Update from Mandolyn in Australia
August 2024
Hello Salt Spring!
In recent Crowsnest updates we’ve read about the Flying 15s, delivered from Australia to the sailing club. What nice symmetry that Mandolyn from the sailing club has recently arrived in Australia.
I don’t want to bore you with beach photos, so I’ll try to bore you by talking about boat projects instead.
Back in New Zealand our kids requested laptops, to help them play video ga…for educational purposes, they assured us. We eventually agreed to this request from our eager scholars.
Charging these new devices proved to be too much for our modest solar and battery setup. In New Zealand we replaced our aging lead acid batteries with a new lithium bank. This effectively doubled our usable amp hours, and charged so much more efficiently that it felt like we had upgraded our solar too. The problem was solved!
The problem was not solved. From New Zealand we sailed to New Caledonia. Back in the tropics with shorter days and cloudier skies, our solar production could no longer keep up with demands. Noumea in New Caledonia is a modern city with good marine services. We were researching a solar upgrade when the country unfortunately erupted into violent political protests. It became prudent to leave asap.
On to Vanuatu. A beautiful country with amazing people. Coconuts and pamplemouse are abundant, and so are solar panels. Marine grade solar equipment was more scarce. We did manage to find a wood shop that shaped us a new boom gallows. This was very affordable at $30 all in, and was the first step of a new solar mount.
We explored Vanuatu for six weeks under the constant threat of mutiny from two teenagers facing serious laptop austerity due to inadequate power.
On to Australia. Chandleries, metal shops, e-commerce, it has it all. Three months and four countries later we were able to complete the solar upgrade. At last our children are free to play academics for hours with their friends online. They sometimes shout out: “He’s in our base!”, which I believe is a mathematical reference.
We’re planning to be in Australia for a few months, then hoping to go to Indonesia. If anyone wants to discuss solar upgrades in more detail, Sarah is our resident expert (you can contact her by email—Club members will have that in the Crowsnest.)
All the best from the Mandolyn crew,
Doug, Sarah, Nyah & West
