Upgrading Solar Panels in a Remote Location Aboard SV ‘Outrun’
Last time we wrote in to Latitude 38, Karina and I were in glorious, sunny Fakarava aboard our Ericson 36C Outrun. We’ve since made it to Tahiti. On this last trip, we had a series of significant steering failures, resulting in two days of hand-steering. We’ve secured a slip for cyclone season to make some necessary repairs while getting some rest in some land-based lodging.
The volatility of the South Pacific’s precipitation became clear way back in May, when we arrived in the southern Marquesas. Enduring daily rain and clouds threatened our electrical bottom line, since we depend on solar for much of our charging needs. Tahiti has a good deal of weather, too, and the production from our panels here is less than it was back in Mexico. Did I say “repairs” earlier? Let’s do some upgrades, too.
The only problem with doing a major solar upgrade is that I’m on a rock in the middle of the ocean. There are solar suppliers here on the island, but they are all for homes — enormous, rigid pieces of glass that are not quite what you’d want on a smallish monohull.
The arch on the boat originally had four 100-watt panels. I swapped them out in San Diego in 2022 with two large 400-watt Maxeon panels that have been producing more than their rated output. No complaints there. I also had some free real estate on my Sunbrella bimini, just accumulating UV damage, when it could also be converting that radiation to sweet, sweet DC wattage. So, also in San Diego, I installed four 110-watt semi-flexible Lensun panels with SunPower cells. If you believe the advertising, as I did, these things are built to last. Little did I know at the time, monocrystalline semi-flex panels are doomed after their first year. So here I was, getting 60 watts out of an advertised 440 watts. Those would be getting replaced.
By that time in the planning, I’d run out of sun-facing real estate, so started looking for something light and thin that could be mounted on the beam. Some research brought LightLeaf brand panels to my attention. Their SeaLeaf products are 110-watt panels that are mounted to stainless steel tubing on the beam, allowing you to fold them either up or down. At only five pounds each, these panels seemed perfect. I planned on getting four. But how would I get them from their Canadian supplier?