We’re going up on our own. Sam’s running a flotilla leaving on May 15, and we’ll eventually meet up with him in AK.
eheffa
‘This allows us, among other things, to run the water heater off of the inverter (so now we can have hot water all the time, rather than having to run the engine, or the generator, or plug into shore power to get hot water’.
Wow! I’m impressed. I didn’t think that was feasible.( I have to say the one thing we miss from our Airstream is the propane fired hot water & fridge.)
How many A/H do the Lithiiums give you?
You must have an extra high capacity Inverter yes?
The lithiums have 600 amp hours of capacity, and with lithiums you can use from 80-100% of that capacity (depending on how they’re rated). Lead acid, gel, and AGM batteries shouldn’t be discharged more than 50%, so a 600 amp hour lithium pack gives you the same usable energy as over 1000 amp hour AGM.
We have a Magnum 2800 watt pure sine wave inverter/charger. Pulling into an anchorage mid-day with the batteries fully charged and the water already hot, it looks like we’ll be able to stay at the anchorage for 24 hours and still have the batteries above 30%. (We tried this for about 18 hours and the batteries were at about 43% when we left.) That includes washing dishes a couple times, watching a movie, using our computers and internet, lights, refrigerator and decktop freezer…. A big contributor is the solar, which we think puts between 100 and 200 amp hours per day back into the system.
Kevin McLaughlin
Picked up your AIS signal! Curious if your unit was garmin, and whether it was
repaired or replaced under warranty
Flies hate white vinegar. Put some in a water gun and squirt it around on posts, dinghies and such. That ought to do it.
Unless you’re talking about no-see-ums… which are those little gnats that bite. Not sure how to repel those. I hate em.
While we’re on the topic, for bees, clove bud oil is amazing. Just a couple of drops here and there (I put some on my hat). Or even just sprinkle some crushed cloves around.
Well aren’t you just the go-to man for how to keep bugs away? 🙂 The fly trick sounds good…white vinegar…on the shopping list now, thanks! It wasn’t no-see-ums. Definitely blackflies. It was on the way up in BC somewhere…and I think they take a little chunk of your skin. In any case, I definitely had a pretty intense allergic reaction (welts the size of quarters, or bigger!). In AK there were those giant horseflies…but they never bit me. What’s your trick for mosquitos, should we encounter them?
We’re back in SF for awhile; still having work done on the island lot. It’s proceeding on island time.
I just bring some OFF! Skintastic spray for mosquitos and keep it handy. You can get insect-repellent clothing, but I’ve never bothered.
Say hi to the island for us! If you head into Ganges, you should be able to see our Airstream there, on the right side heading in (to the right of the little islands there).
Have fun in Alaska, looking forward to following along 🙂
You can dilute the vinegar by about half with water if you want. I used it in the place we were renting on SSI last year when we had horseflies hanging out around the patio. Worked great on them.
Janna Clark
Would you share your “new homemade caesar dressing technology?” Oil based dressings I have down pat–creamy ones, ugh!
HI Janna,
Sure! These are the ingredients I use…feel free to substitute your favorite elements:
Ingredients:
2 Cloves Of Fresh Garlic
1 cup Best Foods Olive Oil Mayonnaise (or homemade, both are good!)
1 heaping teaspoon of grainy or regular Dijon Mustard
2 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
½ cup Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
¼ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
¼ tsp Coarse Ground Black Pepper
Directions:
In a small food processor, pulse the garlic until minced.
Add in the mayo, ground mustard, Dijon, Worcestershire and Parmesan. Turn the food processor on, secure the lid and slowly pour in the olive oil. Season with a ¼ teaspoon of black pepper and pulse until combined. Store in a small jar in the fridge.
Notes: I use a small Cuisinart food processor, but I don’t bring that with me on the boat. On the boat I use a Cuisinart hand blender. I dice the garlic first, throw it into a jar, add the rest of the ingredients, and use the hand blender while slowly pouring in the olive oil.
If you want a little more anchovy flavor, add some anchovy paste or top the salad with white anchovies.
p.s I also make croutons sometimes to go with this by cubing up some sourdough bread, and then tossing it into a frying pan with olive oil and some chopped garlic until toasty. 🙂 Then toss with romaine dressing and a little more freshly grated or shaved Parmesan and some fresh ground pepper. Super yummy!!
Let me know what you think! 🙂
Janna Clark
Thanks Laura–I would guess you don’t have room on the boat for food processors and as you are using a skillet to make croutons–no oven! But where there is a will, there is a way! So many of our RVing friends use processed/boxed foods when traveling–not us, we eat as well in the motorhome as we do at home. I am so excited you guys are going to Alaska again so we can travel along. That’s always been a dream of mine–but neither of us has any water experience–so we will just travel along with you!
No…we have an oven. For some reason I just like doing the croutons in a skillet. I even do it that way at home, too! 🙂 I opted to bring the pressure cooker instead of the food processor this time. (Risotto in 7 minutes! No stirring!) Priorities.
I hear ya about the processed foods. We only occasionally supplement with stuff like that when we can’t get fresh, real food. The Inside Passage isn’t known for its grocery stores and farmers markets. 🙂
EmilySteed
Those brownies go from “good” to “sublime” if you throw in a single-serving container of fruit-flavored yogurt along with the eggs, oil, etc.
Relieved to see a new post, I was getting a little concerned. Hot water from your battery bank? Luxury!
I know you will have a wonderful trip. Now I’m jealous once again, lol. Are you going alone this time or with a flotilla again?
We’re going up on our own. Sam’s running a flotilla leaving on May 15, and we’ll eventually meet up with him in AK.
‘This allows us, among other things, to run the water heater off of the inverter (so now we can have hot water all the time, rather than having to run the engine, or the generator, or plug into shore power to get hot water’.
Wow! I’m impressed. I didn’t think that was feasible.( I have to say the one thing we miss from our Airstream is the propane fired hot water & fridge.)
How many A/H do the Lithiiums give you?
You must have an extra high capacity Inverter yes?
Please elaborate further.
Thanks.
– evan
Hi Evan,
The lithiums have 600 amp hours of capacity, and with lithiums you can use from 80-100% of that capacity (depending on how they’re rated). Lead acid, gel, and AGM batteries shouldn’t be discharged more than 50%, so a 600 amp hour lithium pack gives you the same usable energy as over 1000 amp hour AGM.
We have a Magnum 2800 watt pure sine wave inverter/charger. Pulling into an anchorage mid-day with the batteries fully charged and the water already hot, it looks like we’ll be able to stay at the anchorage for 24 hours and still have the batteries above 30%. (We tried this for about 18 hours and the batteries were at about 43% when we left.) That includes washing dishes a couple times, watching a movie, using our computers and internet, lights, refrigerator and decktop freezer…. A big contributor is the solar, which we think puts between 100 and 200 amp hours per day back into the system.
Picked up your AIS signal! Curious if your unit was garmin, and whether it was
repaired or replaced under warranty
Yep, Garmin…and they basically swapped it for a remanufactured one.
What’s your anti-mosquito strategy this year? 🙂
We don’t have one! We had hardly any issues with mosquitos last summer. We DID have issues with the small black flies that bite though… 🙂
Flies hate white vinegar. Put some in a water gun and squirt it around on posts, dinghies and such. That ought to do it.
Unless you’re talking about no-see-ums… which are those little gnats that bite. Not sure how to repel those. I hate em.
While we’re on the topic, for bees, clove bud oil is amazing. Just a couple of drops here and there (I put some on my hat). Or even just sprinkle some crushed cloves around.
Well aren’t you just the go-to man for how to keep bugs away? 🙂 The fly trick sounds good…white vinegar…on the shopping list now, thanks! It wasn’t no-see-ums. Definitely blackflies. It was on the way up in BC somewhere…and I think they take a little chunk of your skin. In any case, I definitely had a pretty intense allergic reaction (welts the size of quarters, or bigger!). In AK there were those giant horseflies…but they never bit me. What’s your trick for mosquitos, should we encounter them?
Also, you guys are on SaltSpring now are you? We’ll be there in a couple days when we leave Anacortes….
We’re back in SF for awhile; still having work done on the island lot. It’s proceeding on island time.
I just bring some OFF! Skintastic spray for mosquitos and keep it handy. You can get insect-repellent clothing, but I’ve never bothered.
Say hi to the island for us! If you head into Ganges, you should be able to see our Airstream there, on the right side heading in (to the right of the little islands there).
We have OFF! Skintastic on the boat already. I had an insect-repellant hoodie last summer, but it didn’t work on my legs, of course. 🙂
Will definitely keep an eye out for your island bling! Have fun in SF!
Have fun in Alaska, looking forward to following along 🙂
You can dilute the vinegar by about half with water if you want. I used it in the place we were renting on SSI last year when we had horseflies hanging out around the patio. Worked great on them.
Would you share your “new homemade caesar dressing technology?” Oil based dressings I have down pat–creamy ones, ugh!
HI Janna,
Sure! These are the ingredients I use…feel free to substitute your favorite elements:
Ingredients:
2 Cloves Of Fresh Garlic
1 cup Best Foods Olive Oil Mayonnaise (or homemade, both are good!)
1 heaping teaspoon of grainy or regular Dijon Mustard
2 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
½ cup Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
¼ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
¼ tsp Coarse Ground Black Pepper
Directions:
In a small food processor, pulse the garlic until minced.
Add in the mayo, ground mustard, Dijon, Worcestershire and Parmesan. Turn the food processor on, secure the lid and slowly pour in the olive oil. Season with a ¼ teaspoon of black pepper and pulse until combined. Store in a small jar in the fridge.
Notes: I use a small Cuisinart food processor, but I don’t bring that with me on the boat. On the boat I use a Cuisinart hand blender. I dice the garlic first, throw it into a jar, add the rest of the ingredients, and use the hand blender while slowly pouring in the olive oil.
If you want a little more anchovy flavor, add some anchovy paste or top the salad with white anchovies.
p.s I also make croutons sometimes to go with this by cubing up some sourdough bread, and then tossing it into a frying pan with olive oil and some chopped garlic until toasty. 🙂 Then toss with romaine dressing and a little more freshly grated or shaved Parmesan and some fresh ground pepper. Super yummy!!
Let me know what you think! 🙂
Thanks Laura–I would guess you don’t have room on the boat for food processors and as you are using a skillet to make croutons–no oven! But where there is a will, there is a way! So many of our RVing friends use processed/boxed foods when traveling–not us, we eat as well in the motorhome as we do at home. I am so excited you guys are going to Alaska again so we can travel along. That’s always been a dream of mine–but neither of us has any water experience–so we will just travel along with you!
No…we have an oven. For some reason I just like doing the croutons in a skillet. I even do it that way at home, too! 🙂 I opted to bring the pressure cooker instead of the food processor this time. (Risotto in 7 minutes! No stirring!) Priorities.
I hear ya about the processed foods. We only occasionally supplement with stuff like that when we can’t get fresh, real food. The Inside Passage isn’t known for its grocery stores and farmers markets. 🙂
Those brownies go from “good” to “sublime” if you throw in a single-serving container of fruit-flavored yogurt along with the eggs, oil, etc.