What solar panels does Sailing Zatara have?
- Lyall Burgess
- 16 hours ago
- 2 min read
Sailing Zatara is the Whitaker family from Texas who started their sailing journey in 2016, selling up their home and heading off aboard a Privilege 585 catamaran. They publish regular episodes to YouTube and in fact sit at the number 5 spot of YouTube sailing channels with 621,000 subscribers! If you're wondering who else is in the top 10 then click the button below:
Their old solar panels were installed back in July 2018 in Turkey and no longer performing so well, so they upgraded from 1,400W (1.4kW) to 3,300W (3.3kW) by installing 10x 330W Maxeon Air flexible solar panels. Here's their recent YouTube episode from 2/5/26
Installing 10x330W Maxeon Air solar panels in Florida
The panels turned out great, nice and flush & the rain cleaned all the bird poop off!
In the YouTube episode you can watch how they removed the 7-year-old panels installed in Turkey and set about installing the new 10x330W Maxeon Air flexible solar panels in Florida. They now have a total system size of 3,300W (3.3kW) of clean & quiet solar power aboard, that's a 135% increase from their old system. With a 24V battery bank aboard that's potentially around a 550Ah daily yield from the solar panels. Here's a breakdown of their install:
Flexible: 10x330W Maxeon Air flexible solar panels (with 2x330W spares) wired to multiple Victron MPPT charge controllers
As Zatara has a 24V battery bank it means they have a few more options open to them for MPPT charge controllers and wire sizes they can run. It's easier to move power at higher voltages and lower amps as there is less resistance/heat build-up/ wire losses and more power will reach the battery bank.
Removing the old panels and installing 10x 330W Maxeon Air flexible solar panels
With 3,300W Zatara is hoping to power heavy-load appliances, including their air conditioning, water maker, and induction stove, entirely from the sun without needing to run their diesel generators. We look forward to seeing more updates as Zatara continue their cruising into the Bahamas & beyond. The Zatara crew was recently in the Florida Keys to host the Bluewater Cruising Summit, January 22-24th, which includes boat tours, workshops & seminars.
Sailing Zatara - a Privilege 585
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