A very good read, destroying education, and in the “American politicians take note” department… Here’s an excellent project that will both save you money and result in a user repairable system. Way better than B&G from where I sit.
The word for today is kakistocracy, a book you might want to check out, and in the “You have to admit he’s making a good point” department… Energy budgets are just like monetary ones and a lot of good advice can be found in David Copperfield. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen, nineteen and six, …
About that observatory in Hawaii, some Caribbean related news, and in the “war and rumors of war” department… Now that we have installed the new solar controllers that have a volts/amps readout, we discovered that our panels on the goalpost were under-performing by about 50%. Looking at the panels, it turns out that one of …
Scalzi with a good post on billionaires/boycotts, Ian Welsh saying what we should already know, and over in the “REMF” department… I’m finding it difficult to continue doing what I need to do with crap like this raining down on our parade. For instance, yesterday’s task (installing a couple of solar controllers) should have been …
Some apt notes, Krugman makes some points, and in the “Did you get the message” department… For cooking fuel, on our boat we carry two 20-pound propane bottles. The idea that we always have a a full tank to switch to when the bottle in use runs out. For those interested, we get a bit …
A needful Puerto Rico read, some roller coaster finality, and in the “when it’s time to get out of Dodge” department… So, here’s a thought on how we (the cruising collective) tend to deal with the various problems/issues/conundrums that make our lives complicated like power aboard, the need to be connected, and budget. As it …
Elizabeth May making sense in Canada, EBM with some scary profit thinking, and the word for today is collaborator… I’m often accused of being a Luddite where navigation is concerned. Sure I use GPS but I just don’t trust anything electric on a boat 100% because, you know, shit happens. I’ll admit I’m very interested …
Stacey being heard, some Panama canal backstory, and something from the “war on science” department… I’m often confronted with the whole “you have to use this expensive marine part” rant and, so much so, I find myself even believing it from time to time. Case in point was yesterday when a connection on a solar …
For some reason or other, the idea of pulling out the raw-water cooled Yanmar 3HM and replacing it with an affordable, minimal electric propulsion system keeps playing around my thoughts. Having spent a bunch of years developing a variety of electric propulsion installations on our CAL 34, I do have some experience but came to …
What happens when you say “Electric Propulsion” three times… Read More »
This week, one of the tasks I actually look forward to is getting rid of all the vestiges of AC power aboard the Islander. Partly because the existing system is right up there with the stick a fork in a power circuit combined with taking a bath with a plugged in toaster. Then there’s the …
AC/DC and a couple of thoughts on a frugal power system… Read More »
