Day 329, Year 6: Fast Moving Sunday
Date: Sunday, September 18, 2011
Weather: Mostly Cloudy, Still Cool–Daytime Temps in the 60’s
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts

There was no time for sitting around today. Mark was one busy man. He spent the first three hours of the day installing our new voltage regulator. We think our old voltage regular probably works just fine, but the Link 2000R that controls the voltage regulator seems to be faulty. We would have just bought another controller, but they are no longer available and the company won’t service old ones. So we bought a Balmar voltage regular to match the Balmar alternator we bought in South Africa. After doing some testing to see if the batteries are now holding a charge with the new voltage regulator, we’ll buy a system monitor. The new regulator is self-controlling through a series of switches on the regulator, but to be able to easily see what is happening we’ll need the monitor. One step at a time, we’ll get there. But the next step is to make sure the new regulator is working. So more on this later when we get it all figured out.

Before noon we headed to Heather and Jed’s. Jed was already working on the foundation for the garden shed when we arrived and then with Mark’s help, they got the gravel tamped down and the foundation blocks in place and leveled fairly quickly. Then it was time to take the tarp covering off the kit that was delivered in late August and start building. This afternoon we got the floor frame built and the plywood floor nailed down and painted. At one point in the afternoon, Mark, Jed, Sam, and Jonah were all pounding nails to secure the plywood flooring. It was really neat to see both little ones pitching in the help. When it was time to paint the floor, Sam and Jonah proved to be very good painters. Tomorrow’s goal is to get the post and beams up and the roof rafters in place. Hopefully by Tuesday we’ll be able to start putting on the siding. It looks like we have a slight chance of rain on Tuesday according to one weather forecast, but another shows clear weather through Thursday. I like that forecast better as that would give us a chance to get the siding on and possibly the roof plywood on before it rains. Mark works at West Marine on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, so getting it under roof by the end of the day on Thursday would be great.

110918 Day 329 Cape Cod, USA–Garden Shed Foundation and Floor