So we got rid of our aging Rutland 913 wind generator last year in hopes of “finding the funding” for a not-so-antiquated system of 12 volt wind generator power and after almost an entire year of searching for the proper replacement, we finally found it! Not only did we find that motherfucker, we finagled it and ultimately installed that bitch! Yeah! (I mean the Zeke, YEAH!!! not the Bumrush YEAH!!)
Today is revolution day, I mean for most mortals it’s just saturday, the dullass 25th of june or the first of july or whatever, in the hohum year of 2016… but for us, it is the 25th of June or some-shit in the year of our…(hahaha) REVOLUTION! We are making power like a motherfucker!
Making Power! The joke is not lost on me (James)… I’m a human being that gives up on wage slavery whenever I can, I run away from it every chance I get and I’m, anyway, making my own mother fucking power… Stealing it from the sun (a formidable foe) but I’m making it… I am Making it, (and I think I can give us both major props here)! Yeah!!!
As I’m sure you’ve guessed I’m not talking about being powerful, I’m talking about making your own god damn power… Being able to produce enough 12 volt electricity to be able to not extract one more drop of petroleum or one more granule of coal for combustion in my name ever again! That’s the goal (it is indeed very nice to have goals) but we must also live in the 21st century.
“So we do what we can with the tools at hand!” I don’t know who said that, I just know it’s apropos…
So,
On my third day of work at the chandlery I found a strange hidden pile of gems (not real gems but metaphorical, the kind that a person who doesn’t believe strip mining is a good idea would like) under a pile of sails in the very back of our top secret marine hardware wharehouse. I asked about it to a few people, I got shrugs… I asked about it to the right people, I got the wink-and-point, you know what I’m talking about!
Anyway, in this little pile of jewels was 2, 50 watt monocrystalline solar panels, an Air Breeze wind generator, a stack of mounting hardware, a blue sky MPPT charge controler and one hell-of-a well built mast.
All the mounting hardware was very specifically designed for another sailboat so I had to dig through several tons of discarded marine hardware at work to ultimately discover this…
…A deck mount for a 9 cm pole, like the one we just got!
We cut a base out of a sheet of 2 cm azek, and mounted it to the fantail deck, all the way aft right between the two starboard, aft cleats.
We, completely rewired the mast and added two more stanchion supports above and below the two electrical cables.
After all the pre-production we laid it out on the dock and wired it to go live.
Down below I ran and rigged the charge controller to the battery, at this point we were getting very close!
Please keep in mind that we both had to work on this while somehow managing to hold down jobs, get and recover from a nasty unseasonable Cold of some kind, and the always unpredictable rapidly closing springtime weather windows, anyway we got the thing up and although there wasn’t even enough wind to move the wind generator the solar went right to work.
It was beautiful, like some kind of strange bird hovering over our transom, feeding us electricity from the world and protecting us from the evil Sunday-go-a-boat’n, plastic destroyer crowd!
…So lets go sailing!!!
We couldn’t help ourselves, we had to take her out and see if we could put the system to the test and we did, on a Sunday? just before sunset?! ARE YOU CRAZY!?!?
Okay, it wasn’t all that bad, hell, it wasn’t bad at all, it was a blast and we had a wonderful time. We went out to the mouth of the Severn River, turned 180 degrees on a tact and headed back in.
We really wanted to grind the new rig out with our “Living-at-Anchor” brutality test so we didn’t go back in to Dena’s Marina, we put the hook down in the Back Creek anchorage and felt right at home!
I have finally discovered what it is I want to do when I grow up!!! After 52 years of searching for the right vocation I believe I have discovered what it is I want to do with “the rest of my life” !!!
I want to make power!
No really, I want to hang out on my boat, all fucking day, and manually track the sun with my solar panels!
There is no better vocation for me… Okay, back to work, this revolution is hungry for power.
Awesome…I can really understand your enthusiasm. That , my friend is a game changer. It’s even better that the system was left behind for you to find it and put it to good use. I commend your skill set to imagine it , as a working system. Even as it sat on the floor, you saw it’s potential. I can totally see you checking the readings every 3 minutes, and the big grin when it shows more power. I’m sure you will find more ways to use this “free power”. Rock on, my friend. Now it’s my turn to go to work. Have a good one and Cheers for your great work. Aloha and see you in September.
So Waassup ? I just wanted to drop a note, to say Aloha. Take care & Stay Hydrated !!!
Hey Tom,
Yes, things are hot and getting hotter it seems but we’re digging where we’re at right now and trying to keep the air moving enough to fool us into thinking it’s all cool.
Aloha
Great. I’m so excited to get to come see you guy’s and have some down time. Just 3 more days of work , 2 hurricanes and I’m outta here. I will contact you soon. Aloha