Some good news, we are one step closer to having solar on our sailboat!

We ordered through  Pat Tasse at SunTech Enterprises. He had all the equipment in stock, except the solar panel. He put in the order and we received an e-mail a few days later that the order was ready. See my previous post, Planning our Solar System, for a list of all the gear we purchased. We arranged to meet after work in Barrie, Ontario. It’s about a two hour drive for me. I didn’t mind, I needed to get out of the house and it was a nice drive.

A close fit

We met in the parking lot and kept our distances as I loaded the gear into the back of my car. The size of the panel surprised me. I had looked at the size online and made a bad mental estimate on how well it would fit in the car. Fortunately, luck was on my side and I now know that a full size solar panel will fit into the back of a Honda Civic hatchback with 2 mm to spare on all sides.

As I was loading it into the back of the car, I was cringing and imagining what I would have to do if it didn’t fit. A huge sigh of relief as the rear hatch successfully closed.

Back at home… waiting

I’m impressed at the look and feel of the Victron solar equipment, it all feels solid with high quality connectors.

The gear is now in our basement, waiting for the day where we can get a break and head out to the boat and start installing the electrical inside the boat. I still need to figure out how we are going to mount the solar panel. Not sure when this will be. The yard has just recently opened up again so we do have access to our boat, but Lori works in healthcare and working tons of overtime and unable to take vacation for the foreseeable future.

To do

  • Figure out exactly where gear is going to be mounted in the boat. I saw another CS boat owner create a cardboard mockup of their battery area so that they could dry fit everything and cut wires at home.
  • Hire ABYC certified electrician to review final installation.
  • Continue to work with Atkins & Hoyle to figure out mounting location for the panel.

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