Just to get your attention...
Sunrise from the cabin.
This place is, well, "Remote". The cabin is the light spot out the window of a 1956 'Beaver' seaplane. No corner store for batteries and film!
The 4 of us have the whole lake, no one else for miles! About 15 or 20% shows in the photo.
It is kind of a very strange feeling the first few times, when the plane leaves for a week or more. Weather permitting.
You ARE on your own!
If you didn't bring it, you ain't got it. Period.
There is no BS like "I forgot the matches." That's just too bad. Figure something out. Maybe boat gas and a spark plug?
Not exactly roughing it, but not the Ritz-Hilton either.
Fully equipped with an outhouse, "Running Water" as the outfitter, Olivier Brossard says, "You run down to the lake and get it!", an unplumbed sink, a (formerly) air tight wood stove for heat, propane stove, lights and 'fridge.
Always brand new motors for the boats and the water pumps (for cabins equipped with water), so there is no need for spare parts. There are extra boat motors just in case. Cabins with a water pump have full plumbing with flush toilets, a hot water shower, etc. We just chose a lake without that stuff this time.
The dock, boardwalk, etc are cut from pine with a chainsaw and they do it great! The unlevelness is because of the footing shifting and I'm sure it was very level when it was new. The wood lasts a very long time too, as proven by the dated graffiti of previous fishing successes.
The raised upside down boat on the left recieved new life as the wood shed roof. Now that's recycling!
Almost all vegetation below waist high is blueberries and rasberries. Pancakes!
"Paradise in the Bush!"
About the water...
We use a small ceramic water filter now.
We bought it maybe 10 years ago when my daughter was young for her first trip, just in case. It came with a 2" x 6" ceramic filter and sponge cover, about a foot of half inch hose (intake) and a foot of 1/4" hose (output), and a large syringe with a metal ball for a valve.
The idea is too pull up very slowly to suck water through the ceramic filter into the syringe, then push the clean water out through the small hose.
I'll just say that takes a LONG time and a LOT of work involving at laest 2 people, maybe 3, for half an hour, to get enough water for a pot of coffee. So we gave up.
We just drank water from the lake. It never hurt us before.
BUT
we found out, in a comical fashion involving the mop, that a siphon will do just fine. The following year I changed the intake hose to about 3 feet long, changed the output hose to about 2' long, and added a couple clothes pins and rubber bands.
The largest pan available is the raw lake water, the next largest pan is the filtered water. The lake water pan is set as high as is practical, the filtered water pan is set as low as is practical the pump syringe is started (hold straight up and down for the ball to seat, getting out all the air bubbles too), and more water than 4 people can use for coffee and cooking is made. Drip drip drip will addd up to some water!
Ceramic filtered water still has a 'color', but that goes away with the addition of coffee. Hehe.
When the water output slows significantly it is time to clean the filter. Most filters like this come with a scratchy pad to do it. Just scrub off the ceramic part, and rinse out the sponge part. Then get the siphon going again with no bubbles in the hose.
That $1 worth of hose makes a $25 water filter into something people will use, instead of just a novelty. Don't forget the clothes pins and rubber bands to hold things in position. And don't let the lake water run low or the siphon will stop.
I do have a water filter photo but it looks like 2 guys cooking.
OK.
On to the solar stuff.
The 4 little multi-crys PVs are rated 4V and 100ma, double glass I think. Maybe from high end garder lights?
They were wired 2 series pairs for 6V (4 Ni-Mh AA's) and charge at about 170ma under decent conditions. I had big plans for a fancy 3 way switch connecting them for 340ma 3V, 170ma 6V, and (marginal) 75ma 12V use, but ran out of time. Just added a diode and 4 AA holder.
The grey framed PV is a Russian mono-crys great for 3V or 4.5V charging at about 280ma. We were taking nothing needing 3 rechargable batteries, so added a diode and 2 AA holder.
We took maybe 800 photos and even with the 4 AA battery eating digital mega-zoom camera, and the 2 AA digital battery eater, we never got the 'spare, emergency' alkalines out. I'd call that success. My wife takes pictures, that's for dang sure!
But I'm not at all surprised as this is not the first time for some of this equipment.
For the 12V needs there were 3, 12V 100ma PVs on a fiberglass backing. All had output jacks added. A couple 'adaptors' with diodes and clips allowed for these to charge everything we had, and even in parallel with the other PVs.
We really had no need of these as the 12V 7AH battery was sure to power the sonar / fish finder, and the "stereo" for the whole trip. The stereo was a 12VDC pair of computer speakers connected to a MP3 player, which we used for about 2 hours total.
I did charge the 12V 7AH once, just for good measure.
I also set up a do-hicky to charge the camcorder from the 12V PVs, but with being busy, we did not use the camcorder enough to require any charging.
Everything got rained on... a lot. The 12V PVs are sealed. The 6V array seems to be at least very water resistant. The Russian PV collects water inside like a beaver dam, but seems none the worse for wear.
The 12V PVs are no longer available but I wish they still were, the Russian PV was from H.F. and is very extremely high priced for the watts (improperly listed) but of decent quality, and the 4V 100ma PVs are surplus ($7 ea / $3.50ea on sale from the electronic goldmine).
The rechargable batteries were 1 set and 1 spare set for the 2 AA camera, 1 set and 2 spare sets for the 4 AA camera, and 4 spare set of 4 AA's just in case. All about 2000mah. There were always a 2 AA set and a 4 AA set charging on the right PVs. And sometimes another set charging on the 12V PVs mostly because I was board waiting for lunch or something, and not because they really needed charging.
I finally gave up on the pocket windmill.
Not because of the blades which I expected to be a problem (Zub-Woofers were great), or the mechanics (it would fit in my pocket). Most of it was made of firewood and hotdog sticks. But because I could not find a stepper motor that would make any real power to charge AA batteries.
The first 3 days were VERY windy. Just like our friends said if I did not bring a windmill!
So much that it was almost dangerous in a boat. Maybe 25MPH substained. Windiest I ever saw in many trips to the region. But the cabin is set up in a protected area so a windmill on the end of the dock would have been about useless. Very good planning on the builders part(probably Georges Brossard, google him if you are bored, he is an amazing man, great bush pilot, friend, and fisherman! He really likes 'bugs'. The best parts of his life are maybe only availiable in French.)
Overall
The most stunning solar surprise, for me at least, was the silly "Solar Shower".
Just a heavy plastic bag with one black side and one almost clear side, a hose with a on off valve and a sprinkler showerhead, and the "temperature could reach 105'F" (yea. right. whatever.). Lay it flat in full sun and the water gets hot? Is 105'F enough for a shower? Not hot enough for me! Well, it did get hot, and more than 105'F for sure!
Is 5 gallons enough for a shower? My shower is rated at 3 gallons a minute, and I have a LOT of hair. I certainly don't want to get my hair full of shampoo and run out of hot water (call me names, but I do not want to be clean if it involves being cold).
I was the first to give it a try. First just the hair. Boy, that is hot! Next a full body rinse. There is still water left? So the full shower with soap and an extra good rinse. Still water left? My wife washed her hair, then shaved her legs (she'll kill me if she reads this!).
The other couple arrived back at the cabin, and after hearing my review, she washed her hair and shaved her legs (she'll kill me too). Then he had a good scrub down but not a full shower, and washed his hair (his hair doesn't take much water). Yes, he is clothed from the waist down. But I could photo shop some of the original images... Hmmm... Blackmail?
The solar shower bag heated faster when set on a insulated flannel shirt for insulation, and it was quite sunny and about 82'F that particular day. Another cloudy and cool day I added hot water from the stove.
To make a long story even longer, There was plenty of warm water in the first 5 gallons, for all of the above. I am sure everyone (except me because I was first and didn't expect much!) tried to conserve, but 5 gallons can go a long way!
I have a 'charge controller' for the PVs. My wife and our friends call it "The Octopus" and everyone is afraid to mess with it, even just to change batteries. Just a bunch of Zener based controllers in a single box, with multiple in and outputs for preset voltages. Too many choices if you don't understand what it does and how it does what it does. I thought it was KISS because all 1273 protruding wires and combinations were labeled!
After a couple months of testing, I decided that for our use none of it was needed. We change out batteries fast enough that overcharge will not be a problem. The way the little PVs are set up seem to charge just fine, but it takes a very long time to get where the batteries will overcharge. Everything now is just a PV to a diode to the batteries.
The real reason I am here other than no phone, no fax, no email, no soldering iron...
The BIG ASS FISH!
My wife beat all 3 of us again. Thats twice in a row. Maybe I taught her too much about fishing?
I am supposed to be the one with the biggest fish!
Maybe I didn't explain that to her?
My wife with a 46" Northern Pike, in a photo she really, REALLY hates.
And it was almost hard to keep Wall-Eye off the hooks.
Anyway...
We saved a lot of money on batteries. And weight too, as each person is only allowed 100 pounds of everything including food. And we did not spare the batteries. Sometimes I think she takes pictures just to see if the PVs will keep up!
The comfort of being clean after a warm shower is priceless.
Just a small example of how a few dollars in solar or RE can pay for itself in a short time.
Thanks to anyone with the patience and bandwidth to read all this.
Comments welcome,
G-
