Grid Runner Adventures

It never fails… any time you build something solar powered or buy anything with the label of solar, the sun does not show for days! I finished my new portable solar water heater over this last weekend.

I cannot wait to test things out before I do finish and paint work. You can read all of the details about the construction over at the How-to
s section.

The plan – to use this solar collector to heat water on the the various adventures for showers and washing clothes. Possible upgrades I can make to this unit, mylar skin on the collector array because aluminum oxidizes creating a hazy appearance

especially around salt water. The mylar will help concentrate the solar radiation onto the copper coil without oxidizing over time.

In the How-to’s section you will learn how I did the carbon black finish on the copper coil (it allows the copper to absorb much more solar radiation then just using black paint) as well as construction details and a few action photo’s

I have been loosely mentioning a proposed solar collector that I will build for this trip in previous posts. Like many things, I build a mock-up in Second Life® (Second Life® is a 3d virtual world where the sky is the limit! you can build anything you can think of, and anything you see was built by a fellow player) This solar collector I am working on will fold completely in on itself to provide a nice storage solution to hot water heating in remote locations.

I have made a spiral coil of copper tubing. it is wound tightly so that each coil is in contact with the previous coil for heat transference. By doing this I hope to increase its efficiency by effectively preheating the next coil in sequence. Also to increase efficiency, I will construct an aluminum flashing collector that is hinged to the main frame of the collector to focus the sun’s energy onto the 20ft copper tubing coil.

Pumping the water:
To pump water through this circuit, I purchased a solar water pump from www.harborfreight.com in the form of a solar pond fountain. I have salvaged two solar cell’s and a water pump from this unit to use with my solar water collector.

Currently my idea’s on water storage for this design, I came across pop-up ice chests that are insulated. They are built to accept ice and ice melts so they should be water proof or allot of people’s car’s would get ruined! I will be purchasing one to test out soon.

Check back for progress on this Solar water heater!

The planning stages for a trip of this undertaking are immense! There are many things to consider, right down to insulating the aluminum pipes in the hull of my canoe to quiet them down from wave slaps. (The canoe I will be using for this trip is a Coleman Scanoe bought with money from working 2 summers with my dad while I was growing up. It has a plastic skin hull with aluminum tubing structural frame)

Lately I have been focusing on the power system development needed for this expedition. I will be requiring a system to charge batteries for the hand held VHF radio, digital camera, gps and most everything else is wind up. – wind up weather radio – wind up led flash light – I have not purchased any of these products yet though I do already have the led flash light. I am accepting comments and idea’s on what products to take and why so comment away!

What is the best format to keep my readers apprised of my venture.
What is the best format to inform my readers of the progress to the fruition of the quest.
Or, how can I tell you all whats going on…

Lets start off with the overall plan of it all, as of the writing of this first entry. The plan, to sail from Olympia WA, to Skagway AK in a 17 ft sailing canoe. The sails and rigging will be crafted by my hand and there will be no outboard motor on board with which to propel me, I will use oars and oarlocks to return to shore while I await the coming of the winds if they die down. I will try to keep only the gear that I could take on a normal hike, excluding the bulkier items required for boating. That being said I will camp on shore nightly and weather permitting I will continue on sailing after exploring each area as I see fit.

I am working on a secret project to take with me on this trip. You will all be able to find out what it is at the unavailing. What I can tell you about it is… it is a green product. It will bring much to the table as far as creature comforts go on a trip like this. And it is of my own invention.

Okay okay… I am building a new solar collector that is portable to be used on this adventure for the purpose of warm hot showers.

As new progress happens I will post it here. (the site is still in its infancy and subject to change)