Keeping the lights on with Victron…
Hi Team
I’m delighted to announce that Victron Energy along with UK Marine Electronics Ltd. have agreed to come on board and support our GGR campaign by providing their equipment and expertise for the design of Puffin’s electric systems.
Victron Energy have a great reputation in marine electronics and indeed in all off-grid applications, so I was really pleased when Nigel Vincent said yes to my cheeky request (if you don’t ask you don’t get 
confirming that Victron would like to support Puffin’s refit and then went one step further by introducing us to Chris Dobson of UK Marine Electronics one of Victron’s leading system installers.
Chris has very kindly volunteered to help us design and build the full system for the Puffin, taking into account the race rules and most of all the harsh environment we’re going to be facing.
We first met Chris at his base up in Whitehaven Cumbria, where we sketched out our initial ideas, taking inspiration from some of the commercial fishing boat projects Chris has worked on in the past. The Golden Globe Race will be the latest in a long list of “special” projects that Chris has been involved in, for example working with fellow GGR competitor the legendary David Cowper on his record-breaking motor vessel Polar Bound to name just one.
Our plan will follow three design principles; Simplicity, Resiliency and Redundancy. With Chris’s help we’ll share the approach and design of system as we go along and some of the thinking behind the choices we make, batteries, solar chargers, primary / secondary circuits etc. etc.
Initial thoughts are to build the various components into modular watertight enclosures, that we can fit almost anywhere on board. Giving them both protection against the inevitable saltwater, in case of flooding or knock downs but also making it simpler for me to track down issues in the system.
This won’t be a quick project, so for the moment Chris has got me going with some temporary batteries and a nice IP67 Victron shore charger & battery monitor and we’ll “lash together” what we need for sailing over this autumn and winter. Our target is to be be ready for next year’s OSTAR/ TWOSTAR race, which will be an ideal test for the final system.
Thanks Chris..