Ahhh, the sounds of silence while sailing. Nothing but wind in your hair, the swoosh of your hull gliding through the water and lapping of rippling waves while at anchor lulling you to a peaceful sleep. BUT WAIT…what is that incessant roar? UGH…That’s the sound of the generator charging our batteries. Time to add solar power to our sailboat.
That Roar Will Drive You CRAZY
Craig and I had talked about adding solar power to our sailboat. We discussed the initial expense, thought we would put it off for a while and add it “somewhere down the road”. But, when we spend nights at anchor and deplete our batteries we have to recharge the battery bank. Recharging requires running the generator an average 6-8 hours in order to recharge the batteries to 100%. And we, along with our fellow boaters, have to listen to a mind numbing roar for HOURS.
We were Shocked!
While the initial cost of install a solar on our sailboat gave us a shock, we put pen to paper and discovered solar power will actually pay for itself in no time. Diesel fuel currently costs between $5.50-$8.00 a gallon. Running the generator 6-8 hours consumes approximately 5 gallons of diesel making the daily cost between $27.50-$40.00 or monthly cost of between $825-$1200. Looking at potential annual cost, we could spend between $10,037-$14,600 in diesel alone not to mention the added expense of generator maintenance. Granted this is worse case scenario but WOW. One year of fuel savings will more than pay for the initial set up for solar.
We are also surprised to find there are tax benefits for adding solar power to your sailboat too. Since we are full time live aboard’s Out of Sight is our home. The IRS requires a boat to have a galley, head (bathroom) and sleeping quarters to be considered a home or 2nd home for tax purposes. The tax credit for 2022 is 26% of the total cost of your solar system installation. The credit includes panels, batteries, solar arch and all the bits and bobs needed to make the solar powered system run.
All Systems Go; Now Move Ahead
Once we made the decision to add solar power to our sailboat the research began and selections were made. Craig and I chose the Tower in a Box solar arch by Atlantic Towers for mounting our panels, Panasonic solar panels, and Dakota Lithium batteries to hold all the sun generated power.
The Tower in a Box provided us an economical solution to a solar arch/davit system. A custom tower can run upwards of $10,000 and takes weeks if not months to fabricate. The Tower in a Box is prefabricated and arrives ready to assemble along with hardware and assembly instructions. Other than getting help to get the tower onto the boat, Craig and I were able to install the arch ourselves while docked at the marina.
We researched solar panels and prices were all over the board. However, in our research, we discovered if a solar panel has an IEC code of 61701 they are good for marine applications. The rating code is established through salt mist corrosion testing ie., harsh environment testing. We chose the Panasonic 335w. We purchased 3 panels for a total of 1005 watts of solar power.
Craig and I heard about Dakota Lithium batteries through a youTube channel, Ryan and Sofie Sailing. Dakota Lithium offers an 11 year warranty and is price competitive with other lithium batteries. It is the warranty that sold us.
Adding solar power to our sailboat means….shhhhhh….do you hear anything? Neither do we. Ahhh, the sounds of silence.
Congratulations! Job well done. Shhhhh. Quite please. Be safe and enjoy.