Check out our latest YouTube is it a sailboat or a serial killer? https://youtu.be/42UD4lXV8M8?si=Y_ICiGLs6OlWF9TW

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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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Delivery trip back from Crosshaven to Lowestoft,Early April.spinny got a bit of a handfull as wind went up to 25 Knots plus and we had to get it down quick.

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A quick look at the emotional highs and lows of our boat repair journey so far. We've faced immense challenges, but with the survey complete, we're ready to move forward into a new chapter. Watch the full story and follow our journey on our channel. 🫶🏼 *Join the Hi-community on PATREON* https://www.patreon.com/patandfrankie 🙏🏼 *ONE-TIME DONATION* to help bring our next video to life: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=W5MD84F3ALE9Q 💻 *HOMEPAGE | ONLINE SHOP* https://www.patandfrankie.com 📱 *INSTAGRAM* https://www.instagram.com/patandfrankie *ABOUT US* Hi from 𝗛𝐈, we are *PAT & FRANKIE* We are living full-time on our sailing boat 𝗛𝐈 and sail around the world in search of a new home ⛵ We are currently stuck doing major boat repairs. But that won't stop us from continuing to share our adventures with you. 🔔 For more hit *LIKE, SUBSCRIBE, and the NOTIFICATION BELL* ⚓ *Thank you for being part of this journey* Your support means everything! Watch now and share your thoughts below. 🤩 ------------------------------------------------------- #patandfrankie #sailing #boatlife #hibypatandfrankie #travel #cruising #grandsoleil #sailingadventures #liveaboard #vloglife #offgrid #offgridliving #canaryislands #atlantic #marina #boatyard #boatrepair #boatdamagedisaster #structuraldamage #damage #repairs #keel #boatwork

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