Epic adventurer Fishing gear theft

Someone stole all my fishing gear from my shed, so the epic adventure has been postponed at least for another year.

Sad.

The only time I really shopped for quality was for my fishing gear. It was the backbone of the trip and had to reliably feed me every day I was away.

I hope whoever stole it cares for it as much as I did over the 6 years it took me to accumulate it.

It was around $500 dollars worth of small, light weight gear (4 lb line) that I had bought over the last 6 years, all based around what I would need to fish all day as I boated along. I bought reasonable quality stuff as I would have limited ability to repair it. Not "real money" quality, because thats way out of my league, but stuff that with a bit of care and maintenance would outlast me.

Now I spend my days wondering if there is any point trying to buy anything else because they will be back.

Even more sad, is the almost certain reality that the person who stole it suffered a desperation for the funds it generated for just that afternoon.

I guess their life probably sucks more than mine.

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Epic adventurer Solar fail safe kill switch

Ive been worried about all my dodgy electronics on my solar boat, so I figured I should have a master kill switch that couldnt fail, and came up with a fuse holder and a 6mm bolt, tied to some artfully arranged paracord in the form of a survival bracelet that my brother made for me.

Cut the threaded bit off the bolt, tie a nice grippy paracord handle to it, then put the bolt in the fuse holder that connects all the electrics to the positive terminal.

One pull and everything stops.

It should work.

If it does, I should also be able to clip onto it with with a 2m bungee cord when I want to move around the boat if Im under way. That way if I fall off, the motor will stop. I think its called a dead mans switch. I was originally planning to create one digitally, and I still might if it turns out to be a pain, but if I need it, Ill build it on the boat. If I did it digitally, Id make a simple sonic tape measure with a PICAXE chip that would notice if I left my chair. Then it would beep in 60 seconds, then kill all power to the motor if I didnt wave my hand in front of it within 15 seconds.

I think I prefer paracord and my bolt fuse.



120 Things in 20 years realises a solar deadmans switch sounds like safety overkill, but Ill have junk everywhere, no side rails, and 2000km is a long way to chase a boat moving slightly faster than I can swim on the Murray River.

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Epic adventurer Think steering and kill switches

I built a more sturdy frame to hold the solar panels.

It sits quite low to the back half of the boat.. On my epic adventure, Ill add 4 extension tubes so that I can get under the frame and use the space (and perhaps even sleep under if), but when I just go our for a day trip, Ill leave the tubes off, and keep it low. It needs to be low so it can travel on highways on the trailer without shaking to bits, or catching too much wind. 

Im mounting the entire assembly on hinges so I can lift one side at a time to add the extension tubes before I set off.  

The panels were originally going to be mounted on hinges as well so I could tilt them to the sun as required, but I figured Id keep it simple and see how much cruising time I have per day without moving them. I can always add hinges later.

The frame looks a bit like this...

 (you might recognise it as my old aquaponics growhouse with some bits re-aranged), but I might cut some more bits off to shorten it a little. Its around 200mm longer than the solar panels, so the rest is just excess weight. 












120 Things in 20 years thinks it might actually happen. Some of it already works!

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