Another fine day shaping up, which is great as it is our last day here. Hard to believe it has been eight days since we arrived. The boondocking experiment has so far gone quite well. There are a few things to be mindful of when you are without services for an extended period, the key ones being electricity and waste water.
As we have solar, we are lucky that our site gets a ton of sunlight. On most days, the solar has generated around 14.6 volts constantly, plenty to keep the battery charged and allow us to run the ceiling fan to manage the heat inside the Alto. When the solar is generating, we are effectively running everything using the solar, and not our battery reserves. Even on overcast days, we do get some times of generation. In the evenings, we only turn on four little AA powered LED camp lights. They light the interior just perfectly, and have no impact on the battery. The other factor is waste water, namely the grey and black. By making use of the comfort stations during the daytime hours, we have avoided having to make a trip mid week to the dumping station. We also did all our dish washing outside from our outside shower tap, saving space in the grey tank. As easy as it may be to hitch up, once you get set up nicely on a site, the thought of going through the process to move again is a great motivator to conserve your resources.
As we have solar, we are lucky that our site gets a ton of sunlight. On most days, the solar has generated around 14.6 volts constantly, plenty to keep the battery charged and allow us to run the ceiling fan to manage the heat inside the Alto. When the solar is generating, we are effectively running everything using the solar, and not our battery reserves. Even on overcast days, we do get some times of generation. In the evenings, we only turn on four little AA powered LED camp lights. They light the interior just perfectly, and have no impact on the battery. The other factor is waste water, namely the grey and black. By making use of the comfort stations during the daytime hours, we have avoided having to make a trip mid week to the dumping station. We also did all our dish washing outside from our outside shower tap, saving space in the grey tank. As easy as it may be to hitch up, once you get set up nicely on a site, the thought of going through the process to move again is a great motivator to conserve your resources.
Went for another paddle around noon, as the water was relatively calm and the sun was out. There is something approaching from the west, but it is well off on the horizon. Paddled along the main beach, and it was packed with people enjoying the day. The water was a little more wavy than it appeared from shore, so the arms got a bit of a workout. After the paddle we loaded up the boats when we brought them back to the site, as we started to put gear away in prep for leaving in the morning.
Late in the afternoon it started to rain gently, but the timing was perfect. We are meeting Joey & Geoff for dinner in Picton, so preparing food is not an issue. Ate at the Acoustic Grill in Picton again. Being Saturday night, there were a couple of musicians playing and the place was packed. Food was great and we had a nice visit.
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