Sailing Zatara · video

What this video covers

Sailing Zatara returns to their catamaran in Fort Lauderdale after six months in Montana to find the batteries fully discharged — a neighbouring catamaran had unplugged their shore power, leaving a full freezer to rot in Florida heat for two weeks.▶ 2:26 The primary project is replacing a degraded solar array originally installed in Turkey in 2018: ten 330-watt panels are mounted flush on the coachroof and upper deck, totalling 3,300 watts, with three charge controllers from the old install reused.▶ 7:26 Removing the old panels was straightforward; scraping the adhesive residue off the fibreglass took days of labour.▶ 6:53 Two additional panels could not fit and were stored.▶ 10:48 After completing the installation, Zatara departs Fort Lauderdale, anchors overnight in Biscayne Bay after a 30-mile run, then continues 70 miles south toward the Florida Keys for the Blue Water Cruising Summit.▶ 12:18 En route, the crew unpickles the watermaker after six months of storage, running it for two to three hours to flush preservative and refill the 200-gallon tank.▶ 22:30 Keith and Kate are sick with a cold; Remy suffers seasickness.▶ 17:51 Delaminated, China-made solar panels lose usable output after years of exposure — replacement with properly flush-mounted panels is the lesson here.▶ 4:50

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