Power is really important even on a sailboat. We have 12 very large 100 amp batteries that allow us to run the lights, fridge and freezer, all kinds of pumps and everything else for day to day life. The batteries need to be charged daily and this can be done several ways: plugged in to shore power at the dock, by the main engine alternator when motoring- hopefully not too often, or by the generator when we’re sailing or at anchor.

Another solution is to have a stainless steel arch constructed on the back of the boat to hold solar panels.

The added benefit is we can have davits added to the arch to hold the dinghy.

Previously we add to empty the dinghy, lift the outboard motor off, then use a halyard to raise the dinghy onto the aft deck. We’d then flip it upside down, more of a controlled roll and drop, and then lash it to the deck. This takes close to an hour.

Hauling the dinghy out of the water with the davits takes about 3 minutes!

So off Dragonfly went to the boatyard for Caraibe Marine to do their magic.

The work spanned a weekend and it’s always fun to wander through a boatyard to see what’s going on.