Music in the Pod

Time travel in the Power Pod both days. A huge THANK YOU to the musicians!!
Saturday we enjoyed music by Shawn Glidden, fiddle, and friends (Alan & Ann)
Sunday Tim Kaiser brought in his electronic instruments.


Saturday we drew down the power in the batteries by boiling water in a 190 Watt Crock pot called Hot Pants. We also used a solar oven (provided by Affordable Energy Solutions) to heat water to 122 Degree F. in 1.5 hours, and continue to rely on the Coleman Stove. We consumed 21 gallons of water and 6 pound of Twin Cities Blend Peace Coffee in two days. Sunday we asked guests to recharge the batteries so we would have enough power for Tim Kaiser's performance at the end of the day. He came prepared as he had brought his consumption down to 85 Watts.


With a shout out to our neighbors at the Map Shanty for having our Latitude and Longitude coordinates and a map on hand to bring Tim and Family to our location.

Deadline looming, punch list shrinking...

On Friday, when I started asking the salesman at Batteries Plus in Woodbury questions he called a technician and said he had a science teacher here with some questions. He didn't know what to think when I told him it was an art project. OK. After 20 minutes of playing telephone (ask the tech , ask me,) he put me on the phone with Paul. I spent about a half hour walking around the store talking on the phone. He was very helpful and thought our plan would work. I bought a 125 RC Minutes at 25 Amp deep cell Werker Battery. The deep cell gel battery with similar amp hours was more than twice the price. I was encouraged later at Northern Tools when I talked to another salesman who was bragging about his 900 joule power pack which ran all his DC accessories (lights, radio, fishfinder) all day in his ice house. He said his was old school with a fraction of the power I was looking to buy. I ordered the 200 watt DC powered coffee maker, and the Durracell 600 W Portable Power Pack which we will be able to recharge from the batteries we will be trickle charging with a bicycle generator. The battery in that unit is a closed cell battery with 28 AMp Hours. It won't last as long as our other battery, but it comes with two DC outlets and an inverter, two AC outlets and a built in charge regulator.
Yesterday we spent time reinforcing the center post, and talking with Lee Wilson at Alternator Rebuild Co, in Minneapolis. He helped with wiring for the hook up from the alternator to the battery. We also cut the pieces to reinforce the bottom edge of the pod. Today we will be building a table around the center post, before we go to the Soap Factory to do our final set up indoors. We will also fit the plastic which we are using for the shell. Opening day at the Art Shanty Project is next Saturday and the weather forecast calls for very cold temps this week so we are planning on installing tomorrow. I'm off to the lumber yard to buy the wood to make our skids, so we can move the shanty once it's on the ice.