1) Understanding your energy needs is essential to determine how much solar you need. Start by making an "energy budget". List all your consumers and their daily usage. For example, if your LED lights use 1W per bulb and you have eight bulbs on for 5 hours a day, that would be 8 Watts for 5 hours or (8x5) 40 Wh (Watt hours). I like to use kWh to keep things consistent. 40 Wh = 0.040 kWh. It's a good idea to list what you're using while at anchor and another list of what you're using while underway (for instance, you don't use your autopilot at anchor). Remember to list everything: fridge, freezer, watermaker, autopilot, nav lights, chart plotters, etc. For example, here aboard Athena, with an electric galley, fridge, freezer, watermaker, two computers, etc, we use an average of 5.5 kWh per day. 2) To give you a quick estimate, use https://globalsolaratlas.info/ to find "Global horizontal irradiation" per day for your location. Take your daily energy consumption from step 1 and divide that by the number of solar hours. In the case of Athena, located in the Caribbean, that would be 5.5kWh per day / 5 sun hours = 1.1 kW solar array. Keep in mind that this is a theoretical number that does not take into account the shading or degradation of the panels over time. Let's add 30%. 1.1 x 1.3 = 1.43 kW. You can now divide that number by the panel's Nominal Power output. In the case of Athena, our panels are 400W SunPower panels. 1430W / 400W = 3.6 panels needed to cover our 5.5 kWh per day consumption. 3) Understand that the amount of solar you can install on a small sailboat is limited by the size of the boat and heavily influenced by shading and, of course, the boat's location. The size of the panels might also be defined by the height of your stanchions or the size of an existing solar arch. Figure out where you're able and willing to install panels. That will dictate the size and number of panels. 4) Use Victron Energy's MPPT Calculator to calculate what MPPT is ideally sized for your solar panels and expected output based on location. Based on our experience in the Caribbean, the estimate provided by the guide is reasonable. https://www.victronenergy.com/mppt-calculator. Remember that it's best practice to avoid combining panels with different specs on the same MPPT. #sailboat #sailboatproject #boatwork #saillife #liveaboard #liveaboardlife #saltlife #sailing #sailingadventure #travel ingcouple #livingonaboat #solar #sailboatsolar

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Ever wondered how to control your sailboat’s lines without needing a winch for every single one? In this quick sailing tutorial, we break down how clutches and jammers work to hold lines secure and release them safely. ⛵ What You’ll Learn:  ✅ How clutches act as a braking system for lines  ✅ The difference between opening and closing a clutch  ✅ How to ease out a line using a clutch and winch  ✅ Pro tips for controlling sail tension with a winch Mastering sailboat clutches is essential for beginner sailors looking to improve their sailing skills and sail handling. If you’re new to sailing and want to gain confidence in managing your boat’s rigging, this video is for you!  🔹 Subscribe for more sailing tips: www.youtube.com/@searchingforcoconuts2248 #SailingTips #LearnToSail #BeginnerSailing #SailingWithCoconuts #Sailing #SailboatRigging

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For sale

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In February 2019 we replaced our Jeanneau 379s Batida and Manhattan with two brand new Beneteau 381s. We have continued with the cocktail theme and named them Palomar and Sazerac. These new yachts are fractionally bigger in length than the Jeanneau 379’s. However the carry their chine almost all the way to the bow, consequently there is a noticeable amount of extra space both below and in the cockpit. The boats have two wheels, Raymarine Axiom Chart Plotter, Raymarine Quantum Radar, AIS and heating. In fact everything you would expect a modern yacht to have! To book a RYA course on these boats visit: https://www.firstclasssailing.com/

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Explore the beauty of Northern Europe

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