Saint Martin to NC, April 2010 (remastered)

[drakeParagon]

@twblaw, I've been obsessed with solar and wind power. I have two Air-X 400 watt wind generators, 3 Kyocera 130 watt solar panels on the hard top, and for when I anchor for months I have another 12 Kyocera 130 watt panels which I take out of storage boxes on deck and set up on the stainless rails that I had welded around the entire boat. In the best of conditions I can get 120 amps solar... But if it's cloudy, even if each panel only puts out 1 amp then I'm still getting 15 amps... 

[drakeParagon]

@twblaw, I think the old Aries "Lift up" model is better than the other models. Eric Forsyth sailed over 250,000 nautical miles with the Aries "Lift up" mode. On my boat I have blocks set up on both sides of the cockpit so that I can rerun the control lines to either side. On long offshore passages I put the control lines on the windward side so that they're not in my way as I sit/nap in the cockpit on the leeward side.

[drakeParagon]

@twblaw

Hi Terry,

Too bad I have a 500 character limit. Check you email too. 46 Formosa/Peterson!!!! What a wonderful boat!! Fast, comfortable at sea, wonderful deck and interior and VERY seaworthy. I've seen a Hydrovane on a KP46 love how it doesn't have control lines all over the cockpit and how it can be used as backup steering if your main rudder fails completely. After seeing how well it steered the KP46 I wish I had installed a Hydrovane instead of the Aries on my Westail 42..

[twblaw]

Also what do you think about hydrovanes wind vanes. I had a monitor on the old westsail. It worked great and was perfect for that boat. My current boat is center cockpit and I am not sure I like taking up so much cockpit space with lines running to the cockpit. Have you seen any hydrovanes and had any comments about them? Last, is that a bread maker next to the coffee maker? got a chuckle as you must really like your coffee!!!!!

[twblaw]

nice video. I notice you have three solar panels and a wind gen. I have owned a wind gen before on my old westsail 32 and now have a larger boat 46 Formosa/Peterson. I have installed one of two solar panels i have. Not going to head out anytime soon (at least a year or more away) so I do not need the other panel. But plan to add wind gen as well as I think the two are a good combination. How much power do you get from the two?

terry

[drakeParagon]

I'd certainly would prefer to have good crew. Two would be ideal, but I would rather go single handed than take on crew that I wasn't sure was ready for it.

[drakeParagon]

Hi 36wetpaint. Thank you! I nap in the cockpit, waking up every 15 minutes to check everything (course, radar, horizon, etc.) I use a watch alarm called the "watch commander" which you can find on a google search. I highly recommend the watch commander whether you're single handed or have several crew. I also use a Furuno Navnet 3D chartplotter/radar with AIS and MARPA target tracking and proximity alarm.

[36wetpaint]

how did you manage the watches alone? Kewl video...