156: Solar Arch Design, Fabrication, & Costs; FKG in Sint Maarten St Martin 100% Off Grid Cruising
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- Опубліковано 27 сер 2024
- Wow, a lot of material is covered here ranging from why Eileen and I chose to upgrade to a robust solar power system as well as the detailed process of custom design and installation including the original job estimate and final invoice so make sure you watch until the end. It is our desire that this helps you better appreciate the process and cost so you can adapt our strategy to your boat!
WHY THE NECESSITY FOR RENEWABLE POWER?
Renewable solar power is why Eileen and I can live off the grid on Blown Away for extended periods of time while avoiding costly and restrictive marinas and mooring balls. While upgrading our full time live aboard sailboat, we planned ahead and spent the money up front to assure years of savings and freedom by harnessing the sun to fill our battery bank comprised of (3) Relion 300 ah batteries. It is our desire that this video will help you better plan your boat's upgrades so that you can live a better life on the water.
WHY SO MUCH POWER - 2760 WATTS?
Have you ever heard, "You can never have enough solar on a boat"? These are wise words that we took to heart in our planning upgrades taking advantage of both our 2015 Leopard 44 wide beam and large roof which provides ample space for a solar arch which is at the heart of our system and holds 4 out of 5 of our large and "LG Neon 2" 410W with the extra 410W panel mounted to our roof along with additional the (2) "LG Neon 2" 355W panels. All hard panels are highly efficient and long lasting backed with a 25 year warranty and generate A LOT of power which is essential to be self reliant and thrive on multiple cloudy / rainy days the with moderate to high power demands of air conditioning, dehumidification, water making and cooking. Let's face it, cooking is always best on these type of days so you want to be ready! Just like our kitchen at home, we uses a lot of electrical appliances and no propane.
SOLAR ARCH CUSTOM DESIGN & PRODUCTION - MANY DETAILED STEPS COVERED IN VIDEO
1. planning the solar arch design
2. planning the panel wiring path design to function as well as look good and be protected. This could entail additional fiberglass hole cutting and custom stainless tube fabrication.
3. roof solar panel locations and attachment process
4. what is 316L stainless steel and what gauges (thicknesses) are used?
5. LG "Neon 2" solar panels and logistics of shipping and arrival
6. stainless steel tubes are measured, cut and welded
7. initial tube polishing before first boat fitting.
8. types of machinery and materials used for polishing - 220 & 600 grit sandpaper, wire and soft brush.
9. first solar panel fitting - flush or on top? We chose custom flush fit.
10. drill hole in engine bay and davit stainless steel tubing using custom angled wood brace to be connected with custom stainless tubing to hide and protect solar wires.
11. hole drilled in cockpit roof to hide and protect solar panels wires by running down stainless davit tubing.
12. first fitting of solar arch with support tube location determined- balanced to the boat with main halyard.
13. support tubes fabricated and TIG welded to solar arch.
14. second fitting with support tubes welded.
15. acid wash clean and multi step polish welds to factory polish and finish.
16. final frame solar panel brackets fit and polished.
17. third and final solar arch fitting to Blown Away.
18. solar panels attached to the solar arch.
19. custom stainless solar panel roof brackets fabricated.
20. solar panels attached to roof and helm bimini (roof) with special film to protect against galvanic corrosion with stainless panel attachments and solar panel aluminum frames.
21. all solar panels wired.
22. INTERVIEW WITH CO-OWNER CHRIS MARSHALL discussing the following topics:
- FKG History - why did they start and how did they develop?
- why is Sint Maarten an ideal location for doing upgrade to your boat?
- what is the one big mistake people make on their boat upgrades?
- importance of employee longevity and retention.
- boater upgrades trends currently in high demand.
- how the charter boat industry effects their business.
- FKG ESTIMATE & FINAL INVOICE on Blown Away website - www.sailingblo...
Previous video on FKG upgrades - • 117: FKG Work Dock Pro...
For more information about our electrical system and boat, click on the following link - www.sailingblo...
Stay tuned for a future video which details Blown Away's entire electrical system and to make sure you see it, please subscribe!
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FKG St. Martin
A quality referral is always valuable. Thanks guys.
Our pleasure! FKG is quite remarkable and worth the effort to sail and access. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Now I feel all charged up and electrified! Good install and fabrication.
Thanks. Hope it helped you. Do you currently have a boat or are you looking?
@@SailingBlownAway changed my stage name this weekend from planzman. This name splains my history. 😜 yes, Looking at an Endeaver 30 twin diesel, 30 footer, dual cabin, dry bath for coastal Ga- Fl and Bahamas, either solo or with grandma and grandkids
@@Planzman1 Nice! Thanks for sharing. All the best finding one : )
Outstanding job Brown! Simply outstanding!
Thanks Bill! Really appreciate your encouragement and feedback! Looking forward to meeting one day!
Another very good video thanks. I watched to the very end thinking Captain Brown had something funny like only he could dream up, but no. Still very good how about a fun one next ?
🤣🤣🤣🤣❤️❤️❤️ Hi Mark! It's Captain Brown. Thanks for breathing life into me this morning! Promise that well include more humor in next weeks. Your comment was heard and noted by the Admiral / editor. Hope we get to meet sometime soon!
Long term quality 316 stainless ,is way better than cheap and nasty now..the solar panels and frame really looks great ,thank you for sharing 😁.
Brown spoke about a link to the costing ,did I misunderstand or ?
Well said! Here is the link for the estimate and final solar arch invoice - www.sailingblownaway.com/fkg-solar-arch-invoice
FKG continues to do such great work and has built such a solid reputation. I thought the price on the custom arch was fantastic, im curious though on the rest of the install including the panels shipped to SXM, the controllers etc?? How much was the total solar project? Did you do the batteries in SXM as well?
We are glad to hear that since we endorse them! Ha! I think the total price is in one of our videos. Maybe the one year reflection. I think Terrell’s total bill was about 30k for all installation plus the panels, controllers, etc. But he also did a lot more than just that system.
Good few dollars of stainless steel laying that container...... that welding is an art all on its own
Yes! That container was filled with metal gold. The welding is an art. We realized it here and our guys were meticulous.
Great job!
Thank you, Jan!! We appreciate your watching and commenting!!
Great video guys, thank you for sharing all the step and pricing. We plan on adding a solar arch on Elysian and having Just Cats do it, but after seeing the quality of work these guys do, I think we will have to get on their schedule and head to St Thomas at some point next year.
FYI, Just Catamarans quoted 16k for the same job and ours was 7.9K; however, that does not include the four LG Neon 2 410 watt solar panels so you will have to add those also. Bottom line is that there is A LOT to save having this and other things done with FKG and in Sint Maarten.
Hello guys!!!
Such an incredible instrument of knowledge and planning! I watched carefully! Hopefully I need to make some decisions about this problems meaning I am dealing with my boat!😜
Once again thank you for a great video!
Cheers from Canary Islands ❤️
Hey Carlos - as always we love hearing from you. Thank you so much for your constant encouragement and kindness. Have a great weekend!
Thanks for the great video and info guys. Internet bandwidth must have been low this week (480p) . Also, the ending can be trimmed, lots of blank space.
If you can comment, how much of a difference (savings) having it done there by FKG vs in Florida?
Thank you so much for your comment and feedback. I don't know why the video was such low quality. It's strange. I will go trim the end...another odd thing. The difference is savings was 50% at a minimum by using FKG vs. Just Cats.
👍
316L is the good stuff
High end boat jewelry! 🤣🤣 Accept NO substitutes!!!!
Getting those angels correct comes with years of experience
Yes!! It sure does and if the angle isn’t right it doesn’t work!!
Presently in Sint Maarten awaiting estimate from FKG (still waiting for 6 weeks - but that’s another issue). How would you guess the costs for such a project would generally compare in SMX vs the US? Getting tired of waiting for just the initial estimate, much less the work, and considering completing upon return to US. LOVE your videos. Thanks Tracy&Kim. S/v GypSea
Hi Tracy!! Yikes. That's a long time. It IS their busy season, but that seems a bit extreme unless they are overwhelmed. Email me on sailingblownaway@gmail.com and I will get you Whatsapp info for the owner and another company (the guy who designed ours broke off) so you can deal directly. I am not sure who you are dealing with. Let's talk offline! When we were there, the cost was 1/2 of the US prices. Their work is great if you can get them to give you an estimate. GRRR! Email me!
Just emailed you but got strange error message although it is in my “sent” file. Let me know if it came through.
Got it
Great video and channel. I have been contemplating the whole solar arch thing for my L47. If I do the fabricated stainless thing, I am definitely going to FKG. I see they used 316L which is pretty sweet. Did you consider aluminum? I feel like I have a weight budget. Or do it yourself stainless with elbows and joints? Or is the do-it-yourself thing too much racket at sea with all of it creaking around making noise? I haven't really seen do it yourself fittings in 1.5" size, but rather 1", etc.
Thanks for your feedback. We did not consider anything but 316L. We def don’t need anything rattling on passage. FKG is awesome!!
What about batteries? Did you buy additional or replacement battery bank? Thanks for the great video.
Thanks for your feedback. We replaced our AGMs with 900Ah of lithium. This seems to be enough for us and what we do.
@@SailingBlownAway did you also get the batteries in saint maarten? Is your system 24v? Thanks
@@barryholiday8998 Ah, sorry that I misunderstood. We had the batteries installed in SXM but bought them in St. Lucia. Our system is 12V.
2760 solar?!? Wow. What owners would you put on the forward roof section if you were going to do that?
On each side, you could put a vertical panel with max size 43” x 5’; however, currently we have MORE than enough already. My recommendation is to use your boat and see what you step on. So far no regrets with what we’ve installed. Do you currently have a L44 or are you looking for one?
How did you guys find FKG?
Good question! Found out about FKG from Terrell Weaver of Tradewinds Marine Electric ⚡️ who did all of our electrical work. Good thing is that FKG allows third party contractors to also work on your boat while you’re boat is at their work dock.
Did you consider using bifacial solar panels? I hear all the really cool kids are going bifacial nowadays
OH and I DESPERATELY want to be included in the "cool club"!🤣🤣🤣. Yes, we did consider bifacial panels; however, there were NONE in stock when I ordered last year to send to Sint Maarten and FKG refused to start the job without the panels so they can get precise measurements. I really had the HOTs for some Jinko bifacials but they would have to ship directly from Japan and it would have taken too long. Also, I did a lot of research on the reflective strength of water and it's not a lot which probably would not justify the extra trouble and expense. blog.spiritenergy.co.uk/contractor/bifacial-solar-panels-and-the-albedo-effect
@@SailingBlownAway OK, But what do the initials FKG really stand for anyway????
@@bill2292 🤣🤣🤣 You've BROKEN the secret code! We always joke about that and so does FKG.
Ha ha ha. They say it was the initials of the original owners. We have other theories. Ha ha
🤣🤣🤣like the wife comments if she does not go leave her behind 100% agree 👍👍👍😜
Ha ha. Hey! Wait a minute!! Lol.
Awesome video, thanks for introducing us to a great company with some amazing services... f.k.g. rocks! What great quality work they do. Thanks SBA!
Thanks for watching!! We are thrilled to get the word out about FKG. They are amazing. Thanks for your comment.