2022 DECEMBER…Powered Up!!

We are happy to report that Right Meow is now outfitted with a new lithium battery bank and 8 new flexible Solar panels. https://solbian.solar/en/  Now we have 990 watts of solar potential and are able to store it!

It was quite the adventure getting all the pieces to the boat. For some reason shipping the pallet of stuff to Lanzarote was a real challenge.  Lucas had to get inventive. Previously he had been involved with his business partner Michael,in completing the build on a big Alibi catamaran back in France. Funnily enough we had seen this boat in the port yard in Canet. They contacted the owner and asked if he wouldn’t mind bringing our supplies down to us when his boat left the Med for their Atlantic crossing. They agreed to stopping on Lanzarote. Problem solved!

Unfortunately the boat lost it’s rudders when it hit an underwater object a day after leaving port. They had to get towed into Valencia after getting close to the port by alternating the engines to steer, poor guys!

Finally after getting a yachting agent involved to help with finding transportation options and getting all the packages through customs, our supplies started to show up. It took another week until a superyacht crew arrived at another marina with the batteries for us. This was much appreciated and rewarded with a nice box of 3 Spanish wines!

The solar panels and rest of the gear showed up by air frieght at considerable cost, about 4 days after the batteries. It felt like an early Christmas!

The great guys doing the install, also had a heck of a time getting to the boat. The first flights booked were lost after the delivery boat lost it’s rudders. The rescheduled flights were for December 10th. This coincided with bad  weather delays from Hamburg and Vienna where they were flying from.

Phillip arrived late Saturday night, but Lucas had his flight diverted to Valencia due to a medical emergency on board. He had to overnight there, but amazingly arrived on Lanzarote by 10.30 am the next day.

The guys hit the ground running and had the tool bags unpacked and all but 1 of the old batteries pulled out by that evening.

We had started pulling up the old solar panels on December 5th after all the goodies had arrived. We didn’t want to start this earlier, incase the new package never showed up! It was an awful job, as the panels had “safetly glass” tops that were nearly impossible to keep intact during the removal, and we applied duct tape to help contain the mess. We tried various means like a suction cup and halyard to lift an edge while we used a vibrosaw, a filet knife, a small pry tool, wood wedges and hammer, and a wire tool to “saw” through the adhesive. It was very loud work between the tools and the shop vacuum. We did distribute bottles of wine to our boat neighbors with apologies though, and they didn’t seem too concerned thankfully!

The guys worked steadily and had the lithium batteries in and wired the following day. It was then necessary to move the boat over near the boatyard for 2 days, so the 8 cutouts from the wiring for the previous solar panel installations could be filled and fiberglassed over.

There was another big westerly swell running which caused a lot of surge at the new slip. Our poor cleats got a vigorous workout again, and the lurching was a challenge for working aboard. The grinding dust from the fiberglass and adhesive got everywhere…

Thankfully the yard got the repairs done, although we had to encourage the guy that we just needed “good” work that was strong and watertight, not “perfect” work. The fellow was an artist but we didnt have an extra day to make it beautiful, and the area was being covered with the new panels. We headed back to our comfortable slip Wednesday afternoon and continued with system installs and protections for the engine alternators. It was too windy by then to attach the solar panels anyway.

The first 4 panels were in place by 10.15 the next morning, and the other 4 were in position an hour later. Lucas was leaving that afternoon, and we were grateful that Phillip was able to extend a day. He finished up sealing the last 4 panels while Todd drove Lucas to the airport, and spent the rest of his time finishing final wiring, testing and cleanup.

The guys from https://sailectron.com/ were a pleasure to work with and have aboard. They were amazingly chipper and professional throughout the installation, and we couldn’t be happier with the new system.

Tomorrow we head up to Arrecife for a quick haulout to service the sail drives, check/change zincs and polish props, and pressure wash the bottom. After we splash, it’ll be an overnight sail down to Las Palmas Gran Canaria for Christmas, crew collection, and final prep! It’s hard to believe we are finally this close to our Atlantic crossing!