Not Much Fishing Or Outdoors Related – EV, EV Charger, Foam, Molds, Mud Motor Parts, Welding, etc

I’ve been busy with other projects.  Work of course.  Due to a variety of higher priority demands on my time I just haven’t hade much time for things like fishing or working on boats.  I still haven’t even installed the winch on the Jeep yet.

I installed an EV charging station in my garage for my wife’s new electric car.  I’ve also been working on clearing out enough of the garage so she can pull the stupid thing inside so the charging cord will reach.  It was one of those chores that a lot of things just went wrong on.  The box store didn’t have the parts their website said they did.  Some parts were in the wrong boxes and had to be returned.  There was fire break right below the electrical panel where I planned to install the 50 amp* outlet.  I don’t even like the current state of electric cars, but I couldn’t talk her out of it.  Atleast she went with a 3 year lease so when the battery dies and bricks the car it will be somebody else’s problem.  Ordinarily I’m not a fan of leasing, but in this case I think it was the right choice.  The guys trying to sell us a charger at Kia didn’t really know anything about what they were selling and couldn’t answer any of my questions.  I bought one made by Schumacker online instead.  The one posititve about the whole thing for me is now I have a place out by the driveway where I can plug in one of my welders.  I don’t have to drag everything out back of the shop or string heavy cords through the building if I went to do a quick job out front.

The Twister Mud Motor Kit has arrived.  I still haven’t purchased the gas motor I plan to put on it just yet.  I’m in no hurry.  I’ve had no time really for anything except work, chores, and unplanned chores.  In fact the unopened box for the twister kit is still sitting just inside the front door of the house.  I haven’t even carried it back to the shop.

I bought some new flotation foam for Whisker Seeker.  I did get that carried back to the shop, but that’s about it.  The unopened box is not resting under the boat.

I’ve had a good day in the shop today.  Lots of parts and a couple molds made without a major fubar so far.

* I could have hardwired the charger directly to a 70 or 80 amp breaker and charged at 50 amps.  With it plugged into a 50 amp outlet on a 50 amp breaker it recommends to set to only charge at 40 amps.  40 amps at 240 volts is still plenty fast enough.  I figured the added benefit of having another place to plug in a welding machine was worth the compromise.  If its an issue I can change the configuration in the future and eliminate the outlet.   Charged on the portable cord charger last weekend at only 16 amps on 120 volts.  The car had seen normal use for four days and it charged to 100% over night.  We guess it will run on the battery for about three weeks for my wife’s normal usage.  To work everyday, and the occasional side trip to the store.