The Poet Creek Express - Foamie Hybrid

[KCStudly]

You thinking it should be heavier or lighter? Aluminum, 1/8 inch tempered glass, the arrays, a soft case, some wire and a module. I guess it sounds about right to me, schmaybe.

Shipping cost was under $20 which seemed very reasonable to me based on its size and the presumption that it would need to be packed very well to survive the shipping monkeys.

[Lonewolf42301]

just looking an panels alone, they weighted more then this complete setup....

[Lonewolf42301]

I thought about incorporating solar in my build also, but I will need a 1600 watt inverter generator to run a hacked a/c unite anyway, so I ditched the idea. just charge a light weight battery foe power needed when not running generator...

[KCStudly]

I want to be able to keep the battery (-ies) charged for at least 5 days w/o having to break the peaceful serenity and calming effects of the surrounding wilderness by running a gennie or the TV. Maybe it is a bit extravagant.

Also, my cooler won't keep ice for that long, so I am leaning more and more toward a 12v fridge/freezer. Pack it at home with prepared frozen food, run it on freezer mode while running down the highway powering from TV alternator, then switch to fridge mode at camp using solar to maintain.

To be honest, it was a bit of an impulse purchase, but based on the successful reports from others, I think it is doable.

[lloyd]

KC,

I've been following your build for quite a while and I'm impressed with your attention to he details and the considerable effort you put into your posts. I saw your post looking for fridge info. Here's my thoughts.

My fridge research has led me to believe you should just bite the bullet and buy an ARB. Having said that I did come across a thread at expeditionportal (http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/archive/index.php/t-47802.html) where some people were having good luck with Edgestar fridges. The really happy ones found great deals on scratch and dent units.

While the edgestar units appear to be good value, they are not nearly as power efficient as the arb (and equivellent) units. It's the power efficiency and general owner satisfaction that keeps bringing me back to arb. They are outrageously expensive, but when you compare them to an "rv" fridge they seem more reasonable.

Lloyd.

[GPW]

Anytime somebody mentions RV refrigerator, it makes me want to run and hide .... One good read on the subject at any of the RV forums will likely make you do the same ...

KC , just a good 5 day cooler and some block ice should do the trick , with a second (oft opened) cooler for the cold drinks... Thrifty , no problems .. that’s what we’ve got for the FS....
In old camping (long ago) times we cooled the in a cold mountain stream ... That worked ... In our High Lonesome camping experiences in St Elmo CO, (pup tent) , we’d bring food that didn’t require cooling , and live off the freshly caught fish ... Camping ...

[bonnie]

This thread has prompted me to jump on a sale price for a 120w portable folding solar panel with carry case, mounted charge controller and wire leads included.

http://www.solarblvd.com/p2756/W-Solar-120-Watt-Foldable-12-Volt-Solar-Panel/product_info.html

Now to look for a reasonably priced 12v fridge that will fit in my planned cooler slide location.

I have a 13 watt version like this. It really is that light. My panel is quite a bit older though.

[atahoekid]

I'm following my neighbors lead. He has a large airstream with dual batteries and he bought a roughly 2 foot by 3 foot panel that he mounted on a portable stand. He sets the panel out in the morning and moves it around to follow the sun during the day. Even in the short days of fall he gets enough of a charge to nearly top his batteries off. I'm planning the same but with a single battery and a pretty small load and judicious use of the power, I should be able to fully recharge. I'm with KC. If I don't have to turn on a generator or start a TV, any camping neighbors and myself are happier. I don't want to be the camper who starts their truck because they need to recharge a cell phone.

[KCStudly]

I'm back from the chunk now. We had good weather for the most part and had a good time, despite not throwing better than we had hoped. We did hold 2nd place after day one when the other machines pied, but that was short lived. Chucky III (the favorite to win our class) pied all 3 shots, and a new competitor was way behind, so by default we came in 5th out of 7. I'll post some more details later, after I get unpacked and caught up on things.

Thank you, Lloyd, for the link. I'll be sure to read thru that if I haven't seen it already. My hope would be to score a used or marked down unit. I can't justify the cost of new.

GPW, yup. Beer in the stream is old school, and a cooler upgrade would be less dough-ray-me. In the '70's that's what we did, so I know it is doable. But then there are always warnings about "bugs" in the water (never know whether to believe them or not) and I wouldn't want to catch something nasty from slobbering on a beer can. I no they have test kits to check the water, but those are complicated and take a while to get the results. IIRC the test kits aren't cheap either. I also seem to recall making a trip back to Elk City with my dad mid week to get ice (we grabbed a shower at the laundromat and lunch at a dinky two stool, one booth burger joint... had the "Lumberjack" burger), but that was basically a day trip to drive out and back in.

What is everyone's experience with the forestry warnings for Giardia? Seems to me that it is a default warning that they apply to all locations.

Bonnie and Tahoe (Mel), thanks for the feedback. That is reassuring input and I appreciate it greatly.

[kk4czd]

GPW, yup. Beer in the stream is old school, and a cooler upgrade would be less dough-ray-me. In the '70's that's what we did, so I know it is doable. But then there are always warnings about "bugs" in the water (never know whether to believe them or not) and I wouldn't want to catch something nasty from slobbering on a beer can. I no they have test kits to check the water, but those are complicated and take a while to get the results. IIRC the test kits aren't cheap either. I also seem to recall making a trip back to Elk City with my dad mid week to get ice (we grabbed a shower at the laundromat and lunch at a dinky two stool, one booth burger joint... had the "Lumberjack" burger), but that was basically a day trip to drive out and back in.

What is everyone's experience with the forestry warnings for Giardia? Seems to me that it is a default warning that they apply to all locations.

Just keep a jug of fresh/purified water handy to rinse off the cans. Makes them clean and drinkable.

[KCStudly]

Thanks for the tip.

[GPW]

So how far did your pumpkin chunk ???

[KCStudly]

Friday was a very lame 538 ft. We had forgotten to take the rear travel bolts out of the dump frame... tweaked the rear mounts and xmbr, and did not get to the desired firing angle, but held up for second place in torsion on the day.
Saturday it was something like 813 ft, still compounded but slack removed.
Sunday was 1040 ft using std bow string.

The winner of the torsion class, Bob Carbo's Onager threw 3100 ft on Friday.

Pics this evening.

[GPW]

WOW !!! That’s pretty Amazing !!!

[KCStudly]

Here’s a quick look at the chunk.

Mr. B on Wheatley Farm, Bridgeville, DE

The orange pumpkins in this pic were just in case we couldn’t find better ones on the field (most teams have extras of the preferred breeds that they are willing to share).

Pumpkin’s eye view from battery position. Eric and Amy are fitting the pumpkin to the pouch. The folded up lawn chair is just there as a safety net to catch the pumpkin if it should fall out… once the pumpkin has been officially weighed and painted the day’s color by the official, it is the one and only shot pumpkin for that day.


Ready to fly. The yellow poly lines on the sling are just there to act like armor and protect the true bow strings from being damaged when they hit the front stanchions, rope bundles, etc. You can also see the bow line separators that I made last year (aluminum rods). They hold the pouch open and keep the bow line from crushing or cutting the pumpkin.


The rope couplers that I made last year have worked well.


The field is really big and it is a long way from one end of the firing line to the other, plus they only allow one support vehicle per pit, so there are a lot of ATV’s, UTV’s, golf carts, and mini bikes buzzing around. Walking the field had me wishing for a mini bike (this shot is for Kirk/CampmasterK).

Note the big Ooga horn used to signal when ready to fire a pumpkin.

Green pumpkin painted Day-Glo green and marked liberally with our pit number to help the spotters find it (or the broken pieces).


Forrest’s F550 chassis crew cab with fabricated stake body made towing Mr. B over 700 round trip miles a complete breeze.


Just before stuffing the arms into the bundles we noticed some cracks in welds between the hilt and some spacer pieces that were added back when we fixed the arms from the first time they broke. The cracks were on the compression side during pull back and did not extend into the doubler plates that had been scabbed on previously, so we decided they would get us thru the weekend, maybe. Despite careful adjustment to our arresting rope system, on the 3rd and last shot we switched from the lower powered compounded shots to the standard bow full power shots and ended up breaking an arm.


Just more incentive to build the new machine for next year.

Okay, I need to get back to camper building if I am ever going to make time to build a new catapult, so enough horsing around!