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Posts from the ‘Airstream’ Category

Aug 5

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Solar Panel Installation (part 1)

For years I’ve been coveting solar panels for our RV – both on our previous rig and now the Airstream.  Despite the fairly hefty upfront costs and inherent inefficiencies (versus gasoline generators), I’ve found myself longing for an ability to re-power onboard batteries via the sun.

More and more, Kelly and I find ourselves preferring to visit BLM, National Forest, or other unsupported destinations.  Typically these locations are primitive in offerings, but plentiful in natural beauty.  These areas also tend to be quiet.  For the past year or so we’ve been using a generator to recharge our batteries and despite having sought and purchased a ‘quiet’ generator, it is too noisy for our liking, especially so when the surroundings are otherwise serene.  The dull rumble of the generator tends to be obnoxious for us and to our neighbors.  I also hate estimating how much gas to carry each trip.

Something had to give.

When I first started investigating solar options, it didn’t take long to conclude that all roads point to AM Solar.  Based in Oregon, this solar retailer specializes in solar needs specific to RV’s and is also known for their outstanding customer support (which I confirm).  Amongst other things, AM Solar quoted 10-12 hours for the installation.  At $100/hr, the labor portion would be run me roughly 50% of the materials purchased.  Further, I’d need to take time off from work to drive ten hours to their shop … and I couldn’t secure an appoint until October (yes, October).

Motivated by the thought of keeping a cool grand in my pocket, vacation time used elsewhere, and desperately wanting to have solar installed in time for two trips later this summer, I decided to proceed with the installation myself.   Following a few phone conversations with the folks at AM, I finalized my purchase and two days later all parts had arrived.

Keep in mind that I have zero experience with solar or electricity in general.  Fortunately, YouTube is the instructional tutorial for damn-near anything … including the many solar related questions I found myself in need of answering.  The videos, coupled with the excellently detailed diagrams AM Solar provided, I was feeling pretty good about things.

Additionally, the Airstream online community proved to be extremely helpful to me.   I located two threads in particular which were hugely informative – each submitted by users who own the exact unit and floor-plan as Kelly and me … and they both also purchased from AM Solar.  Imitation being the best form of flattery, I set out to mimic much of what these owners did for their rigs.

I have no desire to reinvent the wheel.

Equipped with what I figured to be the basics, I jumped into things.  I spent all of Saturday and much of Sunday standing on a ladder running wire, cleaning and prepping the roof, and finally – positioning and wiring panels.  My aching back and sore feet aside, I think phase-1 of this two-part DIY project turned out quite nicely.

Rooftop junction box combines individual panel wires (10/2 awg) into a single heavy-guage wire (6/2 awg)

Rooftop junction box combines individual panel wires (10/2 awg) into a single heavy-guage wire (6/2 awg)

6/2 wire down the refrigerator vent; will be routed forward to the battery box.

6/2 wire snaked down the refrigerator vent will be routed forward to the battery box.

Once the primary 6/2 wire was installed, I began focusing in earnest on the panels … the primary focus of the weekend.  My goal for the weekend was to mount each of the four panels and complete all related exterior wiring.

Unpacking the first panel

Unpacking the first panel

Decisions ... where to positioning panels

Decisions … where to position panels

Panel mounts prepped with waterproof sealant.

Panel mounts prepped with waterproof sealant.

Close-up of the combiner box wiring

Close-up of the combiner box wiring

Combiner box completed, vent covered re-installed.

Combiner box completed and vent cover re-installed with rivets.

A fully wired and tidy rooftop

A fully wired and tidy rooftop

I made some silly rookie mistakes and had to redo a few things, but considering I didn’t have a full array of project specific tools available to me, overall I’m happy with my work.  Most importantly, all the effort appears to be a success.  As evidenced by the multimeter reading, the four (100 watt) panels are pumping plenty of juice, despite the otherwise thick overcast coastal skies.

Cause for celebration - everything works

Cause for celebration – everything works

I’ve enlisted a buddy to help me with phase-2 of this project (next weekend).   Mainly we’ll be running the wire forward to the battery compartment and connecting the solar charge controller to the batteries.  With any luck, a week from now Kelly and I will have a fully functioning solar equipped rig.  And we’ll be that much closer to our ideal full-timing set-up.

Phase 2 of this DIY project to follow…

Jul 25

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In Preparation of Solar

These are the four big boxes I received today – each containing a 100 watt solar panel.  The other box includes all the miscellaneous parts completing the installation kit.

I have one seriously kick-ass DIY project in my future and it’s going to be awesome.

More to follow…

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Jul 14

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Committed

The year was 1519 and Hernán Cortés, with some 600 Spaniards, 16 or so horses and 11 boats, had landed on a vast inland plateau called now known as Mexico.  Their single goal was to conquer the lands and claim riches over all the area had to offer.  Severely ill-equipped for the task of overpowering an empire so exten­sive in its ter­ri­to­ries, he and his team were thought to possess a death-wish.

Cortés was well-aware of this fact.  And it was for this rea­son, that he offered a simple speech to his followers:  “Burn the boats“.

The command was given to eradicate any notion of retreat and to make very real the level of commitment needed to secure vic­tory.  And with that act there was no turning back, failure was no longer an option.  By burning their ships, the sole means of escape was no more.  At that point forward they would need to claim victory or die.

How’s that for motivation?

two PODs with all our furniture

Our stuff

For the past year, Kelly and I maintained the two PODs pictured above.  Together, these simple wooden boxes contain nearly all our belongings currently not physically in Mabel – our Airstream home on wheels.  Each month we pay $100 dollars for the right to maintain this unused stuff in a giant warehouse somewhere unknown to us for the past year.   And with each payment we question the need to continue doing so.

We decided something had to give.  $1,200 dollars spent we were neither closer to using this stuff or eliminating the need to store it.

Yesterday we decided to purge.

But first, we needed to learn where the boxed were located.  How pathetic we only knew the city.

Just over 24 hours later, we’ve deposited what may be the most generous donation to the local Goodwill in recent years.  Other items will be donated to friends, while other remaining possessions are currently listed on Craigslist.  Let the dieting begin.

In our own way, we are burning the boats – these boxes which represent an unwanted safety net.  Directly or indirectly these damn boxes maintain the potential to undermine our commitment to live and travel full-time.  Letting go of this stuff is one step closer to unhindered freedom.  More, once we fully divest ourselves of this crap furnature, we immediately cease to waste $100 each month.  Trust me, I can think of many was to put that money to better use elsewhere.

And so with newfound enthusiasm to better our living situation, we set sights directly towards something that has been akin to a rock in our shoe – a rarely used, space consuming microwave.  Given our already limited pantry space, the cost benefit trade-offs of keeping this appliance simply didn’t seem worthwhile.  Consequently, the microwave found itself bundled in with the aforementioned Goodwill deposit.

Having seen a few pictures posted by others who have done similar modifications, I used those images as my blueprint in repurposing the space into what is now a nifty home for pots and pans.

Before the changes

Before the changes

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Ensuring all the pieces fit to my liking

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Painted and ready for action

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Isn’t it pretty?

Not having any scrap wood handy, I dropped $7 bucks for some pine and another $10 for the paint.  If anyone reading post this happens to be a cabinet-maker or an avid woodworker, I’m sure you will find things to scrutinize in my work.  No matter.  Given the limited tools I had at my disposal, I’m quite happy with the outcome, even if it isn’t perfect.

All in all, a pretty straightforward and simple DIY project which also brings us one step closer to launch.

Jul 5

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Never Again

Yesterday our plan was to drive south along the coast and nestle ourselves into a quiet dispersed site located in the foothills about 40 miles of Big Sur.  We left HMB early in the morning with hopes of avoiding holiday traffic, but also in order to arrive to our campsite with ample time to celebrate America’s birthday.

What should have been a simple 3 hours or so of driving proved to be just the opposite.  Who knew that on arguably the largest outdoor holiday of the year, hundreds of people flock the beautiful HW1 in rented convertible Mustangs and other ‘touring’ coupes appropriate to perfect sunny conditions.  Add to mix, minivans filled to maximum capacity with camera-totting families and other tourists keen to stop at every scenic vista, and just for fun toss in lots of touring bicyclists* … our plans quickly went to hell.

But that was the good part of our day.

A few hours later than anticipated, we finally arrived to the Los Padres National Forest, and begin ascending towards the campsite.  Unfortunately, the campsite was a bit too remote.  In addition to a series of steep switchbacks, the road quickly narrowed, often single-land in size.  More, I was increasingly concerned about our ability to actually clear the roads.  Don’t forget, we were pulling our home  – there is no room for error.  Finally, I was increasingly concerned with the quickly rising transmission temperatures accompanying the very steep road.

At one point I actually pulled onto a turnout, unhitched the trailer and continued driving towards the campsite.  While a major pain in the ass, this decision proved to be a good one as we would not have made it much further with the trailer as the roads were simply too windy to accommodate a truck/trailer combo of our length.  Further, we would not have had any place to safely attempt a turn-around.

What a cluster-fuck.

After a bit of arguing about what to do next, Kelly and I devised a game-plan.   We decided to visit s few of the state parks which litter the coastline in hopes that maybe – just maybe – one of them had a cancellation we could use.  If so, perhaps we could salvage the weekend.

We are so naive  – no way that was happening.  This is the 4th of July – every yahoo and their dog is visiting a state park this weekend, no less the highly coveted parks literally a stones throw from the ocean.  We would have had better odds finding an atheist attending church.

Inconveniently, about this same time we were running low on gas and fortunately for us we happened to be about 7 miles from the only gas station for nearly the next 60 miles.  At $6.79 per gallon (for regular) they were happily selling to anyone buying.  What’s not to love about capitalism and the laws of supply and demand?

Never again will we allow ourselves to be without a secured location on a major summer holiday.  Recognizing failure, we accepted defeat with our heads low and decided to return home.  Unfortunately, as captured within the pictures below, the traffic was horrific.

But at least the views were nice.

Northbound

Northbound – slow going.

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The long snaking of cars to the south.

So to recap the day – we didn’t find any super awesome serene campsite, paid exorbitant prices for gas, and drove 320 miles to nowhere, only to return to our RV park full which is packed with knuckleheads burning campfires spewing more smoke than fire.

*  While I am absolutely a huge advocate of cycling and one day hope to complete a major bike tour of myself, I felt many of these cyclists simply didn’t mix well with the added traffic to the already overcrowded HW1.

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