We could never afford a waterfront home on one of the more civilized local islands. The ones with ferries or even those with power but no ferry. The land prices on this island reflect the inconvenience of living without simple comforts like electric power and hydro and drive to the door transportation.

The money we saved buying here, we could spend on systems which provide all the comforts we could want. We have a good solid boat and don’t miss lining up for ferries. Added bonus..PRIVACY!

Great day today if you live off grid and collect your power from the sunshine.

I have selective memory with regard to the weather and I easily forgot the last six weeks of rain when I saw the accumulation of power on the solar charge controller after just one day of brilliant sunshine. We collected 3.7 kWH’s today. The most we ever collected on our old system on a hot day in August was 1.7 kWH

We spent a lot of money on the new system and installed it during the winter when the power supply was at its least. I feel it’s safe to say we have survived the worst of the dark days with little need for the generator.. Well, to be honest we used the generator a fair bit for the power tools we needed for the reno, but next winter it won’t be necessary at all.

We installed an electric fridge on Thanksgiving, the same day as we switched over our propane tanks. Two full forty pound tanks hooked up on Oct. 9th  and they lasted 120 days. Normally, we would have had to change the tanks after 53 days.

We are installing a range boiler on our airtight wood stove to collect hot water by next winter so that will further reduce the demand for propane, leaving us with just the needs of the propane stove.

We still need a solar hot water panel to attach to the range boiler for the summer when the stove isn’t going. Fridge and hot water supported entirely by sunshine and the wood stove… Free !!!.. Be interesting to see how quickly we pay for the system with our propane savings… five years????

Sure, I am glossing over how difficult it is to live here.. It is not for the faint of heart. At any given point ones septic system isn’t working, the inverter is broken or the truck doors have fallen off.. If we are lucky,  all three won’t happen at once.

We love this life. Our friends, obviously love the life. But, honestly some who buy here,  don’t last….This island is filled with problem solvers, the lifestyle demands it….if you don’t like to solve problems or occasional drive down the road with one battery at your feet in the passenger seat hooked up by cables to the battery under the open hood of the truck, cause it’s the only way to make the truck move with the alternator broken……… it probably isn’t the

life for you.