A 3 megawatt day....

I sit here, listening to the generators hum away in the floor above me as I monitor their operation.  I am currently putting out 3MW, about half of what the building is using.  Everything this week has been operating well, no surprises.  As cool as it is to have this as part of my work, I still can't see doing this for the next 20 years.  I just can't.

Some of the other sailing blogs have given me other ways to look at changing.  The one couple bought a boat, and took their training on it after.  A big advantage I see is there would be no reason to rent a boat to train on, and you are learning on the boat you will be using.  It would mean that the jump has been made before the absolute certainty of liking it is known.  A cruise with someone else first would seem sensible.  

Barb found a guy at Ghost Lake who does the cruiser training.  I will have to see if I can get my hands on the course materials ahead of time to go over myself.  I want to know that I know this stuff, like I know (at least knew) aircraft data.  He also does the marine VHF certification, which will be needed.

Gen 3 fuel tank is nearing the 50% mark, I need to watch to ensure the fuel transfer pump comes on to top it up to 80%.  It is loaded up with 2MW of load, still not 80% full load.  I can hear the turbochargers high pitch wail with the load, even through the concrete floor.  20 minutes to go yet.

I've been thinking about the possible electrification of the imagined sailboat.  It would be an interesting exercise, but it might over complicate the boat as well as take up needed space.  Though the motors would be smaller, the battery bank would be larger and I still want a diesel gen-set to be able to power the craft if needed.  It would be mechanically simpler to just drive the prop with the diesel, but there would be a fallback of solar/wind with the motors.
For batteries I would think of using LiFePO4 cells due to their amazing cycle life and lack of toxic lead.  They are expensive, but with over 2000cycles they should last over three times as long as lead acid.

The pump worked just as it should, the tank is at 80% and the valve closed, pump shut off.
Only a few minutes left in the test.  Then back to the main building for our monthly meeting.

My daughter and parents are driving to Calgary today.  They will be staying with my sister, Catherine will be coming down to sort through her stuff.  I need to start purging my stuff tonight or she will not have any room to do hers!  The recycling bin and garbage will be empty, so I will have somewhere to dump things.

Only a few minutes to go.I should get my head back into the "work" mode.  For now.  This idea that I am this certain cog meant to do these certain tasks is a bit wearing on the emotions.  The truth is that there is another way.  I just have to decide to live it.