Sailing Zataravideo
We installed 3300 watts of solar power on our sailboat! ⚡️☀️ (Ep 348)
5 February 2026 · 31 min · 263K views · Fort Lauderdale
Crew adjusts rigging on catamaran at sunset, golden sky behind.
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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