Latest adventure: meet Grimace
Not every day on the water goes according to plan. Some days there's a rock with a name.
Skipper Scott vs. a rock named Grimace
We put the whole thing on camera, because the point of this channel is showing how it actually goes — the good runs and the ones you'd rather not talk about. If you learn something from watching us find Grimace the hard way, that's a win.
The solar design is finished — and it's all published
Six revisions to get 400 watts over the cockpit without losing sight of the masthead. Every dimension, part number and load calculation is on the page.
Where it's going. The rack clamps to this arch — out where the top rail bends down toward the deck.
What's going there. Aft view — two panels, an 18-inch slot, and no new deck penetrations.
Why the gap does the heavy lifting
The arch only lets you clamp way out in the bends, which left a long lever and a safety factor we didn't like. Opening the slot between the panels from 6 in to 18 in pushed the panels — and the frame arms with them — outboard, shortening that lever. Every margin went above 3×, and the helm got a window to the masthead instead of a keyhole.
Travels, how-tos, and open source boating
Follow along with the journey aboard the Hunter 290 — the adventures, the builds, and the videos that show you exactly how we do it.
From The Skipper
Welcome aboard! Firing up the SS Minnow again and getting ready for another season of adventures on the water. We're working on our Hunter 290 and getting her ready for longer trips — subscribe on YouTube to follow along.
Fresh water for under $1,000
We priced out making our own drinking water at sea on 12 volts. Short version: there's no such thing as a $1,000 watermaker, you can build one for about that, and then we decided not to. Read the whole write-up →
The solar rack design is done — Rev F
Six revisions in, and the thing that fixed the structure was the gap. Opening the slot between the panels from 6 to 18 inches pushed every safety margin above 3× and gave us a real window to see the masthead through. Full drawings, cut list and load numbers are published. See the whole design →
Skipper's wisdom
If you find reliable boat maintenance people, buy them dinner — they're like unicorns.
Staying cool without a five-figure refit
12-volt fans first — that's the next video. And when we've gotta have real AC, we run the generator: the DC and solar setups were wildly expensive, so we got a splitter and converter to run off generator or dock power instead. Read how we decided →
What's on deck
Ordering the stainless for the solar rack, ten measurements to take before we cut anything, AIS on the Raspberry Pi, and more bay trials.
Our Boat
Meet the SS Minnow — our Hunter 290. She's a roomy, easy-sailing cruiser that we're refitting bit by bit and taking out for longer adventures. Every upgrade, repair, and shakedown run becomes a video so you can follow the whole journey.
Boating on a budget. We don't have a big 42-foot blue water boat — we've got a "picnic cruiser," and we're making her off-the-grid capable without breaking the bank. Every build is picked to punch above its price, so you can do the same with the boat you've already got.
- Hunter 290
- Sloop rig
- AGM house bank
- 400 W solar · Rev F
- Open source nav
400 watts over the cockpit
Two Renogy 200W panels on a stainless rack that clamps to the arch we already own — with an 18-inch slot down the middle so you can still see the masthead. Drawings, cut list, hardware and load numbers, all published.
See the solar designWater for a 40-gallon tank
What $1,000 actually buys in a 12-volt watermaker, the power math on a 290, and the $400 plan we picked instead.
Read the water write-upOpen Source Boating
Open source boating is the whole idea: when you're out on the water you need to be able to service your own gear — so why should your tech be any different? We show you how we build ours, and you build your own.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel to see the how-tos behind every system aboard:
- Ubuntu on the Raspberry Pi — a high-performance, low-power desktop
- Bareboat Necessities — integration with radio, GPS, navigation and more
- Home Assistant — smart boat Internet of Things integrations
- OpenPlotter — a marine-ready Raspberry Pi platform for navigation and sensors
- Signal K — an open data standard that gets all your boat's systems talking
- OpenCPN — free, open source chartplotting and route planning
- pypilot — an open source autopilot that steers the boat for you
Our own build write-ups live here too — the 400 W solar rack design, published right down to the cut list, plus fresh water aboard a Hunter 290 and off-the-grid air conditioning.
Want the story behind the builds? Analog Scott writes it all up on Substack — including Looptah and Talking to the Machine.
Come along for the ride
New travel logs and boating how-tos every time we head out. Subscribe on YouTube for the adventures and on Substack for the deep-dive write-ups — and learn to build your own open source boat.