Power for Tilley

Earlier, we decided on a 12 V battery as one of the power sources for Tilley.  While Pat intends to wire her so we can plug her in at various camping spots, we don't want to rely on this all the time.  Also, we want to be self-sufficient and more environmentally friendly with our energy use.  To this end, we did some investigation on the use of solar power for trailers.

We looked around a little here and there, but didn't see anything useful, portable or that wasn't wildly expensive.  Then a few weeks ago we decided to go and gawk at the mammoth RV cousins of our little Tilley at our local RV show.  There we found the goliaths and krakens of the RV world.  Huge monstrosities that could house a small village in each one. 

Then, tucked away in a little spot between two of these behemoths, was a little table that caught Pat's eye.  The poster said "Go Solar RVing".  We stopped dead in our tracks and went to speak to the lady standing there.  What we found was exactly what we were looking for!  They have just what their card says... thin, flexible, light weight solar panels...and they don't cost an arm and a leg!  We had a lovely chat with the lady, who was soon joined by her husband. They were both delightful and not your usual pushy sales people.  They were very knowledgeable about their panels and solar power in general. The other wonderful thing we found out was that although the panels are manufactured in the US, the couple live and sell the panels in Canada.  Their website GoSolarRVing.com has all the information you need to choose the best panel(s) for your trailer, cottage, even your tent. However you prefer to live in the great outdoors.

Pat will be finishing the wiring and installing the interior lights in the next couple of weeks. After that, we will have to decide on the type of panel we want. We're torn between their folding panels

 and their rollable panels

 
Either way, we can't wait to get one and save money, help the environment and just generally make Tilley even more self-sufficient and amazing!