I use a lot of energy. I should say we use a lot of energy or I would like to say that, but honestly I am likely the worst of those on board. I have multiple computers, multiple cameras, Radar,vhf radios, auto pilot, wifi with cellular backup, a drone, fridge… I can’t even come close to naming everything on the non-essential list. And that’s just me, my wife and kid have their own. Thankfully, my son is more of an outdoors person than TV & video games. This could be one of my longer articles. I will provide a Bill of Materials at the end.
With those power needs we have a good sized battery bank and will likely have to go bigger later in our travels. We had toyed with Lithium, but it was too much 
of an investment to undertake while rushing to get away from the dock. Everything we own is designed to work with AGM or Flooded Lead Acid (FLA) batteries. Good drop in replacements are just hitting the market in the size that we would want to use (actually still a bit smaller than we want). For cost effective LifePO4 cells we would have to have taken a DIY approach: new charging system, house BMS for the Cells, lots of relays to protect the bank. Don’t get me wrong the benefits are huge and I believe worth the investment of money. I just couldn’t invest the time yet, so went with a simple solution of quality FLA golf cart batteries. But I digress, we want to discuss the first part of adding solar to the boat.
Background and Parts
We have an arch. The arch is configured slightly weird in that it has a stub for a wind generator right in the middle. This almost guarantees that a shadow will be on t
he panels at some point, but its what we have to work with. The arch also doesn’t provide a great configuration for modern day panels, which all seem to be built for large installations on residential or commercial roof tops. So we need to come up with a plan to mount as large a panel (or 2) as possible.
We could have had the arch modified by a welder to include the supports necessary for the panels. But now know if we will say with the current configuration (because of the wind generator stub) we wanted to mechanically attach them and any supports. We also wanted to keep the cost low since we want a more permanent solution later.
The panels we chose from eMarineinc.com helped decide the mounting options. We chose GenPro 190W mono solar panels. They were the largest wattage we could fit 2 of on the arch without completely refactoring the arch. Well, we could have fit the 200W version, but we could not find them in stock anywhere. There are bigger and more efficient pan
els on the market; but we are constrained by dimensions. In the end we chose to mount an eight foot, square, aluminum tube (1″) across the davits. To attach the tube we selected Folbe universal rail clamps. These would attach to the 1.25 inch davit pole and provide a surface to attach the bar to. We could have simply used “u-bolts”, but I wanted to make up for that 1.5 rise from the back of the arch to the front. At the front of the arch we used Sea Dog rail clamps.
In a later post, I will discuss my theory on connecting panels in series vs parallel. But the final few pieces to the puzzle before we start installing were wire/over-current protection and the controller.
Its no secret that MPPT controllers are great for getting the maximum out of your panels. We went with Victron Smart Solar MPPT, with Bluetooth. Why? Victron makes 
a good product for the price and I know several others that gave positive testimony to its capabilities. It also supports many charge configuratio
ns out of the box, one of which supports my future plans on Lithium Iron Phosphate cells. I also needed a 10amp fuse or breaker to protect the wiring from the panel to the controller, as well as a 40amp one between the controller and the batteries. I chose BlueSea systems products for both of these.
Finally,
we required a few odds and ends before we could install everything. We needed an electrical box to install the 10 amp breaker in. An assortment of heat shrink 10AWG, ring connectors (ancor) to attach wires to breakers and batteries. Four, mc-4 solar panel waterproof, locking connectors.
Almost installation time
The installation would require chasing a wire (some may call it fishing a wire) through the arch and routing that same through all the other parts. This is by far the hardest part of the job. It is made even harder by not having an existing messenger line through the leg of the arch we wanted to use and by the impossibly small hole drilled through the teak
rail and deck of the boat. Our plan B was to drill another impossibly small hole through the teak rail and deck, then add a gland for sealing it. Luckily after, many many hours of profanity, cut hands, crushed fingers and creative use of a automotive jack, along with luck, I was able to get one (1) wire where it needed to be. The next day the second wire took about 45 minutes; as the boat gods were pleased with my sacrifice the previous day.
On a side note, the leg of the arch had been sealed with Silicone from both the top and below decks. I hate silicone on a boat, but I too have used it and will again. But I can’t see a good case for ever sealing the underside of the deck where a fitting is attached.
- you won’t find leaks
- If the top leaks it will stay in your laminate and NEVER DRY OUT
On the plus side, I got to use ReMov it, silicone remover. I can’t say enough about it. It allowed most of the silicone to peel up in one piece. Two coats of the product removed the rest of the residue that you see in the picture above. I was able to get BedIt butyl tape
to stick where the silicone had been.
With the wires run I could turn to installing everything. Or so I thought… I was able to install th
e MC-4 connector where the panels will go. I was also able to mount the MPPT controller. The last item I accomplished was creating the box for the 1o amp breaker.
I had to return to work and home life before I could mount the panels and test it all out. In the next article I will focus on installing the breakers, the solar panels and firing it all up.