Select to expand quotetheselkie said..
Has Andy left Sydney yet??
Short answer, no
yb.tl/impulse?ignoreUA=true
And seems like Andy's experience lends some support to Charriot's rather cynical comments in a recent thread about his bad experiences with solar regulators - that the "advanced" ones had caused him problems.
Seems Andy's presumably new and "advanced" solar regulators were malfunctioning and has been acknowledged by the manufacturer. Have to sympathise with Andy's plight - not really what you want in the first week of an 11 month non-stop sailing voyage.
Hi guys
Your right about the solar panel regulators they are a pain in the backside
Anyway I've taken some well informed advice and now have 5 regulators on the boat and 4 x 100 watt panel and 2 x 40 watt panels that I can easily move around the boat
The wind generator was subject to a general recall by the manufacturer so I now have 2 Rutland 914 wind generators.
I thought there must have been a major issue with the Nav lights which were drawing 2.5 amps but it turns out the masthead tricolour was installed with a filiment bulb not the LED that was supposed to have been installed while the mast was at the riggers.
All these issues would have become apparent if I had down a shakedown voyage before I left the Gold Coast of course.
So anyway that's what I'm calling the Gold Coast to Sydney leg and I will start again from Sydney in about 8 or 9 days
I would suggest a heap of wire and a few alligator clips to make jumper leads for when those regulators fail. Monitor the batteries on a daily basis with a test meter.
Select to expand quoteRamona said..
I would suggest a heap of wire and a few alligator clips to make jumper leads for when those regulators fail. Monitor the batteries on a daily basis with a test meter.
Good advice Ramona
I brought 3 or four solar regulators since I brought my yacht. Since adding the silent wind generator it comes with a hybrid solar and wind controller. You can add 20 amp of solar and 40 amp of wind dirrect into the unit and control what charge import you wish depending on batteries. Works really well. Hense why I have been giving my solar regulators away!
Select to expand quoteandy59 said..
Hi guys
Your right about the solar panel regulators they are a pain in the backside
Anyway I've taken some well informed advice and now have 5 regulators on the boat and 4 x 100 watt panel and 2 x 40 watt panels that I can easily move around the boat
The wind generator was subject to a general recall by the manufacturer so I now have 2 Rutland 914 wind generators.
I thought there must have been a major issue with the Nav lights which were drawing 2.5 amps but it turns out the masthead tricolour was installed with a filiment bulb not the LED that was supposed to have been installed while the mast was at the riggers.
All these issues would have become apparent if I had down a shakedown voyage before I left the Gold Coast of course.
So anyway that's what I'm calling the Gold Coast to Sydney leg and I will start again from Sydney in about 8 or 9 days
I'm pretty happy with my Plasmatronics PL-20 reg with 2x 120w flexible and 1x rigid 44w solar panels. I use a separate controller for the wind turbine but measure the charge from the turbine with a shunt through the PL-20
I'm currently getting 5 to 7 amps in gusts of 20 to 30 knots from my silent wind. Noisy bloody thing Should turn it off and put the battery charger on before bed!
He's got a Front coming through in the next day or so hopefuly his tack can clear Tassie and he can head out into the Great Australian Bight!
Select to expand quotesouthace said..
He's got a Front coming through in the next day or so hopefuly his tack can clear Tassie and he can head out into the Great Australian Bight!
So are you going to sail out there and wish him well from the Seabreezers as he passes by??
www.windy.com/?-40.196,146.766,7
yb.tl/impulse?ignoreUA=true
If it was me Id drop by king Island Grassy Harbour and pick up some cheese ,steak and fresh milk today. 
and maybe have my last pie for a while
The latest Tracker has him headed straight for King Island only about 5nm off. A bit strange unless he really is getting into the lee. It looks like a pretty savage blow, the Low is about 990mb, but it seems a bit pointless hiding from this one as there is no land to hide behind where he is going.
Select to expand quoteHG02 said..
Grassy harbour if he goes lower
I think MB was alluding to Andy will very soon run out of land to hide behind so why worry now.
He's tacking up towards port Philip. I'd say to make its the top of French Island as there's a wind change on the way once that there he'll headcacross the bite
Displaying pretty smart seamanship I reckon.
Shelter behind King Is while he can (no point bashing into 40kts right on the nose, risking damaging stuff), then head around the top of the Is on the wind change.
yes he's done well, it's blowing absolute t*ts off outside atm, 45knots, and that's inside the heads/port phillip.
Cold front came through about 4.30 this morning
After looking at windytv app I'm surprised he didn't sail strait down the east coast of tassie? That would have been my choice. Looks like he's holding out behind King island now. That where I was this time a few years back. It was so nice to get into Stanley and up to the pub!
The thought of being down there in 45kts isn't worth thinking about. He has only a few dozen or more of these fronts/lows to contend with. Should be interesting.
Theres a big high coming through tommorow S.A looks like he is running and tacking with storm sails in the lee of King island what else can you do. is it that he's trying to get a record that he can't anchor,use the motor and be unassisted? Or is it something on his bucket list?
