Weekend in the Fish Bowl

Since Good Friday was a city holiday, Jeff had the day off April 2nd. We decided to take a break from the great, sponge boat caper to work on installing our new solar panels. We use to have 4 - 50 watt panels [200 wts. total] and decided to upgrade to 2 - 210 watt panels [420 wts. total], more than doubling our previous solar output. The coolest part about the new solar panels is that they didn't cost us a dime!
A couple of years ago, we attended a boat show up in St. Pete with our friends, Matt and Kendra. The sailing magazine, Latts & Atts, hosted an after-party for subscribers with free beer and pizza and a raffle for many a splendid prize. The tickets for the raffle were one for a dollar or for $20 you could get as many tickets as would reach from the tip of your finger from one extended arm to the tip of your finger on the other extended arm. In essence, your wingspan.
Well, I had the longest wingspan [36 tickets!] and was therefore, our designated ticket-getter. Matt and I went together and each put in $20...but, we never tore the tickets in half to determine who's were who's...and then we won! But, who won?
We were very excited about our luck and figured we'd sort it all out later. The prize in question was a Solar Stik: 2 - 50 watt panels with a mounting system and charger controller all included in one unit. Solar made easy. All you have to do is plug it in.
The next day we went to claim our prize and told Brian, the Solar Stik guy, about how we won but hadn't torn the tickets in half. He thought we had a great story, and even though he couldn't believe we hadn't divided the tickets before the drawing, he wanted both couples to win something. So he started asking about our boats and since we were anchored right off in the Vinoy Basin, he actually took a dinghy ride out to look at the S/V Exposure. He determined that we had plenty of space to mount solar panels with our extensive bimini top and didn't need the mounting Stik. He would get us some solar panels and Matt and Kendra would get the Stik and all that included.
We were all happy.
Since that time, Matt and Kendra have sold their boats, and with Kendra's Coast Guard assignment to Marathon, moved to the Florida Keys and brought the never-been-used Solar Stik with them. They have no use for it and with Kendra's career, they are going to move quite a bit over the next several years, so we gained possession of the Stik. Jeff then used it to make a trade with a local business, S.A.L.T. - Sea, Air, and Land Technologies, for the bigger panels. They want the Stik in order to power their marine refrigerators and freezers using solar at boat and trade shows. S.A.L.T gets an easy - yet flashy - display unit, Matt and Kendra get to lighten their load, and we get POWER.
And once again, everyone's happy.

Friday morning, we warmed up the motor, dropped our lines, and pulled up to the seawall to make installing the panels a little easier. With the marina closed, I felt like we were the unofficial Information Booth with so many people walking by and inquiring about different things whether it be about the new panels or marina business.
Saturday was much of the same with everyone who passed by asking about the new panels or having an opinion about our installation. I started feeling as if we were in a fish bowl with everybody walking by tapping on the glass.
Our weekend on the wall did have it's benefits. Friends, Ken and Barbara, dropped by at sunset for a cocktail and brought a huge plate of snacks: peel and eat shrimp, deviled eggs, figs surrounded by cream cheese and wrapped in prosciutto, slices of dill pickle, crackers, and cheese...yummy. Another woman who was cleaning out her boat to put it on the hard for the summer brought us all her beer, wine, and liquor...some of it still cold from the fridge.
Saturday night, we had Matt over for dinner. The boys took care of the grilling, and we ate in the comfort of the cockpit.
We also had the convenience of unlimited electricity and took the opportunity to fill the boat with fresh water. The latter we did quite literally when we realized the bilge pump wasn't working with the water just inches below the floor boards.
So, Sunday morning, we installed a new hose to the bilge.
This involved pulling out all of the old hose, required Jeff to climb into a very small space, and left the dog with very little room to lay down...the rest of the floor being riddled with holes and open hatches.
Janus was none to happy with the current project and was not shy about expressing his displeasure.
But we got it all done with a minimal amount of cursing and bleeding on Jeff's part and the boat didn't sink, so all is well.
The dog eventually forgave us for messing up his boat once we covered all the dreaded holes in the floor and we left the fish bowl.
Currently, we are back to happily sailing around our mooring ball producing all the electricity we need with our newly installed solar panels.

Now it's back to working on that darn sponge boat...