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Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Progress???



Yesterday is dead an' gone. When all is complete, I should have enough power to run my table saw, watch TV an' listen to my brand spank'n new 500 watt sound system at the same time. By the way, that new sound system will be here next week.....rattl'n neighbors winders an' stuff. Can hardly wait.

It was some time right bout September. Winds was kick'n up, seas were ris'n. It is hurricane season. Me an' fitst mate "Weird Wanda" was sit'n in the cockpit sip'n a "Coyote cooler" when she says to me..."there smoke com'n out the dock". Well yeah, there should be when the water is up to the top them boards and all the dock electrical is run under the dock.....get'n wet. She wants to go tell the harbor master that the dock is on fire. I says...."oh hell no, they'll turn off the power". So we just sit there wait'n for all hell to break loose when it blow up. What it did. Sound like big ol' firecrackers go'n off under there....steam and sparks fly'n every direction. And then, the big boom. Scare hell out me. Lights out.

Living on a boat without electricity is the pits. Especially when a hurricane is less than a hunnert mile away. It were a year of hurricanes all over the Gulf of Mexico....they was sprouted up like weeds do in Deming. I think this was the year they went through the alphabet an' start over.  Now if'n ya never live through a hurricane on a boat, let me tell ya...things get tight....if ya know what I mean. Preparation for such a storm take hours of painstaking measures to guarantee your safety. All dock lines are doubled up and adjusted to withstand the "surge". That when the water get over the docks by bout 4 feets or more. Anything lay'n on deck is stowed below so's it don't blow over on your neighbors boat an' break stuff.

Then it hits.....full bore. Hunnert mile a hour wind howl'n throught the strain'n masts. Rain pelts the decks, finding any conceivable entrance into the dry quarters below. Ya get wet, soaked to the bone. Coyote is bounc'n round in the water like a fish'n cork. Ya don't sleep. Ya just sit there and wait it out, fingers crossed....with a "Coyote cooler" in hand of course. Hours pass, what seem like days, and the storm finally passes leaving a wake of destruction behind. Fortunately, Coyote survives the storm with minimal damage...a blowed out cheap Walmart plastic tarp.

Get'n close to time for another hunnert trips up there on the roof to finish the solar panel installation. Some of ya might think that this project what I partook on my own is an easy job. But ya got to remember, old Billy Bob is 70 year old, an' that ain't no spring chicken by no account. I should be sit'n on my ass tell'n some young feller how to do it....whiles I sip a cup in the shade of "da porch".

Ok, I done talk myself into some porch time....go out there, sip me a cup an' do some think'n.

3:30pm.....
Project is complete. Well not exactly complete, I still got 6 little holes in the roof what need sealed an' disconnect that wire from the old panel. When I get it hooked up to the two new ones, I'll have 400 watts on an optimum sunny day. But that ain't gonna happen today.


5 comments:

  1. No way I'd ever want to spend time on a boat during a hurricane, not even during a himicane, but I just finished turning and modifying my solar panels so they tilt up with no problem except the time it took, about 5 days.Well 5 partial days. only fell off once but I had parked close enough to a building that I wouldn't fit through the opening between the two.

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  2. Don't know why u don't have ol Pesky up there helping you!
    At least, sitting there telling u how to....haaaaahahahaha. My Dad was real good at that.

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  3. Electrical job looks good. I been a few of them huicanes, a couple on or near the beach. Never sat through one on a boat. Bet that got your heart a beating.

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  4. Thank you for the scary storm story !!

    I am pulled off the road due to wind and in Enid, OK... the power is going of in the stores I see. Now I know I have it good being on dry land. I don't feel so bad......

    I have 270 watts of Solar (2 of the KD 135 watts) I have only room for 2 deep cycles in the compartment. How many deep cycles do you have ?

    I was charged $250.00 for having Camping World put the 2 panels up on the roof and running wire straight down to regulator and battery's.

    I would put up another panel but another battery would be about 6 feet from the first two....do you think that would work very well ?

    Hoping for some answers from any of the guys that know reading this.

    Thanks, Andrea

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