Solar Bimini

After a year of having the solar panels mounted on the cabin top we have taken the plunge and moved them onto a custom bimini frame. A much better position with less shade from above as well as they now provide shade to the seating behind the helm. The frame consists of 2 by 1.25" stainless tube bent so as to accommodate the current 2 solar panels as well as 2 new ones. In total we will have 800w of solar to keep the batteries charged up and avoid having to run the diesel.

Based on the solar output of these panels we can expect about  240 amps per day output. For us to generate the equivalent power using the Diesel engine we would need to run it for 2 hours. That's about 10 litres of fuel or $20 a day. The added bonus is that when the boat is at anchor or on a mooring ball we can leave the fridge and freezer running. There's nothing like a cold beer when returning to the boat. 

The system also helps to prolong the life of our batteries as they need to be charged to full capacity every couple of weeks to ensure they are kept in good condition. This is nearly impossible to do with the alternators on the primary diesel. Alternators are good to about 80% battery capacity but are really not suitable for topping off the last 20%.  The solar system will do this topping off. 

The next big project is the the watermaker. 

It's official we have a departure date

May 1st 2014 is it.

We have finally made our plans known to our work places and I have been given approval for 6 month leave after my initial request for 12 months. This works well as the cruising season in The South Pacific is May to October so our round trip will be 6 months. With the anticipated return date of 1st November 2014 to work.

Our rough schedule looks like this:

- Depart Sydney mid April to move the boat to Brisbane for final provisioning and fresh antifoul

- Depart Brisbane on suitable weather window after 1st May for Cato Island, Chesterfield reef, Huon reef and then Vanuatu

- Depart vanuatu for Fiji late May or early June 

- Participate in the musket cove cruising regatta second week of September 

- Return to Aus from Fiji in October