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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2018 15:20:44 GMT
I used to dislike seeing solar panels on otherwise attractive houses, but now it appears you 'have to have solar' on boats too. The panels are ugly, and look entirely out of place to me. Handsome looking boats are vandalised by the things. A friend has a permanent mooring, rarely cruises, and consequently the panels she has make sense, albeit they still look ugly. I realise if the boat was my permanent home and I cruised weekly rather than daily, I would have to tolerate them. But it's getting to the point now where I am frequently lectured and harangued by other boaters about solar. It's solar facism I tell you. Ah.....that's better now Rog
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2018 15:23:30 GMT
I used to dislike seeing solar panels on otherwise attractive houses, but now it appears you 'have to have solar' on boats too. The panels are ugly, and look entirely out of place to me. Handsome looking boats are vandalised by the things. A friend has a permanent mooring, rarely cruises, and consequently the panels she has make sense, albeit they still look ugly. I realise if the boat was my permanent home and I cruised weekly rather than daily, I would have to tolerate them. But it's getting to the point now where I am frequently lectured and harangued by other boaters about solar. It's solar facism I tell you. Ah.....that's better now Rog Me too. There are some beautiful houses in villages near us that have been utterly ruined by clapping panels on them. Likewise boats, I can see the benefits but the ugliness outweighs that for me.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2018 15:27:36 GMT
I expected a right kicking for publicly airing such sacrilege, so thanks for your post. Daren't put the same one on CWDF (mind you they'd be too 'polite' to swear at me). It would be like saying smart guages are a waste of money Rog
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Post by Mr Stabby on Jun 22, 2018 15:39:00 GMT
I don't like the look of them either. I have one small solar panel, probably 30w, and it stops the batteries discharging as quickly, although it can't fully keep up with the draw from the fridge and the inverter. Fortunately it disappears beneath the roof hatch when the boat is in use. I suppose a larger array might be handy although I tend to move sufficiently to recharge the batteries most days in the sunny period of the year, and need to run the engine to get hot water anyway so it's not very high priority.
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Post by Robbo on Jun 22, 2018 16:04:07 GMT
I hate the look of solar as well, however I’ll be getting some semi flexible panels to go on my wheel house roof. As they only a few mm high and bend to the curve of the roof they don’t spoil the shape of the boat and can blend in quite nicely.
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Post by Delta9 on Jun 22, 2018 16:04:42 GMT
Most modern narrowboats are butt ugly anyway, I don't think it makes too much difference. If you've got a nice looking boat you can always use those flexible stick on ones that look fine.
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Post by JohnV on Jun 22, 2018 16:26:00 GMT
I liveaboard on a large boat with a lot of electric appliances, there really was no sensible alternative. Ugly or not, I needed them.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2018 16:50:59 GMT
They make perfect sense, as I said, but I think they're ugly and I am intensely irritated by the current trend for some boaters to lecture and harangue me about them being essential.
There was even a tongue in cheek thread on the other place suggesting a new rule that unless you have solar panels, you're not allowed to run your engine for charging.
Like Stabby, the engine heats my water.
Most days I cruise, so my batteries and water heating are fine.
If I choose to stay in one spot I will considerately run my engine, as I have for the last 13 years of boat ownership, and those solar fascists can lump it.
Just saying that's all.
Rog
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2018 17:28:24 GMT
They can be reasonably hidden. I have three hidden in boxes, and am happy for the 160 amps per day at the cost of someone moaning about them being ugly. 😊 Smartguage are crap.
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Post by Robbo on Jun 22, 2018 17:32:16 GMT
They make perfect sense, as I said, but I think they're ugly and I am intensely irritated by the current trend for some boaters to lecture and harangue me about them being essential. There was even a tongue in cheek thread on the other place suggesting a new rule that unless you have solar panels, you're not allowed to run your engine for charging. Like Stabby, the engine heats my water. Most days I cruise, so my batteries and water heating are fine. If I choose to stay in one spot I will considerately run my engine, as I have for the last 13 years of boat ownership, and those solar fascists can lump it. Just saying that's all. Rog They make perfect sense if your off-grid. If your on grid majority of the time and cruising the other time then they don’t make a lot of sense. If your off-grid 365 days then a decent form of generating electric in winter like a built in generator, travel power or decent alternator is priority over solar.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2018 17:32:58 GMT
I don't like too much solar on boats.
I was an early adopter. When I bought two 75w panels in the late 90s they were about £350 each..
In those days it was unusual to see a boat with them on the top. Since then there have been various government subsidies which have been introduced and subsequently withdrawn leading to oversupply and China now makes everything too cheaply so the effect is a massive decrease in the price.
The main problem is that they really make sense. They may be ugly but they are incredibly effective.
I'm still soldiering on with my two 20 year old 75w panels one of which is a BPand the other a Siemens.
Quite tempted by the new big ones with mppt for my cc boat I must say.
Ugly? They are.
I made a tracker with an old motorised satellite dish mount. Bit of a bodge but it worked
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2018 17:34:07 GMT
I have three hidden in boxes. If you put them in a box they don't work You need sunlight on them.
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Post by Telemachus on Jun 22, 2018 19:10:50 GMT
They can be reasonably hidden. I have three hidden in boxes, and am happy for the 160 amps per day at the cost of someone moaning about them being ugly. 😊 Smartguage are crap. Are you sure it isn’t 160 slaps with a wet fish? Clearly engineering units aren’t your strong point. Along with a lot of other things of course.
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Post by Telemachus on Jun 22, 2018 19:12:43 GMT
They make perfect sense, as I said, but I think they're ugly and I am intensely irritated by the current trend for some boaters to lecture and harangue me about them being essential. There was even a tongue in cheek thread on the other place suggesting a new rule that unless you have solar panels, you're not allowed to run your engine for charging. Like Stabby, the engine heats my water. Most days I cruise, so my batteries and water heating are fine. If I choose to stay in one spot I will considerately run my engine, as I have for the last 13 years of boat ownership, and those solar fascists can lump it. Just saying that's all. Rog Jeff totally agrees with you. I’ve always had a bit of a hankering for solar on a Telemachus but Jeff is dead against it on aesthetic grounds. It’s true that we mostly cruise every day or are on shore power in the marina, but I just like the idea of “something for nothing”. Anyway, as you will have noticed, I lost that argument!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 22, 2018 19:16:43 GMT
They can be reasonably hidden. I have three hidden in boxes, and am happy for the 160 amps per day at the cost of someone moaning about them being ugly. 😊 Smartguage are crap. Are you sure it isn’t 160 slaps with a wet fish? Clearly engineering units aren’t your strong point. Along with a lot of other things of course. Stick to your amateur ramblings dumb boy 😊
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