Solar installation on Bavaria 42 Cruiser

[Daryl28]

Hi Guys,

I'm looking for some help and advice on installing some solar panels on my Bavaria 42 Cruiser from 2008. I'm going to install 2 × 100w panels, directly in front of the spray hood, where the garage roof is, and where the hatch slides into. Currently this is where the liferaft is located, which I intend to relocate onto the pulpit. My dilemma and question is? How to run the cables into the boat, from the garage roof? Any help, ideas or suggestions would be much appreciated. As yet I haven't removed the liferaft or garage roof panel to investigate. Currently we're making quite a few upgrades to Dream Catcher, in readiness to take her to the Med next year. We're also going to replace the 2 x 140ah house batteries for 4 x 160ah agm batteries, new rib, new anchor and increasing the size of anchor chain from 8mm to 10mm chain, new bimini, folding prop and the list goes on and on!!! Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated. Daryl.

[Lazy Pelican]

My first comment is that 2x 100w solar panels is probably inadequate particularly in the position you intend, where they will be in shade much of the time.
We have panels mounted on an arch on the stern. We started with 2 x 90w which was just about adequate in the height of summer, but hopeless in the autumn. We now have 360w solar feeding 3x 140ah WLA batteries which is fine.
In the med shade in the cockpit will be at a premium. Have your Bimini as wide as possible, ours extends to the Toe Rail and covers the full length of the cockpit. You’ll also need zip on sides and back screens, though these are easy to add once you get to the med.
Once you reach the eastern Med you’ll use your anchor all the time. Get the best NG anchor you can. There’s good advice from Jonathan Neeves on the YBW forum. You’ll need 90-100m chain. Check that 10mm chain will fit in your anchor locker without piling up. Otherwise stick with 8mm chain- it’s more that strong enough for your boat & the weight saving in the bows is considerable, not to mention the saving in cost!
When we bought our boat in 2008 the life raft was mounted on the pushpit. We relocated it to the garage hatch, as there’s far to much other stuff mounted on the transom.

[Daryl28]

Hi Lazy Pelican,

Thank you for your reply, it's much appreciated, any other advice or tips on equipping our boat for the med would be much appreciated. We have quite a large anchor locker on the boat, and I thought that I would need 10mm chain to hold us, when the wind picks up in the anchorage. Currently we have 50m of 8mm chain. I could easily add another 30m to my existing chain, and as you say, it would be a lot cheaper as I wouldn't need to change the gypsy. I was trying to avoid a stern arch. Do you think I'm totally wasting my time installing solar panels on on the garage roof? I thought if we spent long periods at anchor, I could move the boom across. We would still run the engine for an hour in the morning to get our hot water, and also top the batteries up. My wife are new to sailing, but have already logged over 2,000 nautical miles in the last 15 months. We're learning all the time, but have so much more to learn. Atb Daryl.

[Lazy Pelican]

We left Uk in 2009 and have been Greece since 2013.
The only boats we’ve come across with the solar arrangement you propose have lots of battery and a generator! Remember as well as being at anchor you’ll spend time sailing when your arrangement will generate little power. Even with an arch we notice the difference when sailing due south. We didn’t want a stern arch & left the Uk with  a wind generator but no solar. We added and Arch in N Portugal and have ditched the Wind, much to the relief of our neighbours- running you engine at anchor or in harbour will make you very unpopular with you neighbours!

As for the anchor chain 8mm is plenty for your size boat 42 ft & at a guess about 10t. If you decide to extend  you existing use the appropriate size Crosby link- don’t use the links commonly sold by chandlers. We extended ours as said but have now replaced it with 90m x 8mm from a chandler in Piraeus. About 1/2 the price of Uk.

If you’re serious about Cruising the Med, you might consider joining the Cruising Association. Lots of good advice and the Captains Mate is a wealth of up to date information on Ports and Anchorages- a bit like a cruising wiki. We use it far more than a Pilot Guide which is necessarily out of date.
If you do decide to join I can give you a discount code which gets you a discount on your first years subs.

John

[symphony2]

Another vote for sticking with 8mm chain. You will never get the load to get anywhere near the breaking point of that chain. Add some length perhaps although having 30m of 14mm to shackle on in the rare situations you might need more scope is an alternative. Chain adds nothing to security of the anchor - it only needs to be strong enough to exceed the holding power of the anchor, which 8mm does by a long way. Much more important to choose a good anchor and learn how to set it - that is what gives you security. Also suggest you read up on the subject of using an anchor snubber.

Agree with the other comments about solar - you will need more than that, and located where it can be effective if you intend spending time at anchor without using the engine or generator. Your proposed battery bank is fine, but do an audit of likely daily energy requirements and aim to replace most of that with solar. You won't achieve that in the UK, but the further south you go the more you will get out of solar, but it really comes into its own once you are in the Med.

Folding prop would not be high on my list. Once you are in the Med, if you want to make decent passages you will be motoring far more than sailing. While a good 3 blade folder like a Fexofold or a feathering prop are as good if not better than a fixed for motoring they are a very expensive way of gaining marginal improvements in sailing speed on what will be a very heavy boat. Better to spend some of the money saved on fitting a rope cutter if you do not already have one.

Good luck with your projecct.

[kavok]

My opinions:
Al least 300 W solar panels on bimini or stern arch. Ok for your batteries choice.
Pls apply insulation foam to the fridge to lower energy use. 20 minuts running every  hour is a good result in 30 air degrees in summer. Flexofold 3 blades propeller is necessary for speed sailing. A 25 kg Rocna and 75/100 mt of 8mm grade 70 new chain, only Wichard shakle between anchor and chain. Long, 10 mt, twin rope snubber.

[Daryl28]

Thank you all for the advice and tips so far. I'm going to leave the solar for the time being, and wait until we get to the Med. I will then have work carried out there. I did get a quote for a flexofold propeller, but that's definitely not going to happen. I'm going to add an additional 30m of 8mm chain to my existing 50m of chain, which is in really good condition. The 4 x 160ah  batteries that I had sourced and was going to install are too tall when the terminals are attached!!! Also the 160ah rating was over a 100 hour period! They were rated 140ah over a 20 hour period, I'm now going to install 4 x 120ah agm batteries for the domestic side only, that are rated at 120ah over a 20 hour period. We're having a bimini made for us that goes to the toe rails, and also covers both helms with the back stay running through, it will also have detachable extensions to both sides and the rear in a sort of netting material, to allow ventilation. Although we don't intend to depart for Spain until late May/June next year, we have already ticked off a lot of the jobs that were on the checklist. We have Simpson stainless steel davits on the stern with lewmar winches, and we intend to replace the current dinghy with a Highfield 290cl rib and honda 10hp, which I've already ordered and paid for and will be delivered next February. It will live permanently on the davits. Please don't tell me I've made a mistake buying this!!! If anyone can think of anything else??? It would be appreciated. I'm going to look into joining the cruising club, so thank you for the heads up. Atb Daryl.

[Lazy Pelican]

I really recommend everyone going to the Med read the thread below on YBW. If you’ve never dragged in a thunderstorm at night you have no idea how frightening it is. With the correct preparation it can be avoided- don’t ask how I know!


https://forums.ybw.com/index.php?threads/snubbers.572613/

[ICENI]

On the subject of solar, after returning to the UK from Greece where I had a solar installation I have updated it.   

I would never position the panels where you are thinking of.   Shade will be a real problem!

I have 340ah of batteries fed from 4 x 90amp Victron solar panels.   These feed an excellent Victron 150/35 MPPT controller and the result is that even on a cloudy UK day I can run my Waeco CF18 freezer on full and the solar keeps the battery bank at 95-100% charged.   This is a day and night situation.   I have used a freezer for many years as I like to lay at anchor and enjoy the peace there.   I do have to say though that the many bays in the Ionian are very clouded these days.   Another benefit of anchoring is that if you are to get a spot in a harbour you will miss most of the ionian winds which do not really pick up until mid day!

If I need the navigation system also running then I cut the freezer down to a lower setting and still the batteries are up to 90-95%.


In the Mediterranean you will, of course get much better performance.


The people who made my solar gantry produced just what I wanted and I am delighted with the installation.

You will get lots of help from my Victron supplier if you go down that route -( Messrs Intellitecbv in the UK) and you will find the cost of a gantry from a Greek stainless steel manufacturer is very much lower than those made in the UK.

I hope this helps.

[kavok]

Pay attention to  join the chain. When you need  more of 50 mt chain in the water  you could not be able to sleep at night.

[SYJetzt]

Your Dhinghy choice is a fine one. You get  the flexibility to anchor on a safe place and take a longer dhinghy ride to the next tavern instead of anchoring on a crowded place next to all the ones who have only a weak outboard- engine or are rowing.
If you have your davits already fitted, you might choose the solar panels aft of the backstays without a massive arch, and only supported from the aft bimini arch and a slim support between aft end of solar and your davits. See photo attached.
If you are going to order your bimini, think about choosing another colour than dark blue.
I have a blue, extra large one fitted by the previous owner, but will change it to light grey under all circumstances.