Planning for a life off-grid
Since we decided to sell our house and try the ‘’live-aboard’’ lifestyle and go cruising, It has been essential for us to find a way to sustain ourselves.
Concerning water, we know we have to enter Marinas to fill our water tanks. But that is a minor thing, as we all need to get some well-needed leg stretching and playtime on land.
Water is often easy to get for free once you are in a marina. But when looking at our energy consumption, we knew we wanted to be as self-sustaining as possible, and not rely on having to plug into shore power, or run our engine for long periods of time, just to fill up our batteries.
Possible power sources
Extra generator
An extra generator that can be stowed away seemed like a bad solution for us. It would require extra fuel that we have to carry and the noise from a generator is not something we want to be bothered by.
Honda EU22i portable generator
Petrol powered with an effect of 2.2 kVa.
Wind turbine
A wind turbine could be a solution. But those we have seen and experienced in Marinas made could the noise. Furthermore, the wind turbine only works when it is windy - And knowing that we would often prioritize to sail downwind the windtubine would not be generating much power. And as we are planing to be at anchor as much as possible the wind turbine seemed as a bad solution, as we will be prioritizing well protected anchorages which could mean less wind.
Rutland windturbine
Rutland is one of the most well-known brands when it comes to wind turbines for boats.
Wind turbines often comes in sizes from 250 Watt up to 1600 watts.
Hydrogenerator
A hydrogenerator is not a bad solution. But again it only produces power when sailing. And often at speeds above 4-5 knots. It also would take up quite a big part of our transom which we will rather be using for other stuff.
Watt&Sea hydrogenerator
Watt&Sea is probably the most well-known brand when it comes to hydro generators. Even though the technology is beginning to show its effect, the price tag is still at the high end of the scale.
Solar panels
Versatile, efficient and has proven its effect on many other sailboats.
We pretty quickly knew, that solar panels would be the best solution for us. It was just a matter of what kind we should invest in.
Solar panels mounted on a solar arch.
Solar panels come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Most long distance cruisers chose to mount their solar panels on a solar arch.
Solar panels
When looking at solar panels, we had several options.
Flexible panels mounted on the Sprayhood or part of our deck.
Fixed panels mounted on our railing by our cockpit
Fixed panels on a solar arch.
The flexible panels have a quite hefty price tag compared to the watts they generate.
And putting solar panels on our sprayhood and deck is really not ‘’our thing’’.
Fixed panels are cheaper and more efficient but has certain drawback, as they need a bit more serious mounting. Mounting panels on the side of our boat has a major drawback.
Blocking visibility and that it, from our perspective, messes with the looks of the boat.
The best solution seems to be mounting the panels on a solar arch. And if we could combine the solar arch with a Davitt system - the arch would have more than one functionality.
Solar Arch
One thing is the functionality of a solar arch. But concerning the looks of it, we have always really liked what it did to a boat if designed and build properly.
For some time we looked into the option of constructing the arch ourselves.
But neither of us felt it would be a long-term solution.
We looked at several options but never really found a good solution. Most arches needed to be drawn from scratch and then built by a welder/manufacturer. And if we were to draw the arch ourselves, we would not be sure about its strength of the arch.
In our search for a manufacturer, we came across a danish company called ‘’Baltic Solar Arches’’.
They are located in Roskilde here in Denmark and they had made a ‘’standard’’ solar arch with davits that could then be altered and modified to fit most sailing yachts.
After having a good long talk with Mikkel from Baltic Solar Arches we quickly decided to have them build our solar arch.
Meassuring and personalizing
When we first accepted the offer from Baltic Solar Arches, we shortly after received a package with measuring equipment.
One of our big concerns if we had to design and build our own arch, was to ensure the right measurements. Distance between the feet, centerline, hight, angles and so on.
Within the measuring kit was all the tools we needed to ensure we would get the right measurements. A very well written step-by-step manual made it very easy to get the right measurements.
Throughout the measurement proces we had a very good dialogue with our contact, Mikkel, from Baltic Solar Arches. Several time he called to ensure that we were on track.
When we had all the measurements we returned them to Baltic Solar Arches wherefrom we received an overview of the measurements where we had to approved them - But only after we had gone through them with Mikkel to clarify the setup.
From the time where we approved the measurement, we were promised a 6 week delivery on the arch.
Installation
From the day where we confirmed the measurements, we received a weekly update on the production of our solar arch. Pretty cool as we could easily follow along.
A bit before the 6 week deadline the Arch was finished and ready to be picked up.
Not sure if we could have i delivered but as we only had to drive 45 min. to pick up the arch at the production facility - It was not an issue to us.
The Solar Arch came in 4 pieces.
2 side pieces
2 connector pieces
The sides were easily connected with very solid stainless steel connectors and bolts.
Once all was connected the arch felt very solid and rigid.
Not a whole lot of ‘’play’’ concerning the size of it.
Installing the Solar Arch on our boat, was also pretty easy.
A bit of ‘’back and forth’’ movement in order to find the exact position and we were ready to drille holes in the boat.
No matter how much we have looked forward to installing the Solar Arch, it just pains to drill holes in the boat. But once they were drilled it was easy to fasten the Arch to the deck.
3 solid bolts on each leg with a very solid backing plate meant it is firmly tightened to the deck. Of cause with an excess amount of Marine adhesive to ensure that no water could go through the deck.
It now sits perfectly on the deck of our boat - And we are pretty pleased with the way it turned out.
Solar panels and the Davitt system
As winter is coming pretty quickly at the time this article is written, the solar panels will not be installed before the spring of 2023 and at the moment we can not test the Davitt system as our dinghy has been put on land for the winter.
When spring comes, we will install 3x200-watt 12V solar panels.
When we start installing the panels and using the Davitt system - we will make an update and a review of the whole system.
Disclaimer
We are not sponsored by or have received a discount from Baltic Solar Arches. The Arch and all associated equipment have been fully paid by ourselves.