Stanley Paris Calls it Quits

[Coops]

Originally Posted by Horror Hotel

My auto enthusiast friends have a habit of giving the finger to anyone driving a Prius, just habit. Most Prius drivers have a chip on their shoulder and think their doing some huge favor for the world. Driving a Prius is more about being noticed and telling others that you listen to NPR. The result is they seem to think that us high HP guys ( muscle car, turbo Audi's, diesel trucks that haul ass) are destroying the planet. Total BS. Next time you see one, tell'em their #1.

There is an assumption based on bias. They have the right to drive what they wish to drive, the same as you do. Your friend's habit says more about their mindset and maturity than it does about anything else. Before you respond, I will tell you that I drive a custom built V8 4X4 so I am not in the Prius club.

Coops.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

OK, the statement that used to be tossed around was a Prius used as much energy as a Hummer.
But money is a whole different thing and will differ for different people of course, if you don't drive much it's not cheaper due to the higher purchase price, especially if you financed because then you have to factor the finance charge in to. My wife primarily drives our Prius and she teaches school in a community that is 40 miles away, plus we drive the thing on all trips etc, I even cave dive out of it.
Ours is a 2010 and we have had it for a little over three years. So far if you use $3.50 as an average the fuel savings has been $20,223. Now I expect to get three more years out of the thing at least (fingers crossed) and if you use the same numbers, the little car will have saved over $40,000 in fuel. They don't even cost that much, so in a way you could argue that the car is free, or at least paid for itself in fuel cost offset.
Yeah, I know it's hard to believe, but check my numbers I may have made a mistake.

A popular taxi around here - a couple got to 200k plus miles with no great drama (Inc on batteries) .They also seem to lower on normal car running costs / consumables.

[David_Old_Jersey]

I think the prius thing is very much a USA thing...... Over this side of the world no one thinks of them as some sort of green super car - probably explains why they don't attract the same hatred as in the USA .

FFS it's only a car .

[DDabs]

David, curious, where are you located?

[DoubleWhisky]

Originally Posted by DDabs

David, curious, where are you located?

May be a little guess game?
What about Jersey?
Not New Jersey, but just Jersey?
As opposite to the New Jersey, You even can call it Old Jersey...
You know, Jersey fabric was not invented in New Jersey

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by CarinaPDX

So now I get to feel even better about my solar panels.

I don't think the numbers quite reflect the reality of wind generators for cruisers. In my experience they are rarely useful in anchorages, because anchorages are usually in the lee. On passage though they are fantastic.

Greg

I think that's down to the type of boat you run.. I've had boats with just solar and others with just wind..
I found solar only insufficient to maintain my power use at sea.. to gain enough I'd have had to cover the cockpit area with panels whereas my single aerogen would whirl away churning out all the power I needed day after day..
On the hook... no problem as the only thing that needed feeding was the anchor/cabin lights and spillover cold box..
Bear in mind tho'... all were under 10metres... and what most would consider very basic..

[lancelot9898]

After reading his bio, I admire Dr. Paris for the many accomplishments he's obtained in his life. And while this last trip can be labeled a "failure", there is much to be learned. I think it's the so called failures that present even bigger challenges and I hope the good doctor gives it another go.

[Seagull111]

I admire Stanly for throwing off the dock lines and heading out. It didn't work out but sometimes it doesn't, no shame in that. It seems that the modern boats built for speed are not as durable as some of the older slower designs. If the doctor had been in a well found channel cutter would the weather he encountered have trashed it already. Would a factory fresh PSC 37 have expired already?

[boatman61]

So your saying the boat.. not the man was the weak link..?

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Horror Hotel

My auto enthusiast friends have a habit of giving the finger to anyone driving a Prius, just habit. Most Prius drivers have a chip on their shoulder and think their doing some huge favor for the world. Driving a Prius is more about being noticed and telling others that you listen to NPR. The result is they seem to think that us high HP guys ( muscle car, turbo Audi's, diesel trucks that haul ass) are destroying the planet. Total BS. Next time you see one, tell'em their #1.

I think this is hilarious, my wife's other car is a Cadillac CTS-V, which isn't stock and produces about 400 HP, it's considered by many to be the fastest four door production car, my "other" vehicle is a C3500 Duramax Diesel, it's not quite stock either.
For us the Prius is purely a matter of costs, we aren't trying to save anything, except enough money to buy a nice boat to retire on. While I'm sure in California the Movie Stars etc liked to be seen in one and acted very smug about it, years ago they became a working class persons transportation solely based on costs. As far as NPR etc. is concerned, I'm Retired military and as a group it's safe to say not many of us lean to the left. So much for stereo types.
If saving the Earth is your priority, don't try it by taxing things, make your agenda makes sense economically and you'll have all kinds jumping on your bandwagon.

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by Boatguy30

I find it hard to believe a wind generator does not have a net positive impact after a few years.

In the cost metrics alone, they are losers. The roughly 17:1 gearbox used to speed up the input speed to drive the generator has a mean time to failure of 6 to 18 months after the warrantee period. It weighs 50,000 to 80,000 pounds and requires a massive crane to come on site for disassembly of the drive trane and swop-out for a rebuilt box. The turn around cost is greater than the value of the energy harvested between failures by a factor of 4 to 10 X. The Fed and other Fed subsidized agencies always ignore this as well as the original 50% subsidy on the installation of the windmill. They amortize the cost of the original installation only - over 30 years. Since the failure rate is 30 times that rate, the resulting claims are border on the biggest lies of al time. They also don't include the very significant line losses from sending power from Iowa to Chicago for instance. The true normalized cost is easy to approximate and amounts to dilluting the grid with energy at around 10 times the cost of the other 98% of the power that is there. The total is so small that the grid absorbs the insult without much impact. (don't forget the subsidy).

Now lets situate the towers offshore - say the Great Lakes. The cost to maintain over water is generally published to be 3X shore installations. The infrastructure to do so does not exist. If any one of us drops any oil in these waters it is a 5000 dollar fine. The gear box and its extensive hydraulic processing system of pipes filters heat exchangers & pumps contains about 60 gallons of really nasty specially modified oil. In addition, there will be barrels of it up-tower to refill (from losses). The service vessels will further drool hydrocarbons. You need only check Youtube to find a plethora of towers falling over, catching fire. Consider this mess of hundreds of towers and the disturbance to thousands of acres of lake bottom - all to harvest wind power at an efficiency of less than 10%.

Lets assume that wind power was a screaming success. The utilities STILL NEED to have an installed, non operating infrastructure of conventional generation to account for non-production times (no wind). SO add to the massive cost of poorly producing towers, an idling, high efficiency generation station. NOW what is the cost per Kilowatt-hr? Your crappy 10 cents on the dollar is further reduced by the cost of the idled generators.

As I stated in my original post, the burried costs in energy for mining and smelting casting rolling forming transportation is not ever considered. This lost petroleum amounts to way more potential energy than the tower will contribute.

I know this because we are in the business of building the testing equipment used in the rebuilder's facilities for the monster gear boxes. We know the metrics and that the published (by agencies with an agenda) data is BS. I feel guilty every time we take on one of these projects because I feel like it is stealing.

When you see this stuff bragging about how great it is, remember to run screaming. "I'm from the government, and I'm hear to help you"

[Seagull111]

I don't know Boatman. What do you think since you pilot all sorts of boats all over and it seems that they mostly make it to their destination in one piece. I don't think the weather was that bad for Stanly. I could be wrong.
For A64, my neighbor has a Prius, and in the summer I have caught him looking longingly at my old Boxter. Just say in' maybe we boys are a little Top Gear at heart.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by DoubleWhisky

May be a little guess game?
What about Jersey?
Not New Jersey, but just Jersey?
As opposite to the New Jersey, You even can call it Old Jersey...
You know, Jersey fabric was not invented in New Jersey

Lol

Jersey...old Jersey .

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Seagull111

For A64, my neighbor has a Prius, and in the summer I have caught him looking longingly at my old Boxter. Just say in' maybe we boys are a little Top Gear at heart.

It's not just the boys, my wife has pretty much always had a high performance automobile. But for the day to day daily long distance commute or boring highway trip, we take the Prius. Urge for Fangs out, Hair on fire. I get on one of my bikes, she the CTS-V.
Just picking the right tool for the job is all, and putting the majority of mileage on the Prius, it saves our favorite vehicles the wear and tear. I love them, but don't plan on replacing them when they are gone, so I need them to last another five years at least.

[boatman61]

[QUOTE=Seagull111;1438247]I don't know Boatman. What do you think since you pilot all sorts of boats all over and it seems that they mostly make it to their destination in one piece. I don't think the weather was that bad for Stanly. I could be wrong.
QUOTE]

They've all made it in one piece.. apart from normal wear and tear on old gear/sails.. even the sinking cat made it to port, got fixed and completed the trip to Turkey..
As to SP's trip.. not been following it after his first gear failure but the weather seemed not excessive till then.. in fact if I remember he'd suffered lack of wind.. but that said.. the boat seemed well set apart from the 'toys' so should have been capable of continuing unless he made the big mistake of trying to catch up/keep on schedule for the 'record'.. stuff like this is tough on folk used to the easy life.. fitness training only deals with the body.. mental stamina is altogether something else.. doubt this guys got what's needed for this long a solo.. Sorry