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Thread: Getting Ready for SHTP 2021

  1. #211
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    Sep 2007
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    The ditch bag/dry bag in shocking orange, with shoulder straps is here. It stinks of vinyl, so it's airing out in the garage. whoooieee, it came with a shocking orange phone protection dry bag. I can wear this like a backpack if I ever want an extremely visible day pack to wear in the rain.

    Hatchboard retainer strap made, this morning. It's funny how some items take dozens, 20-40+ hours to finish and some take twenty minutes!

    Item #7 done!

    I sold my life to Google, and bought an inexpensive 9" Android mini-tablet on ebay the other day fr $65.. Of course, I had one a couple of years ago and I revolted at running Google's OS, but the damn things are so handy as navigation tools, with the built-in GPS that I relented. I'll load Open CPN on it. It will be a ton easier to read than my now-unused Android based Tracphone. I'll take the tracphone, too but this will be much easier to read. I have a waterproof USB keyboard at work, I think....if I didn't finally pitch it. I wonder if that will plug into the tablet. Hmm.

    EDIT: and the solar panels just arrived. They're bigger than I thought they'd be, but not too bad. The charge controller arrived earlier today.

    I think that's ~it~ for updating this for a while. Maybe I'll put another post in after I get the whole pushpit/solar/battery thing completed.
    Last edited by AlanH; 07-22-2020 at 06:50 PM.
    1968 Selmer Series 9 B-flat and A clarinets
    1962 Buesher "Aristocrat" tenor saxophone
    Piper One Design 24, Hull #35; "Alpha"

  2. #212
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    Garmin's website has been having big issues communicating with their customer database since last week, and now their website is down.

    There has been progress but instead of putting every little thing in here, I'll wait until the big energy project is done and take some pictures. The Wildcat of Loch Awe has an extremely substantial tiller installed, now. The panels to support the solar panels are ~almost~ done, including some holes to allow airflow behind the panel. The new battery arrived yesterday, and the last set of brackets for the pushpit also showed up. I thought the pushpit project would be about $200. I put $250 in the budget. It's more like a $500 project.

    I need to find my volt-ammeter. It's in the garage, somewhere...
    Last edited by AlanH; 07-28-2020 at 09:58 AM.
    1968 Selmer Series 9 B-flat and A clarinets
    1962 Buesher "Aristocrat" tenor saxophone
    Piper One Design 24, Hull #35; "Alpha"

  3. #213
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    Sep 2007
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    Back from a week of backpacking with Joan in the Desolation Wilderness. We hiked out of Wrights Lake and over Rockbound Pass (elevation 8650) and down into Rockbound Valley. It was six days of peace and exorbitant sweat. The mosquitos weren't bad, even.

    Back to prep!

    The solar panel cables are here. They are THICK. In the past I've used 16 gauge (?? +/-) for the solar panel connections but this stuff is 8 gauge and pretty stiff. How to get four strands of this stuff through the deck?

    WARNING do not buy a table from the budget/cheapo ebay retailer XGODY. I ordered a 32 gigbyte Android tablet with GPS. They sent a 16 gigabyte tablet that didn't have a GPS in it. So far, their tech support appears to be utterly unaware of what GPS is, as they've e-mailed me back twice, trying to convince me that GPS won't work without a network connection. We'll see how this return and refund process goes.
    1968 Selmer Series 9 B-flat and A clarinets
    1962 Buesher "Aristocrat" tenor saxophone
    Piper One Design 24, Hull #35; "Alpha"

  4. #214
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    Spent 2 hours this morning synch'ing the InReach and starting to figure it out. Downloaded the North American topo maps, in case I ever take it backpacking.
    1968 Selmer Series 9 B-flat and A clarinets
    1962 Buesher "Aristocrat" tenor saxophone
    Piper One Design 24, Hull #35; "Alpha"

  5. #215
    Join Date
    Sep 2008
    Location
    Saratoga
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    Quote Originally Posted by AlanH View Post
    Spent 2 hours this morning synch'ing the InReach and starting to figure it out. Downloaded the North American topo maps, in case I ever take it backpacking.
    I just acquired an older model from a neighbor. I've got it sort of set up, and bought a month, but it is still a steep learning curve.
    After you figure it out, can I hire you as a tutor?
    The Sea is my Church; the Boat is my Pew.

  6. #216
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    There's kind of a lot to figure out. I just changed the pre-set messages and the quick-messages...sent a test message to the unit, downloaded the north american topo map database, and confirmed that the GPS works. Another 2-3 hours and I might have this thing figured out.

    I'm starting to run low on motivation and energy, I'm afraid. I need to ramp it up again. Today I return the stupid XGODY Android tablet, which the truly incompetent company members can not figure out, isn't the tablet i bought, as it's 16 gb and no GPS, while they advertised a 32 gb with GPS. Isn't that an efficient use of time? I doubt I'll get my money back.

    Maybe if I get really motivated I can bolt the solar panels to the panel supports. wooo.
    Last edited by AlanH; 08-13-2020 at 10:19 AM.
    1968 Selmer Series 9 B-flat and A clarinets
    1962 Buesher "Aristocrat" tenor saxophone
    Piper One Design 24, Hull #35; "Alpha"

  7. #217
    Join Date
    Dec 2019
    Location
    South Bay
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    14

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    Were you able to find a cheap android tablet that has an actual GPS and doesn't just rely network approximated location services?

    I have a few USB GPS units that are reporting location reliably to my Linux box. If I can't find a good cheap tablet with GPS, I may build a charplotter server out of a Raspberry Pi and just use the tablet for display. Not a great solution because Pis are power hungry and produce a lot of heat. I suspect they won't last long in a SF Bay racer.

  8. #218
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    Sep 2007
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    Quote Originally Posted by jamesmcn View Post
    Were you able to find a cheap android tablet that has an actual GPS and doesn't just rely network approximated location services?

    I have a few USB GPS units that are reporting location reliably to my Linux box. If I can't find a good cheap tablet with GPS, I may build a charplotter server out of a Raspberry Pi and just use the tablet for display. Not a great solution because Pis are power hungry and produce a lot of heat. I suspect they won't last long in a SF Bay racer.
    I've had one before...just that I abhor Google in every way and believe it or not, I didn't grok that Android = Google at the time. It was a Samsung, I believe and it had a GPS in it and I sold it to Max Crittenden for about 40% off of what I paid for it. I will probably try to find another one, but WHATEVER you do...

    do NOT buy one from ebay suppliers for XGODY. These people are idiots.

    My tentative plan is to use the tablet running Android for the SHTP, and then when I get back, wipe it and try to install some form of linux. Firefox also, at one time, developed a tablet OS, and successors to that effort are still out there.
    Last edited by AlanH; 08-13-2020 at 01:14 PM.
    1968 Selmer Series 9 B-flat and A clarinets
    1962 Buesher "Aristocrat" tenor saxophone
    Piper One Design 24, Hull #35; "Alpha"

  9. #219
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    Jan 2010
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    3,485

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    Alan, you can borrow my RCA tablet for a backup. Just in case.

  10. #220
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    Awww, thanks Jackie!

    =================

    It was hot today but many, many weeks of work all came together today. The pushpit railing is done...the railings drilled/dimpled for the set screws in the fittings, and everything attached with a liberal supply of 3M 5200. The solar panels and their support panels, which allow for air circulation behind the panel, have been finished for a while. This morning I attached the solar panels to their supports, threw them in the back of the OutBack, and ta-daaa.

    Name:  solarpanelsANDpushpitDONE1.JPG
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    I might actually be ready by the second week of September. Tomorrow, wiring up the panels to the charge controller, and thence to the battery.

    Name:  solarpanelsANDpushpitDONE2.JPG
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    1968 Selmer Series 9 B-flat and A clarinets
    1962 Buesher "Aristocrat" tenor saxophone
    Piper One Design 24, Hull #35; "Alpha"

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