Heading to the water

First of all, apologies for the lack of photos.  My little camera seems to have given up the ghost finally.  We'll remedy that shortly.  Today we got the front railing, the motor control cables, the side wheels for the paddlewheel, and a bunch of other stuff done.  The BIG news is that we've finally signed contract with a boat mover to get the Floating Empire to water this coming Friday.  It'll be a hassle.  Due to height restrictions, we'll have to remove the flotation and replace it at the marina....quickly as they're charging us $95 an hour to be on their equipment.  Still, we're headed for water and I couldn't be more pleased.

Anyway, i do have a few shots before the camera crapped out on us:

 Heres' some of the frame for the solar panels under construction

 You can see the hinges that connect them here.  We wanted to be able to lower them in case of high winds.

Here's the face of 200W of WindyNation solar panels.

These two crossmembers will support the rudder controls on the bow.

And heres the starboard side of the front railing under construction.....and at about this point the camera died....sigh....

Anyway, apologies for the lack of pix, but I'll solve that tomorrow.  Tomorrow, we heft the mattress into place, finish assembly on the paddlewheel, and finish the drainfloor for the Japanese bath.  I'll also include photos from today's work....stay tuned

M