Adventures of SV Soltara
Quarantine was over in a flash, and before we knew it we could set foot on the beautiful land that we had been gazing at for days. We were surprised to discover that the land around Salinas is flat, despite the picturesque mountains in the distance.
Where does your power come from? When you plug in your phone, computer, your refrigerator, is it a thoughtless action or do you stop to consider where the electricity is coming from and how much of it you are using?
Before I moved onto a boat, I never gave too much thought about power generation, other than paying the power bill that was sent to me each month. Now, it’s a different ball game.
Since we spend all of our time off-grid, that means that we have to generate and maintain our own power. Gone are the days of mindlessly plugging in the laptop or phone whenever the mood strikes. Now, we must actively watch how much power we are generating and how much we are using.
We promised you a post on our power generation and battery set up on Soltara–I promise it’s coming! First, we thought you would be interested in an update on where we are and upcoming plans.
The last update we gave you had us still in the boatyard, waiting on parts and ticking off boat projects.
You will be relieved to know that we are no longer in the boatyard!
Before the final purchase of our Tayana 37, we hired an experienced surveyor to survey her inside and out. Just like when buying a house, we wanted to know of any potential problems that would need to be addressed or that could help in adjusting the purchase price.
We were aware from the start that most of the electronics onboard were more than 10 years old and that we would likely need to replace and upgrade some of them. During the survey, we discovered that many of the electronics did not function at all—the wind instrument, depth sounder, speed log, SSB radio, autopilot display, amongst other instruments.
In our last post we left you with the understanding that we were in search of a local buyer for our catamaran, since borders were still closed on island. We knew we would have to be much more flexible with our asking price, and we also knew that finding a local buyer would be challenging.
Then L. J. had a brilliant thought…
Adventures of SV Soltara 