Bahamas Bound!

[@dougmarder]

Well done! I remember when you were first fitting-out SH and a few of us armchair sailors/future owners were questioning why you did not invest more in solar back then. You have answered that question in-full and we have all learned from your experience. Thanks again for sharing all this with us. She may be named "Starry Horizons" but now she gets to enjoy her time under the Sun!

[@OutChasingStars]

Haha! And see my memory is 8 years ago, our 1kw of solar was on the high side. Especially compared to the FP factory offering. But on the whole I'm glad we started out with the setup we did because it taught us a LOT about boats and the lifestyle we really wanted while cruising. And now here we are... enjoying both the sun and the stars! 😆

[@TheOKellys]

It’s Leaving Day! Magical words my friends. Enjoy!

[@OutChasingStars]

Thanks! It felt so good to make our way south! Now you just need to find a boat and come join us... 😉

[@bfs007a]

Congratulations and celebrations. Here the days are still short and days long. Just that feeling of working the winch and moving the right direction...

[@patrickreid2767]

Im happy the off grid power is working out so well. Its great your back sailing!

[@OutChasingStars]

Life just feels so much better when we're off the dock! And if I'm being really honest... not working on boat projects ALL the time! 😆

[@deacondavidviscount7579]

Glad you're back in action! Been too long....

[@jackwesley7530]

admiral is back on the water yaaaaaaa

[@dougschnelzer9168]

Loved that video. So glad everything is working out so well for on Starry Horizons! Some great ideas to think about…

[@HopeOfJoe]

Y. E. A. H. ‼️ 🎉 🌞🎉 What a great and special shake down passage. 👍🏻 See you next time. ✨ 🌊 💨 ⛵️ 🏝 👙 🌞 ✨

[@OutChasingStars]

It turned out to be a good thing that we did the shorter hop down to New Jersey first. After those fixes, the passage to the Bahamas was much less stressful!

[@marygracestich8145]

Hey Friends! We are so happy that your refit is working well and that you are pleased with the results. Well done! As always with you two. Wishing you a fabulous season. Enjoy that "new" feeling on SH. Hugs from us, MG and F

[@OutChasingStars]

Thanks MG and F! We miss you guys and can't wait til our paths cross again!

[@donjohnston3776]

I really like the updates on your power generation and Starlink. You guys have set the standard and demonstrated well how successful upgrading can be all round beneficial.😄

[@OutChasingStars]

Thank you! I think it helped that we really put a LOT of thought into what upgrades would make the most difference for us. And having 7 years of knowledge of Starry Horizons and how we like to cruise certainly helped as well! 😃

[@donjohnston3776]

@OutChasingStars Corrosion X is a great choice for protecting critical components, especially electrical like your radar etc.

[@OutChasingStars]

We use A LOT of Corrosion X. Love the stuff! But Tefgel is generally better about preventing seizing/corrosion of screws/bolts/etc. So I was trying to use Tefgel on the screw connection but some of it must have gotten into the electrical connection. Lesson learned!

[@verne5770]

I totally get your solar input mind blowing excitement along with your Li batteries. We did much the same in our off grid home last year. So satisfying. Time for an espresso make now.

[@OutChasingStars]

There have been so many benefits, but silence is one I don't think we fully appreciated before making the switch. Not hearing the loud drone of a generator makes the changes all the more satisfying!

[@howtodave1725]

good times

[@charlescook5439]

Really glad to see you guys back on the water. My favorite places in the Bahamas were the Berrie Islands and the Exumas. I hope you enjoy them too. Fair winds

[@OutChasingStars]

We spent a bit of time in the Berry Islands during our first Bahamas trip back in 2014 and stopped in at a few of the Exuma islands as we made our way north last year. Definitely lots more to explore!

[@elysiumsailing]

Well, I am glad your math worked out better than you hoped, because I used your spreadsheets to figure out my system and the requirements! As always, great video! Enjoy the Bahamas for a little while longer!

[@OutChasingStars]

Believe me, I am too! I think on passages it is really hard to estimate power production given extra shading from sails and how dependent our hydro-generator is on speed to produce decent power. I was quite confident we'd be able to achieve energy independence at anchor where it's a lot easier to adjust our power consumption (I don't _need_ air con every day 😆). But to get there on a passage, where the power draw from more essential equipment is significantly higher, was a pleasant surprise!

[@mussieTil]

I love your videos. Thanks for sharing.

[@bill2292]

Great video David!

[@MK-gr9qz]

Amazing work guys, love the tech!! Keep up🏋🏻‍♀️🤟🏋🏻‍♀️

[@kaivonmortazavi8656]

So good to see you back on the water. Once you ended your previous globe trotting I drifeted off so not sure what your plans entail. Hopefully in a recent episode you have eluded to your plans - if not, please do.

[@OutChasingStars]

We've touched on it a bit, but the general idea is to keep the boat but stay closer to home. We didn't spent much time in the Bahamas or the Caribbean our first time around, so there's still lots to explore. It felt great to accomplish our goal of circumnavigating, but now it's nice to be able to see family and friends a bit more regularly!

[@licencetoswill]

yeah tefgel is a great dielectric. everyday is a school day on the water.

[@OutChasingStars]

I am ALWAYS learning something... 😆

[@SailingHangtime]

Hi there, nice video, thank. Really impressed with your sound quality (lack of windnoise) when you are on deck. Can you let me you what your set up is? Tk.

[@OutChasingStars]

Thanks! We use a Rode VideoMic Pro+ with the optional Deadcat. It makes an _amazing_ difference.

[@Boody523]

Congrats!!! Glad the energy is keeping up, plus some. What solar panels are those?

[@OutChasingStars]

We have Canadian Solar 450w bifacial panels. They're working great so far!

[@tlowe2502]

It's really good to see y'all, We're really happy all of the new changes are working out for y'all. Stay safe and have a great time.👍🏻👍🏻💕🐾

[@OutChasingStars]

Thanks! We're really happy, and quite relieved, the changes are working out as well! 😆

[@rogerpurcell9444]

Great to see how the upgrades worked. I know it isn't hot yet but do you think you can run AC in master suite to sleep cool?

[@OutChasingStars]

The big question for me is exactly how much power the AC would use overnight. We may 'curtain off' the berth area of our hull to maximize it's efficiency. Either way, my gut feeling is that right now I would say yes. But we may have to compromise a bit on power management elsewhere. As the days get longer and we have even more solar output? Definitely!

[@kirkb3473]

Glad everything is working great! It would be interesting when you put out the “what we’d do differently” video on the refit now that you’ve got some miles under the keels. The hydro generator seems unnecessary with as much solar as you have, but would be interesting to hear your take.

[@OutChasingStars]

A "how did things work out in the real world" video is definitely on our list as we get towards the end of the season. The hydrogenerator does pose an interesting question. Do we _need_ it anymore? Probably not. But could we use the excess power it generates to say... run an air conditioning unit when a passage is super hot? That would be incredibly nice and would make sleeping much easier!

[@kirkb3473]

@@OutChasingStars very cool! The hydrogenerator is on our list of “maybe’s” on our build that will also have 3.2kW of solar plus 25kWh of lithium at 48V. It’s always nice to have backups though…I just don’t want to drag around a heavy expensive piece of equipment we don’t really need or use often…so looking forward to your end of season summary!

[@OutChasingStars]

So much depends on how you plan to use your boat. Long passages on a world circumnavigation or regular ocean crossings? I think a hydrogenerator is great. But if you're just doing jumps from the Caribbean to the US East Coast and back? Then it's probably overkill. With our more 'local' cruising plans over the next few years, I doubt I would added one to our refit plans if we didn't have one already. But since we did, I was happy to keep it.

[@kirkb3473]

@@OutChasingStars Makes a lot of sense, I did not realize you already had one. We are planning on long passages, so I may need to move this from the "maybe" to the "strong possibility" column of the spreadsheet lol.

[@Tevfik_A]

Nice video and congrats with the refit. Two questions if i may: 1) is your watermaker still 120V? And if so were you able to run it with the inverter (size of inverter?) the starting load could be an issue i was told. 2) when you take off for longer passages do you keep the water level rather down in the tanks to improve boat speed or do you keep them full and top up frequently? Many thanks and fair winds

[@OutChasingStars]

We actually swapped out our old 120v CruiseRO watermaker for a 12v Schenker unit. This had more to do with our quest for energy efficiency. Our old 120v watermaker would have run off the inverter (we have a 3000w Victron Multiplus) but it consumes quite a lot more power per gallon produced than the 12v Schenker. When we're on passage, I usually keep the water level topped up. I don't think the speed we'd add by keeping half full tanks would be significant and I prefer to have a full tank to draw from if something happens to the watermaker.

[@Tevfik_A]

@@OutChasingStars thanks for taking the time to reply.