1st Annual International Member RE Tour

[Stewart Corman]

As part of summer festivities, a group of us have decided to decend on Belleville, Ont on Sat, Aug 11th @ 11:00 at Mario's tiltover complex.
http://maps.yahoo.com/;_ylc=X3oDMTExNmIycG51BF9TAzI3MTYxNDkEc2VjA2ZwLWJ1 dHRvbgRzbGsDbGluaw--#mvt=m&trf=0&lon=-77.428894&lat=44.083639&mag=10
note that it is due North from Rochester,NY as a crow flies

It is "International" because they have allowed a Yankee like me to attend <grin> eh?

Mario is currently flying two birds and has solar panels as well .......
check out his thread if you are not familiar:
http://www.greenpowertalk.org/showpost.php?p=1049&postcount=4

Current participants besides me and Mario are: Mark Parsons, Rob Beckers (forum bossman), Paul Bailey, Ralph Day

1)three of us are traveling about 2 1/2 hours to attend
2)there are other RE projects to view in the immediate vicinity
3)We will tentatively plan a picnic (details/contributions to follow)
4) should be done by late afternoon (if I stop asking questions)

This is an open invitation to join the festivities if you are serious about joining this motley crew,
so post on this thread with your intent.

Stew Corman from sunny Endicott

[Rob Beckers]

Looking forward to seeing Y'all!
(Hear the accent? That's what 12 years in North Carolina did to me!) ;)

-Rob-

[Mark Parsons]

Hi Stew,

note that it is due North from Rochester,NY as a crow flies

Tether up those crows..... I'll advise Canada Customs of your expected arrival time ..... :D:D

I am also looking forward to a fun day learning more about RE and meeting some of the fine gentlemen publishing on this forum.

Regards,
Mark

[Rob Beckers]

Mario, what's the address over there? That'll make finding your place a bit easier, using a GPS.

-Rob-

[Mario De Castris]

Hi Rob & all,

My address is 1478 County Road 35, Prince Edward, Ontario K0K, Canada
If you enter my address on Google map it will bring up my location minus my driveway. If my driveway is required I can post a map showing it.
To get to my place from the 401 take exit 566 at Marysville, travel south on 49 to Skyway Bridge over Bay of Quinte, turn right at south end of Bridge (Northport Road, County rd. 15), take next immediate right (Prince Edward Rd. 35), 1478 is on left just before the road passes under the bridge.
When crossing the bridge a quick look to the right will reveal my location.

Mario

[Mark Parsons]

Hi Mario,

I'm pretty sure that Google Maps wants your address in this format:
1478 County Road 35, Prince Edward, Ontario K0K, Canada

The green arrow matches your location description anyway. The Picton component in your address wasn't coming up.

Thanks.
Mark

[Mario De Castris]

Thanks Mark,

I made the changes, I hope it works this time.

Mario

[Ralph Day]

No word from Joe yet? It wouldn't be complete without him!

Ralph:D

[Stewart Corman]

I don't know how available hardware is in Canada, so I thought I'd pass this on:

While I am crossing the border, it is possible that I can procure new stock turnbuckles and/or cables from two surplus dealers I am currently negotiating with

If anyone has a need, no shipping, no tax if you pick up at the event or arrange a middleman for the Ottawa (Rob) or Detroit (Mark) area.

I can get 50ft 7/32 galv cable with swagged latch hook, 1100# WL as shown here for $10USD$:
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/wwg/itemDetailsRender.shtml?ItemId=1611771154

The turnbuckles are 1/2inch thread, 6 inch body,galv, with jaws, 2200#WL for $8USD similar to:
http://safetysling.thomasnet.com/item/fittings-hardware-turnbuckles/jaw-jaw-turnbuckles/1032554?&seo=110

I may also be able to get either jaw+ jaw, jaw + eye, eye+ eye and/or 6 inch body, 9 inch body (details to follow)

If anyone has a source for less expensive hardware, please let me know.

From my personal stock, I have a pair of used 5/8x 18inch (48inch overall length) jaw+jaw for which I will take offers as these are too big for my installation. Also have (3) 5/8x12 with hooks

I need to inquire if cable clamps, shackles and/or thimbles are available in boxed quantity ...work'n on it

Stew Corman from sunny Endicott

Rob, if you object to this listing here, we can move it to the Marketplace listing, but I thought it was relevant to this event.

[Mark Parsons]

Hi Stew,

You must be clairvoyant! I was just thinking yesterday that I need to source these things.

If you are willing to carry up 4 - 50' cables and 4 - turnbuckles for me that would be great. Want your $72 in advance? Got Paypal?

I will also need some clamps and thimbles if you find some for a good price.

Thanks.
Mark

[Rob Beckers]

...

Rob, if you object to this listing here, we can move it to the Marketplace listing, but I thought it was relevant to this event.

No problem Stew, this is what the forum is here for!
If you have more stock you may still want to post in the "for sale" section as well. More people will see it there.

-Rob-

P.S. Those are very good prices Stew! I can buy the items you list wholesale, but even so it I'd pay multiple times what you're listing.

[Stewart Corman]

let me clarify :
outside of the few used LARGE turnbuckles that have been hanging on the garage wall for 25+ years, I will be ordering new stock in quantity to get a good price and also a break on S+H, depending upon how much interest is shown here.

My initial personal requirements of 8 turnbuckles and four 50ft cables was the impetus.
Mark has started the ball rolling, so we are up to 12 turnbuckles and 8 cables. The wire will be ordered end of next week since it's availability is of question, while turnbuckles, clamps?, thimbles? as a function of price/availability ie 3 to 4 weeks and presuming that nobody else has a better source for the goods.

Stew Corman from sunny Endicott

[Jamie Bourgeois]

Can anyone attend?

[Stewart Corman]

Jamie,
sorry, I misread your post

Current participants besides me and Mario are: Mark Parsons, Rob Beckers (forum bossman), Paul Bailey, Ralph DayI see 6 of us listed as attendees

We will limit the attendance to 150 participants ..so get on the list <grin>

International members by definition are those that don't say "eh!" or "aboot" :
as in "what time is it scheduled for , eh!" or in "Oh, it's set for aboot 11:00am before lunch"

Stew

[Jamie Bourgeois]

I am not sure if I am an International Member or not.

[Mark Parsons]

Greetings Jamie,

You are very welcome to attend.

Where are you located?

This may yet turn into a Woodstock 'ish event logged into the history books as the definitive turning point in the grass roots RE movement that evolved into mainstream popular culture. :eek: (Possible...:D)

Regards,
Mark

[Ralph Day]

Two more participants showcasing their homes and participating on the tour. One was on The Nature of Things green building program...June 17. The other is grid tied Standard offer Contract site (small). The tour grows. not yet bus sized but ???

Ralph

[Rob Beckers]

Great!
Guys, 20 years from now you'll be able to say to those thousands of newbies that you were right there at the very first "International Great Green Power Fair". Of course, by then it'll be a multi-day event with presentations, demonstrations, hundreds of vendors, and open houses showcasing RE in the area. We'll keep it in Canada of course. :)

-Rob-

[Jamie Bourgeois]

My exact location is at N44 31.471 W76 09.393 near Gananoque, Ontario.As it turns out I have to work that weekend!
If there is any thing like this in the future,let us know.

[Mark Parsons]

Have we figured out the pot luck picnic food arrangement?

What do I need to bring?

Regards,
Mark

[Stewart Corman]

I'll bring Coney Island style Kosher hot dogs and rolls, mustard.
I have a portable BBQ grill from camping, if anyone wants to bring hamburgs, etc.

If anyone is into chili or other specialty/ethnic/local cuisine...chime in.

Open items right now are potato salad, coleslaw,soda, coffee and/or other liquid refreshments, deserts, chips.

I can supply paper plates with plate holders.
Someone can bring plastic forks, etc

getting hungry already

BTW ..this is stag or drag ..I'll drag

Stew

[Jamie Bourgeois]

Make sure you guys get some pictures for us poor guys that cant attend.

Jamie

[Mario De Castris]

I have a large BBQ as well as an outdoor deep fryer. Picnic tables and probably enough chairs. Do we know approximately how many people will attend? We will provide coffe/tea including espresso & cappucino. We have lots of styrofoam cups and some plastic cutlery. Come and enjoy.

Mario & Brenda

[Ralph Day]

Hi all

What should we say is the start time for the tour? There are at least 4 places to visit, maybe 5. The furthest one from Mario's is in Milford, about a 30 minute drive, then my place, then Mario's and another on his road...Laura's too?

The place in Milford would have to be done before noon for the hosts to be present, if started there and worked back towards Mario's we could do 2 or 3, have lunch then finish the rest.

What's the earliest we would see our off-shore (non-Quinte) participants? If we all were geared up to do visits by 10am at Mario's that wuould give us time to do all and have lunch at a reasonable time.

Hit us with the times you could get to Prince Edward's wonderland and we can fine tune all the festivities (no fireworks or famous bands tho).

ralph

[Ralph Day]

Sorry, just saw Stew's June 16 post of 11am at Mario's. Good enough. We'll fine tune then,.

ralph

[Ralph Day]

Unless we drop the Milford place. The round trip time would be an hour at least, then there's the visit time. Don's grid tied but hopefully Contract covered by then. If we eliminate Don's visit we would have all the showcases withing 15 minutes of Mario's i am pretty sure. That would consolidate the tour and reduce the total time required by all.

Let me know if this would work for all...4 visits, 2 before lunch, 2 after sound good? In case of rain we could roll Mario's hovercraft out of his tarp-barn and be out of the weather. Oh yeah, there is no raindate...it's Aug 11 or bust!:D

looking forward to meeting all.

ralph

[Mark Parsons]

I will grab a tub each of Potato and Macaroni salad and a couple bags of chips.

Thanks Mario for your hospitality.

Sounds like Ralph has an aggressive visitation schedule planned. I can only stay until Tuesday....:eek: just kidding.:D

I suspect I'll be dragging as well. Her name is Morietta and she will do a great job of pointing out all the best color matches on the RE equipment....;)

[Ralph Day]

Can any of the PEC folks figure out how to fit Don's Milford place into the tour? Other places to visit...there's the only PEC cheese factory and store in Milford, maybe a buying trip there for those not lactose intolerant?

What time commitment are we looking for from Mark, Rob and Stew? How long in the afternoon can you and the significant others stay? Don is anxious to showcase but has to be on the way to Pearson by noon, Les can run his showcase as well as his own so i'm told.

Here's another scenario: See Mario's and Laura's (close together), back to Mario's for lunch. After lunch run straight to Don's (the long drive) then back up to Ralph's..then Les and Gwen's (same road as Mario's) then the tearful farewells. That might work if you want to run until 3pm at least/or so.

Let me know if this is ok.

ralph

[Mark Parsons]

Greetings Ralph,

I'm good till 5pm or so. My wife and I would also enjoy a cheese factory store stop, if it fits the schedule.

Stewart and I have some merchandise exchanging (3 of Stewart's carved turbine blades, inexpensive turnbuckles etc, and 40 raw poplar planks) to do that may take 15 - 20 minutes. We will likely get this out of the way during the lunch break, or upon arrival.

I was also hoping to shake hands with Paul Bailey, if he is available.

Regards,
Mark

[Stewart Corman]

I have no problem moving the start time to 10:00 at Mario's.
The original schedule of 11:00 was just to put a stake in the ground.
Looks like a busy schedule ..thanks to Ralph for coming up with an agenda and knowing all these interesting folks.

What time commitment are we looking for from Mark, Rob and Stew? How long in the afternoon can you and the significant others stay?

I personally have no hard stop time ...may even be camping in Canada for the weekend.

Any recommendations for Provincial parks along Lake Ontario on way from Kingston to Belleville?

BTW, designated driver goes by name of Roberta.

Stew Corman, Yankee from sunny Endicott

[Rob Beckers]

This is getting better and better! :)
As far as time goes, I'm free all day so whatever works for y'all works for me. Unfortunately no designated driver (other than myself), so I'll have to stick to the non-alcoholic beverage variety.

-RoB-

[Ralph Day]

Hi all

It's time for an executive decision to be made amongst this totally non-stratified group. I'll do it.

How about we meet at Mario's at 10am, beetle right down to Don's in Milford, that way he can showcase his own place. A visit to the Cheese factory in Milford would fill in the time until we motor back to Mario's place for lunch. If my showing people around is any indication, this will bring us to noon at least!

During lunch we'll be exposed to Mario's setup, depending on the caliber of the wind, and then we can visit Les and Gwen's, Ralph's and Laura's if she's on the adgenda (?). That would bring us to mid-late afternoon or so. Sound OK?

This way we see: Grid tied Standard offer Contract, Grid tied net metered, off grid (me) and way off-grid (Les).

I'll be bringing a non-egg, non-anchovie cesear salad and water, and will mooch whatever else you folks bring. :D I think we should all bring our Kodak Brownies along to record the event for posterity, and Joe Blake.

Ralph

[Ralph Day]

After a weekend of working on outdoor projects i have a note to put here. When visiting Ralph's place the proper attire is HAT, other clothes very helpful but a HAT is a must. Small dogs and cats have been dissapearing from the area and their little bones found in the woods having been cleaned off by the DEERFLIES. If anyone has never seen deerflies, around here they are the size of small deer, with wings and large sharp probiscus/feeding parts!:eek:

Closed toed shoes (runners, hikers) would also be advisable, the grounds are not golf-course quality...a little rough. Maybe tennis or squash raquets for swatting the deerflies would be a good option.


Anyways, dress appropriately for summer in the bush. Thanks

Ralph

[Rob Beckers]

Ralph, you're supposed to attract people, not scare them away!;)

RoB

[Paul Bailey]

Ralph ..I think the Boys should engineer you a solar parabolic deerfly trap and exterminator to test in your safari. . Speaking of the safari maybe the so called cougers are affecting the cat/squirrel population..:)

[Mark Parsons]

Hi Ralph,

Here is an option for you:
http://ufinsect.ifas.ufl.edu/deerfly_trap.htm

I'll look for these blue pails when visiting your safari...:D

Of course, you could offer us all the quaint little ball caps with the inverted blue plastic cups on top...:D:D

Regards,
Mark

[Rob Beckers]

Mark, your wisdom continues to amaze me! :D

[Paul Bailey]

Hi Guys : since I have changed some schedules and trying to co-ordinate some Vacation time with those of my brother in law. ,I am unable to make the 1 st solar tour on the Saturday..( trying to schedule my kids and myself for a flight in his F-1 Rocket on this day,) Greetings to you all ,hope to catch you next time around. Paul. :)

[Ralph Day]

Paul, please ask the bro-in-law about the plane's paint job. It reminds me of the razzle-dazzle on WW1 warships...to make them hard to pick out on the sea. Is the purpose of the plane's paint job to make it difficult to see, or from the air does it say "here i am!!! i am on the ground!!!" It's hard to imagine the camo look helping in an air search.:) Maybe it's just cool.

Sorry you'll miss the festivities on Saturday.

ralph

[Paul Bailey]

the paint was own idea but i presume he copied of an old german warplane.But I'll ask him tomorrow. I do know that I'ts the only F-1 built from a parts kit (flat panels in a box) in the world. 3 years of work . Multiple Test flights were done by a former Canadian aerobatic champion. More details to follow if you wish. :)

[Rob Beckers]

Just a little reminder for those that don't have this in their agendas (yet): Tomorrow, Saturday 11-Aug-07, 10am will be day of the first international Green Power Talk member meeting and tour! Besides those that have already expressed their interest it would be great to see few unexpected faces. The weather forecast is great, it's going to be fun! See below for the details. See Y'all there!

-Rob-

As part of summer festivities, a group of us have decided to decend on Belleville, Ont on Sat, Aug 11th @ 11:00 at Mario's tiltover complex.
http://maps.yahoo.com/;_ylc=X3oDMTExNmIycG51BF9TAzI3MTYxNDkEc2VjA2ZwLWJ1 dHRvbgRzbGsDbGluaw--#mvt=m&trf=0&lon=-77.428894&lat=44.083639&mag=10
note that it is due North from Rochester,NY as a crow flies

It is "International" because they have allowed a Yankee like me to attend <grin> eh?

Mario is currently flying two birds and has solar panels as well .......
check out his thread if you are not familiar:
http://www.greenpowertalk.org/showpost.php?p=1049&postcount=4

Current participants besides me and Mario are: Mark Parsons, Rob Beckers (forum bossman), Paul Bailey, Ralph Day

1)three of us are traveling about 2 1/2 hours to attend
2)there are other RE projects to view in the immediate vicinity
3)We will tentatively plan a picnic (details/contributions to follow)
4) should be done by late afternoon (if I stop asking questions)

This is an open invitation to join the festivities if you are serious about joining this motley crew,
so post on this thread with your intent.

Stew Corman from sunny Endicott

[Mario De Castris]

Hello All,

First of all I must apologize for not doing any posting lately ( another busy summer ). Visit to Laura's is on the schedule. She will not be able to be there due to work schedule but her place will be open for a visit and somebody will be there. Jerry Ball ( some of you might know this gentleman) will be available on Saturday and last I spoke to him he will bring down one of his wooden blades and one of the generators that he manufactures.

Regards, see you on Saturday, Mario

In case you required assistance or more information I can be reached at 1-613-476-4991

[Stewart Corman]

Well folks, the RE tour was well attended and everyone claimed to have a great time. Firstly, I'd like to personally thanks our hosts Mario and his lovely wife Brenda for putting up with our motley crew and hosting the BBQ in their backyard.


There we three sites totally off grid complete with wind, solar, and battery banks/controllers ..these were "Laura" , Les, and Ralph, while Mario showed off his two foldover towers and tracking solar panels. Jerry Ball showed up with a hand crank generator to amuse us ( all 50 HP of it) as well as a machine carved Jacobs wooden blade. Then at his place, he showed off a unique and hefty steering mechanism

I had a "show and tell" of 12" minimodels and the 4 ft blade/ 10.8 ft turbine hand carved turbine blade as well as the newest 6ft blade/18ft turbine which was laminated from 1" sycamore strips and machined on a autofeed "molder" with custom NACA4421 cutter knife.

Pics incl a few short 15sec videos (subject to revisions and additions), have been posted at:
http://s145.photobucket.com/albums/r203/scorman1/1st%20Annual%20RE%20tour/

some of the participants:

[Rob Beckers]

In case anyone has trouble finding it; Here is my report with pictures of the meeting and tour (http://www.greenpowertalk.org/showthread.php?t=2854). Be advised that there are lots of pictures in it, so for those on dial-up this could be a bit slow to download.

Enjoy!

-RoB-

[Paul Bailey]

Since Don Ross is not big on computers> I'll volunteer to give Him a minor update and Lots of credit for pursueing thru the RED tape of the powers to be (Hydro One)> Don has recieved His 20 year Standard offer contract after 9 months, he is online and selling.. Apparantly he is # 10 in Ontario out of 50 pending applications. Congratulations!!!. Dons personal story for conservation/and his passion/journey for reducing his carbon footprint is powerful.:)

[Rob Beckers]

Congratulations to Don!!
Thanks Paul for posting the info. Please try if you can convince Don to post about the process. This is a topic many others are going to have to deal with, including a number of installers. It would be good to start a thread about the Standard Offer Contract and gather info/tips on it.

-RoB-

[Paul Bailey]

Since I have not yet seen Dons Re -setup;I'll try to meet with him and get more details on the system and application process. He did say his past 35 days of SELL was 4.1 kw/day average at the $0.42 Oh ...what ever you sell throughout the year Is Taxable and the separate sellback meter is of course a separate account in your name. Paul:)
,