Solar Panels on the Boat - And they're GREAT!

We finally got solar panels on the boat!

Maggie May - just before the solar panels arrive. They'll go on the upper roof.

Look at the setup - doesn't it look totally streamlined?

Like the system came with the boat originally?

We thought we'd be drilling all sorts of holes through the roof. 

- Cables all over the interior.

But no - it looks GREAT.

The mounting corners are glued with a silicon glue. No holes.

This is the first time either Stan or I have had a solar energy system. 

SOLAR!

We've both been interested in solar energy over the years - since the late 60's, really. 

The ol' Whole Earth Catalog and all that. 
For one reason or another, it was never practical.

But: it works SO well.
Everyone should be using solar energy!
It's awesome!

Ok, well, everyone on a boat, at least.

Boats already have the battery bank, right?

The bank of batteries - in the required battery box.

It took us a long time to figure out what we needed. 

How it would work. 

We were starting from scratch.

I wanted to understand it thoroughly.

All these diagrams and watts and amps and volts.

12v vs. 220v. Direct current and alternating current.

The wiring behind the helm. 

One of the technicians - the agent from Viktron - said it succinctly:

"A solar power system is a balance - between production - storage - and - usage."

That's it in a nutshell. 

We had to figure out what our requirements are.
We had no idea, really.

- How many amp hours does the fridge use? 

- What's the wattage on a laptop? 

- Are ALL the cabin lights LED?

Trish in the galley, while the guys inspect the engine room below.

Then - how to run the cables invisibly - from the roof of the boat - to the battery bank in the engine room? Since the carpentry on the boat is particularly tight, and has no visible nails or screws - this wasn't easy.

Stan and the Viktron guy try to find a way through the A/C unit. Not possible.

Here are the technical details of our system:

4 solar panels of 150 W each.

They fit nicely on the roof.
Enough space for us to walk between them.

A 100w/50 amp MPPT controller.
The brains of the system.

MPPT controller - next to the (older) battery charger.

2 monitors.
One for the battery.
One for the solar panels.

We already have 3 12-volt house batteries of 125 amp hours each on the boat.

- Plus one for the engine. 

- And another one for the generator.

The solar panels just charge the house batteries. 

These new solar panels are really efficient.
They don't have to be angled to follow the sun's path. 

They work even when it's pretty shady, or when part of the panels are covered.

2 small holes for the cables.

And on the first day, we were TOTALLY charged up - by 9 am.
In the morning. -Wow.

So now - we can charge the computers, phones.
We can run the fridge.
 (we've been turning it off every night-)

And still - the batteries are charged higher than we've been able to get them all summer.

This is incredible.

Without running the generator or the engine.

Or having to plug in to shore power.

So - the system is working better than we expected.

(If you live in a house, connected to 220v, this may not seem like such a big deal.
On a boat, it really IS a big deal!)

You know...the boat also has a second fridge. For - wine?

We haven't turned it on yet.
Up until now, one small fridge has totally depleted our batteries every night.

Night time on the canal - time to turn the fridge off.

But now - who knows?
A little luxury?

That second fridge...?
We may be able to use it.

-Just - for chilling the wine...

Visitors on the Boat - Canal Boat Etiquette

We've had our first boat visitors!

Stan's sister Charlene from New Mexico, was the first.
At the end of a trip from Finland to Holland via Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
(- not exactly the usual route.)

Then - son Mikey, his Italian wife, Iris, and Baby Noah came from their home in Berlin.

At one point, we considered changing the boat's name to Noah's Ark. 

(or - some other options)

However, Iris' father - he's from Venice - nixed the idea STRONGLY.

Finally got the name of the boat painted again!

"You NEVER change the name of a boat! It's VERY bad luck!"

He should know. He's from Venice. They have lots of boats there.

So - we kept the original name.
No choice, really.

"Sorry, Noah. No Noah's Ark this time."

Then - son Erik came from Bangkok.
He's lived there for about 5 years.

He speaks great Thai.
Not as much French. 

Off to the market in Capestang via bicycle.

Erik draws for a living. We even got to do a little drawing and painting together.

And son Kilian, also living and working in Bangkok, arrived shortly afterwards.

Kilian: "Since I work online, I guess you could say I'm at the office, right?"

Our first local wine tastings in the area - with Kilian.

We never really had BOAT GUESTS before.
So we had to think about BOAT INSTRUCTIONS.

We're still winging it.
So for now, it goes something like this:

Rule 1: Regulations require that we inform guests where the life jackets are.

Well - that's pretty silly, since you can pretty much stand up in the canal.

The canals LOOK beautiful. But - they're not entirely clean, clear water...

I can see it now: 

"Man overboard!"

"Should I toss him a life jacket?"

"Nah, just tell him to stand up.
Walk to the edge of the canal.

And then take a REALLY good shower."

But: we DO make sure we use the handrail.
Especially on the canal side of the boat.

And especially after a glass or two of wine.

Yes, people fall into the canal.

Mostly, it's just embarrassing.

And smelly.

Rule 2: Shoes off inside the boat.

That's easy.

Rule 3: Toilet protocol:
This one is important.

NOTHING goes down the head (toilet) that hasn't gone through you first.

Got it?

Because: NO ONE wants to clean a blocked toilet.

Rule 4: Use power and water VERY sparingly. (We go into this in detail.)

Rule 5: Put everything back where it belongs.

A boat is too small to support a casual mess. 

It can happen quickly.

Rule 6: Close the hatch if it looks like rain.

If not, you - and your bed - will get VERY wet.

Stan - showing Noah how life on board works. Noah's got it down. So does Stan.

Rule 7: Enjoy!

Well, that doesn't seem like all that much after all.
I can't think of anything else.

ALL of our recent boat guests were GREAT.

You know? This IS a pretty cool lifestyle.

Would you like a glass of rosé with that?

Our Barge is Finally All Painted!

No idea it would take THIS long to finish painting the boat.

All in all, it took 8 MONTHS!

Noah wasn't even BORN when we began painting the boat!

Painting the hull went quickly back in December.
We were up in the shipyard, remember?

In Grau d'Agde, on the Mediterranean.

José Jimenez (he swears he's French, not Spanish-) "attacking" the hull with his "pistolet".

First: Sanding.
Then - a metal primer, since the boat is steel.
Then - 2-3 coats of paint.

But then - winter set in.
It was too cold - too wet - too humid.

In spring - the trees rained tiny seeds.

Showered millions of tiny black insects.
No good for painting.

Then rain. And wind.
Then - too hot.

Steps - before painting.

Steps - after painting.

But FINALLY - this week, in JULY - it's painted. 

Glad we weren't in a real hurry.

Here's what things looked like - before and after. 

Now - all we need is to put the name back on. And the new French registration number.

Looks like new. Shiny.

Darkened the off-white to a rich cream color.
And darkened the blue.

But stayed with traditional colors.

We've been "detailing" it all week. 

Polishing the chrome. 

Removing paint traces from windows. 

Cleaning the sides.
It's fun when it looks so good.

Working from the aft deck. Who needs yoga?

Found a new spot for bicycles.

Raised the mast for the first time (it's hydraulic-!) and added the flags. 

We have the Languedoc flag - the red one. 

It coordinates nicely with the New Mexico flag - the yellow one.

Yes, that's an air conditioner unit on the roof.  Really. -Need to find someone to recharge it.

It's a big boat - it took a LOT of paint.

The previous paint job was done without a primer coat.
The paint just peeled off in large strips.

And now - Stan has a new passion for keeping ducks away from the boat.

They've made themselves quite at home on some of the other boats.
Even laying large duck eggs on the deck.

And - they're a bit messy - to put it mildly.
So understandably - Stan doesn't want them around this nice clean boat.

Ducks in front of the cabin door. Waiting for opportunities. Hoping that Stan doesn't notice them. 

And - the ducks know it.

Killer French Canal Fish

Usually - BIRDS eat FISH. 

Not the other way around. 

Here, the catfish swallow pigeons - and doves - whole.

The building on the right - used to be the communal laundry. 

I mentioned this in the previous blog post. 

Here's the rest of the story:

It usually happens at the "lavoir", the medieval laundry area on the banks of the canal. 

In the evenings.

Lavoir - scene of impending doom - on the left.

One moment, the birds are peacefully taking a drink at the side of the canal.

Maybe even dipping their bird-feet into the water.

The next moment - a streak of silver, one large SPLASH - !

And - no more pigeon.

Not a feather, not a crooked birdie foot.

Nothing but a ripple of water.

No wonder the ducks are up on the towpath these days.

This fish is BIG.
He's really good at catching birds.

Even the ducks are worried.

The pigeons don't stand a chance.

"Muddy Waters" is the boat beside us. What are the chances? And they're great people!

So we began to look into it. 

Iris - visiting from Berlin with Mikey and Noah - found a video - and an explanation.

Mikey and Iris, waving their baguette from the bridge. Stan on the towpath, rolling up the "utilities". 

Turns out - these are large catfish, and - this is new behavior for them.

At times, the catfish comes entirely out of the water. 

Some catfish are successful 80% of the time! 

- One study at the University of Toulouse counted 52 attacks in 72 hours.

These fish are BUSY.

Across from us on the boat, it happens most every evening.

It's a bit disconcerting.

Sometimes we have to rescue the injured bird.

(Sometimes it's simply - R.I.P. pigeon.)

The barge Hatuey comes through. Oblivious to pigeon peril.

Meanwhile, happy Bastille Day!

See? We're still learning something new - every day.