Troubleshooting revealed that it was "operator error" and not "equipment failure" for which we are very thankful, because it means we have to repair us rather than the KISS, hahahaha...it's better that way not to mention much cheaper :)
I let my captain explain everything in his own words in a separate post...suffice it to say that we let the batteries run down too much (but never below 50%, which would have been really bad) when at anchor and with little wind around they did not get topped up enough...apparently it takes a while to get them back to full again even with a lot of wind, but with no wind it takes quite a little while longer!!
All is well now and we have learned a lot from this experience! Our friends let us know that this is exactly what a shake down cruise is for: To find out the things that are different "out there" compared to being plugged in at the dock! We take this opportunity to thank all of our supportive friends...you know who you are :)
We also take this opportunity to thank the good people from Hotwire for their diligence, knowledge, and support of our problem...they truly are the best! As a matter of fact we are so impressed that we have and will keep recommending them to anybody in search of alternative energy solutions! Just recently at the marina we met a cruiser couple, who asked us about our wind generator and why we chose the KISS...we happily explained everything and recommended to contact Hotwire...they did and they also bought a KISS wind generator from them...so we are spreading the good word :)
AS OF NOW ALL SYSTEMS ARE A GO and we shall do just that real soon!
We will embark on a second shake down cruise next week...weather permitting, as we are watching tropical storm Rafael to the east of us...return to the marina for a few days to do the final provisioning (more food purchase and storage) and then we shall be cutting the dock lines for good...woohoo! Until soon again...thanks for following us on our adventures :)
