All true. Solar panels are less obstrussive. My suggestion is that you stick
to it, its a nice charge on the side. Just turn on your engine every few
days and top them off, its even good practice to do this since you never
want to get caught in a situation where your engine doesnt turn on when
youre really in a jam(we all know murphys law dont we...). Mostly my
experience with solar panels has been to make sure that in any eventuallity
there is a way to charge the batteries if they go dead for one reason or
another, but hey if it charges them and makes it so I only have to charge
every few weeks...even better.

"palmtreedreamer" wrote in message
ups.com...
I have several friends that have hard biminis that are mostly solar
panels. You have to be sure that you get the good panels that shadows
can be cast on. Some of them stop working with a bit of a shadow and
others are made so that half the panel can be in dark and it will still
work. Those folks with the solar covered biminis are loving life. Some
boats can fit them and some can't. If yours can, do it. You really
don't need more then 20 amps, I don't think. If you think about
your usage, and buy a big enough battery bank to cover it, you will do
fine with that.

I have a Cal 3-30. I keep 6 group 27's for my house bank. I have a
wind generator and two, 6-ish amp panels. I run a stereo, freezer, a
little TV or video, lights, fans, battery chargers for various toys,
and anything else you can think of except I don't have a microwave.
If I anchor for a weak and I start with topped batteries, I never start
the hideous. If I motor off anchor and out, sail to my where ever, and
then motor back through the reef, I find myself topped again for
another week of silence. A 50-foot boat doesn't really take more
power to run but it does have a bigger engine and probably alternator
too. I think you will have an easy time of it with less then 30 amps
worth of solar.

As for the alternator on the prop shaft thing, well, I have thought of
it many times but for me it just doesn't preach. I don't think I
could fit it and I don't see the reason. The last thing I want to do
is put my shaft at danger of another way to make it get screwed up.

The place I mentioned before, sun electronics has wind generators for
about $500 or so. Four panels and one of those with a good battery bank
and you'll have more power then you need (once again, in the tropics
- if that is where you are headed).

I was at Catalina Island on my way to Mexico and met a guy with about
the same set up as I have now. He said the wind generator didn't do
squat in California because there is never wind but the solar panels
were great because it never rained. I'm pretty well set on the
combination package since one takes over when the other is on vacation.