Previous Page: anchor| Status: Not Started | Category: Electric and Non-Sailing Gear | Priority: Near Term |
The one small solar panel has some temporary wiring that leads under a cockpit locker lid. A more permanent solution would be to provide a socket or pair of sockets where the solar panels can be plugged in. This may need to wait until the solar panel mount and davit are installed, or at least desiged.
| Status: Not Started | Category: Electric and Non-Sailing Gear | Priority: Near Term |
This in less of a discrete job than an accidental ommission when completing an earlier wiring job. The button (a large waterproof momentary contact switch) was purchased long ago. Installing it involved simply drilling a hole, epoxying the edges of the hole to prevent water intrusion, installing the switch, and running two wires.
| Status: Not Started | Category: Electric and Non-Sailing Gear | Priority: Later |
A white cockpit light would be helpful when at anchor at night. Like cabin lights this light should be used sparingly to avoid drawing down the battery. A LED rail mount cockpit light is now available. Other alternatives include mast or spreader mounted lights. The cockpit light would most likely be wired to switch #2 in the cabin, where switch #1 is currently wired to the v-berth LED lights.
| Status: Not Started | Category: Electric and Non-Sailing Gear | Priority: Later |
Cabin lights are nice but the current draw can be substantial. The lights provided by Compac are very bright and draw quite a bit of current. One LED light has been added to the v-berth. This light is very dim and draws extremely little power. It would be good to install a few more very efficient LED cabin lights including some reading light and wire these to the same switch as the existing v-berth LED light.
| Status: Not Started | Category: Electric and Non-Sailing Gear | Priority: Much Later |
Commercial davits are rather expensive and may represent an upper bound on the cost of this installation. The least expensive approach that results in a very sturdy solar panel mount might be to cut and bend the tubing and bring the stern pulpit and tubing pieces to a shop that can do the welding. It might be even cheaper to use hardware intended for bimini frames, but this would not be as strong and would almost certainly be unsuitable as a davit.
| Status: Not Started | Category: Electric and Non-Sailing Gear | Priority: Much Later |
The cost of solar panels was expected to drop with increases in manufacturing volume and did drop gradually for a number of years. The cost is currently rising. The current thoughts are to go with a pair of 40W panels. If one panel is shaded, by the mast shadow for example, then the other may be able to generate full power, where a single 80W panel would produce no power at all.
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