Long term I have a dream of an electric engine. And in order to do that I’ll need enough solar to charge the engine. That and the related dream of an electric galley that runs off solar and eliminates the need to hunt for propane quite so often. In that aim regular solar upgrades and trying to get as much solar on the boat as possible is the way to go.

We have 450 Amp Hours of LiFePo4 batteries which give us a solid core for the house to run off but only had 300 watts of solar which meant we had to be conscious of what we were using and how much sun was in the forecast.

With us spending the winter in Portland Maine tied to a dock we realized this was the best time to do our solar upgrade. So we ordered a significant amount of steel tubing and two 450watt bifacial solar panels.

We did a simple arch with extra supports because I had naively thought that one inch tubing would be enough, and it is but I had to buy more to add the extra supports so the “savings” was lost. I should have gone with inch and a half tubing.

We put the arch up over a week or so as parts arrived and then the day after thanksgiving Liam and I lifted the panels up and attached them. We have them bolted to 12 Gauge Industrial Slotted Channel. Rock solid attachment but I was nervous.

Last night we had our first storm with significant wind. 30+ knots sustained with gusts up to 50 knots and it held steady so overall I’m happy with the build.

Now all we need to do is to pull some of the slack in the solar wires and get them connected. Then before next summer when we’re on the mooring I want to run new solar wires to a new spot on the boat and install two new charge controllers that will be able to run them at their full capacity. Right now we have charge controllers for them that top out at 15 Amps which will severely limit their use and can’t be used long term since the overpowered panels can cause the charge controllers to overheat and shorten their lifespan. So I want to get that done in April or May. before we start to have super solar days. Bonus points if I can get it done before we are unwrapped from the plastic and not have any overloaded solar days.