I've been helping Bob because I desperately want to get this done. He's had me drilling holes in all the mounting brackets, screwing the brackets onto the panels, and other tasks that don't require too much thinking. I spent about four hours on the work and easily saved him thirty minutes, no matter what he says. I also did a great job cleaning up and putting things away after he left yesterday, and I know I was very helpful when he was fishing wire through and needed someone to say, "I see it! It's through!" No way a guy can do that without climbing up and down from the roof.
Bob maintains a strict focus and keeps things right by talking to himself, saying out loud what he's doing and what he's going to do next and so on. While I was helping him I found myself saying, "What? What? Say again?" I quickly got the idea that he'd get my attention if he needed it. I did recognize that if I wanted to understand what he was doing and why all I would have to do is stand and watch; I could get an audio visual tutorial of the whole process. If I had any aptitude at all for this suff it would have been incredibly useful, but alas...
He's from Roundup, Montana, and has a place overlooking Musselshell River. Looks like Tommy Lee Jones, less fifteen years, fifty pounds, and five inches. Got his first break working as a draftsman for an engineer named Stark (first name), one of those rare but memorable businessmen-mentors who give responsibility to people if they show the ability to handle it. Stark wasn't hung up on formal titles or degrees and, given the opportunity, Bob flourished. After eight years he moved on so he could get out of the office more. He seems to have found his niche.
Like a lot of problem solvers, Bob sees most clearly what doesn't work and gets extremely frustrated about it. His scorn for most RV solar installers is relentless. Observing that most (he might say all) installers oversell, overprice, and underdeliver, he spends a lot of his time correcting installations done by big outfits who ought to know better. He likes to pretend he's gruff and hard--he has an entry on his website titled "The History, or how did I end up so angry?"--but he's extremely sensitive to what people need and even more so to what they can afford. A lot of talk and a lot of thought go into his designs, and when he's done you have what you need--no more, no less--plus the flexibility of adding more if you want and of taking your package to your next rig if you move up. His estimate of the hours my installation required was exactly correct. His estimate of material was off by twelve cents on what I ordered and twenty dollars on what he supplied.
His wife, Noreen, bakes her own bread and cookies. I got a cookie but he wouldn't share the bread, just let me look atit.
Today he finished installing the inverter and doing all the wiring. He was also going to run a propane line to hook up a new heater for me but some of the parts haven't come in yet. My way of helping is by staying out of the way and by not rocking the RV too much when I'm inside. I'm very sensitive to the little things.
I'm anxious to get out of town. I've been here nineteen days now, far more than I expected to spend in one place. Looks like I'll have to wait until Monday to get the parts for the propane heater and have it connected.
Today is my son Owen's 27th birthday. Happy birthday, Owen. I love you.
NEXT: PHOENIX and TUCSON
John,
ReplyDeleteAwesome that you finally got the solar installed! Bummer about the propane heater too, but after that you're finally on your way?
All the best!