Beyond the Captain's Locker

When I started designing the solar system for Beyond the Dream, I had one basic goal: when the sun went down, I wanted the boat to have the power we needed without depending on shore power.

Some of that power wasn't simply about convenience. I use a BiPAP breathing machine while I sleep, so having dependable power available throughout the night was something the electrical system needed to provide. That made the battery bank and the ability to keep it charged an important part of the boat from the very beginning.

But if Beyond the Dream was going to be our home on the water, I wanted the system to handle everyday life too. The refrigerator and freezer needed power. I wanted an outlet near the 22-inch Blackstone flat-top grill. There would be a coffee maker and an ice machine, and I wanted as much of the interior lighting as possible running from the battery bank.

The idea was simple: almost everything aboard that needed electricity would ultimately draw from a large battery bank, and the sun would help put that energy back.

For the house bank, I chose four 12.8-volt, 300Ah LiFePO4 lithium iron phosphate batteries from Dr. Prepare. The engine would have its own dedicated starting battery, charged separately by the motor, so starting the boat wouldn't depend on the house battery bank.

I spent a lot of time researching solar equipment and looking at systems from different companies before settling on Renogy. The system i have uses two 300-watt solar panels along with the charge controller, wiring, breakers, and fuses needed to bring everything together.

It wasn't about putting a couple of solar panels on the roof because they looked good. I wanted to build a system around the way we would actually use Beyond the Dream—a system capable of supporting the necessities, the comforts, and the little things that make a boat begin to feel like home.

The goal was simple: let the sun work all day, so Beyond the Dream could take care of us all night.