On the way

Peter is at the controls and I take advantage by having a snooze on the front deck.

 Our last breakfast with Christie Andy and Bo before we shove off to go up the Rhine on our way to Turkey

As we leave Duisburg harbor The Dislich fam. is waving at us from the foot bridge that spans the harbor.

More solar panel pict.

 Here are a few more pict. how the solar panel works in conjunction with the davit (crane)

 For lighter work like raising and lowering the tower and the radar arch we can move the cable to the end of the extension and have a longer reach.

After the dingy is loaded we can swing open the panels again so that they are facing directly to the sun.

Final visit with the Dislich's

Before loading up the dingy we gave Bo a ride in it. I think he is going to be a real sailor as he liked the ride and steering the boat.

Solar panels installed

Well we are back on the boat!!! Above a couple of pictures from the solar panel installation.  6 panels of 100 watt each were installed and we see a charge of 5  to 6 amps flowing in our battery bank even at a total overcast day. When the sun is shining bright we see a charge of over 40 amps!!!
We can angle  the panels to the front or the back of the boat, or position them flat so they don't catch so much wind in stormy weather.
I will try and get some clearer pictures of the installation in the next few days when I have better internet access so you can have a better idea of how they are installed. 

Getting ready

Only a little over 4 weeks and we will be back on the boat.

Our intent is to go from Germany to the Aegean Sea via the Rhine, Main, and Danube rivers to the Black sea to Istanbul. From their we will go through the Sea of Marmara which connects to the Aegean Sea.

We will be visiting the following countries.
Germany, Austria, Hungary, Slovakia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, and Greece.  

Panama

We are having a good time in Altos Del Maria Panama