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Happy Fourth of July to everyone. We have our problems but we are still the greatest nation in the world. And Happy Anniversary to my wife Mary. One year and counting! To celebrate, Mary and I decided to recharge our batteries, literally, and made a reservation at the St. Michaels Marina. We had a great slip, easy in and out and pump out and fuel right in the slip but we did pay dearly for it. Since we are having problems with our fuel gauge we decided to top the tank off for our trip to Solomons Island tomorrow. Still not reading properly. The first thing we did was head for the pool for a nice swim. We then went to the bar and had some oysters and met a couple that was in town for a vacation before their wedding in September. I wish them the best. It was a slow day for us but we celebrated by having a pizza in town. We were in town for the New Years Eve party at the St. Michaels Harbor Inn in January and stayed an extra day and had this great tasting pizza. So instead of wine and dinning ourselves for our anniversary we had beer and pizza and we split a desert. I checked the weather it looked good for our trip to Solomons Island so we decided to hit the sack early since we wanted to leave by 6am. Midnight Breeze does not have a TV or SSB Radio to keep us entertained, all we have is an AM/FM radio and a connection for my IPHONE that I installed. We do keep a notebook computer on board but it’s over ten years old and the battery is bad, so it’s no use to us while out on the hook. Since I have a connection for my IPHONE I can use that same connection for my err Mary’s IPAD. So before we took off on this vacation I downloaded three movies to watch. I just plug my IPAD into the radio and we have stereo audio for the movies. I also tried a new program I ordered for my IPAD. It’s a charting program by Navonics. I am in the process of installing a computer network system on Midnight Breeze which will allow me to access the Raymarine network and download or upload waypoints and routes through my IPAD. So now I create my routes on the IPAD and download them to my Raymarine E120 charting system. I use to use my notebook with The Cap’n program and I still will as soon as I purchase a new laptop. I really like the Cap’n especially it’s logging capabilities. Until then the IPAD will do. We are finding out fast that we have to conserve our 12 volt electric on Midnight Breeze. With the fridge being on all the time I have to start the engine and charge the batteries twice daily for an hour, usually morning and at night. Midnight Breeze has all led lights installed including our navigation lights and still we drain the battery bank. I will be installing another bank this winter and have not decided on whether to install solar cells or a wind generator. I’m leaning towards the wind generator first. Any suggestions would be appreciated. If I install solar cells I will be using the 135 watt panels (2). The size of the solar cells were discussed in an earlier blog and it was suggested that I not full around with anything less than 135 watt units. It has been recommended to stay away from the 85 watt units and I agree.
Well that’s it for now have to get up early! Yea, right we’ll see. Until next time may your batteries stay full!
Dave