Spain, marinas, solar

[John marven]

Hi guys

Looking for advise on A good marina where I can moor a 44 foot cat for around four months in Spain that is not mega expensive. Also I need to instal solar panels. How much would I need for a family of five for live aboard taking into account general running of boat, ie lights nav gear fridges etc etc along with lap top chargers phone chargers so on and so fourth.
Any body got a rough idea how much it will cost including all mounting hardware to hang above dingy davits at the stern and all items needed for complete active installation.

Thanks in advance. John.

[boatman61]

Almerimar.. 130nm East of Gibraltar, friendly English speaking staff, large Supermarket, 2 chandlers, good marine engineers, sailmaker and lift out facilities.

[a64pilot]

You will get all kinds of answers on how much Solar is needed. They will usually start with saying you need to first determine your electrical usage and from that using the 1/3 rule determine how much Solar you need.
The 1/3 rule says that you will get in 12V AH 1/3 of the panels rated output in watts.
It’s actually pretty close.

But it’s not that simple, not from what I have found. First what time of year will you cruise and what Lattitude? That will determine greatly how much power you get, if you only cruise in Summer and pretty far away from the Equator, you will get lots more power than in Winter.

Then there is what I ascribe to, fit as much Solar as you can fit. You simply can’t have too much, and having more than you need on a clear sunny day means that you won’t have to run a generator as much or as often on those days that aren’t perfect sunny days.

Costs can vary widely, depending largely on how much of the install you will do as opposed to having done.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Almerimar.. 130nm East of Gibraltar ...

Originally Posted by a64pilot

... But it’s not that simple, not from what I have found. First what time of year will you cruise and what Lattitude? That will determine greatly how much power you get, if you only cruise in Summer and pretty far away from the Equator, you will get lots more power than in Winter ...

Almerimar: 36.7082° N, Current season: winter.

[myocean]

Regarding solar, you will need around 1 kW peak, may be a bit more, assuming you have efficient electric equipment. So , besides LED light everywhere you need a very energy efficient fridge (there are threads about this here), you need an efficient watermaker (e.g. Spectra) and water usage should be not too excessive (fresh water=energy, so e.g. a complimentary sea water tap in the sink saves energy). And forget about AC. Freezer could be discussed if highly efficient.
This is all considering long passages under 100% autopilot. At anchor you will anyway have enough energy.

[HiAndDri]

Almerimar if you want warm winters. St Adrian if you want cheap (130 euro/ month for 36' mono with water and electricity). Cartagena ( big helpful English speaking livaboard community) and Alcaidesa (good if you like Morrison's pies, available in Gib) are other southern options.
IME on several boats, 400W of solar will run a boat indefinitely in Spain, Greece or similar. 350W will generally be OK. Number of pax makes little difference - fridge and diesel heating are the big amp guzzlers and are the same for 1 or 5. We get by with 200W solar + 50W wind in N Spain but have to closely manage the fridge and use ice packs overnight.