Boom Times Sailing!: Solar Polar

I'm very happy to report that we now have 200 Watts of solar panel installed and feeding sweet electricity to our power hungry needs. After much research online we found a Miami eBay seller who was willing to deliver the whole kit here to Fort Lauderdale. Panels, charge controller, wiring, connectors. I got two 200W panels and JP from Brin de Folie got a 100W panel to add to his existing 135W panel. A trip to ACE Hardware and a full day's installation work in the sun now has the electrons flowing. Installation was my primary concern but JP's knowledge, experience and extraordinary energy got both our installations complete. Everything goes better with cooperation, two sets of hands, two sets of eyes, and a pair of heads. He was like a surgeon and I was the attending assistant. Ratchet. Bolt. Measuring tape. 1/16th drill bit. All in French of course because JP speaks hardly a word of English - I learned a lot of new French words & expressions. We worked very efficiently & effectively together and were both proud with the results.

There are still some finishing touches left to be done but as I said the electrons are flowing! We've been running the refrigerator for the last 24 hours but it takes up to 48 hours to get to its minimum temperature. We are looking forward to keeping fresh food longer and having cool, dare I say cold drinks. Energy independence. Going off the grid. I'll let you know how it ultimately works out. Unfortunately our super efficient cabin LED bulbs are still missing somewhere in the US postal system, please keep you fingers crossed that they turn up before we jump over to the Bahamas.

A huge thanks to JP for help on the panel installation. I don't think I've ever met anybody with his limitless energy and joie de vivre!! I'm embarrassed to say this but at almost twice my age I had trouble keeping up with him. An inspiration.