Expedition Duo

"Freedom" the RV Goes Solar - Phase II

This is the second in a series of blog posts about adding solar to our RV "Freedom". If you haven't seen the "Phase I" post, check it out here:

"Freedom" the RV Goes Solar - Phase I

The Plan

After doing some research, power calculations and taking some measurements of the available space on the roof of the RV, we decided we would start with multiple solar panels totaling 800 watts. We think there is enough space available for a total of about 1400 - 1800 watts on the roof if future expansion is needed, but we think 800 watts will be sufficient to run the necessities for short periods of time while boondocking.

We will be using Renogy 100 watt panels due to cost per watt and space configuration on the roof. We will also be using aluminum strut channel for mounting the solar panels to allow for future configuration changes and to allow us to put as few holes as possible in the roof. Due to the fact that our RV roof is made up of Styrofoam sandwiched between two thin sheets of wood panel with a PVC rubber roofing membrane, it will be necessary to screw the strut channels to the metal cross members of the roof. By utilizing the strut channel, we will be able to use fewer screws placed into the cross members, rather than needing to put multiple screws into the roof for each panel.

The eight solar panels will be connected in two groups of 2P x 2S. Each group will have it's own breaker and charge controller.

Phase II: Equipment Needed

For Phase II, we'll be adding the solar panels to the roof of the RV, adding a junction box (with terminal block) on the roof to connect the solar panels, installing the wiring from the junction box to the equipment compartment inside, installing breakers for the solar panels, and installing the solar charge controllers. Let's get started...

List of the major equipment necessary for Phase II:

8 - Renogy 100 Watt solar panels
1 - Weatherproof Junction Box
1 - 10 Gang Terminal Block
4 - 10 AWG Solar Y Connectors
2 - 10 AWG Solar Extension Cables (1x20ft., 1x10ft.)
1 - Circuit Breaker Box
2 - Circuit Breakers
2 - Victron SmartSolar MPPT 100 | 30 Charge Controllers
50 ft. of 10 AWG wire

Phase II: Equipment Installation

The first part of our solar panel installation was to determine a suitable location to have the wiring enter the roof of the RV. We decided to have the wiring enter the roof directly above the rear of the refrigerator. This location was fairly easy to access (by removing the fridge), and it also provided access to a route for the wire to reach the equipment compartment located in the bedroom by following the existing duct and water pipes running from under the cabinets in the kitchen and through the back wall of the bathroom.

We started by removing the refrigerator and locating the place for the 2" hole through the roof, being careful not to hit any of the cross members. Next, Mark nervously drilled the hole through the roof.

Next, we placed a piece of 2" PVC through the hole and sealed it into place using LAP Sealant. The purpose of the 2" pipe is to make it easier to run the wires, and to also make it easy to cap off in the future if need be.

Next, a 2" hole was drilled into the bottom of the junction box, and the box placed over the pipe. LAP Sealant was used to seal around the pipe inside and out, as well as around the edge of the box where it contacts the roof. A small hole was drilled into the pipe, and a block of wood and screwdriver used to hold it in place until the LAP sealant dried.

Mark had prepared the junction box with cable glands and the terminal block ahead of time, so that it wouldn't be necessary to mount these after the box was in place.

After the LAP sealant dried, the wires were ran down behind the refrigerator, to the floor, and back to the equipment compartment in the bedroom. The solar breakers and charge controllers were installed in the equipment compartment, and 10 AWG wiring used to make the connections to the existing Lynx Distributor.

(insert pictures of breakers and charge controllers here)

The next step was to install the solar panels on the roof. We began by installing strut channel screwed to the roof cross members with stainless screws, and using LAP sealant around every screw. Next, we installed the solar panels to the strut channel using stainless hardware. Finally, the solar panels were wired together in two sets of 2P x 2S and connected to the junction box.

In total, we have 800 watts of solar panels, and on a good sunny day here in WV, we can see almost 800 watts of output using the Victron Connect app.

Stay tuned for future "going solar" posts!!!

Kentucky Bourbon Trail

Kentucky Bourbon Trail
Date Visited: February 10-12, 2023

We made our first trip to the Kentucky Bourbon Trail for my (Michelle) birthday weekend, and it did not disappoint! If you have never been, and you love bourbon, we highly recommend making the trip.

Home | Kentucky Bourbon Trail

I planned this trip, and my mistake was relying solely on the link I just provided for the trail. There are some distilleries that aren't included in their list. We learned that the most popular distillery isn't anywhere on the trail list. Why? Distilleries have to be a part of the KDA - Kentucky Distillers Association - to be on the trail. In 2009, the owner of Buffalo Trace and one of the other popular distilleries not on the trail list Barton 1792 applied for the name change and copyright to add "on the Bourbon Trail" to their name (Buffalo Trace Distillery on the Bourbon Trail). The KDA said they owned the legal rights to "Bourbon Trail" and a legal fight ensued - you can read all the boring details at your leisure but because these weren't on the list, I didn't know anything about them, and we missed out. Everywhere we went people asked, "have you been to Buffalo Trace yet?" I really dropped the ball by not doing independent research of the best places to visit. Okay with that out of the way, let's talk about where we did go!

Our first tour was Four Roses Four Roses Bourbon | Kentucky Bourbon Whiskey
We did the Distillery Legacy Tour - a little over an hour long and $22/person. Our guide, Grayson, a young guy, wouldn't be the best guide we had over the weekend. He was knowledgeable but not very exciting and didn't give good details. This being our first tour, we didn't know at the time he would be our least favorite guide, but it was still a good tour. The grounds were beautiful, I love the Spanish style architecture! Full disclosure - all of tours ended with tastings 🧉🧉🧉🧉

Next tour was Woodford Reserve Tour Our Distillery - Woodford Reserve

We did the Path to Flavor Tour - a little over an hour and $32/person. This would be our favorite tour as our tour guide, Cathy, was amazing! She was so knowledgeable and really funny; she made the whole experience extremely enjoyable! There was a lot of walking in the tour, we were cold and tired, but it was still our favorite of the weekend.

Next we continued our tours with Bardstown Bourbon Co. The Bardstown Bourbon Company - A New Blend of Bourbon Makers

We did the From Distillate to Barrel Tour - an hour long and $15/person. Steve was our guide on this tour, he was very knowledgeable and knew all the answers, but he was either tired or just had a dry personality. Very nice and respectful just a little eh. Mark was so excited to be able to taste bourbon straight from the barrel and it was......STRONG stuff - but man alive it was good! We loved the Fusion #8 bourbon here and came home with a bottle ($65). When I made the reservations for the tour, I saw they had an onsite restaurant, and it would be lunch time at the end of the tour, so I also made reservations for lunch (highly, highly recommended making reservations) - this place is gorgeous and very busy. Oh, and the food - bring it all to me! Since I'm a little new to all this blogging stuff, the food pictures are of halfway through consumption 😋

If you've never had Poutine - do yourself a favor and get some! Our appetizer.

Drinks were a Blackberry Old-Fashioned for Mark and the Queen of Hearts for me - both delicious!

Our entrees - Mark got the Smoked Brisket sandwich w/homemade chips and I got the Fried Chicken Sandwich w/homemade chips. We always try to get something different from each other and then share half with the other 😁

Prices are reasonable as well!

After we fueled up on food and alcohol, on to the next stop - Lux Row Lux Row Distillers - Real Roots, Real Family, Real Products

We did the Production Tour - an hour long and $15/person. Our guide was Jennifer and despite her being at this distillery for less than a year, she was great! She divulged a lot of perks for being an employee here so if you're in the market, go apply 😎. This was a really great tour; the facilities were so nice and mostly new.

Our weekend ended with Heaven Hill Heaven Hill Distillery | Home Page

We did the Magic of the Mashbill - 45 minutes and $18/person. This was a tasting and history lesson at the bar - no distillery tour here as I thought this would be a good way to end the day. When we left, Mark said he wished we would have started with this tour. There was so much information on how the bourbon is stored and why they pull certain barrels from specific floors of the rickhouse depending on the label. Herb, our guide, also taught us the proper way to nose and taste bourbon. It would have been very helpful to have had that knowledge from the beginning, so if you plan on doing this tour, do it first! Grabbed ourselves a bottle of Elijah Craig Small Batch Bourbon since that was the favorite for both of us and most of the room ($36 bottle).