Solar Panels

In just a little over a month we will be leaving Yuma and heading out on our second season in our 5^th wheel.  We have spent the winter traveling a little and playing a lot.  We recently returned from a long weekend in Ventura, CA where we visited our friend Heather and Jim aboard their 50 ft catamaran.

Now it is time to get serious about repairs and upgrades to our rig.  Kirby is happy – he has projects!  His largest project is the purchase and installation of solar panels.  So many of the places we want to go do not have electricity available.  Last season we purchased a generator which we used daily while we were at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument last month.  But a generator uses fuel and is noisy.  Solar panels are quiet!

After much research we hit the road for Phoenix where we purchased two- 250 watt panels, loaded them into the back of the truck, made a stop at Home Depot for some tie downs and returned back to Yuma.  It was an easy trip of about three hours each way and we got to see some new country.

Here is Kirby standing next to one of the panels so you can see how big they are - and they are very heavy.

Someone had to go up on the roof and it wasn't going to be me!  A couple of the guys came over to give Kirby a hand at getting them up there.

Here they are all mounted and ready to go.