diy solar

diy solar

50' Gulfstar sloop "B-Hoppy"

BobR said:
You are going to have a lot of shading from the masts, booms etc. I believe the original sail plan for the Gulfstar 50's were ketch rigged. Has the boat been re-rigged?

Much depends on how you plan to use the boat; in marina, day sails. weeks long cruises, long range voyaging.
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Liveaboard, long ocean cruises. Watching "All Hanns on deck" on YouTube because theirs is a similar boat. Mines a 78 and a sloop while theirs is a 80 and a ketch.

Is there any switches or doo hickeys I need to make the solar and generator work together? I'd prefer it to auto start when drained but know not what to get.
 
Mark Halvorson said:
That's the idea, just make it wider and longer. The solar panels will not get shaded here. You will get built in shade and great solar output
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I noticed "All hanns on deck" on YouTube had the hardtop AND solar on the davits and still had issues at nighttime. .. might need some wind as well. SV Delos uses a whisper. Any experience with wind Gen?
 
Milka said:
I noticed "All hanns on deck" on YouTube had the hardtop AND solar on the davits and still had issues at nighttime. .. might need some wind as well. SV Delos uses a whisper. Any experience with wind Gen?
Click to expand...
Wind Gen produces much less power per dollar spent than solar. It doesn't work well when sailing because most sailing is downwind and that reduces apparent windspeed. It's good because you get at least something at night, even if it isn't enough to maintain the batteries it might be enough to get through the night. And it is good while anchored when it is raining because solar doesn't work when it rains and rain often has more wind.

You CAN'T have too many solar panels or "overpower" a sailboats electrical system. You will always use all you have, and need to adjust your usage requirements. There just isn't enough square footage to install too much.

So, you either need to go with our recommendations and add stuff up, or if you want to try and overpower install solar on every square foot of space you can, which makes the boat ugly, sail poorly, and gets in the way.

As I mentioned, I have 600W, which is minimal by today's standards, but pretty good by a few years ago standards. I run all my navigation electronics, 1 laptop, and a fridge/freezer. I fall short on power if I run my autopilot, so usually I use a windvane. While at anchor I can turn most of the navigation off, and watch a 32" TV for about 1 movie per day. I have enough battery to cover 2 cloudy days. After that, I need to burn fuel to keep the lights on.

I am considering a hydro-generator, which produces quite a lot of power while under sail where I need it for an autopilot. And in the anchorage, as I said I can turn stuff off. Running only the freezer I don't need any more.

2 TV's, 2 laptops, etc. that you say you need? Get off the boat and do something. That is the whole point of living on a boat. If you are gonna watch TV, get a cheap apartment.
 
wholybee said:
Wind Gen produces much less power per dollar spent than solar. It doesn't work well when sailing because most sailing is downwind and that reduces apparent windspeed. It's good because you get at least something at night, even if it isn't enough to maintain the batteries it might be enough to get through the night. And it is good while anchored when it is raining because solar doesn't work when it rains and rain often has more wind.

You CAN'T have too many solar panels or "overpower" a sailboats electrical system. You will always use all you have, and need to adjust your usage requirements. There just isn't enough square footage to install too much.

So, you either need to go with our recommendations and add stuff up, or if you want to try and overpower install solar on every square foot of space you can, which makes the boat ugly, sail poorly, and gets in the way.

As I mentioned, I have 600W, which is minimal by today's standards, but pretty good by a few years ago standards. I run all my navigation electronics, 1 laptop, and a fridge/freezer. I fall short on power if I run my autopilot, so usually I use a windvane. While at anchor I can turn most of the navigation off, and watch a 32" TV for about 1 movie per day. I have enough battery to cover 2 cloudy days. After that, I need to burn fuel to keep the lights on.

I am considering a hydro-generator, which produces quite a lot of power while under sail where I need it for an autopilot. And in the anchorage, as I said I can turn stuff off. Running only the freezer I don't need any more.

2 TV's, 2 laptops, etc. that you say you need? Get off the boat and do something. That is the whole point of living on a boat. If you are gonna watch TV, get a cheap apartment.
Click to expand...
I'll have guests coming and going but I'll be taking long voyages. The issue with measuring my draw is there's currently 0 electronics yet. If I have a ballpark figure I can overpower it and buy efficient electronics to put in it... I still need to charge my phone and laptop while putting the boat together so solar is one of the first things on my mind. I also want to have it setup to auto fire the diesel generator when the batteries get low... no clue on what to buy to make that happen but I'm sure someone here does.
 
Milka said:
I'll have guests coming and going but I'll be taking long voyages. The issue with measuring my draw is there's currently 0 electronics yet. If I have a ballpark figure I can overpower it and buy efficient electronics to put in it... I still need to charge my phone and laptop while putting the boat together so solar is one of the first things on my mind. I also want to have it setup to auto fire the diesel generator when the batteries get low... no clue on what to buy to make that happen but I'm sure someone here does.
Click to expand...
You might want to start by reading a few of the articles here: https://nordkyndesign.com/featured-articles/ . With a project like yours you may want to find a consultant for help; it may save you money in the end.
 
Milka said:
I also want to have it setup to auto fire the diesel generator when the batteries get low... no clue on what to buy to make that happen but I'm sure someone here does.
Click to expand...
Think Victron Smartshunt to GX device with relay to fire generator on low alarm.
 
Milka said:
I'll have guests coming and going but I'll be taking long voyages. The issue with measuring my draw is there's currently 0 electronics yet. If I have a ballpark figure I can overpower it and buy efficient electronics to put in it... I still need to charge my phone and laptop while putting the boat together so solar is one of the first things on my mind. I also want to have it setup to auto fire the diesel generator when the batteries get low... no clue on what to buy to make that happen but I'm sure someone here does.
Click to expand...
You know what you want to install. Even before buying that stuff, the Voltage and Current requirements are readily available. If you have the stuff and just haven't installed it yet, there will usually be a sticker or something on it with that information.

I don't want to come across snarky or anything, but if you can't or don't want to do that simple work, you need to hire a marine electrician.
 
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