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hooblie
climber
from out where the anecdotes roam
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Feb 28, 2017 - 03:35pm PT
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it's not unheard of for a golf cart with well maintained batteries to be traded in for a current model.
good practice dictates that the dealer should/might resell that rig with fresh batteries he can stand behind.
typically, that bank will be set aside, not get mixed in with the known duds, but the recycler guy comes by
and sometimes, for the price of the core, drives off with the "tested good but who knows" ones as well.
sometimes a good humored cash offer somewhere north of core will clear the dealer's rack if you make very well understood you assume the risk.
this approach obviously favors the adventurous, patient song and dance man, test equipped, with keen assessment skills and market knowledge.
that's a pertinent part of battery husbandry anyway, and economy counts for something
since it's your first battery bank maintenance gig ... you know, like a practice marriage.
that's at least one possible source where price could be crazy low, it's worked for me.
but i'm a hack compared to my neighbor (rip). he owned the local airport, kept a couple of his seven aircraft there,
regularly flew his beaver on amphib floats to his beloved personal island in BC where the power issue was his to solve.
so when the soviet union collapsed he picked up a bargain submarine because well, better batteries are hard to find
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Feb 28, 2017 - 04:14pm PT
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Yes, radon isn't to be taken lightly.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Feb 28, 2017 - 04:30pm PT
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I am writing this from my off grid home in Patagonia. The most crucial, in the long run, as well as the most energy sucking appliance is a refrigerator. We bought one that uses propane and it works great. On demand propane water heaters also are very efficient.
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micronut
Trad climber
Fresno/Clovis, ca
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Feb 28, 2017 - 04:52pm PT
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Good luck in this adventure Albatross. I have no experience with this type of lifestyle other than my wife and kids and I live on 15 acres with some goats, a few chickens and a donkey. I look forward to following this thread. Lots of good advice here. Enjoy the journey and post up photos along the way!
And by the way, I noticed u-thread that you thought Vitaliy was an arrogant bully. He's many things but those two he for sure isn't. He likes to joke around a good bit and can be an internet goofball, so whatever he said take with a grain of salt that he was probably joking. Just thought I'd throw my two cents in on that Russian dweeb!
Have fun goin' gridless and when it comes time for advice on chicken and goats gimme a holler!
Scott
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the albatross
Gym climber
Flagstaff
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 28, 2017 - 05:03pm PT
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Cool thoughts from all. Nice link on the earth ship.
Maybe I should start a go fund me and all of you folks could send me a few hundred dollars? (That's a joke)
Appreciate the radon concerns. I sometimes wonder what all that time huffing forest smoke, weeks in underground mines and a year living in deserts where they actively mined uranium has done. Now something else to worry about.
I have a functional chest freezer, anyone have thoughts on burying the chest freezer in a shady area for short term refrigeration needs? Dry ice is relatively inexpensive. My buddy has lived the last 10 years without refrigeration in his hogan, undoubtedly his grandpa without it for the last 9+'decades.
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hooblie
climber
from out where the anecdotes roam
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Feb 28, 2017 - 06:03pm PT
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it's a fence 'em out state ... pros and cons to that ... you understand grassland fires, fuel load, flame propagation, and prevailing wind condition but will free ranging livestock chew your trailer lights, padded steering wheels, survey flagging and stomp your stuff to smithereens? and critters ... if you got midden material, you got pack rats. they love a little cover, like the hood over your v6 manifold, a heap of firewood or cordwood stacked on pallets. anywhere you want coyotes, or loose/feral rez dogs digging deep and hard, harbor a rabbit behind your truck's grill. badgers will undermine slabs, or a bunk of lumber, or skirting. deer mice will occupy your fresh air intake, ac ducts and squirt hanta virus risk into every mug. ravens will distribute the contents of every plastic sack to the wind or perforate any lookalike protective membrane. elk can vault any garden fence shorter than kareem abdul-jabbar, with grace and elan! the dirty surface of any non-juniper woody thing will be scoured with termite tracks, javelina will root your tubers and charge you for the privilege ... but you knew all that too.
what you really need to know is that rainbows will frame your future and make it worth all available continuously applied counter measures and more
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the albatross
Gym climber
Flagstaff
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 28, 2017 - 06:21pm PT
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WOW!
I am teary eyed right now hooblie. Thank you so much for that contribution to this thread. You had Ed Abbey flowing through your fingers in that fine piece of writing. That was really cool.
This whole experience of moving closer to nature so reminds me of two decades ago staring off at some humongous cliffs thinking "what if?". It ended up being a pretty good run out there in the end. I'm confident that once again with some talented friends who see the dream this adventure will have a good ending.
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hooblie
climber
from out where the anecdotes roam
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Feb 28, 2017 - 07:00pm PT
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well it's quite a thing to take possession ain't it pardner? and it's not lost on you how the folks that came before us feel the same ... well there's a context so we move ahead with humility and also with pride because it's right that there's a place where stewardship takes shape in a concentrated way and that you know what heading to set when it's time to be home.
also it's cool that we're neighbors eh? you're diggin' up my sunrise, and i'm stinkin' up your sunset!
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slabbo
Trad climber
colo south
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Before you go earth-shippin' pack a few tires...I'm just saying it's a ton of work....way ton of work. and once stacked you still gotta cover them up
Earth sheltering and berming is great, we did a north wall here. Remember soil is just mass, it doesn't generate anything hot or cold and soil is a poor insulator, around r-1
Check out some stuff from Rob Roy,, earthwood building good stuff
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slabbo
Trad climber
colo south
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[photoid=49178
Our place a few years ago
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Flip Flop
climber
Earth Planet, Universe
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With all respect to earth ships, I vote for cob or stabilized earth instead, only because the ramming earth with clubs into car tires makes me frown and I like the idea of organic walls.
Subterranean construction might be the thing
"In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.
It had a perfectly round door like a porthole, painted green, with a shiny yellow brass knob in the exact middle. The door opened on to a tube-shaped hall like a tunnel: a very comfortable tunnel without smoke, with panelled walls, and floors tiled and carpeted, provided with polished chairs, and lots and lots of pegs for hats and coats—the hobbit was fond of visitors. The tunnel wound on and on, going fairly but not quite straight into the side of the hill—The Hill, as all the people for many miles round called it—and many little round doors opened out of it, first on one side and then on another. No going upstairs for the hobbit: bedrooms, bathrooms, cellars, pantries (lots of these), wardrobes (he had whole rooms devoted to clothes), kitchens, dining-rooms, all were on the same floor, and indeed on the same passage. The best rooms were all on the left-hand side (going in), for these were the only ones to have windows, deep-set round windows looking over his garden, and meadows beyond, sloping down to the river."
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the albatross
Gym climber
Flagstaff
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 3, 2017 - 05:46pm PT
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It's cool to hear the different perspectives on off grid living. This week my buddy and I built a simple storage shed with a plastic type roof. It still needs some touch ups but it's good enough to store some items for now. Rain gutters will be on soon.
My nearest neighbor (about 300 yards away) heard us banging around yesterday and came to introduce himself. Like more than a few people who choose to live in this area he claimed to be a recluse and said he was on a spiritual journey. He told me if I was ever in a bind, his house was always open even if he was not there, I have never met a total stranger who has greeted me in this way and take this to be a good welcome.
I am most fortunate to have a close traditional Indigineous friend who lives in the area and has housebuilding skills, though much younger I consider him to be an elder. His intimacy with the natural workings of our environment is most refreshing. When we talk about the wind and the sun and stars it feels as if I am speaking to someone who is hundreds of years old.
Wind is a huge concern in northern AZ particularly in the area I am moving. Winds up to 55 mph are forecast for Sunday. I have a close friend that was soloing Tooth and caught in 80' mph winds and another who was caught in the lake in those winds..I guess we will see how well the shed holds up in the next couple days.
This whole adventure still feels very much like my little foray into big wall first ascents. I was never a particularly talented or good rock climber, but I had big dreams, patience, and a lot of free time to work my ass off to make it happen. Fortunately there were several climbers of much greater skill, men like Fly'n Brian that were able to help make those crazy dreams a reality. I'm almost ready to share some of my experiences of climbing with Layton Kor and Fly'n Brian.
micronut (Scott) that is admirable that you stand up for your friend.
Anyone have any experience with solar LED with the attached panel to put outside? I've seen them online for $20-50 and just curious if anyone has any reviews or recommendations, Also curious if anyone has ever buried a chest freezer in a shady, arid environment and how well it worked. Would radon (in my food) be a concern?
(This post has been edited)
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the albatross
Gym climber
Flagstaff
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 8, 2017 - 05:42pm PT
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slabbo thanks for the pic of that awesome home.
Great comments and ideas from everyone.
The shed we built withstood its first wind test (gusts 65-70 mph in the area). That doubtful part of my self half expected to see the plastic roof blown off. I'm fortunate that my builder has many generations of wisdom and experience of living in lands of high winds.
Anyone have experience drying large pine timbers? As cool as they are, I don't think I'll get an Alaskan mill. But we are interested in cutting some foot diameter, 12-16' tall Ponderosa and drying them out. Thoughts?
Slowly and surely I am leaving this city life and escaping to the healing powers of nature. It feels so good to be starting a huge new challenge at this point in my life. I doubt I'll post too many pics of my actual living area mostly because I'm in many ways a private person. Right now the focus is on building up my sun and water collectors while getting more in harmony with local weather conditions.
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BLUEBLOCR
Social climber
joshua tree
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Thoughts?
My buddy Ernesto for years gathered free logs in Idyllwild and milled them into slabs. He'd always stack'em high with 1/2" square dowels every couple,three feet. All lined up. Then put sacks of concrete on top to press down. And that was in a shed, definitely out of the Suns rays! He'd let'em dry for a year or more. And his stuff came out straight. He sold it for good coin. Maybe you could stack it and tarp it?
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Jon Beck
Trad climber
Oceanside
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I have heard that burying them in sawdust slows the drying process so that cracking is avoided. Tarping them might work, but in that AZ heat the wood might still crack. The mast on the schooner Californian twisted and cracked rotating the rig 12 degrees.
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BLUEBLOCR
Social climber
joshua tree
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^^^yeah, definitely the slower the better. This guy was drying them in jtree. The beta is to slice'em up in the fall when the weathers gotten cooler. Long as their out of the sun, they'll prolly not ever get above 65 degrees for months. Then when summer rolls around they'll bake at 120.😎
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slabbo
Trad climber
colo south
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Mar 10, 2017 - 09:23am PT
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The wood we used for our cordwood was pinon from the lot...very important to remove the bark asap...a horrowshow instead. We dried them about a year, covered but loosely.
There's a local sawmill that cut us bigger stuff,, really good stuff, very accurate.
Wind works fine...you need height, 90% of people don't get the tower high enough 15m is about a minimum and at least yearly maintainence.
Good luck
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the albatross
Gym climber
Flagstaff
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Topic Author's Reply - Mar 24, 2017 - 07:31pm PT
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I appreciate all of the thoughtful responses.
The Coconino National Forest sells post and pole permits (Ponderosa Pine) during the fuelwood cutting season. Permits are sold based on tree dbh, with no height restrictions,for instance someone could harvest 99 trees at 5" dbh, 37 trees at 12" dbh, or 1 tree at 23" dbh each permit for $20. (A 24" dbh tree would cost $22.). Unfortunately there is only one unit identified on the forest, some 35 miles from home. With the overburden of trees across the West they should be paying us to harvest but that's a whole other topic.
I still plan to spend quite some time on the property observing the wind and sun before developing a more earth friendly home. It is exciting to think of harvesting timber and other materials from the local forest to build a home.
Spent most of the last 2 weeks on a river trip in the Grand Canyon. We used "Vital Water Filters", a 2 stage filter powered by a small battery. It was a decent set up and gave some good ideas for home water purifiers. Have you ever thought about where the water comes from when you turn on the tap? What energy powers the systems that move that water? It is incredibly empowering for me to feel less reliant on the machine and to design my own water harvesting systems.
Thank you for reading.
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