I have been getting some information requests about our solar system so I decided provide an update about our current system. I have been a long time proponent of solar energy on boats. The biggest reason is I hate noise and running the generator makes noise. We try and do that as little as possible. On SV Magnolia, a 1990 Nelson Merrick Morgan we ran the generator for 1 hour a day. We needed the the generator to make hot water and to make make fresh water using our water maker. In addition we did the initial “bulk charge” on our battery bank.

I really cut my teeth on the installation aboard Sailboat Magnolia. I learned a lot and really in the end very happy with the outcome. A review of that installation is documented here:
http://a2baker.com/magnoliablog/?p=3850

On MV Magnolia, a 1997 Kadey-Krogen 42, I basically recreated the installation as I did not the sailboat. The solar panels selected were different but the overall design is very similar. One thing I wanted was to minimize the visibility of the panels. That was partially the reason for the installation of the weather cloths along the fly deck rails. As you can see from the picture you can hardly see the installed Pilothouse Solar Panels.

The second set of panels are located on fly-bridge level are mostly hidden as well.

The panels I selected were “200 +25% Watt 12 Volt Battery Charger Solar Panel Off Grid RV Boat ” which were purchased from via Ebay at:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/264077583855

https://www.ebay.com/itm/264077583855
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2-200-Watt-12-Volt-Battery-Charger-Solar-Panel-Off-Grid-RV-Boat/283348218673?hash=item41f8deb331:g:uHMAAOSwWz5b7gaM:sc:FedExHomeDelivery!34997!US!-1

With a lot of time spent with a tape measure I was able to determine that we could comfortable accomodate 5 panels for a total of 1000 watts. Luckily the same panel comes in two physical shapes which worked out PERFECTLY. The initial installation was made on the cabin top of the Pilothouse. Note one of the panels needed to be be offset to maximize exposure. As can be seen above the second set of panels is located on the rail of the of the flybridge deck,

The pilothouse cabin top is canted slightly aft so I wanted the aft edge of the panels to be slightly higher in than the front edge To achieve this I was utilized two different mounts. On the front edge of the panels I used:

Solar Panel Mounting Z Bracket Mount Supporting for RV, Roof, Boat

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FY32KFJ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

On the aft edge I used a slightly taller Bracket: ” NEW TEMCo Solar Panel Mounting Z Bracket Stainless Steel Kit Mount Set Roof RV “

https://www.ebay.com/itm/282628729954

To secure the brackets to the cabin top I used 3M Scotch 5952 VHB Tape available at most hardware stores. This stuff is terrific and no hole drilling required!

All of the panels are wired in parallel with the power being delivered to a OutBack Power FM60-150VDC FLEXMax 60 Charge Controller . The panels from are Ebay and not top of the line name brand. The Outback Controller though is the very top of the line controller.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IVC7BYC/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The Outback in mounted in the engine room next to the rest of the 12 Volt DC distribution network. Note the output of the controller is fully fused.

Bottom line is we have been extremely happy with the current solar set-up.

This winter has been all about “different” places! Two of those are Brunswick and Bluffton as well. Brunswick struck us as town that has struggled and it SLOWLY finding its footing.

I have not seen a store front like this since way way back! Something familiar here…

Our visit coincided with MV Arion ( Al & Arleen) . It was great to catch up. Their boat hull number and Magnolia are very close, making them very close relatives. One of the fun things was a visit to Richland Distillery (
https://www.richlandrum.com/ )

Similar to other southern towns…Brunswick comes with it share of park squares.

This is one I definitely did not know

Our next stop was Bluffton, SC, again a new port of call for Magnolia. The trip to Bluffton is a 8 mile trip up the May River and as we found well worth it. We have a number of friends that live here so look forward to more visits.

The anchorage at Bluffton is very nice with the town on one shore and a lovely marsh land to the other shore. Granted upon our arrival we were greeted with this “little” thunderstorm.

Silly me did not take more pictures of town. But a lovely town for sure!

In a surprise, our friend Debra from SV Kelly-Nicole was back in the US from Grenada. It was great to catch up. We also had the opportunity have dinner with Winnie & Jerry from the Pentagon Sailing Club. Silly me yapping and no pictures! Arghh

As we departed the May River we passed Hilton Head island and gave SV Exuberant a hady wave!

Next stop Beaufort, SC!!!

Returning from the Bahamas is always bittersweet but the passage planning usually forces us to ignore the sting of departing. A trip across the gulf stream is not something we take lightly no matter what the forecast is. We are little greedy as well. See we dont just want to cross it….we want to ride it! There is always a little trepidation.

The below image show the temperature difference of the surrounding water. The section we want to ride is that deepest darkest red. I am always in awe of the shear amount of energy contained in that flowing water. We are able to track the temperature of the water we are in and we can clearly see a 4 or 5 degree temperature increase as we enter the strongest part of th stream. In addition the stream flows at 3-4 knots so every hour you are in we pick that as extra. When you consider we only travel at about 6 knots that is nearly a 40% increase in our “speed over ground.” That is HUGE. The ride though does not come free. That amount of energy is definitely going to churn the water we are traveling in ALOT! Not to mention all that warm water turns into warm humid air which can turn into a really fierce thunderstorm in short order! When we do these kind of passages we really do need to have our head in the game.

First though we have to get out of the Bahamas. Part of our ritual is to ALWAYS spend the night before in a quiet anchorage where we can have extra time to take a good look over Magnolia and make sure she and we are ready to go. It also gives us the opportunity to enjoy a Bahamas farewell sunset.

We awoke about 4am and headed out across the banks. The trip across the banks is about 50 miles of 15 foot deep crystal clear water with a sandy bottom. On a moonlit night you can easily see the bottom passing underneath Magnolia.

We departed the banks in the early afternoon and by sunset had entered the gulf stream proper.

Note the Speed-Over-Ground (SOG) is indicating over 10 knots! “Please keep your arms and legs inside the vessel at all times. Remain in your seats and keep your seat-belt safely secured…thank you” Though it was a lovely sunset you can see curtains of rain falling on the edges. Just a little warning from mother nature.

An no, we are not alone. Here is a cruise ship probably heading for Nassau from Florida. Range about 8 or 9 miles.

And here he is crossing our bow at about 3 miles after kindly adjusting his course to further avoid us.

Reality always sets in when you depart the gulfstream and your vessels speed significantly decreases. In addition there is always an hour of extra turbulence when departing the stream. There is a huge amount of friction between the two masses water which stirs things up.

As were approaching MOA (the buoy marking the beginning of the channel) Jacksonville I throttled up for some reason…and…nothing happened…no increase in RPMs. No decrease either but unnerving nonetheless. The obvious problem would be a fuel filter clogged. We have three and easy to check two, but the third is a bit more involved and not something I wanted to be doing at the end of a 40 hour passage. With the exception of not being able to go faster we seemed fine. I called our TowBoat service, made them aware of the situation and they sent a boat out to meet us JUST in case.

There was the other complication as we were coming into Jacksonville. Though the picture is rather dramatic to look at…we were pretty confident none of the bad stuff would get us before arriving at the dock…which was indeed the case. You can see the towboat ahead of us. My friend Al saw the picture and immediately wanted to know why a dock line was out when were supposed to be anchoring (had not at this point shared the complications) but we have some very wise mariner friends!!!

We had called Morning Star Marina Fuel dock just inside the inlet at Mayport and they could have not been nicer. They got us settled knowing we had just had a long passage and were beat.

We quickly got the “third” fuel filter changed and ready to go. The dock this close to the main St Johns River shipping channel did make for some interesting moments!

It was nice to be “home.’ Mentally it is just a lot easier to be here than in the Bahamas. We have all the support systems we need here. While we are in the Bahamas we just do not have access to emergency medical or the parts supplies. The Admiral enjoys her time in the Bahamas and I, well I don’t mind a dock along the St Johns river…next, heading up the coast.

After having a wonderful trip down the Exuma chain we arrived Great Exuma, aka Georgetown, aka “Adult Daycare.”

We caught up with Exuberant and enjoyed hanging out with Burt & Prue

After a couple days in “daycare” and topping up on provisions we were off to Cat Island, about 50 miles to the north east.

First stop is one of our favorites in the Bahamas, Fernandez Bay (
https://www.fernandezbayvillage.com ). The anchorage is protected except from the west, there is no west protection on Cat Island! We always meet interesting people and have a great meal…whats not to love?

Prue reminded us it was Fish Fry night in New Bight and also it was Junior Junkanoo ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junkanoo ) night. It was also brought to our attention there were 3 Hylas sailing yachts in the anchorage and only one Krogen….which is completely backwards from normal

In the next couple of days we were expecting a lengthy blow, no significant west winds forecast but plenty of east. We also wanted to get away from the crowds so we would have plenty of anchor room. Bennetts Harbor was the perfect fit. A beautiful beach and easy access to a protected dock. What was not to love and it worked out perfect.

We even made it to the famous Yardies (
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g147427-d2092220-Reviews-Yardie_s_Restaurant_Bar_and_Conch_Stand-Cat_Island_Out_Islands_Bahamas.html )

After nearly a weeks slow down in it was off to Eleuthera Island. The trip from Bennetts Harbor Cat Island to Rock Sound CAN be done in one LONG day but why do that? We are suppose to be slowing down. We stopped Little San Salvador Island…known as Half Moon Cay to the Cruise Ship Community.

This particular anchorage is very complicated for me….not to anchor…no not at all super easy, stay out of the way of the ships and get in as close as you can to avoid the North Atlantic swell that is wrapping around the island. First, what they do here is amazing….these ships arrive about dawn…between the two of them what, maybe 10,000 people? They take them all to shore, give them a beach fantasy day to include beach horse back riding and then pile them all back aboard and be underway by supper. An amazing dance in my mind…then I am so very grateful. We get to explore this beautiful island environment for months on end…most of these passenger will be back in hectic world in the next couple days. What we do is not for everyone….but it is not wasted on us…I assure you.

The next morning we departed at first light to be sure we were out of the way of the next arriving ship and sure enough, Carnival Cruise lines was on the horizon….

After that we were off to round the Cape of Eleuthera and up to Rock Sound.

The Cape Of Eleuthera I think has the most beautiful water we have seen.

We arrived in Rock Sound just ahead of the next cold front which was expected to be “sporty” so it was good to be in a secure harbor. Additionally our Bahamian WIFI Hotspot needed a replacement SIM card which was being flown in. We anchored up near the airport and of course the flight arrived as the front was too. I jumped in the dink and beached it a couple hundred yards from the airport, walked into the airport with its typical
Bahamian chaos and a hundred arriving tourists. The whole thing was a bit of out of body experience. I picked up my package, raced back to Magnolia and was back on-board to finish my coffee to watch the rain and a rainbow. It made us chuckle about our life a little asking, “I wonder how others day started out?”

Our next and last stop in Eleuthera was Governors Harbor. We had never made time to stop and enjoy and this was our opportunity. What a wonderful stop. We just wish it could have been a couple weeks later so we could have enjoyed a day or two with Stan and Suzie from the The Pearl (
https://sscruisingadventure.blogspot.com ). Schedules seldom align but we keep trying!

Next stop, the Abacos.

Magnolia has not been to the Bahamas in the last two winters so we were excited to get going. Our plan has been to depart Palm Beach and work our way to Miami area and cross the Gulf-stream when a weather window presented. Completely unexpected but a window presented just as we departed Palm Beach!

We departed Old Port Cove marina, made a drive-by of our friend Mims Condominium.

We anchored just inside the inlet at Lake Worth / Palm Beach. This was two fold in that we could get an early start out on the ocean but more importantly we really like to have a night on the anchor just to make sure Magnolias Systems are working correctly and it just give us, the crew a chance to get our “head in the game.”

First thing the next morning we headed for the ocean to depart the inlet…we had a momentary delay waiting for a arriving passenger ship…

Departing the inlet, directly into the sun. Just down the coast is the is the President’s Mara-Largo estate. I was surprised to find a crashed boat on the beach nearby. I assumed it would have been removed like yesterday. Of course there is always one, out of no-where a sailing catamaran crossed our bow, not overly dangerous at this range but certainly rude. As we were preparing to head east off of Fort Lauderdale we had what appeared to be a decommissioned Navy Ship being towed by a tug. We certainly did not want to cross the bow so we had to turn east earlier than we wanted.

The impact of that action can be easily seen..the force of the gulf stream current carried us north in spite of the fact we were headed due east. Just one more care where you simply cannot fight mother nature!

We ran along the coast and crossed the Gulf Stream during daylight hours arriving the Bahamas Banks approximately 10:00pm. The Gulf Stream is one experience but the “banks” are another. The Bahama Banks is a vast area of mostly sand covered bottom that is 15-23 feet deep. When the moon is full as it was almost the night of our passage there is enough light to actually see the bottom passing below you. It is a very unique experience for sure.

The lighted cruise ship “took our stern” just as we were arriving the banks. The other two photos show the moon setting as we crossed the banks over night. We arrived Fresh Creek Andros about 30 hours after our departure from Palm Beach, a passage of approximately 210 nm.

The first order of business was to get checked in with Bahamian Customs and Immigration. We accomplished that by taking a taxi out to the Fresh Creek Airport. A meer couple miles away. We wrapped the day up with a Head On Snapper Linner (Late Lunch/Early Dinner) and of course a Ice Cold Bahamian Beer!

The real reason we went to Andros in the first place so the Admiral could visit the Androsia Factory there. She provides a detailed report on our visit here: http://a2baker.com/seamlesssailorblog/

Next to the Exumas and meeting up with friends!!!!

I neglected one of the high points of our visit to Palm Beach. Monday nights at the Old Port Cove Marina Restaurant there is a HIGHLY competitive Game and in-spite of the fact that we did not have a Millennial Teammate, Team Magnolia overcame steep odds and won the $30 dollars in drink coupons! Thank you Mims and Ted & Sally (MV Amici) for jumping and bringing this victory home…