Since 2000

Over time many upgrades have been made, systems have been tweaked to make Free N Clear a safe, efficient, good sailing yacht that we have called home.  With an ever growing interest in "living green," many of the later improvements have been in that direction.

For example:  Our original refrigeration upgrade was designed by Rich Beers in Fort Lauderdale.  His question to us was "Do you want hard ice cream or cold beer?"  Lew's response, was "Well, gee, hard ice cream!"  For us, and at that time in '99, it meant that the refrigeration system had to be 110 volt, dependent on the running of a generator.  Twelve volt systems weren't proven, way back then, to be efficient enough to supply our desires.  Since then advancements have been made, and we made the switch along with them.

We now have 'cold beer' AND 'hard ice cream' and ALL of that energy comes from the sun!

We have

  • installed four 130 watt solar panels permanently mounted on the...
  • new, stronger bimini frame with longer lasting Stamoid fabric
  • expanded the battery bank to six golf cart batteries wired parallel in series
  • installed two 12 volt NovaKool Danfoss compressor units w/ evaporator plates (frig & freezer)
  • added insulation to both freezer and refrigerator
  • installed a 1500 watt inverter
  • changed all the lights to 12 volt, with many of the fixtures accommodating 12 volt fluorescent 'curly kew' type bulbs
  • installed 6 Caframo fans
  • upgraded the internal generator to 5500 watts
  • ungraded our chart plotter in 2010 to include charts of the entire US
  • upgraded our Television to a flat panel
  • of course, installed our water maker, 500 gallons per day capability
At present the only systems that are dependent on the internal generator are the water maker and the hot water heater.  Oh, and the Air Conditioners.

Many other things have been upgraded/improved/added over the years.

Price reduced to $84,900.  Contact Gary Monnell from Whiteaker Yacht Sales at gary@whiteakeryachtsales.com or give him a call at 727-403-5456.