More on the Solar Canopy Construction

We finished bolting the 4 main posts of the solar canopy to the deck yesterday.  This is a huge milestone for us as the time nears to make another excursion to Port LaBelle for a potty dump. Securing the posts to the deck was an extremely involved process because we had to  take down the ceiling and insulation below deck.  This made a mess but it was time for a good cleaning downstairs anyway.

First we had to take down the ceiling panel and insulation.

The bolt is in place on the starboard side, (note the notch in the insulation) and we are ready to put the ceiling back up. This shows a good view of the Belgian chicken wire in the concrete decking. I guess it's more visible here because the concrete is a lot thinner on the superstructure than it is in the hull and this is the only place on the boat that it shows like this.

Carter reconnecting one othe many lights that had to come down.

 

The posts are bolted in the bathroom (shown), the mechanical room and 2 are located in the salon area.

We have spread a tarp over the canopy to provide shade as we work.  We will now finally be able to install and hook up the solar panels to power refrigeration and air conditioning and cut out the use of the generator saving mega $$.

My assignment on this project is to complete staining all the wood.  Please note that this involves a lot of overhead painting...meaning that I end up wearing a lot of stain.  Very messy work.  Here's the conversation:

Carter: Oh man!  You should see all the stain you have on you! LOL

Diane:  Could you do it neater?

Carter:  Probably not

Diane:  Good Answer LOL

Next, Carter will build the sundeck over the cockpit.  Once that is done, and stained, we can finish painting the deck and by then it will probably be time to pack up and head north to escape the "anti-winter". With temps in the 90s during the day we can feel it coming.

  

Back to work - Early April

We are back from all our travels taking care of errands and visiting family members that will be traveling out of the country.   The seasons are changing from a very pleasant winter in florida to spring and the temps are slowly rising.  This necessitated a trip to WalMart for the purchase of the all important air conditioner!

Carter immediately installed it in the forward hatch and it works great!  We had the temp in the salon area down in the low 70's in no time.  It makes for a very comfortable escape from the daytime heat.  It is still comfortable in the evening time.  Fortunately, the Honda EU3000 generator is handling the load well.

Next on the 'to do' list for Carter was to install the stove/oven for me.  Yea!  We finally decided on the stove I purchased off Craigslist from a guy in Georgia for $100!  It's brand new but is not marine grade.  We expect it to last for a good couple years and then we will search for one that has the gimble feature.

I just had to test out the oven.  Triple chocolate cake with dark chocolate frosting!  Complements of Carter's mother Lee who cleaned out her pantry before packing for moving overseas and sent it all home with us.  Mmmm good stuff.

Moving on...Next Carter removed the pulpit that was badly deteriorated and replaced the anchor guide.  We like the look of this with the new canopy that's going up.  Also, Carter found large posts shaped as spindles to use instead of just plain 2x4's for the canopy supports.  We feel this was a good addition because we plan to use wood spindles all around the boat for the life line railing.  We smile just thinking about the finished look.

With old pulpit

With pulpit removed and anchor guide relocated.

Canopy support posts.

Measure....6-7 times...cut once!

Today Carter will bolt these posts to boat, finish staining the canopy and complete cross bracing with cables.  Then it will be ready to install the solar panels.

End of March

Just an update for those following.  We have had to take a break from working on the boat to take care of family stuff.  We'll be back to the boat next week.

But, this morning as Carter and were preparing to leave, I was walking back to the boat to get more luggage when I spotted this guy staring me down!  Yikes!

This picture really gives you an idea of how close he is.  He is right in the center of the triangle of the dingy, boat and gangplank!

Yikes!

Wednesday, March 16th

Carter has completed the framework for the canopy and put one solar panel up just to get an idea of how it will look.

Carter the Daredevil~!

It is lovebug season here in Florida and it's time to try out the mosquito netting to keep them out of the downstairs living area.  Just like everything else on this boat, the vinyl cleaned up very well.

It blends in with the boat that you can't tell it's there.  There is a white vinyl hatch cover that snaps in at the bottom.  It's a hassel getting in and out but it sure does keep the bugs out.

Carter's latest catch...catfish.  He's getting pretty good at spearing fish.

Monday, March 14th - Wildlife Is Abundant All Around Us

We've been making significant progress with the canopy but pictures will come when it is complete. 

In the meantime, we seem to have been encountering some interesting wildlife.  As we were walking to breakfast yesterday we walked up on these turkey buzzards as they were drying their wings.

Last night as we were working on the canopy, we spotted this alligator so Carter throws in his line.  Here's the gator's reaction!  Pretty cool.  Freaked me out good.

I have a great video of Carter reeling this thing in close to the boat but I can't upload it at the internet cafe.  I'll try at the library tomorrow.  I just tried...No luck at the library...that's unfortunate, it's a good video.

A Halcyon (also known as Kingfisher) showed up this morning at our gangplank.

Thursday, March 10th

We continued on the canopy project yesterday.  After a bit of trying this way and then that way we ended up with this style.

This shows the first two of three ribs on each side.  The panels will lay on the ribs and we will be able to adjust the angle above these supports only. 

It's raining this morning so we will resume work when the weather clears.

March 9 - Beginning the Canopy for Solar Panels

With the new imperative for solar powered refrigeration after the flood, we've decided to slow down on sanding and painting and focus on the canopy for the solar panels.  As I have stated several times earlier, this entire project changes daily as we figure out what will work best.  We now plan to install all solar panels on a canopy above the superstructure and build a sundeck above the cockpit.

The project begins...

The extended colums on the canopy backbone will not only provide a place to mount radio antenas and such but will also allow for a system to lift the panels on a hinge to face the sun on one side of the boat or the other. This will serve as sort of a crude solar tracking mechanism that should provide significant additional performance from the solar panels in the early morning and late afternoon if we need it.

Towards the end of the day, a gunoe comes by with a young couple in it that landed a huge snooke right in front of the boat and then hooked and lost an even bigger one. This inspired Carter to finally get his fishing poles out. 

He's already been periodically trying for weeks to spear one of the talapia that are constantly swimming by the boat and finally nailed one today. 

 Fish for dinner tonight!

Then he got the pole out.

He caught two alligator garrs.  Check out the teeth!  These went back into the water.  The talapia went into the fridge.  :-)

He plans to keep stalking the snook.