We sure bit off a lot with this project! But, it will all be worth it in the end🔋 Hindsights 20/20 but watching the footage back, its fairly clear early on that the thickness of the original ally bar just wasn't going to cut it. What would you have done differently?
Hi, from a fellow owner. Impressed with your solar panel tower. Details of source would be appreciated as I need one! Also very interested in your desire to have a hard spray dodger. Fitting it in with the main track etc,and access to main sheet traveller require some thought, . Ps. I built mine between 1982 and 1988 when it was launched at Sunbury on the Thames. Busy refitting in preparation for cruise to Norway, Sweden and the Baltic. Mike
I have to concur with others on here that i don't think the arch looks strong enough to support the panels etc in any kind of a seaway. Firstly, the arch legs are quite closely spaced fore/aft so adding weight aft will put a high stress load on the structure and the feet. I'd say it needs additional bracing taken forward and probably aft too to distribute the loads. I don't know how the panels are going to be secured aft and forward (they look like they're balancing in the middle at the moment) - are you intending to add robust bracing to support the ends of the panels? I'm imagining a 40 knot wind getting under the panels when you're heeling 30 degrees. I don't think they stand a chance as it is. Also a heavy swell will put a lot of strain on the structure too. It's just my opinion but I wouldn't be happy with it as it is.
I really enjoy watching you two work together to improve your sailing home! Many couples can’t even cook together! You two seem to have it mastered and that is very encouraging for your future! That’s a lot of solar!
Oh dear, bloody doing it got a bit too literal this time, but it's great progress and you're still both smiling, so let's call that a win. Your attitudes are so well orient(at?)ed! Can't wait to see how much power you get from the new panels.
Some triangulation of aluminium sections would really help to stabilise the whole assembly. Stiffer cross beams put more and more twisting loads on your narrow arch top.
With regards to that crimp tool and over crimping, it is designed to control for that. Its ratcheting design keeps ahold of the connector until the proper pressure/stoke of the jaws has been completed before letting go. As long as the correct jaws are selected for the connector and wire, it will crimp correctly before letting go.
Great video, I really look forward to your uploads and seeing the world through your eyes. You two are an inspiration and an awesome team. Thank you for sharing and as always, stay safe. All the best, Andi, UK
I’m really concerned about the stability of/safety of this structure when crossing oceans ! Remember Bobby from sailing doodles had his transom ripped off and boat sank just from David’s and dinghy.Youve loaded hydrovane and this structure . Please get this checked out by a marine engineer.x
You're bringing Teulu into the 21st century. I watch several sailing channels, some where couples are both very involved in repairs, but I don't believe any are as involved as you are Becka. Good stuff, and you understand how and why things are happening. I always end my posts with the words stay safe, and it doesn't always seem to work. I'm sticking with it though, I'm stubborn. Stay safe. ❤🙏
I love you guys. The almost tearful Becka kind of stung at the beginning, only to be amplified by Zach's "dodgiest thing Iven done this week.'" You kids are sailors.
It is refreshing to hear words pronounced properly for a change-a sailing boat! Orientation! Dinghy! You probably use solder and mirrors, too. Thanks from a Zimbabwean in South Africa!
Manuka honey and flush cut pliers are on the needs list 😊. Manuka honey for all those little maintenance cuts, it'll heal them up super fast and is a natural anti-bacterial! Flush cut pliers for all those pesky sharp ziptie ends that'll grab you and cut you!
Hey guys, it was great running into you in Annapolis. I hope you didn't sneak back to Mexico with Barnacle. For the record, disoriented means confused, and disorientated means to have lost your bearings. While there are many words we use differently, your use of the word disorientated to describe the direction of your panels is correct regardless of where you learned English. Cheers!
Love watching you guys keep up the good work. As a do it yourselfer I love watching you guys taking the get er done attitude. I write this next point because I care and to suggest you also consult how your changes may overall affect the stability of you boat. To ensure some one who has expertise on centre of gravities, ect can give you feedback for better or worst. Just the last year they found a couple who passed away after their sailing boat sank. Found them deceased on an island just off Canada coast. They actually had their own channel as well and I believe they were on their way to do an Atlantic crossing. It is anyone’s guess what occurred as the boat was never found. But there was a main theory that ended up being passed around. They had many mods made to their boat and one mod was similar to yours but maybe a little bigger. The thought process was these mods did not make the boat top heavy per say. But it significantly raised the center of gravity upward. In a heavy wind to the side the angle would have been less than designed with the raised centre of gravity for it to tip over and not return upright. The second main contributing factor theorized. As the wind blew from the side it now had a raised centre of gravity but the solar panels in that set up could add extra surface area and act like a mini sail. So the theory was with a strong wind on the side and the mods raising the center of gravity with the raised panels acting like mini sails was maybe enough to cause the boat to capsize. In reality no one will really ever know what happen to the poor couple. And it may be something totally different. But the theory without the story behind it does sound logical to an extent. Please also look at the big picture as you make these mods and get some expert feedback. Maybe they will tell you not to do it based on the design of the boat. Maybe they will tell you that more ballast will be needed to lower the center of gravity. And maybe they will tell you it is fine. But getting that qualified expert opinion is key. You do not want to be out in the middle of the Pacific and get cought in a squall testing the above theory. Give yourself peace of mind before hand. You guys are very smart and knowledge is key to feeling safe on your boat. The project you do you are very knowledgeable. How it will affect the overall stability of your boat I would turn to the knowledge of a qualified person to give you peace of mind. Love watching you guys and rooting for you all the way. Not trying to scare you. Only mentioned this because I want to make sure you guys think of everything to keep you safe in the long run. Cheers and keep up the great work. Your a good team together and can easily see how much you care and look out for one anther
Interesting build. For the future, if you can find some PVC or other plastic tubing or hose, you can use it in place of a grommet in a panel or bulkhead and you can adjust the thickness as needed. You can also guide wiring etc, to different points. it will insulate and protect the wires and is light weight. Think of it as stiff conduit.
It seems no matter where you go in the world there is always going to be that one person who is a gamer and word pronunciation correction officer. Me personally I love picking up on new slang for example my new favorite saying is "and now Bob's your uncle". And if I spend enough time with you I can pick up your accent too which is so cool, for me anyway.
Ok Becka, now you're only allowed a little bladed knife with the blade cover like they make the employees at Home Depot use. You can't cut yourself or hardley anything else with one. 😂😂 Good job on the solar panels & wiring @ Teulu Tribe! Yay! 👍
Pro Tip: When you get back to civilization (or to an address that amazon ships to) you need to get yourself at least one pair of "flush cutters." These look like a typical diagonal wire cutter at first glance, but have one side ground flush and all the angle on the top side. They were originally invented for clipping the component leads that stick through a circuit board flush with the bottom side, but for everyone who does not work with Printed Circuit Boards, we use them almost exclusively for cable ties. Reason #1: When you use these to cut the tail off the cable ties there is no barb left sticking out to cut your body when you work around your wire bundles in the future. Reason #2: When removing cable ties, they are very skinny and sharp so that you can see what you are doing (not cutting the wires in the bundle) and they slice easily through the plastic with hardly any effort. (as opposed to trying to use a clunky blunt wire cutter, or a single sided blade as you recently experienced, where the plastic resists and then either cuts through or the blade slides off in search of your body parts..) Note: They are somewhat fragile, so it is best to reserve them just for cable tie use or only small gauge copper wire cutting because if you try to cut something too thick you can bend the blades out of plane and they will no longer work. Cutting any steel or spring wire will dent the sharp edges turning them into small gauge wire strippers. There are plenty of good options on Amazon: Klein Tools D275-5 Pliers, Diagonal Cutting Pliers with Precision Flush Cutter is Light and Ultra-Slim for Work in Confined Areas, 5-Inch | Hakko-CHP-170 Micro Cutter - Red | trueCABLE Precision Sharp Flush Cutter, 5” Side Cutting Pliers, Hardened Carbon Steel Tool, Durable Construction, Cut Wire Up To 16 AWG | Resist the urge to get beefier looking ones. You want the small 5" format with the line of the cutter tilted out of the plane of the handles.
Wow, nice tasteful thumbnail!👴🤗 @05:42 Nice, much needed Duralac isolation! One of the rare moments I've seen anybody on YT use it!👴👌 @09:02 When (needed to) reuse nylock nuts, give them a flat, firm tap to compress the threaded nylon in order to "lock" again.👴😊 @22:10 Yep, good call! Thumb up! (look for some skin glue, works great)👴😳👍 @29:59 So, job well done!👴👌🤗
@@JohnHMoore $300 and no more electricity bills... when suckers in the UK are being ripped off at that PER MONTH in an expensive future pricing hedge betting financial futures trading scam.... ????
I know the thoughts that go threw your mind when you do something silly like cutting toward yourself, but it happens. Things are looking good on "Teulu", even with the mess of boat work, crew looks fantastic also. Hope your next cruising season is your best yet.
"Homely" is another word the Brits use in a way that always causes my brain to stutter step. To us Americans, it's synonymous with "ugly" or "unattractive." Hearing it used as a compliment (as if something is comforting in it's simplicity) is so strange!
Beca I hope you are taking care to not over do yourself! Seems like you're doing a lot of things that maybe you shouldn't. I'm so not judging and hoping that heavy lifting is helping with strengthening. What a wonderful couple you are! So much love, and truly believing in each other is refreshing! I love love your channel! Well done both of you!!
First of all great video you guys are cooking right along.. Becka sometimes your British really comes out which is cute.. My wife says what does she mean Bloody this Bloody that I giggle and I do my best to explain how the British explain themselves. My wife is Hispanic ie Mexican,she doesn’t understand some accents from the other side of the pond.. One day would love to understand your actual total solar system and why you choose each product and what they actually do. One day we have to do the same solar system on our boat.. Thanks again great video.. PS Zac great job on the arch.
Just a tip. Buy a not to small neodynium magnet, glue an ring on it. Add about 1m rope and a carabiner at the end. Click the magnet to your tool (like a wrench) . Connect the carabiner to the boat, your trousers, a wristband or whatever. An other advantage is that you can use it to grab bold that fell in the bilge just out of reach . Even a 1cm diameter 1cm long has no problem holding a wrench but a bit bigger is better. I made one for m,y self and for a friend who is now solo on his way from the Netherlands over the North-sea to Norway in a Friendship 26.
I enjoyed this very much, solar is great, but you need to be careful. The more you go towards a system with lots of power, the more you must keep safety as your primary goal! Sadly, many here on YT make people believe that making a solar system with with powerful bateries is easy. First of all: Never ever safe money on tools! I already saw that you are on the right track there, but I have some concerns. I now am converting my catamaran to a completely electric off grid boat, with 4500watts of solar, and some 45 kWh of battery power. As an engineer, I always dive to the deepest on safety, there already are many cases in this world, where things went terribly wrong. 1: Secure your batteries in such way, that you’re sure that they don’t go anywhere when you hit a severe storm ! They are heavy, and can damage the boat, and themselves, which I hopefully don’t need to tell you, is a bad situation! 2: Make your battery system very easy accessable, this is very important! I have them under my living room seat and only need to lift the seat. 3: In a marine environment, it is very important to use glued shrink wraps on your cables when you attach lugs! They must be air tight from lug to lug! The battery cells do not easily set your boat or house on fire, badly made cables are much better at that job! Anyone can make cables that work fine, but they need to say stable over many years, air tightness is curucial there.. 4: Correct me If I’m wrong, but what I miss in your setup, is a thermal imaging camera, which, in my view, is a nessessary tool to find hotspots in your system very easily, before they become a hazard. Some people already wrote their concerns about the sturdyness of your arch: I dug deep into wind and the force it can pply to structures, and was quite amazed about the answers I found. In a big storm with 30 m/sec winds, the force on a surface already can reach 56 kg per square meter, which is equivalent to a (not very big) adult. In a hurricane it will be around 100 kg/m2, you can do the math. Mounted horizontally, the wind mostly can pass over and under your panels, but there also are wind gusts and turbulences, created by the ship itself, that can lift your panels up in a nasty way. My biggest concern there is not the mount of your panels, ist the feet of your arch: The four screws of those feet are getting a force which is magnified by the length of the arch legs and the distance between the feet. I seem very negative here, absolutely don’t want to be, crossing a busy road is also dangerous.. But in a city, you can be brought into safety much quicker than in the middle of an ocean! Total safety alwais is a compromise. Oh yea, forgot to mention (edit): Circuit breakers are not nessessary? Well, they are.. Not for current safety, but you need the oppertunity to easily disconnect your solar panels from the system in case of a challenge. I hope you both enjoy safe sailing trips
Nice work and always cut towards your chum and never towards your thumb, you can get another chum but not another thumb, love your travels and videos thanks for sharing.
@19:42 Mates, are you trying to recreate an Archimedes heat ray with all of those paint trays? :) Just kidding, thanks for the very interesting episode!
Rebecca, if you get to a large city with good medical services and chemist's. See if you can get some medical superglue for your first aid kit, very handy in isolated areas, depending if the cut is not a wide jagged cut.
Hi guys. Another really good example of the thought and planning you put into your projects, as well as your ability to adapt 'on the run' . Watched this fresh from Pip Hare's channel as she prepares to tackle the Vendee Globe Race, solo, nonstop around the world.... Two very different types of sailing but both engrossing in their own ways. (PS. Hope that's the end of you sabotaging your own body for a while now Becka! 🤕 😩)
Thank you for your thoughtful comment! It's always inspiring to see how different approaches in sailing can engage us in unique ways. Pip is an incredible sailor, and we appreciate your support! 😊
Great job on installing the arch! Just a question some people suggested that you shouldn’t have taken the support plates off the back of boat! Didn’t understand that concern other than in a storm the stress on the arch would be in question.
Never put wiring through metal especially without rubber seals to stop moisture chafing because pulling them through can damage the wires shielding in places you can never see. I know this from my own mistakes as after a while the wires get hot short out. Mine was a radio receiver and blow it up caught fire. Not on a boat but a vehicle.
I know it is a little late to suggest, but if you had built the panels on a frame you could have used pulley from the top of the mast to pull the panels up
Those are huge panels. It’s also a massively discounted price. We learn, hold off on solar project until we get to Mexico. And bring your own mc4 crimper
Personally, I don’t know Squat about Electrical, except the light switches😜…So I appreciate those who can tackle a job like this👍…Continue to Stay Safe and Enjoy 😎
I ran my middle finger through he meat slicer a week ago. Stuff happens. It is already almost healed but the nail will take awhile to grow back. Keep a stiff upper lip. It will heal.
I am sorry but I cannot see that lasting the first bit of bad weather that you get caught out in waves will smash it to pieces and the wind could remove it or are you not planning any long distance ocean crossings
Electrical engineer and solar professional here. Get rid of the DC circuit breakers. They don’t add any safety at all. In fact they are a likely point of failure and a small fire hazard. You only use fuses if you are connecting more than two panels in parallel. a single panel can under no circumstances provide more amps than it and the cables were designed to handle. Other than: well done!
ISO 13297 for small craft says: 5.3 Protective devices such as trip free circuit breakers or fuses shall be provided at the source of power. Similar for ABYC E 9.11 A trip-free circuit breaker or a fuse shall be installed at the source of power for panelboards That pretty much covers the whole world requiring breakers in boats at the source of power, which a solar panel is.
@@sv_skidbladnir So what do we believe from now on? The advice from a Solar Pro. or the BS ISO 13297.? Can we have a follow up on this subject as I think it is very important Information.
@@sv_skidbladnir…unless the panel cannot produce more amps than the conductor can handle. So with properly sized conductors no OCP is needed for solar.
Interesting subject with vastly differing opinions. I’ll stick to ABYC guidelines. The DC switch purpose is to be able to quickly disconnect the solar panels from the mppt. Hardly a fire hazard.
Bore da chicos, can I please ask where you picked these up from? My friend and I have just bought a boat up in La Cruz, PV and it is lacking in solar (350W). Hopefully we catch up with you!
Hi Guys! A couple of things... First: Bekka- STOP HURTING YOURSELF! You are simply breaking all of our hearts here! If you don't stop it we will be forced to start a petition to require Zach to make you wear a helmet, safety glasses and pillows strapped all around you at all times! Second, the PV breakers really should be mounted up at your panels as close as possible to the actual PV panel output. That is why they have short MC4 connectors on them. It is so you can plug them in inline at the panels. The purpose of those breakers is to shut off the power coming from your panels in the event of a short circuit in the wire run between the panels and the charge controllers. Having the breakers next to the charge controllers at the end of the wire run does not protect the wire run at all. Remember- breakers are used to protect wires so you always want them at the closest point to where power is entering the wires. (Picture a short circuit in the middle of your wire run that could start a fire. If the breakers are at the far end of the run the breakers will not see any power because it is all going from the panels directly into the short. If the breakers are located at the panels the breakers will see the short and trip. At least in theory.) Finally, a cheap and dirty trick that works quite well is to use a short piece of vinyl or rubber tubing (fuel line maybe?) to slip over your wire in lieu of using an actual grommet. It will hold up much better than electrical tape. Just cut a short section of tubing, have ZACH slit it along its length with a sharp knife (just in case- yeah I'm lookin' at you Bekka...) and then just slip it over the wire that you want to protect. If a layer of electrical tape to keep it from slipping off makes you sleep better at night then feel free otherwise you are done! Your boat is looking fantastic! Thank you for sharing your journey and all of your trials and tribulations with all of us! Wishing you all the best from California!🧡
Hey there! Thank you SO much for this detailed comment - it's exactly the kind of feedback we love getting from our amazing community! 😊 Becka: laughs nervously while hiding latest band-aids Point taken about the safety gear! Maybe we'll do a fun video testing out your pillow-armor idea... 🤔 But seriously - THANK YOU for the technical advice about the PV breakers. We really appreciate you taking the time to explain the safety reasoning behind having them closer to the panels. You're absolutely right about protecting the full wire run, and that's definitely something we need to address. That fuel line trick is GENIUS! 🙌 Much more durable than our electrical tape solution (which was... not our finest moment). We'll definitely be using this tip in future projects. And yes, Zach will be the one doing the cutting! 😅 Thanks for watching from California and for being such a supportive member of our community. Comments like yours help make our builds safer and better! ⛵️
First, mounting the breakers at the panels would require a waterproof enclosure and would still likely fail early due to salt & moisture, that’s an extreme exposure location. Second, the breaker provides overcurrent protection for the wire whether located at the source or load ( though no protection for a short in the wires between source and breaker.) Realistically for this application, if the wire is properly sized for the panels, the current is inherently limited by the panel capacity, unlike a mains supply. So the primary benefit of the breaker is to provide a means of disconnect for service.
@@TeuluTribe fs7453 correctly states below that the PV panel disconnect breakers really aren't very necessary in real life as far as protection goes. The reason is because the PV array is the only source of power in that wire run (since the charge controllers will never back feed power back to the panels) so the maximum current on that circuit is well known (max best case PV current output) and the wires that you are using are sized to handle that amount of power in a dead short (actually they usually sized to at least 1.56x that amount or more depending on installation details). The real reason for including the breakers is really just to comply with accepted best practices such as those outlined in the ABYC or NEC codes just in case a future buyer of your beautiful boat is looking for reasons to talk you down in price or your insurance provider decided to get nit picky. The practical reason for putting those breakers in really just comes down to having an easy way to disconnect the PV array from the charge controllers (which is why I put my PV breakers in the exact same location that you did in my own system). When you are using MPPT charge controllers you always want to connect the charge controller to the battery side first and then connect the PV side (your victron manual says that somewhere). Likewise always shut off the PV side first before disconnecting the battery side. The reason is that an MPPT controller will take the power at the PV input and try to match it to the battery but if there is no battery it can run the current up high enough to possibly damage the controller. It needs a battery voltage setpoint to aim for or it gets confused and can go berserk. That said I have broken that rule before and my victron controllers still work fine but do what I say not what I do! Just thought you might like a little bit deeper explanation of fs's observation. Take care!
As an EE, do not use Chinese cable from Ali or so. That is aluminium with a very thin layer of copper. The copper will wear of in connectors, Aluminium that then is exposed will corrode and oxide is a very bad conductor. Only use very good cable and make it so there is not a possibility to get moister in it because the moister will go far in the wire due to the capillair working. It becomes black and will have a high resistance. Not that I think you did it wrong, just a tip. I hope your thumb goes well.
Thank you for sharing your expertise! It's always good to be reminded about the importance of quality materials in electrical systems. Your tips are appreciated!
We sure bit off a lot with this project! But, it will all be worth it in the end🔋 Hindsights 20/20 but watching the footage back, its fairly clear early on that the thickness of the original ally bar just wasn't going to cut it. What would you have done differently?
When you get to the US buy some Neosporin triple antibiotic cream.
Apply to any cuts that starts turning pink…
They might have it in Mexico?
Hi, from a fellow owner. Impressed with your solar panel tower. Details of source would be appreciated as I need one! Also very interested in your desire to have a hard spray dodger. Fitting it in with the main track etc,and access to main sheet traveller require some thought, .
Ps. I built mine between 1982 and 1988 when it was launched at Sunbury on the Thames. Busy refitting in preparation for cruise to Norway, Sweden and the Baltic.
Mike
Wow guys the solar looks very impressive, sorry playing catch up with watching you guys busy with wintering boats my end, take care both.
I have to concur with others on here that i don't think the arch looks strong enough to support the panels etc in any kind of a seaway. Firstly, the arch legs are quite closely spaced fore/aft so adding weight aft will put a high stress load on the structure and the feet. I'd say it needs additional bracing taken forward and probably aft too to distribute the loads. I don't know how the panels are going to be secured aft and forward (they look like they're balancing in the middle at the moment) - are you intending to add robust bracing to support the ends of the panels? I'm imagining a 40 knot wind getting under the panels when you're heeling 30 degrees. I don't think they stand a chance as it is. Also a heavy swell will put a lot of strain on the structure too. It's just my opinion but I wouldn't be happy with it as it is.
I really enjoy watching you two work together to improve your sailing home! Many couples can’t even cook together! You two seem to have it mastered and that is very encouraging for your future!
That’s a lot of solar!
Each time I see a new video, I'm excited!
I'm glad to hear that! Your excitement really motivates me to keep creating more content😁
There is a reason hard work is attributed with blood, sweat, and tears.
Becca, I am always amazed with your enthusiasm. Job well done, can’t wait for Teulu”s next adventure with the new projects all installed.
Set of all elements (superstructures, mast, etc.) of a ship which provide support for the wind. Have you check with an architec? Be carre full
Towards a label maker! 🤗
I put towards a taxi fare last week. Never Got a Thanks which would have been nice. But I guess my Gesture wasn’t much Good.
Thanks 😊 We’ll order one today!
Love your channel. Cool shout out to Lauren though, she’s awesome!!
Oh dear, bloody doing it got a bit too literal this time, but it's great progress and you're still both smiling, so let's call that a win. Your attitudes are so well orient(at?)ed! Can't wait to see how much power you get from the new panels.
Some triangulation of aluminium sections would really help to stabilise the whole assembly. Stiffer cross beams put more and more twisting loads on your narrow arch top.
With regards to that crimp tool and over crimping, it is designed to control for that. Its ratcheting design keeps ahold of the connector until the proper pressure/stoke of the jaws has been completed before letting go. As long as the correct jaws are selected for the connector and wire, it will crimp correctly before letting go.
Lots and lots of work .... Well done! Stay Safe & Fair Winds!!
Great video, I really look forward to your uploads and seeing the world through your eyes. You two are an inspiration and an awesome team. Thank you for sharing and as always, stay safe. All the best, Andi, UK
I’m really concerned about the stability of/safety of this structure when crossing oceans !
Remember Bobby from sailing doodles had his transom ripped off and boat sank just from David’s and dinghy.Youve loaded hydrovane and this structure . Please get this checked out by a marine engineer.x
You're bringing Teulu into the 21st century. I watch several sailing channels, some where couples are both very involved in repairs, but I don't believe any are as involved as you are Becka. Good stuff, and you understand how and why things are happening. I always end my posts with the words stay safe, and it doesn't always seem to work. I'm sticking with it though, I'm stubborn. Stay safe. ❤🙏
I love you guys. The almost tearful Becka kind of stung at the beginning, only to be amplified by Zach's "dodgiest thing Iven done this week.'" You kids are sailors.
It is refreshing to hear words pronounced properly for a change-a sailing boat! Orientation! Dinghy! You probably use solder and mirrors, too. Thanks from a Zimbabwean in South Africa!
Please ensure proper grounding to avoid stray currents. It would be recommended to isolate the screws against the aluminium parts to avoid corrosion!
Manuka honey and flush cut pliers are on the needs list 😊. Manuka honey for all those little maintenance cuts, it'll heal them up super fast and is a natural anti-bacterial! Flush cut pliers for all those pesky sharp ziptie ends that'll grab you and cut you!
You guys are smashing it. The electrical install looks really neat. Excited to see it switched on. Good work both
Those unsupported panels are t going to bend & crack the first time you hit big swell where the bow is slamming down off waves??
When you get a chance, have a look at, Iron Ridge Camo clamps.
I used them on my boat. Can do everything from underneath.
Hey guys, it was great running into you in Annapolis. I hope you didn't sneak back to Mexico with Barnacle. For the record, disoriented means confused, and disorientated means to have lost your bearings. While there are many words we use differently, your use of the word disorientated to describe the direction of your panels is correct regardless of where you learned English. Cheers!
Love watching the upgrades that you make on this boat... keep them coming !!. Anothere great video, Da Iawn guys!! Nick
Excellent, love your videos. Very sorry about the thumb, Beca, stuff happens, hoping for quick healing. All the best.
Love watching you guys keep up the good work. As a do it yourselfer I love watching you guys taking the get er done attitude.
I write this next point because I care and to suggest you also consult how your changes may overall affect the stability of you boat. To ensure some one who has expertise on centre of gravities, ect can give you feedback for better or worst.
Just the last year they found a couple who passed away after their sailing boat sank. Found them deceased on an island just off Canada coast.
They actually had their own channel as well and I believe they were on their way to do an Atlantic crossing.
It is anyone’s guess what occurred as the boat was never found. But there was a main theory that ended up being passed around.
They had many mods made to their boat and one mod was similar to yours but maybe a little bigger.
The thought process was these mods did not make the boat top heavy per say. But it significantly raised the center of gravity upward. In a heavy wind to the side the angle would have been less than designed with the raised centre of gravity for it to tip over and not return upright.
The second main contributing factor theorized. As the wind blew from the side it now had a raised centre of gravity but the solar panels in that set up could add extra surface area and act like a mini sail.
So the theory was with a strong wind on the side and the mods raising the center of gravity with the raised panels acting like mini sails was maybe enough to cause the boat to capsize.
In reality no one will really ever know what happen to the poor couple. And it may be something totally different.
But the theory without the story behind it does sound logical to an extent.
Please also look at the big picture as you make these mods and get some expert feedback. Maybe they will tell you not to do it based on the design of the boat. Maybe they will tell you that more ballast will be needed to lower the center of gravity. And maybe they will tell you it is fine.
But getting that qualified expert opinion is key. You do not want to be out in the middle of the Pacific and get cought in a squall testing the above theory. Give yourself peace of mind before hand.
You guys are very smart and knowledge is key to feeling safe on your boat. The project you do you are very knowledgeable. How it will affect the overall stability of your boat I would turn to the knowledge of a qualified person to give you peace of mind.
Love watching you guys and rooting for you all the way. Not trying to scare you. Only mentioned this because I want to make sure you guys think of everything to keep you safe in the long run.
Cheers and keep up the great work. Your a good team together and can easily see how much you care and look out for one anther
Thanks!
Thank you Dan! 🙏
Welcome back! You two are the only reason I tolerate Mondays!
Interesting build. For the future, if you can find some PVC or other plastic tubing or hose, you can use it in place of a grommet in a panel or bulkhead and you can adjust the thickness as needed. You can also guide wiring etc, to different points. it will insulate and protect the wires and is light weight. Think of it as stiff conduit.
That knee looks ginger…nice to see you back on deck (no pun intended) notwithstanding…congrats.
It seems no matter where you go in the world there is always going to be that one person who is a gamer and word pronunciation correction officer. Me personally I love picking up on new slang for example my new favorite saying is "and now Bob's your uncle". And if I spend enough time with you I can pick up your accent too which is so cool, for me anyway.
Have you considered the fact that you have just put up a big sail and lightning conductor ?
Superglue works great for razor cut or knife cuts .
Good job, guys !! STAY SAFE AND HAVE FUN!
Thanks for the support!
You guys are doing a hella good job!
Ok Becka, now you're only allowed a little bladed knife with the blade cover like they make the employees at Home Depot use. You can't cut yourself or hardley anything else with one. 😂😂 Good job on the solar panels & wiring @ Teulu Tribe! Yay! 👍
Very nice job Guys! Sorry your hurt again Becka but THUMBS UP! lol!
Thanks Richard! Haha thumbs up 👍
I'm wearing a hat! Best line ever! I'm so stealing and using it!
Glad you liked it 😅
Love that you're inspired! Hats off to you for embracing the best line ever!
Another great vid guys, well done, and nice touch with the LAUREN vest Beca
Pro Tip: When you get back to civilization (or to an address that amazon ships to) you need to get yourself at least one pair of "flush cutters." These look like a typical diagonal wire cutter at first glance, but have one side ground flush and all the angle on the top side. They were originally invented for clipping the component leads that stick through a circuit board flush with the bottom side, but for everyone who does not work with Printed Circuit Boards, we use them almost exclusively for cable ties. Reason #1: When you use these to cut the tail off the cable ties there is no barb left sticking out to cut your body when you work around your wire bundles in the future. Reason #2: When removing cable ties, they are very skinny and sharp so that you can see what you are doing (not cutting the wires in the bundle) and they slice easily through the plastic with hardly any effort. (as opposed to trying to use a clunky blunt wire cutter, or a single sided blade as you recently experienced, where the plastic resists and then either cuts through or the blade slides off in search of your body parts..) Note: They are somewhat fragile, so it is best to reserve them just for cable tie use or only small gauge copper wire cutting because if you try to cut something too thick you can bend the blades out of plane and they will no longer work. Cutting any steel or spring wire will dent the sharp edges turning them into small gauge wire strippers. There are plenty of good options on Amazon: Klein Tools D275-5 Pliers, Diagonal Cutting Pliers with Precision Flush Cutter is Light and Ultra-Slim for Work in Confined Areas, 5-Inch | Hakko-CHP-170 Micro Cutter - Red | trueCABLE Precision Sharp Flush Cutter, 5” Side Cutting Pliers, Hardened Carbon Steel Tool, Durable Construction, Cut Wire Up To 16 AWG | Resist the urge to get beefier looking ones. You want the small 5" format with the line of the cutter tilted out of the plane of the handles.
Wow, nice tasteful thumbnail!👴🤗
@05:42 Nice, much needed Duralac isolation! One of the rare moments I've seen anybody on YT use it!👴👌
@09:02 When (needed to) reuse nylock nuts, give them a flat, firm tap to compress the threaded nylon in order to "lock" again.👴😊
@22:10 Yep, good call! Thumb up! (look for some skin glue, works great)👴😳👍
@29:59 So, job well done!👴👌🤗
I shall be lusting over your Solar Panels for a hot minute!
Can’t blame you for having a little crush!😉
Especially at that price!!!!!!
@@JohnHMoore $300 and no more electricity bills... when suckers in the UK are being ripped off at that PER MONTH in an expensive future pricing hedge betting financial futures trading scam.... ????
Thanks
Thanks so much John! That means a lot 😊
I know the thoughts that go threw your mind when you do something silly like cutting toward yourself, but it happens. Things are looking good on "Teulu", even with the mess of boat work, crew looks fantastic also. Hope your next cruising season is your best yet.
Thanks John, honestly we can’t wait to get out ‘there’. It’s going to be an exciting and adventurous season
You two are good at MacGyver'ing things
As always this is just to bloody excellent, nice work 👍🏻
Thank you so much! I'm really glad you enjoyed it!
Electrifying!
"Homely" is another word the Brits use in a way that always causes my brain to stutter step. To us Americans, it's synonymous with "ugly" or "unattractive." Hearing it used as a compliment (as if something is comforting in it's simplicity) is so strange!
Beca I hope you are taking care to not over do yourself! Seems like you're doing a lot of things that maybe you shouldn't. I'm so not judging and hoping that heavy lifting is helping with strengthening. What a wonderful couple you are! So much love, and truly believing in each other is refreshing! I love love your channel! Well done both of you!!
Thank you for the kind words! We’re definitely aware of the need for caution, but sometimes the project calls for a little bit of extra effort. 😊
First of all great video you guys are cooking right along.. Becka sometimes your British really comes out which is cute.. My wife says what does she mean Bloody this Bloody that I giggle and I do my best to explain how the British explain themselves. My wife is Hispanic ie Mexican,she doesn’t understand some accents from the other side of the pond.. One day would love to understand your actual total solar system and why you choose each product and what they actually do. One day we have to do the same solar system on our boat.. Thanks again great video.. PS Zac great job on the arch.
Just a tip. Buy a not to small neodynium magnet, glue an ring on it. Add about 1m rope and a carabiner at the end. Click the magnet to your tool (like a wrench) . Connect the carabiner to the boat, your trousers, a wristband or whatever. An other advantage is that you can use it to grab bold that fell in the bilge just out of reach . Even a 1cm diameter 1cm long has no problem holding a wrench but a bit bigger is better. I made one for m,y self and for a friend who is now solo on his way from the Netherlands over the North-sea to Norway in a Friendship 26.
Thanks for sharing your tips! It sounds like a useful setup for keeping tools handy while out on the water. I could have used that last week!🤣
And again i am stonished how you guys done the electrical installation. Well done, I guess;)
Thank you! We're really proud of our electrical installation work and glad to hear you’re impressed!
I enjoyed this very much, solar is great, but you need to be careful.
The more you go towards a system with lots of power, the more you must keep safety as your primary goal!
Sadly, many here on YT make people believe that making a solar system with with powerful bateries is easy.
First of all: Never ever safe money on tools! I already saw that you are on the right track there, but I have some concerns.
I now am converting my catamaran to a completely electric off grid boat, with 4500watts of solar, and some 45 kWh of battery power.
As an engineer, I always dive to the deepest on safety, there already are many cases in this world, where things went terribly wrong.
1: Secure your batteries in such way, that you’re sure that they don’t go anywhere when you hit a severe storm ! They are heavy, and
can damage the boat, and themselves, which I hopefully don’t need to tell you, is a bad situation!
2: Make your battery system very easy accessable, this is very important! I have them under my living room seat and only need to lift the seat.
3: In a marine environment, it is very important to use glued shrink wraps on your cables when you attach lugs! They must be air tight from lug to lug!
The battery cells do not easily set your boat or house on fire, badly made cables are much better at that job! Anyone can make cables that work fine,
but they need to say stable over many years, air tightness is curucial there..
4: Correct me If I’m wrong, but what I miss in your setup, is a thermal imaging camera, which, in my view, is a nessessary tool to find hotspots in your system very easily, before they become a hazard.
Some people already wrote their concerns about the sturdyness of your arch: I dug deep into wind and the force it can pply to structures, and was quite amazed about the answers I found. In a big storm with 30 m/sec winds, the force on a surface already can reach 56 kg per square meter, which is equivalent to a (not very big) adult. In a hurricane it will be around 100 kg/m2, you can do the math. Mounted horizontally, the wind mostly can pass over and under your panels, but there also are wind gusts and turbulences, created by the ship itself, that can lift your panels up in a nasty way.
My biggest concern there is not the mount of your panels, ist the feet of your arch: The four screws of those feet are getting a force which is magnified by the length of the arch legs and the distance between the feet.
I seem very negative here, absolutely don’t want to be, crossing a busy road is also dangerous.. But in a city, you can be brought into safety much quicker than in the middle of an ocean! Total safety alwais is a compromise.
Oh yea, forgot to mention (edit): Circuit breakers are not nessessary? Well, they are.. Not for current safety, but you need the oppertunity to easily disconnect your solar panels from the system in case of a challenge. I hope you both enjoy safe sailing trips
Nice work and always cut towards your chum and never towards your thumb, you can get another chum but not another thumb, love your travels and videos thanks for sharing.
I really appreciate your support! It means a lot to hear that you enjoy the travels and videos. Safety tips are always welcome too!
No problem the thumb comment was in good jest and taught to me when I went to sea to work thanks again though for sharing your travels.
Great video as always. 👍
You two are one of the few I envy. Respectfully. 🤪
Tired, Retired and Content. lol
I’d rather be hunting Lion Fish 🤷🏻♀️
@19:42 Mates, are you trying to recreate an Archimedes heat ray with all of those paint trays? :) Just kidding, thanks for the very interesting episode!
Finally! Its been Monday for 20 hours now! 😁😍
We’re back 🎉 enjoy the video
Just started watching and i love your taste in music!!!!! LETS GO.....LOLOL
Glad you like it😊
Always make a conscience effort to know where a sharp blade might go if it slips. Always whittle away not towards your grip.
Rebecca, if you get to a large city with good medical services and chemist's.
See if you can get some medical superglue for your first aid kit, very handy in isolated areas, depending if the cut is not a wide jagged cut.
Hope those solar panels work well, and the thumb heals up fast.
Side cutters for cable ties!!
Electrifying video! Great job 😊
Thanks! I guess you could say the video really sparked some interest! 😉
You guys mention Mayflower. Are you both from Plymouth, I’m moored just up from Brunel bridge it’s a small world!
Beca your English is spot on 😂 I think the Americans you spoke with mispronounced the word. I’m from the deep south and you speak English well!😂😂😂
Hi guys. Another really good example of the thought and planning you put into your projects, as well as your ability to adapt 'on the run' . Watched this fresh from Pip Hare's channel as she prepares to tackle the Vendee Globe Race, solo, nonstop around the world.... Two very different types of sailing but both engrossing in their own ways. (PS. Hope that's the end of you sabotaging your own body for a while now Becka! 🤕 😩)
Thank you for your thoughtful comment! It's always inspiring to see how different approaches in sailing can engage us in unique ways. Pip is an incredible sailor, and we appreciate your support! 😊
Thank you for your insightful comment! It’s always fascinating to see how different sailing styles can teach us so much. We appreciate your support!
Great job on installing the arch! Just a question some people suggested that you shouldn’t have taken the support plates off the back of boat! Didn’t understand that concern other than in a storm the stress on the arch would be in question.
Never put wiring through metal especially without rubber seals to stop moisture chafing because pulling them through can damage the wires shielding in places you can never see. I know this from my own mistakes as after a while the wires get hot short out. Mine was a radio receiver and blow it up caught fire. Not on a boat but a vehicle.
Wholesale PV panels are about $0.1/W. So your price was good but doesn't sound subsidized.
I know it is a little late to suggest, but if you had built the panels on a frame you could have used pulley from the top of the mast to pull the panels up
Those are huge panels. It’s also a massively discounted price.
We learn, hold off on solar project until we get to Mexico. And bring your own mc4 crimper
Personally, I don’t know Squat about Electrical, except the light switches😜…So I appreciate those who can tackle a job like this👍…Continue to Stay Safe and Enjoy 😎
Great work 🙌🙌
Finally, another upload from you!
I know, right? We're excited to share more content with you all!
Crazy glue will work well on that thumb.
I ran my middle finger through he meat slicer a week ago. Stuff happens. It is already almost healed but the nail will take awhile to grow back. Keep a stiff upper lip. It will heal.
Engrossing, who’d have thought 😂
I am sorry but I cannot see that lasting the first bit of bad weather that you get caught out in waves will smash it to pieces and the wind could remove it or are you not planning any long distance ocean crossings
Very nice indeed
Cheers!
I think you should isolate the aluminum mounts from the steel nuts and bolts.
Electrical engineer and solar professional here. Get rid of the DC circuit breakers. They don’t add any safety at all. In fact they are a likely point of failure and a small fire hazard. You only use fuses if you are connecting more than two panels in parallel. a single panel can under no circumstances provide more amps than it and the cables were designed to handle. Other than: well done!
ISO 13297 for small craft says: 5.3 Protective devices such as trip free circuit breakers or fuses shall be provided at the source of power.
Similar for ABYC E 9.11 A trip-free circuit breaker or a fuse shall be installed at the source of power for panelboards
That pretty much covers the whole world requiring breakers in boats at the source of power, which a solar panel is.
@@sv_skidbladnir So what do we believe from now on? The advice from a Solar Pro. or the BS ISO 13297.? Can we have a follow up on this subject as I think it is very important Information.
I think what the insurance company demands is the correct answer.
@@sv_skidbladnir…unless the panel cannot produce more amps than the conductor can handle. So with properly sized conductors no OCP is needed for solar.
Interesting subject with vastly differing opinions. I’ll stick to ABYC guidelines.
The DC switch purpose is to be able to quickly disconnect the solar panels from the mppt. Hardly a fire hazard.
Did they work!
Interested to see how they perform. Fab 🙂
Can’t wait to spill the beans on how they turned out! Stay tuned!
Not sure if it's already been mentioned but some vaseline on those electrical connections will slow down corrosion - best wishes for your adventures
That braker has a little red or green clip at the bottom that you can clip down and that braker comes out. Just for future reference....
We could have used you last week 😅 Thanks!
Hola mi Tribu!!!
¡Hola! Great to see you here in the tribe!
@@TeuluTribe I'm on my lunch break.🌹
Wire through Arch, mentioned wanted grommets; grommets wear fall away, think better solution just use UV silicon.
Hi boat kids!
Hola 👋
Bore da chicos, can I please ask where you picked these up from? My friend and I have just bought a boat up in La Cruz, PV and it is lacking in solar (350W). Hopefully we catch up with you!
I always wanna know how much power you use… what % of your power do you use?
The tool is called a roll crimper - because it rolls over the lips
Just a heads up every hole you drill in a support structure weakens it and adds a potential failure point.
I'm hoping that just two will be okay, fingers crossed!
Would it be better to connect the panels in series
FABULOUS 🥲
Thank you!
I don’t think the two words are different at all 🤪😲
Hi
Hi Guys!
A couple of things... First: Bekka- STOP HURTING YOURSELF! You are simply breaking all of our hearts here! If you don't stop it we will be forced to start a petition to require Zach to make you wear a helmet, safety glasses and pillows strapped all around you at all times!
Second, the PV breakers really should be mounted up at your panels as close as possible to the actual PV panel output. That is why they have short MC4 connectors on them. It is so you can plug them in inline at the panels. The purpose of those breakers is to shut off the power coming from your panels in the event of a short circuit in the wire run between the panels and the charge controllers. Having the breakers next to the charge controllers at the end of the wire run does not protect the wire run at all. Remember- breakers are used to protect wires so you always want them at the closest point to where power is entering the wires. (Picture a short circuit in the middle of your wire run that could start a fire. If the breakers are at the far end of the run the breakers will not see any power because it is all going from the panels directly into the short. If the breakers are located at the panels the breakers will see the short and trip. At least in theory.)
Finally, a cheap and dirty trick that works quite well is to use a short piece of vinyl or rubber tubing (fuel line maybe?) to slip over your wire in lieu of using an actual grommet. It will hold up much better than electrical tape. Just cut a short section of tubing, have ZACH slit it along its length with a sharp knife (just in case- yeah I'm lookin' at you Bekka...) and then just slip it over the wire that you want to protect. If a layer of electrical tape to keep it from slipping off makes you sleep better at night then feel free otherwise you are done!
Your boat is looking fantastic! Thank you for sharing your journey and all of your trials and tribulations with all of us!
Wishing you all the best from California!🧡
Hey there! Thank you SO much for this detailed comment - it's exactly the kind of feedback we love getting from our amazing community! 😊
Becka: laughs nervously while hiding latest band-aids Point taken about the safety gear! Maybe we'll do a fun video testing out your pillow-armor idea... 🤔
But seriously - THANK YOU for the technical advice about the PV breakers. We really appreciate you taking the time to explain the safety reasoning behind having them closer to the panels. You're absolutely right about protecting the full wire run, and that's definitely something we need to address.
That fuel line trick is GENIUS! 🙌 Much more durable than our electrical tape solution (which was... not our finest moment). We'll definitely be using this tip in future projects. And yes, Zach will be the one doing the cutting! 😅
Thanks for watching from California and for being such a supportive member of our community. Comments like yours help make our builds safer and better! ⛵️
@TeuluTribe I just wish I could help more! My wife and I love you guys! Take care and all the best from California! 💛
First, mounting the breakers at the panels would require a waterproof enclosure and would still likely fail early due to salt & moisture, that’s an extreme exposure location. Second, the breaker provides overcurrent protection for the wire whether located at the source or load ( though no protection for a short in the wires between source and breaker.) Realistically for this application, if the wire is properly sized for the panels, the current is inherently limited by the panel capacity, unlike a mains supply. So the primary benefit of the breaker is to provide a means of disconnect for service.
@@TeuluTribe fs7453 correctly states below that the PV panel disconnect breakers really aren't very necessary in real life as far as protection goes. The reason is because the PV array is the only source of power in that wire run (since the charge controllers will never back feed power back to the panels) so the maximum current on that circuit is well known (max best case PV current output) and the wires that you are using are sized to handle that amount of power in a dead short (actually they usually sized to at least 1.56x that amount or more depending on installation details).
The real reason for including the breakers is really just to comply with accepted best practices such as those outlined in the ABYC or NEC codes just in case a future buyer of your beautiful boat is looking for reasons to talk you down in price or your insurance provider decided to get nit picky.
The practical reason for putting those breakers in really just comes down to having an easy way to disconnect the PV array from the charge controllers (which is why I put my PV breakers in the exact same location that you did in my own system). When you are using MPPT charge controllers you always want to connect the charge controller to the battery side first and then connect the PV side (your victron manual says that somewhere). Likewise always shut off the PV side first before disconnecting the battery side. The reason is that an MPPT controller will take the power at the PV input and try to match it to the battery but if there is no battery it can run the current up high enough to possibly damage the controller. It needs a battery voltage setpoint to aim for or it gets confused and can go berserk. That said I have broken that rule before and my victron controllers still work fine but do what I say not what I do!
Just thought you might like a little bit deeper explanation of fs's observation.
Take care!
As an EE, do not use Chinese cable from Ali or so. That is aluminium with a very thin layer of copper. The copper will wear of in connectors, Aluminium that then is exposed will corrode and oxide is a very bad conductor. Only use very good cable and make it so there is not a possibility to get moister in it because the moister will go far in the wire due to the capillair working. It becomes black and will have a high resistance. Not that I think you did it wrong, just a tip. I hope your thumb goes well.
Thank you for sharing your expertise! It's always good to be reminded about the importance of quality materials in electrical systems. Your tips are appreciated!
Hope your knee is doing better
Thank you for your concern! I'm on the mend and feeling better every day.