also, it's good to see your channel growing.
I've got 2×375 watt and 2×80 watt on my steel Stadt 34' along with a 70 amp and 20 amp mppt for each array and 315 amp hours on house, separate 105 amp hour windlass battery in forepeak and separate engine start. For sure, more is always good, a bit of extra windage but worth it.I've got a hard dodger so that helps, flexible panels are rubbish. PS I've got a AR self steering vane so can't have too much overhanging on my arch as it would foul my vane so mine are laterally mounted with a gap between for my backstay. 👍
Nice setup! We have 1100w but 350 of those watts are flexible. I agree they are't nearly as efficient! We are seeing about 100w out of the 250w on bimini and those are the "quality" Solbian panels. We are running 600ah of Battleborn lithiums. We always talk about getting a wind vane, cool ya have one!
@@CalicoSkiesSailing yip, best 6K I've spent, got a hydrovane as well as a Scanmar Pelagic tiller pilot and a second redundant autopilot, I do 90% single handed sailing and am prepping for a solo Atlantic crossing from Cape Town non stop to the Caribbean so the AR vane was really a no brainer from the safety and redundancy perspective, and after a bunch of research and quotes the hydrovane only ended up around 250 $ more than both Aries and Monitor, and the Pelagic is IMO streets ahead of all other autopilots, all my panels are rigid panels basically designed for terrestrial use but work great on my boat, I am very fortunate to have contacts in the solar industry that build 40+MW solar tracking systems in southern africa so got a great deal, I've also got a victron 3KW 12/220v inverter charger and both mppt's are victron, I can also use the windlass battery for house so that is a reserve if required but haven't had to as yet. What boat is Calico Skies??? PS I recently viewed your 'slutter' video and have to say that for me a Solent is the best setup I've come across for offshore sailing, although I've got a taller 7/8 fractional single spreader performance rig and have a solent style removable dyneema baby stay with a hank on storm staysail, also got a reaching spinnaker/gennaker on a carver continuous furler on a short sprit which is masthead so most bases covered. As much as I love a Bermudan cutter rig I've had a lot of experience with runners, particularly on 50 to mid 60' ocean racing boats and they're very much a double edged sword, rig breakers if you broach or have a chinese gybe so for me a fractional solent slutter type setup is great. Fair winds, following seas and get yourselves a hydrovane auxiliary rudder vane. My longish term plans are actually an attempt at the northwest passage from Greenland to the Aleutians and then all the way down the west coast of the Americas through the Drake passage/Tierra del Fuego, round the Horn to Antarctica, to South Georgia, Falklands and then back up to Florida which I'll only attempt after 2022 because there is a heap of prep work and planning to do, and as I'm friends with Kirsten Neuschaffer who is the only female entrant for the GGR 2022 and ex skipper of Skip Novack's Pelagic and Pelagic Australis, I've asked her if she'd be interested to skipper my boat "Spirit of Grace" after the GGR, it's realistically a 3 year trip, N to S circumnavigation of the Americas. My boat is only 8 years old and is built to Lloyds register ocean going class A ice rated specifications although as a metal fabricator and coded argon welder with UK shipyard experience I'm going to beef up the hull, keel to hull stringers and obviously add a bunch of insulation and all that is required for extended high latitude expedition sailing. Could be very interesting
@@markbouchard525 agreed, and a watermaker, systems get really expensive thought so you have to find that balance, and every boat is different based on the owners' requirements. I could have put 435 watt rigid panels on but the size limitations and exponential price increase didn't warrant it for an extra 120 watts total, I have a 120 amp alternator on the diesel and after a lot of to and fro, and theoretical projections I've added a second generator to the shaft just behind the coupling because I've got a 3 blade fixed prop and the benefits of the additional trickle charge outweighed the maintenance and regular replacement of the transmission output shaft bearings and oil seal. I'd love a wind generator but they're very expensive and noisy and don't really generate that much power for the outlay. My shaft generator is a relatively feral home engineered system with a simple 2 part sprocket on a taper bush with geared chain drive so it can be very easily disengaged by removing a masterink clip and putting the transmission into gear, which creates drag.
Nothing major planned at the moment, knock on wood! We have been spending our time getting supplies loaded on as we plan to head to central america and hopefully the pacific!
Hey guys great channel. What size are each individual solar panel? Just curious because I am upgrading to lithium along with new solar panels on my boat.
Nice video...on the solar panels: I understand you connected them in pairs of the same kind to MPPT controllers, wonderful, so you have 4 MPPT's ? great ! Question: Does each of the MPPT do their own thing ? example one is equalizing and one is on normal charging etc etc. Are the MPPT's synchronized ? just wondering from Sechelt, BC, Canada
Thanks for watching! All our controllers are the same brand Victron and work together. They are sensing the same voltage at the batteries and adjust the charge rate accordingly. The controllers move into float at the same time. We don't need to equalize with our lithium batteries.
@@CalicoSkiesSailing out of the thousands of sailing vlogs I have seen. That seems to be a reoccurring thing. I'm just a day sailor in S.W. Florida right now. So I get away with one lead battery to run the bilge pump and no solar. But someday soon we hope to upgrade and join the cruiser community!
We don't we are still using our alcohol stove. We considered picking one up as a backup tho. Our power generation varies drastically by region and we would really need a built in generator to keep up with the load of an induction cooker in certain locales
Wow I thought I was over the top with 560 watts of solar on my 27' mono hull but I am not even in your league! Do you think you will be out of balance ratio of solar to battery bank, you are almost 2:1 solar to battery? Are you guys high latitude cruisers? Do you have some big power users like a water maker, holding plate refer/freezer to take up your excess production? Have you thought about increasing the voltage of your battery bank, that seems to be something people do with larger systems? Do you have multiple charge controllers for you different arrays? Thanks, Ben S/V DAWN
Ha yea a crazy amount of solar 🙃!! We used on average about 200 amps per day. A lot of that is powering two laptops off our 2kw inverter. We also have refrigeration and ice machine (if we top up early) lol. We have an A/C powered watermaker which we can run off the inverter or generator. We've sailed north historically and still need a generator every other day. It's funny the battleborn site says to have 200-250w per 100amp battery. We are STILL under that lo We have our four charge controllers for the following pairs; two 300w davit panels in series, two 150w on bimini, two 50w on dodger, and a single 160w in front of dodger.
@@Ferinm I watched from the beginning. You do not know that Firefly batteries were replaced with Battle Born batteries with no explanation. All I am asking is that Delos explain and you Sir do your homework.
Hmm not sure about Firefly's (which are AGM carbon foam), we have never had those onboard. We have Dragonfly energy which is the parent company to Battleborn, same exact batteries just a different label :) Hope that helps to clear up any confusion.
@@CalicoSkiesSailing hehe yeah she does! Anything would look small next to avalon! So glad you guys are doing well! Loved watching you on SV Delos and was so thrilled when I found your page!
😂We were sailing down the Chesapeake this fall with Avalon and Delos in a gale, Calico Skies was staying right with those guys, swear my mizzen mast helped 😆
I've been enjoying your past work. I'm glad I found your channel.
Glad you enjoy it! Sometimes it's hard for us to watch the older videos, we've learned a lot along the way in term of filming and editing hahah
Loved your expression Grace, at 21:08 - I had to rewatch to figure out
what the he-- are those crazy guys doing?!" :) Go Calico Skies! and yes, Delos sent me . . .
😂never a dull moment over here with these guys!
I just found you guys a couple of days ago from SV Delos. Had to binge watch to catch up. I love how good you guys have gotten with your videos as compared to the early ones. Good job Grace. Keep sailing!
Welcome aboard! Thanks for watching, it's a little hard to watch the older episodes 🙃, we've learned so much since we started lol
So much power! Love your teamwork and re-use with Jetwave Avalon.
Glad you enjoy it! Quite the special way to hoist a solar panel 😂
Great job. I hope boat builders take note and make their new boats solar ready. Obviously not every boat is going to be a cruiser but I have seen several boats go through this modification process and the builders could do a lot to make it easier. Makes life better to have good power supply off grid. Comgrats. I am long time Delos fan also.
Thanks! It's amazing to be energy independent on the hook, such a nice quality of life improvement!
A friend converted a school bus and had Panels on top of their bus. The wind lifted up the panels because they were only held on by 4 small areas per panel. It was pretty obvious after that the metal that is used on these solar panels are very thin. I cannot tell your exact design but please make sure you distribute the load more than just those 4 1x1 or 2x2 spots. May not be an issue but super high winds could definitely break them off like a kite. (just trying to be helpful but I know you all are smart but maybe this didn't cross your mind). I love seeing more power added!!
I found your channel from your interactions w/ SV Delos. Good video and work on the boat. Now you've got the power! :-) Stay safe, strong and enjoy the adventures. I am a subscriber now.
Awesome! Thank you!
Just watching you work with the fiber glass cloth makes my skin itch
😂
I guarantee Grace is itching too🥴I do fiberglass as a profession and the smallest amount will make you itch.That brace will really strengthen your transom.I would leave out the music on your how to episodes because we really want to hear you two talking.And the background sounds are really nice to hear 👂 Great job and great video!!!👍👍
Ohh yea we’ve both experienced the fiberglass itch! 😜
Yeah, yet another SV Delos fan signing on. Good to see ya.
Awesome!! Thanks for joining :)
Nice having guys like Andy and Brian in your sailing pod,,, everything is fixable or can be modified to meet your needs... cool stuff
We agree! 😃
FANTASTIC JOB + Team Work ! Excellent ADVENTURE ❤️✔️🦅🇺🇸
Thanks!
New subscriber here from SV Delos!
Welcome!! Thanks for watching and subscribing :)
I know all about being "itchy" from working with fiberglass, many many yrs ago when I was still just a teen (mid 70s) I worked after school and during the summer for a canoe and kayak making company... Vermont Tubbs we produced Keewaydin canoes, my primary job was cutting out all the fiberglass cloth patterns for each different canoe made... I showered in cold water after work to close the pores and force any tiny fibers out... learned the hard way, after washing my hands in warm water and breaking out in a rash near my wrist where the cloth would ride as I cut through it... What did I know, I was just a hippie teenager...lol
😂we have a love hate relationship with fiberglass, one hand its an amazing material, so strong, can mold into many shapes, one the other hand it is SO ITCHY LOL
Nice work there, with that kind of power you are sailing around with now you could probably even run a small airconditioner for those pesky tropical days in the carribeans when the boat (crew) gets cooked down below... 😉 As a sailor and a metallworker I was sort of wondering: I saw rustsplotches on your dingy, what on the aft is it that "leaks" onto it? Stainless steel of the right type for boats isn´t cheap, I know that, and some retailers cheat on quallity, but if something "stainless" starts to rust it is either the wrong sort or under tension. And if under tension, even high grade stuff will corrode in sea/salty conditions! Thank you for another lovely video, hope the south caresses you with warm weather, fair winds and following seas!
I'm not sure what causes those rust spots on the hypalon! Our davits are stainless steal, I've seen other peoples AB inflatables have the same spotting, not sure if its some reaction of the hypalon on and stainless. There is no visible rust on the davits themselves. We would love to add a small a/c ;)
@@CalicoSkiesSailing A friend (Also a sailor and welder like me) just answered the rust on the dingy question, apparently the rubbing against the davits creates small electrical currents which releases some of the iron from the stainless, so now I know that to! 😄 Yupp+, I bet some a/c would be nice!!! 😎 And maybe a laundrymachine? 😉
@@klasandersson7522 Any stainless steel that is fabricated in a steel fab shop should be passivated after fabrication to prevent rust streaking. Molecular sized ferrous particles in the shop atmosphere from grinding and welding in the shop lands on and embeds itself into the stainless steel. That ferrous material will rust and cause streaks. Even alloy 316 for marine environments will streak rust. Also when ferrous grinding wheels or brushes are used to grind and clean up welds, the ferrous material from those items will cause rust streaking. Passivation uses light citrus acid to eat the ferrous material away. It's safe, made from oranges and washes off with water.
@@lowellmccormick6991 That´s true! But i did not factor in the galvanic current from the rubbing of dingy against davit to start... Even passivated 316 will rust in those conditions, I should have rememberd that because we did a practical test with low current and different steel alloys in saltwater at school! Mind you, that was some 25 years ago... 😄
@@klasandersson7522 That is really interesting! I have been wondering about what the cause is for years!
Back in the early 70's we used powdered asbestos as a thickening and we only wore masks when we were spray gelcoat and chopped glass. We never knew it was bad for you. I'm lucky to be alive
wow! Crazy what we didn't know back in the day lol. I should have had a mask on when I was mixing the silica as well.
Great teamwork ! Super cool 😎⛵️
Thanks 👍What a way to put on a solar panel 🙃
That is a lot of power!
It's really increased our quality of life on the hook :) All that power coupled with lithium batteries opens up a lot of appliances :)
Hot showers off our running out AC watermaker off the batteries 😂
New subscriber here from the Delos crew, great first video to start out with as I just installed 1240 watts on my 30' soverel in key largo. Hope to see y'all in the keys soon.
wow thats a lot of power!!! We should be heading to the keys in the next few weeks :)
I built it all solo out on anchor, yes all of it solo. All four panels are bolted together making one "seamless" panel over the swim deck and up to the boom swing. I was inspired by Delos and did solid handrails on my boat made from the same material as the solar arch. The water gets warm in 30 days!!!
wow thats impressive! We got "creative" hoisting ours up as you'll see in this episode lol. Installing solar is big and awkward alone, kudos!
Yea we are excited to get some time in the water soon! It's been a while (since the Bahamas last June lol)
Nice upgrade 👍😊
Thanks 👍It's been awesome not having to think about power all the time!
I just subscribed too. I've been watching SV Delos for a while, and saw that you have your own channel. Sweet!
Cool thanks!! Glad to have ya onboard :)
Same!
Would much rather watch these how to's then from the 2 million dollar brand new yacht guys that had everything purchased perfectly.
Another Delos transplant. Love the scenery.😀
They followed Delos (literally follow the Delos boat around the Atlantic). and produce the same unreliable information. Harsh, yes, reality, yes.
Thanks 👍Glad you enjoyed it :)
I subscribed a few weeks ago, I like your style, you keep it real!
Thanks for that!! Such nice feedback and I'm glad you are enjoying our channel :)
Very good job.......
Thank you! Cheers!
Can’t wait to watch 😀👍
Cool to see your channel - congrats! Calico Skies looks pretty awesome with all that gear of the stern - I dig the look of her too with the reverse transom, What kind of vessel is she?
Awesome! Thank you! Shes a 1985 Sabre 36. Great sailing boat, despite all the gear 😉
Mo-powa! Nice.
Got to feel good to get that extra power! Connecting in series to achieve that lower voltage pull was a great tip. Do you see expanding your battery capacity at all or are you good? Bill, how do you fit into that lazarette? Carefully is my guess : ) Great stuff guys! Thanks!!
hahah the lazerettes are like my office lol 😂
I love how everybody helps each other out you guys have a great community
The sailing community has to be the best aspect of this lifestyle. We have made so many amazing friends out here the last few years. Everyone is always willing to lend a hand!
Was waiting for your upload ❤️😊
Hope you enjoyed it!
@@CalicoSkiesSailing yes 😊😊😊.. would love to meet you both and travel with you both for a day 😊😊❤️❤️❤️
Quite the electrifying experience
😂It was close a couple times!!
A nice start to my Sunday, watch Calico Skies. Another informative video, maybe you should go in for teaching. Also, it's good to see your channel growing.
Thanks for the kind words! Yes we are happy to have our channel growing nicely. Ha maybe in a future life we can teach!
Fun one!
Thanks for watching! The crazy things we do out here 😂
I guess you can call it 1.1 KW now... Energized
Haha good point!! Sounds cooler that way!
More power... aaarrrrrarrrrarrrrarrrr
😂⚡
Andy should form a fast delivery company for groceries and spare parts, covering the entire East Coast (from Ragged Islands to Maine). 😅😅 👋👋
😂Avalon is fast!!! We were sailing here at like 13 knots on the chessy this fall!
I've got 2×375 watt and 2×80 watt on my steel Stadt 34' along with a 70 amp and 20 amp mppt for each array and 315 amp hours on house, separate 105 amp hour windlass battery in forepeak and separate engine start. For sure, more is always good, a bit of extra windage but worth it.I've got a hard dodger so that helps, flexible panels are rubbish. PS I've got a AR self steering vane so can't have too much overhanging on my arch as it would foul my vane so mine are laterally mounted with a gap between for my backstay. 👍
Nice setup! We have 1100w but 350 of those watts are flexible. I agree they are't nearly as efficient! We are seeing about 100w out of the 250w on bimini and those are the "quality" Solbian panels. We are running 600ah of Battleborn lithiums.
We always talk about getting a wind vane, cool ya have one!
@@CalicoSkiesSailing yip, best 6K I've spent, got a hydrovane as well as a Scanmar Pelagic tiller pilot and a second redundant autopilot, I do 90% single handed sailing and am prepping for a solo Atlantic crossing from Cape Town non stop to the Caribbean so the AR vane was really a no brainer from the safety and redundancy perspective, and after a bunch of research and quotes the hydrovane only ended up around 250 $ more than both Aries and Monitor, and the Pelagic is IMO streets ahead of all other autopilots, all my panels are rigid panels basically designed for terrestrial use but work great on my boat, I am very fortunate to have contacts in the solar industry that build 40+MW solar tracking systems in southern africa so got a great deal, I've also got a victron 3KW 12/220v inverter charger and both mppt's are victron, I can also use the windlass battery for house so that is a reserve if required but haven't had to as yet. What boat is Calico Skies??? PS I recently viewed your 'slutter' video and have to say that for me a Solent is the best setup I've come across for offshore sailing, although I've got a taller 7/8 fractional single spreader performance rig and have a solent style removable dyneema baby stay with a hank on storm staysail, also got a reaching spinnaker/gennaker on a carver continuous furler on a short sprit which is masthead so most bases covered. As much as I love a Bermudan cutter rig I've had a lot of experience with runners, particularly on 50 to mid 60' ocean racing boats and they're very much a double edged sword, rig breakers if you broach or have a chinese gybe so for me a fractional solent slutter type setup is great. Fair winds, following seas and get yourselves a hydrovane auxiliary rudder vane. My longish term plans are actually an attempt at the northwest passage from Greenland to the Aleutians and then all the way down the west coast of the Americas through the Drake passage/Tierra del Fuego, round the Horn to Antarctica, to South Georgia, Falklands and then back up to Florida which I'll only attempt after 2022 because there is a heap of prep work and planning to do, and as I'm friends with Kirsten Neuschaffer who is the only female entrant for the GGR 2022 and ex skipper of Skip Novack's Pelagic and Pelagic Australis, I've asked her if she'd be interested to skipper my boat "Spirit of Grace" after the GGR, it's realistically a 3 year trip, N to S circumnavigation of the Americas. My boat is only 8 years old and is built to Lloyds register ocean going class A ice rated specifications although as a metal fabricator and coded argon welder with UK shipyard experience I'm going to beef up the hull, keel to hull stringers and obviously add a bunch of insulation and all that is required for extended high latitude expedition sailing. Could be very interesting
Can never have too much power!!!
Looks great !
@@markbouchard525 agreed, and a watermaker, systems get really expensive thought so you have to find that balance, and every boat is different based on the owners' requirements. I could have put 435 watt rigid panels on but the size limitations and exponential price increase didn't warrant it for an extra 120 watts total, I have a 120 amp alternator on the diesel and after a lot of to and fro, and theoretical projections I've added a second generator to the shaft just behind the coupling because I've got a 3 blade fixed prop and the benefits of the additional trickle charge outweighed the maintenance and regular replacement of the transmission output shaft bearings and oil seal. I'd love a wind generator but they're very expensive and noisy and don't really generate that much power for the outlay. My shaft generator is a relatively feral home engineered system with a simple 2 part sprocket on a taper bush with geared chain drive so it can be very easily disengaged by removing a masterink clip and putting the transmission into gear, which creates drag.
Oh 375 Watt are great... Which brand is that? The biggest I knew so far are the Panasonic 330 W.... Can you recommend them?
Nice project. What's next on your list?
Nothing major planned at the moment, knock on wood! We have been spending our time getting supplies loaded on as we plan to head to central america and hopefully the pacific!
@@CalicoSkiesSailing wow that sounds exciting.
Hey guys great channel. What size are each individual solar panel? Just curious because I am upgrading to lithium along with new solar panels on my boat.
Thanks! We have a variety of sizes. 160w in front of the dodger, 2 50w panels on the dodger, 2 125w on the Bimini and 2 300w panels on the Davits.
Nice video...on the solar panels: I understand you connected them in pairs of the same kind to MPPT controllers, wonderful, so you have 4 MPPT's ? great ! Question: Does each of the MPPT do their own thing ? example one is equalizing and one is on normal charging etc etc. Are the MPPT's synchronized ? just wondering from Sechelt, BC, Canada
Thanks for watching! All our controllers are the same brand Victron and work together. They are sensing the same voltage at the batteries and adjust the charge rate accordingly. The controllers move into float at the same time. We don't need to equalize with our lithium batteries.
Dang Bill, trying to give Brian a run for his money in the power department.
MORE POWER!!!! lol
@@CalicoSkiesSailing you sound like an American politician. Lmao
@@CalicoSkiesSailing out of the thousands of sailing vlogs I have seen. That seems to be a reoccurring thing. I'm just a day sailor in S.W. Florida right now. So I get away with one lead battery to run the bilge pump and no solar. But someday soon we hope to upgrade and join the cruiser community!
Do you guys use an induction cooktop?
We don't we are still using our alcohol stove. We considered picking one up as a backup tho. Our power generation varies drastically by region and we would really need a built in generator to keep up with the load of an induction cooker in certain locales
Wow I thought I was over the top with 560 watts of solar on my 27' mono hull but I am not even in your league! Do you think you will be out of balance ratio of solar to battery bank, you are almost 2:1 solar to battery? Are you guys high latitude cruisers? Do you have some big power users like a water maker, holding plate refer/freezer to take up your excess production? Have you thought about increasing the voltage of your battery bank, that seems to be something people do with larger systems? Do you have multiple charge controllers for you different arrays? Thanks, Ben S/V DAWN
Ha yea a crazy amount of solar 🙃!! We used on average about 200 amps per day. A lot of that is powering two laptops off our 2kw inverter. We also have refrigeration and ice machine (if we top up early) lol. We have an A/C powered watermaker which we can run off the inverter or generator. We've sailed north historically and still need a generator every other day. It's funny the battleborn site says to have 200-250w per 100amp battery. We are STILL under that lo
We have our four charge controllers for the following pairs; two 300w davit panels in series, two 150w on bimini, two 50w on dodger, and a single 160w in front of dodger.
A job well done ! break out the beer and throw a couple shrimp kabobs on the barbecue.
Throw some snaggers on the barbie as the aussies would say!
get it bill
Great channel.
Then you shouldn’t even comment negatively on this channel... no they don’t provide confusing info if you watch from beginning
@@Ferinm I watched from the beginning. You do not know that Firefly batteries were replaced with Battle
Born batteries with no explanation. All I am asking is that Delos explain and you Sir do your homework.
@@svamour4574 do not compare Delos and calico skies. I am die hard fan of both and both are totally different people
@@Ferinm I concur Sir.
Hmm not sure about Firefly's (which are AGM carbon foam), we have never had those onboard. We have Dragonfly energy which is the parent company to Battleborn, same exact batteries just a different label :)
Hope that helps to clear up any confusion.
The good news, you have 1100 watts of solar. The bad news, you can't sail offshore with all that weight and windage on your stern.
Lol it's our mizzen mast!! 🙃; We've been in two gales since the install, one offshore and it seemed to hold up ok. We are watching it :)
Holy smokes how big is that catameran?!?!?! Congratulations on new solar!
Thanks!!! Doesn't Calico Skies look tiny compared to Avalon. She is a 55foot cat, 28 foot beam!
@@CalicoSkiesSailing hehe yeah she does! Anything would look small next to avalon! So glad you guys are doing well! Loved watching you on SV Delos and was so thrilled when I found your page!
You won't need sails .
😂We were sailing down the Chesapeake this fall with Avalon and Delos in a gale, Calico Skies was staying right with those guys, swear my mizzen mast helped 😆
Messiest boat ever seen.
Another "How I fix my sailboat". Boring.
Watch and learn ! If you can't learn from it what are you doing on this channel ?