I’ve had to travel back to work a few more times than expected this fall. The silver lining of all those trips is that we had the time to get some upgrades installed. Earlier this year, we had to replace our inverters. That project kick started this string of upgrades. We now have a new alternator, solar panels and lithium batteries.
The objective of those upgrades is to allow us to run the systems like the water maker without needing the generators. Making that possible would save us an estimated 300 gallons of diesel which equates to about 450 nautical miles of additional range on our longest planned leg (3,500 nautical miles). That would allow us to not carry deck fuel!
The new alternator will generate almost 100 amps more than the original!
The new electrical system is all Victron making everything pretty easy to manage and control.
At the end of all upgrades comes the sea trial, and this time, Captain Jamie took us out of the marina on a beautiful San Diego day!
All systems are GO!