Solar Power on A Sailboat. Using Solar Panels

One of the biggest difficultied that my wife and I have when we began living on our boat Rising Star full time was learning how to get by on power that we generated from our solar panels and wind generator. You will likely need both solar panels and a wind generator such as an Air Marine.

Unfortunately solar panels do not make power when it is dark or very cloudy. For this reason having a good wind generator is a must. Solar panels, although wonderful, also take up a lot of space. On a sailboat you may find it difficult to find a place where they will not be subject to excessive shading such as from masts and booms.

One popular place for solar panels is on a rack at the stern of the boat. We used such a system and were able to place two, one-hundred watt panels side by side.

Over the companionway door we were able to fit another two, forty watt flexibile panels. The flexibile panels, although not as efficient, are able to be bent slightly. As long as you don't drop heavy objects or repeatedly step on them they are fine.

In addition to the stern mounted panels and the flexible solar panels we had another one hundred watt panel that we stowed away when sailing and connected to a quick disconnect and attached to the outside of the lifeline. A an adjustable cord could be re-tied to aim the solar panel at the sun.

One consideration in living off of solar power and a wind generator is to use as little energy as possible and have as large of a battery bank as you can afford.

We used LED lighting in the galley and limited our use of high wattage electronics like TV's, opting to listen to music on the 12 volt stereo instead or read a book. Your refrigerator will use the most power. We used a system by Adler Barber and a super insulated box that measured one foot across, two feet wide and one foot deep. The insulation was one foot thick and this reduced the amount of time the compressor had to run.

When we added a water maker we found that this blew our energy budget and we were forced to run the engine on days that we made water.

One thing you want to make sure of is that you have a good charge controller. Once your battery bank is topped off, continuing to charge the batteries will cause them to bubble and boil off battery fluid.

A good charge controller will regulate how much energy from both the solar panel and wind generator is applied to the battery.