Energy Efficiency and Solar Power on a 53MY

[gondolaguy]

You can stay anchored for months with no panels or fuel at all. I see people do it all the time. It just depends on how rough you want it. 400 watt of panels is enough to run a laptop and a couple of candles. If you cover the Bimini with panels, you will be able to run a refrigerator, lighting and microwave, or run a water heater. The math is pretty simple and widely available. A 1200 watt hot water heater takes about 2.5 hours to heat 20 gallons of water, that is 3 kwh. Assume it has to do that twice a day, that is 6 kwh. It doesn't matter if it is 32v or 120v, 1200 watts is 1200 watts.

Very true. However it depends on the temperature rise of the water as well. Fortunately, we don't use much hot water. Also, not that it really matters, but the element which would draw 1200 W at 36 V won't draw the same at a lower voltage as it is determined by the resistance of the element. R=V²/W. As the voltage drops, the resistance stays the same and the wattage also drops. That doesn't change the amount of energy it will take to heat a gallon of water from 60 F to 110 F, but it will impact the time. At any rate, I like the idea of using water as a way to store energy produced by solar panels. Not running it through an inverter to do that means I have lower losses.

Living on a big boat is certainly less efficient than living in a tiny-house. The choice to make this my dwelling is driven by many factors. That doesn't mean that I shouldn't strive to make it as efficient as is cost effective when taking utility bills, fuel costs, maintenance, and environmental impact into consideration.

[Pascal]

If you wanted to the boating equivalent of a tiny home you should have boat a sailboat

[gondolaguy]

If you wanted to the boating equivalent of a tiny home you should have boat a sailboat

There's always next time. This was one of those compromises you sometimes have to make.

[Photolomy]

If you wanted to the boating equivalent of a tiny home you should have boat a sailboat

When I was first looking at boats, it was sailboats, and my mind was all on windmills and solar panels. I wanted the sailboat mainly to do a crossing, but I couldn't get the family on board. Then when I switched to a motor yacht, kilowatts be damned. My footprint is small though. We don't live aboard and my FPL bill is $30 a month.