Random thoughts and rants on boat design, boat building, and other boat bits for those in the 99%...
A needful read, an apt analogy, and why you might just want to brush up on your sextant skills...
Here's a simple wind generator project from Low-tech Lab you might want to check out.
There is also an excellent tutorial here.
Listening to the Black Pumas
So it goes...
A whole lot of questions, about that education deficit, and insanity, these days, is just the normal day to day...
Some time back I wrote about a different form of wind generator...
Here's another.
They had me at 43% cheaper... For more info, TPM has a pretty good write up.
Listening to the Lovin' Spoonful
So it goes...
Where being number "1" is not a bragging right, reflecting on slick reptilian sleaziness, and why that mattress is looking better all the time...
Is it just me or do there seem to be more Friday the 13th's floating around?
Well, here on "So It Goes" the new solar panels are now up and running nearly doubling our solar input and we're doing the happy camper dance...
Now all that's left to do is to install our new low output (100 watt) wind generator and I'll be finished with pulling wire for a bit. The only fly in the ointment on the wind generator front is that I'm caught in a kind of Hamlet back and forth whether I want to do an arch or not do an arch as part of the installation.
I could, of course, simply buy an arch from someone like Kato Marine but I'm not really a buy it kind of guy and the idea of bolting something on to the transom that costs over twice what I paid for the boat does not exactly make a lot of sense in my world purview. So, the question is, do I want to go with something that looks like a jungle gym, a goal post, or maybe not made of metal?
Well, as it happens, I do have some scrap plywood, epoxy, fiberglass and carbon fiber aboard...
Listening to John & Yoko
So it goes...
A little Proa Madness, the price tag on what it costs to sow hate, and yet another storm wending its way towards someone somewhere...
Since I'm in the process of testing a new wind generator I thought it would be nice to install a dedicated power monitor to the circuit so I could get some serious feedback in terms of how many amps and amp hours it provides along with the voltage at various wind speeds etc...
Now being on a boat, one is tempted to look at marine meters or suchlike if for no other reason to establish a base to compare better stuff to...
More on the war against lemonade stands, Crooks and Liars make some good points, and free health and dental insurance for tourists in Panama...
As it happens, I've been thinking a lot about Panama of late...
Today's task from the never-ending list is sorting out the new pole for the wind generator I'm testing and (hopefully) actually wiring the sucker up.
On the "Buford" self-steering front, I've sorted out the last problematic part in making it tyro-friendly so that project is coming along nicely...
Life, as they say, is good!
Listening to the Texas Tornados
So it goes...
Horse's Mouth has an interesting post (warning no wahine content), something well worth reading, and the new WoodenBoat has an article about Phil Thiel's designs...
Today I have some work to do on a new recently purchased wind generator I bought on something of a whim.
The wind gen in question is low output (and for those interested in such things seriously CHEAP) and the thought process behind installing it on "So It Goes" is to prove a point (or not prove) to myself on the whole bigger and more expensive makes/does not make sense conundrum.
Yep, another cunning plan...
The worst part of the operation is I have to take everything out of one of the cockpit lockers and pull some wire in an enclosed and way too small space for my 6'5" body...
So hopefully I'll have some results in the not too distant future.
Listening to Sister Hazel
So it goes...
Boredom is simply not an issue on any boat I have ever lived on as there is always a long list of things to do and cunning plans to sort out...
Since we are currently without an internal combustion charging source (yes, it appears that our Honda is no longer doing the happy dance) and as our solar panels are doing as well as could be expected (with the sun only poking through the cloud cover every once in awhile) ones thoughts turn to cunning plans involving wind generators and suchlike.
So it goes...
It's not very windy today and since I installed a new wind generator yesterday I've spent a good portion of the day with an ear tuned, listening for problem noises and suchlike. Fact of the matter is that even when the wind is gusting up I can't hear anything from the wind generator (and it is spinning and producing AMPS!) just eight feet from where I write this...
Sadly, on the other hand, I CAN hear the wind generator on the boat anchored 150 yards from us (it's an Air Marine) and I wonder how someone can stand to live on a boat that has such a noisemaker on a pole attached.
What is even better about the new wind generator is that is is cheap ($300) in comparison to Marine units at $1200 or more. Even if it were only to last a couple of years it would still be cheaper (as well as quieter) than buying marine... Fact is looking at the build and materials it seems every bit as well made as its marine counterparts. I expect a kiss of rust in a couple places but then I see a lot of rust on marine gear these days as well!
The point of course is simply to do the research and buy what makes sense and never make the assumption that something is better just because someone put "MARINE" on the box!
