SV Delos

A tour showing the outside and inside of Delos- our Amel Super Maramu 53! Delos is a 53 foot Amel Super Maramu. She was built in La Rochelle France in 2000 and has since seen what most sailboats dream of seeing. She has completed a circumnavigation and is now on her second voyage around the world. She is a sailing ketch (2 masts) and has enough room to comfortably sleep 6 people. Delos is able to turn salt water into fresh water, sun into energy, provide food and shelter, travel for months on end without visiting a dock and best of all, be the place we call home.

The Delos crew were lucky enough to be invited into the loft of Super Sailmakers in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. They show us the process of making quality cruising sails and become our new partner!!

Before setting sail to cross the Indian Ocean we perform a LIVE man overboard drill with The Braidster as our subject. He accidently falls off with a survival kit while checking the fishing lines. It's up to the crew to react quickly, get the sails down, Delos turned around, and go back to pick up our boy!

Our worst nightmare! We discuss with our new crew the steps to take should we be forced to abandon Delos. We talk about our ditch list, mayday calls, our liferaft, and the things we'd grab with us before abandoning ship.

Our worst nightmare! What happens if we get a fire onboard or our hull is breached by crashing into something at sea? We take a few minutes to explain to our new crew how to react and the important things to do to save Delos!

Our Mission- Get rid of propane and move into the 21st century will induction cooking! We install a bank of Lithium batteries, a big ass inverter, and an induction cooktop. This video covers the installation process and what tweaks we made on Delos to get the system working.

It's something that I've often thought about.... What would you do if you got a breech in your hull and started taking on water? We got to practice in a real life scenario when a boat dropped their hook super close to Delos and asked for our assistance. We have an emergency! We’re taking on water! Yelled the boat that just dropped it’s hook right next to us. By the time we arrived the water was nearly to the top of their port engine, dangerously close to the air intake and already seeping through the holes in their bulkhead. We immediately sprung into action with our crash pump, and one from another boat as well. It turns out the boat had struck something trying to leave the anchorage, which bent the rudder back and caused a breach in their hull. With a make-shift repair we were were able to slow the leak enough to give us enough time for a salvage boat to arrive with bigger pumps. Have you ever considered what you would do in such an emergency?

Our offshore medical kit has come together over many years of cruising! It’s based on recommendations from marine physicians and our own personal experiences of the trip. We've wanted to make this video for a long time and we hope it helps you to to decide what is important for you to have onboard! Please visit https://svdelos.com/safety for links and resources mentioned in this video. In this video we cover how the kit came together, how it's organized, and what the major components are. We even recount some of the medical problems we've had and how we've dealt with them, both where medical care is and isn't available. We highly recommend visiting a physician specializing in marine medicine that can tailor a kit for your offshore plans. Fair winds, peace and love! The Delos Crew

In this BONUS video we show step by step how to service our Mustang inflatable pfd life-vests. We also go through how to add and install a personal locating AIS Man OverBoard device for extra safety.

What's in our DITCH KIT!? In this video we go through upgrading our offshore Ditch Kit. Everything we would want to bring with us in a worse case scenario - Delos sinks and we would need to survive on the open ocean in our life raft. Better to be safe than sorry. Let us know what's in your ditch kit! For a detailed list of all the items please visit https://svdelos.com/safety for links and resources mentioned in this video.

A compete, high level view of the electrical system on a modern cruising sailboat. I put together a gigantic diagram and talk in detail about each component of the system, and how everything interacts to supply the electrical demand on a modern cruising sailboat. Topics covered in this video: 1) A project recap of the installation of our LIFePO4 Lithium Batteries, inverter, battery monitoring system, and switching to electric induction cooking on a sailboat. 2) A complete walk through of the electrical system of a modern cruising boat. Starting at the power sources (wind, solar, hydro, generator, and dock) Brian explains each part of the system and how everything works together. 3) We discuss the role of charge controllers and how important of a role they play.

In this video I go through how much power we generate daily on SV Delos, where it comes from, and how our generator time has gone down by 30% after installing Lithium batteries! Topics in this video are: How much power do we generate on a daily basis from solar on a sailboat? How much power do we generate from wind on a sailboat? How noisy are wind generators? How much does a wind generator make? Are Lithium batteries more efficient at charging? What is the percentages of power from all sources? Did the generator time go up or down after installing the new Lithium batteries?

Over 1 year ago we dropped propane and went fully electric with an induction stove and electric oven, all powered by Lithium batteries. In this video we do a 1 year review of how it's worked aboard Delos and answer these questions: How is the induction stove and electric oven working out for us? Can we exceed the capacity of the batteries and inverter? What are the benefits and drawbacks of induction cooking on a sailboat? What are the limits of the system? How much power does it use? What is our fallback plan if the system fails?

In this video I discuss how we monitor the charge and voltage of our Lithium batteries on Delos including the following topics: What are some of the heavy draw electrical items on Delos? What can be run directly off the batteries and inverters? How do we monitor our Lithium batteries on Delos?

I go over the contents of my electrical tool kit that allows me to repair most problems on Delos, and answer discuss the following topics: What tools, meters, and connectors do we carry on Delos? What resources do we carry for troubleshooting electrical problems?

I go over some of the major differences between 24V and 12V systems and talk about what it is realistic to power off of Lithium batteries and a large inverter onboard. We also talk about lot's of FAQ's that are listed below: Why do people care about watts? What fridges and freezers can you run off solar and wind? How much does Air conditioning draw, and can we run it off our solar? Do we power our laptops with a DC to DC converter or via the inverter? Is it possible to maintain a 48V battery bank? Is a 24V DC system practical? What are the benefits of a 24VDC system? Solar arch- Why don’t we have our dinghy on davits off the solar arch? What is the make and model of our inverter? Could we incorporate water collection into our solar panels. Is there a difference in the taste of desalinated water? Have we ever had issued with the solar panels in high wind? Are the lithium batteries physically the same size as lead batteries? What about safety with Lithium batteries?

This discussion is centered around the cost effectiveness of solar panels and lithium batteries, mounting of your panels, and many other FAQ's listed below: Are solar panels cost effective? How have prices for solar decreased since we first installed them? Are Lithium batteries cost effective? What wire gauge should you use for a solar charge controller? Pro’s and Cons for a solar arch? Can we run our dive compressor and water maker off solar and an inverter? How much more power do we use on Delos than a “normal” cruising boat? Is a Hybrid Electric drive a real option for a Bluewater cruising boat? What would it take to get rid of a diesel generator? How big is our fridge and freezer compared to a house? How much does our entire arch and solar panel setup weigh?

Number 1 rule don’t fall off the boat! In this video we go through our offshore sailing safety rules we have on Delos - MOB, Fire onboard, Breach in the vessel and Ditch our list. Please visit https://svdelos.com/safety for links and resources mentioned in this video.

We are now entering our 9th week since leaving Puerto Rico and have been in isolation since early February at an uninhabited island. Ports are closed and entire countries are in lockdown mode. Movements are restricted and quarantines for sailing vessels are in place. We have just decided to stay away from civilization for a minimum of one more month, most likely longer though. Our plans for this season involved some off the grid sailing, but recent events have taken it to a whole new level.... We wanted to have a live stream with you guys and talk about how the pandemic has affected us and other sailors. We'd also love to let you know what we've been up to, and how our provisions and fuel are holding up as we begin our 54th day out here.

Ahoy Delos Tribe! We've been out here a while now.... 117 days and counting! We wanted to see what you all are up to and fill you in on what we've been doing. So let's have a live stream where we can chat, answer questions, and see what you guys have been up to. We'd also like to talk about the pending hurricane season and when we might start looking at weather to make a run north.