I'm getting ready to venture out a bit in my Hunter 290. In addition to getting all the bits fixed up and doing lots of sea trials to break things, I'm adding Solar Panels and Also A Water System and I'd love to get some input on the design and for anyone to poke holes in what I'm trying to do.
As boat owners you all probably know that finding reliable people to work on your boat is at best a challenge, and always expensive. For my Solar panel mounts with some Canvas I got a quote around $4k, for a Marine Grade Water Maker, around $4.2k for a 12 volt system that's also portable.
As with most things on boats it usually turns out to be a "Do it yourself job". As my Auto-Pilot turned out to be, but that's another story. (Best thing I put in Boaty).
I said to myself, "self, that's a lot of money". So I'm going to build a Solar System, the supporting stainless steel framework and power a Water Maker that I am also going to build. I figure I'd share with you all and would love your input, flames, etc. as I build it. I'd love to hear about others that have put Solar on the smallish Hunter 290 and anyone that has experience with Water Makers or any suggestions around that and hooking into 12 volt systems. I've also posted the designs up as well for input from anyone that's interested and I'm happy to take any suggestions. I used AI to help with the design and I posted the Solar Panel Design and the Water Maker Design up on my site and I'd love to hear what people thing about the design. One thing I'm a little sketchy about is that it's a little over a hundred pounds and the 290 is a 2.2 on the capsize index. I've designed so I can pull the whole thing off and stow the panels.
I've got a newsletter, videos and other stuff going at skipperscott.substack.com and I'd be happy to share and answer any questions you have about how things are going.
Cheers,
Scott
As boat owners you all probably know that finding reliable people to work on your boat is at best a challenge, and always expensive. For my Solar panel mounts with some Canvas I got a quote around $4k, for a Marine Grade Water Maker, around $4.2k for a 12 volt system that's also portable.
As with most things on boats it usually turns out to be a "Do it yourself job". As my Auto-Pilot turned out to be, but that's another story. (Best thing I put in Boaty).
I said to myself, "self, that's a lot of money". So I'm going to build a Solar System, the supporting stainless steel framework and power a Water Maker that I am also going to build. I figure I'd share with you all and would love your input, flames, etc. as I build it. I'd love to hear about others that have put Solar on the smallish Hunter 290 and anyone that has experience with Water Makers or any suggestions around that and hooking into 12 volt systems. I've also posted the designs up as well for input from anyone that's interested and I'm happy to take any suggestions. I used AI to help with the design and I posted the Solar Panel Design and the Water Maker Design up on my site and I'd love to hear what people thing about the design. One thing I'm a little sketchy about is that it's a little over a hundred pounds and the 290 is a 2.2 on the capsize index. I've designed so I can pull the whole thing off and stow the panels.
I've got a newsletter, videos and other stuff going at skipperscott.substack.com and I'd be happy to share and answer any questions you have about how things are going.
Cheers,
Scott
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