We doubled our solar capacity!

We are super excited to have completed this newest project, and show you how to install solar panels on a boat by yourself. It’s a project most yachties seem to take on eventually when they realize how quickly energy gets used up when you’re cruising or living on the hook.

When we purchased our vessel, she came equipped with 200 watts of solar installed on the radar arch, which was nearly enough to keep up with demand during the summer months. Nearly. Much of the time, however, it was a slow game of diminishing returns over a couple weeks of anchoring.

Batteries last longer if you can limit the depth of discharge and number of charge cycles. So, in order to keep our new house bank of batteries (see episode 23!) healthy and regularly charged, we decided to bone up our solar system.

The Panels

We purchased two new 160-Watt poly-crystalline panels, measuring 1480mm/58.3″ by 670mm/26.4″. These particular panels are built for the “rugged Canadian outdoors”, so basically they’re meant to withstand tough environmental conditions. They have a tempered glass surface and aluminum frame.

I shored up the frame with additional aluminum supports. This was simply to give me more wiggle room and a sturdier surface on which to mount the Magma brackets that would secure the panels to our rails. We also use Magma brackets on our fish cutting table and barbeque – they have excellent holding power!