While trying to figure out where solar enthousiasts are going to put enough
square miles of solar panels to produce 6KW of power for their ever-
increasing needs, I think it's time to introduce another "boat simulator",
similar to my Liveaboard Simulator you've all enjoyed over the years.

So, I present:

The Solar Panel Simulator

Go down to the Home Depot or your favorite lumber yard and buy a 4X8' sheet
of 3/4" plywood. Get the cheap stuff, this isn't going to be teak decking
when we're done.

Cut the plywood the same size as the solar panels you're contemplating
mounting on the boat to power the electric heat, air conditioning,
microwave ovens, hair dryers for the wife and that 40A battery charger. If
your "system" has several panels, we'll need more plywood because we want a
plywood panel to match each of them.

If you intend to mount these solar panels to something on the boat, bend
some pipe strap and use some screws to mount the plywood panels temporarily
to the location the solar panels are to go to. If you intend to stow the
panels and put them up temporarily at anchor, skip this step.

With all the panels in place, or stowed, put the family aboard with all
their stuff and set off on a little sea trial. Make notes so you can later
modify your panel layouts whenever someone whacks their head on a plywood
simulator or has to stoop over under the plywood simulator because it's in
the way of standing upright. If anyone asks stupid questions about why
they can't get a suntan in their formerly favorite spot or complains that
they can't see where they're steering the boat, put these in the notes,
too. We may have to maintain a forward lookout watch to communicate turns
and obstructions to the helm, not something that should be considered
lightly if you're shorthanded.

The, take the boat out in the worst waves you ever encountered, to see what
happens to these flying wings in a storm in the positions were testing.
Solar panels are large enough to become part of the trim on a sailboat,
tilted the way they are. Make sure the plywood has the same angle the
panels will be tilted to in order to check boat trim and panel loading in a
full gale, especially under shortened sail where the panels will be more
sail area than the little storm jib. Boating is unpleasant if you can't
control azimuth, especially in high winds. If any of the panels get ripped
off, you can appreciate how much my simulator has helped you in your
planning phase by only losing $10 in plywood overboard, instead of a $1,200
solar panel. I like Boddington's English Ale, by the way.

If any plywood panels sailing overboard in the storm take out rigging or
masts, I hope you won't hold this against me. If things look bleak, well,
it's only a piece of plywood so you can afford to dump any really stupid
ideas overboard to save the shrouds and mainsail, right? Noone at the dock
will notice some of the plywood is missing when you get back.

On the way back to your slip, make a mental note of any impending threats
or mutiny caused by the solar array simulators. This may dampen your
enthousiasm for solar power aboard before spending $5000 on a system the
wife may toss overboard while you're sleeping off watch.

Back at the dock, have a little meeting of the crew to gauge their response
to falling over and banging their heads on the simulator panels. If it
looks like the marriage may not survive, now is a great time to bring up
buying that little diesel genset she pitched a fit about last year and told
you "over my dead body". Her attitude towards diesel power may have
changed today!

(Gulf coast boaters may find free simulator panels laying all over MS and
LA about now.)

Not to be a "nit-picker", but why would you include a 40A battery charger in
the list of "must have" equipment?? If you have an acre of solar panels,
why couldn't you charge your batteries directly..

Just curious.

Steve
s/v Good Intentions
"Larry" wrote in message
...
While trying to figure out where solar enthousiasts are going to put
enough
square miles of solar panels to produce 6KW of power for their ever-
increasing needs, I think it's time to introduce another "boat simulator",
similar to my Liveaboard Simulator you've all enjoyed over the years.

So, I present:

The Solar Panel Simulator

Go down to the Home Depot or your favorite lumber yard and buy a 4X8'
sheet
of 3/4" plywood. Get the cheap stuff, this isn't going to be teak decking
when we're done.

Cut the plywood the same size as the solar panels you're contemplating
mounting on the boat to power the electric heat, air conditioning,
microwave ovens, hair dryers for the wife and that 40A battery charger.
If
your "system" has several panels, we'll need more plywood because we want
a
plywood panel to match each of them.

If you intend to mount these solar panels to something on the boat, bend
some pipe strap and use some screws to mount the plywood panels
temporarily
to the location the solar panels are to go to. If you intend to stow the
panels and put them up temporarily at anchor, skip this step.

With all the panels in place, or stowed, put the family aboard with all
their stuff and set off on a little sea trial. Make notes so you can
later
modify your panel layouts whenever someone whacks their head on a plywood
simulator or has to stoop over under the plywood simulator because it's in
the way of standing upright. If anyone asks stupid questions about why
they can't get a suntan in their formerly favorite spot or complains that
they can't see where they're steering the boat, put these in the notes,
too. We may have to maintain a forward lookout watch to communicate turns
and obstructions to the helm, not something that should be considered
lightly if you're shorthanded.

The, take the boat out in the worst waves you ever encountered, to see
what
happens to these flying wings in a storm in the positions were testing.
Solar panels are large enough to become part of the trim on a sailboat,
tilted the way they are. Make sure the plywood has the same angle the
panels will be tilted to in order to check boat trim and panel loading in
a
full gale, especially under shortened sail where the panels will be more
sail area than the little storm jib. Boating is unpleasant if you can't
control azimuth, especially in high winds. If any of the panels get
ripped
off, you can appreciate how much my simulator has helped you in your
planning phase by only losing $10 in plywood overboard, instead of a
$1,200
solar panel. I like Boddington's English Ale, by the way.

If any plywood panels sailing overboard in the storm take out rigging or
masts, I hope you won't hold this against me. If things look bleak, well,
it's only a piece of plywood so you can afford to dump any really stupid
ideas overboard to save the shrouds and mainsail, right? Noone at the
dock
will notice some of the plywood is missing when you get back.

On the way back to your slip, make a mental note of any impending threats
or mutiny caused by the solar array simulators. This may dampen your
enthousiasm for solar power aboard before spending $5000 on a system the
wife may toss overboard while you're sleeping off watch.

Back at the dock, have a little meeting of the crew to gauge their
response
to falling over and banging their heads on the simulator panels. If it
looks like the marriage may not survive, now is a great time to bring up
buying that little diesel genset she pitched a fit about last year and
told
you "over my dead body". Her attitude towards diesel power may have
changed today!

(Gulf coast boaters may find free simulator panels laying all over MS and
LA about now.)

"Steve" wrote in
om:

Not to be a "nit-picker", but why would you include a 40A battery
charger in the list of "must have" equipment?? If you have an acre of
solar panels, why couldn't you charge your batteries directly..



In light of the "loads" dis-cussed here in the past couple of weeks with
the air temperature dropping, I'd hoped you would have recognized the
tongue-in-cheek aspect of the simulator.

If you didn't recognize it, I hope you'll get help soon....(c;

--
Larry

All in good fun, ok? I've always found the 4KW inverters and massive
battery chargers Waste Marine sell to be just hilarious.

Well, with tongue-in-cheek, I would recommend adding an invertors to the
list and plug the 40A charger into the invertor, hence eliminating the need
for solar panels all together. The ultimate in battery charging system.

Steve
s/v Good Intentions


"Larry" wrote in message
...
"Steve" wrote in
om:

Not to be a "nit-picker", but why would you include a 40A battery
charger in the list of "must have" equipment?? If you have an acre of
solar panels, why couldn't you charge your batteries directly..



In light of the "loads" dis-cussed here in the past couple of weeks with
the air temperature dropping, I'd hoped you would have recognized the
tongue-in-cheek aspect of the simulator.

If you didn't recognize it, I hope you'll get help soon....(c;

--
Larry

All in good fun, ok? I've always found the 4KW inverters and massive
battery chargers Waste Marine sell to be just hilarious.

Larry, have you considered selling plans for the simulator. You know, the
old "send $2 and a SASE". You might be missing a good bet :-)

BS

"Larry" wrote in message
...
"Steve" wrote in
om:

Not to be a "nit-picker", but why would you include a 40A battery
charger in the list of "must have" equipment?? If you have an acre of
solar panels, why couldn't you charge your batteries directly..



In light of the "loads" dis-cussed here in the past couple of weeks with
the air temperature dropping, I'd hoped you would have recognized the
tongue-in-cheek aspect of the simulator.

If you didn't recognize it, I hope you'll get help soon....(c;

--
Larry

All in good fun, ok? I've always found the 4KW inverters and massive
battery chargers Waste Marine sell to be just hilarious.

"Robert or Karen Swarts" wrote in
:

Larry, have you considered selling plans for the simulator. You know,
the old "send $2 and a SASE". You might be missing a good bet :-)



Hmm....little ad in back of Popular Science. I remember them.

"See through walls with these X-ray glasses!"

It was there every month so you KNOW some boobs were buying them...(c;

--
Larry

When I was about 12 I wanted the version advertised in comic books that
allowed the wearer to see through clothes. Based on my experiences since,
I'm glad I didn't get them!
MMC

"Larry" wrote in message
...
"Robert or Karen Swarts" wrote in
:

Larry, have you considered selling plans for the simulator. You know,
the old "send $2 and a SASE". You might be missing a good bet :-)



Hmm....little ad in back of Popular Science. I remember them.

"See through walls with these X-ray glasses!"

It was there every month so you KNOW some boobs were buying them...(c;

--
Larry

MMC wrote:
When I was about 12 I wanted the version advertised in comic books that
allowed the wearer to see through clothes. Based on my experiences since,
I'm glad I didn't get them!
MMC

"Larry" wrote in message
...

"See through walls with these X-ray glasses!"

Does anybody know what you actually got (typically) when you actually
ordered these?

Just curious,

--
Kees

Kees Verruijt wrote in
:

Does anybody know what you actually got (typically) when you actually
ordered these?

Just curious,



Wouldn't that be admitting you actually ordered them....hee hee..

Trick question!!

--
Larry

Kees Verruijt wrote:

MMC wrote:

When I was about 12 I wanted the version advertised in comic books that
allowed the wearer to see through clothes. Based on my experiences since,
I'm glad I didn't get them!
MMC

"Larry" wrote in message
...


"See through walls with these X-ray glasses!"


Does anybody know what you actually got (typically) when you actually
ordered these?

Just curious,


A friend showed me a pair he ordered from a comic. It was some kind
of flat lens with concentric grooves that unfocussed your eye so
that you saw a blur, somewhat darker in the middle of the image,
that suggested what an x ray might look like. They did not do as
advertised.

Another form of "no prescription" glasses, has lenses consisting of
a piece of black plastic perforated with many small holes, each one
in effect a pinhole lens. In bright light they actually worked. I
know because I am quite myopic, yet could see well with these "snow
blindness sunglasses," even if only in passing your eyes over what
you wanted to see, like a sign, but I could see very much better
with them than without any lenses at all. Not much good in the dark,
though. They might actually be useful for a person in daylight whho
has lost his coke bottle lenses, even if finding the emergency
spares aboard a tossing sailboat might prove difficult for a person
as nearly blind as myself. Perhaps if they were lime green? One
would hope they would float, even if an optional floating eyglass
tether harness was required.

I wish I had had such a floating retainer when I barfed my guts and
my teeth overboard, 25 years ago.

I have since been told that such lenses will improve myopic eyes
over time, but did not wear them to any length at all. I cannot
believe that optometrists or occularists would not suggest a cure as
opposed to a continuing treatment.

Not much, I can't.

Last time I took my son in for a fresh prescription, I wound up in
an arguement with the occularist who doubles as a dispensing
optometrist in his "studio" about the benefits of polarised clip on
magnetic sunglasses as opposed to the 100 dollar "UV protecting"
non-polarised patented mounting stylish crap he was pushing. He
actually drew me out for about 5 minutes in his office in front of
customers, refusing to believe that polarised were possibly worth
about 50 bucks or less, while the UV dark lenses he was offering
were not actually worth any more than dime store shades.

I went out to my truck to get my polarised sailing glasses to
demonstrate, wherupon he lost interest in the discussion. My 18 year
old son was mortified, probably still is.

Strangely, polarised glasses and mirrors do not get along very well,
nor do they with LCD displays.

Terry K