Just in case you missed the first part of this video, this is a detailed overview of the solar electric set up that we use for camping and working for a week at a time out of our ’99 Jeep Cherokee XJ. I made this video because I haven’t seen a lot of good...
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Video: Our Jeep Cherokee Remote Work Setup, Part 1
Part 2 coming tomorrow! Setting up an XJ for two people to live fully self-contained for seven days without going over the GWVR (gross vehicle weight rating) is a mighty task in minimalism, especially when you add boats on the roof and the ability to work remotely. I’ve been designing minimalist solar electric set...
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Building a new solar panel setup for the road
Yesterday’s project was building a new solar panel set up for the jeep. Normally I have two 100W panels on the roof which gives us just enough power to run all computers, video equipment, and the satellite dish while we’re on the road, (see third photo) but because we’re bringing boats up top this...
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Jeep XJ build + trip, Part 4
Jeep Cherokee XJ build/trip, Part 4: Our strategy for getting away from the crowds starts by avoiding National Parks (except Death Valley) and anything on a map that says Waterfall or Hot Springs. Next we look for roads that aren’t quite technical enough to pull in the hard core wheelers but have enough short...
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Jeep XJ build + trip, Part 3
Jeep Cherokee XJ build + trip, Part 3: The XJ is a pretty small box for two people to live HAPPILY in for a couple months but with good planning, navigation, food, sleeping gear, and judgement, it can be done. The back of the rig will fit 5ea 14gal Rubbermaid bins, a cooler, 4ea...
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Jeep XJ build + trip, Part 2
Jeep XJ build part 2, continued from previous post. I’ve always gone with dual solar panel dual deep cycle battery set ups in my vehicle builds but the XJ just doesn’t have the weight capacity or space for it, so I was stoked that in the real world my single battery single panel setup...
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Jeep XJ build + trip, Part 1
By request, I’ll talk a little bit about the Jeep build before I get back to boat building. I’ll start by making the bold claim that the ‘98-99 Jeep Cherokee is by far the most four-wheel-drive capability you can get per dollar spent of any vehicle currently in existence. Simple, lightweight, and reasonably powerful...
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Video: Tiny house hot water system tour
Sound on! Today’s video is actually a cross-post from our other Instagram @actuallytiny where we chronicled the construction of our tiny house with the same fervent intensity that we seem to do everything. The house itself is my effort to make the most truly livable, energy-efficient, tiny space possible based on 20 years of...
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Gus’s hoop house made from leftover kayak ribs
In addition to boat building my other big passion is sustainable agriculture. Props to Gus here for combining the two and using the leftover wood from his kayak build as a frame to cover his seedlings in the early season. Much nicer than mine which I just made of hoops of bailing wire!...
Exercises in efficiency: Modifying the tiny house
When I was first starting to teach boat building classes and was looking for ways to save time I did something kind of crazy. I brought all my tools up into the loft of my barn and then taught three successive kayak building classes, with instructions to my students to get whatever tools they...
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What we’ve been up to the last 7 months
Friends of Cape Falcon, we invite you to visit our other Instagram @actuallytiny to check out the near-completion of the tiny house we’ve been building for last 7 months. This cute little cabin incorporates advanced framing and insulation details, passive solar design, a hybrid woodfired/solar thermal hot water system, a fold down porch roof...
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It’s always hard to resist something new and exciting.
It’s always hard to resist something new and exciting. This is a shameless confession to let you know we’ve been cheating on you with our other Instagram @actuallytiny and our new website actuallytiny.com, both focused on the super minimalist tiny house we are constructing right now. Liz and I have been doing what we...
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Actually Tiny: building a smart, simple, tiny house on wheels
Check us out at @actuallytiny where we are building a smart, simple, tiny house on wheels. In addition to my work with skin-on-frame boatbuilding, my other big passion in life is sustainable living and specifically small, off-grid structures. Over the years I’ve built a cordwood sauna, an off grid house, several off grid cabins,...
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Breaking out the old rock climbing and tree climbing gear for some tree maintenance
Breaking out the old rock climbing and tree climbing gear today to deal with some perilous limbs on the the massive horse chestnut tree in the backyard. Some of this stuff is over 20 years old, and most of it has aged better than I have. The stories those ascenders alone could tell…. The...
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The Off-grid Airstream, the Adventure Begins
The plan is to give this thing a floor to fuselage off-grid, green remodel and then tow it around the country teaching kayak building for a year and meeting and writing about people living similar small homestead and/or off-grid lifestyles. For those of you interested in hosting a class, all I need is 4-6 willing...
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