u/Commercial_Topic437

Wife and I are moving to a town in Maine, near the coast, on the Kennebec river. I think I'd like to get a modest sized, trailerable power boat, to make day trips. Not interested in sail.

Full disclosure, I'm not experienced with boats, though my cousin lives in the same town and is a licensed "100 ton master." Happy to take my time and learn. My goal is not really high speed, just exploring the inlets and by-ways.

My wife is not enthusiastic. She dislikes the fumes and noise and vibration of a power boat. So I'm wondering about electric boats. Like finding a 20 ft boat with no motor or a derelict motor and converting it to an electric boat. This is obviously not something to be undertaken lightly, but maybe there are some sources that experienced boaters might know about?

Thank you for any suggestions and for not mocking someone just exploring the idea

I looked enough to know these are soviet made, but they're missing some of the branding.

These belonged to my father-in law, who was a career US Marine who retired at a very high rank and at one point oversaw a visit by Soviet flag officers. They have little wear on them. There's a stamp that says "1952," when he was serving in Korea, but also a printed number "1982." They are very well made with great optics. They have reticle lines for range finding and a set of tinted accessory lenses

Wondering how he came to have them. Possibly the Chinese and North Koreans used these? He was also in Vietnam twice and presumably the N Vietnamese would have used them. Or they were just bought as military surplus after the wall came down?

https://preview.redd.it/3rdtwcioodfh1.jpg?width=3686&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8fe014defbc2bf55764fa48092437c9e93caba13

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My wife and I are settling in Maine permanently in September. Midcoast region. Where we live now, near DC, we have a small garden pond (maybe 400 gallons) with goldfish, that attracts all sorts of wildlife--birds, foxes, raccoons, frogs, rabbits. We have a trail cam aimed at it and enjoy seeing who visits, and it's clear that it's actually important to local wildlife. We have an all native plant garden. So wondering about a similarly sized pond in Maine.

I realize goldfish are illegal in ME. We would want some fish that eat mosquito larva, if possible, but goldfish are incredibly hardy, and any water feature including fish in ME is going to have to be deep. I'm guessing four feet? My wife says forget about fish.

Are there any redditors with small garden ponds in ME?

From Showman’s in West Bath. Mustard and onions. Solid hot dog experience. Got a second one. I’d go back

A familiar problem: We're building a house that will have a small (14x12) workshop. I'm planning to build a workbench, probably the Anarchist's workbench, but you kinda need a bench to build a bench. I could use sawhorses, I guess, and I'll have a 30x48 table that I could put things on but no vise for that table.

So any idea for an inexpensive functional workbench?

I've been following Form Energy for years, and it seems like there are still lots of breathless press releases about how Form Energy's batteries "will be used" in such and such a facility. Are there any actually working right now? Installed and in operation?

Wife and I are having a house built. The builder just asked "do you guys want smart switches and outlets?" Is there a good introduction/overview to the whole subject in 2026 somewhere?

Me: Apple ecosystem guy who experimented maybe eight years ago with smart bulbs and Homekit and some add on smart outlet adapters and found it a big PITA that I never could get to work well. Don't use Siri at all. We have two Homepods (generation 1) which occasionally just start playing music from an unknown source. My wife says no to the builder's question, and I kind of agree, but she also wants motorized window shades. I can imagine them plugged into a smart outlet and set to open and close with sunrise/sunset. I can also imagine some damn wireless network protocol that is complicated and fails a lot, which was my experience with Apple homekit. Basically we're fine living in a dumb house. But the builder's estimate already budgeted for smart switches and outlets, Lutron Caseta I think.

My wife wants to go with Smartwings window curtains. Could a Lutron Caseta outlet automate them to open and close with the sun?

I like the ideal of bulbs that automatically change their color temperature in response to sunlight outside, so on gray overcast days a lot of bright daylight, warm yellow at night etc. I could maybe convince her to have lights that go on when we get close to home, but she;s even more of a smart home skeptic than I am

So install the smart gear or save the couple thousand bucks? Any advice welcome!

We are building a house, small/modest sized L-shaped kitchen with small island. I HATE granite and stone countertops. I know I'm in the minority here but I just really dislike the look.

I want Richlite, which I've worked with pretty extensively making guitars, and using in the kitchen as cutting boards. I know how it wears, how it cuts and machines: I like the look and the feel. I know it requires maintenance. But we got an estimate of over $14, 000 for a Richlite countertop, which is too much. If we can't find it cheaper, I want an alternative.

I'd like to try some solid material like Corian, which I know is way out of fashion, or maybe a stainless or zinc countertop, but I have no idea how much that would cost and I'm thinking it would be a lot. Wife won't go for butcher block.

I'd welcome any alternatives to stone. We have formica in our Kitchen now, and we actually really like it, except that the edges chip and the engineered wood underlayment tends to swell and deteriorate around water.

Any suggestions welcome, and thank you.

We just signed a contract to put 40 solar panels on our 1800 sq ft. house, which is still under construction in mid-coast Maine. 17.h KWh system. Substantial battery backup. Paying cash. Hoping like hell it's worth it! We are;t imagine living off the grid, but we wanta buffer against constantly rising energy costs.

We started out with a solar company that really gave us the heebie jeebies. Our interface was a sales guy who didn't know what he was doing, it felt wrong in multiple ways--I'll spare you the details.

We went with another company where we deal directly with the owner, and he gave us a detailed estimate based on visiting the house, talking to the builder, and talking to us about usage. I'm assuming his estimate is overly optimistic: it suggests the system will generate slightly more power more than we use, and will pay for itself in about ten years. It might be right, but so many variables especially in a state like Maine with less than optimum weather.

I'd just like to hear from people who think getting solar was a good idea. There are so many horror stories.

Back in the day you used to be able to find service manuals for cars, with lists of parts. I keep being frustrated with the mediocre sound in the EqEv, and I'm thinking it's not the speakers that are the problem (though better speakers would be good) it's the underpowered audio unit itself. I think it's doing low resolution AD/DA conversion in addition to be being underpowered. Why can't I get HD radio?

it ought to be possible to replace the whole unit with something better, keeping the existing wired harnesses. It would (maybe) be easier than busting out the door speakers and kludging 12 volt power to a subwoofer. It would have to be able to "talk" to the infotainment display, which I assume is the tough part.

Chevy here's a chance for you to take more of my money

Thank you in advance for any suggestions you might have. How much power can we expect to use in a year?

We are building a house in Maine, to live in full time. Most of the time just my wife and I. 1800 sq ft, two stories, double 2x4 walls with thermal break, dense pack insulation, triple glazed windows. Heat pump, continuous air exchange, all electric appliances.

The solar contractor--who seems great, not throwing any shade here--thinks we will use 17, 400 kWh per year. Friends who live in a similar house in the same town use around 12,300 for the year, sometimes less.

How accurate does that 17,400 figure seem? My obvious question is if we could save some up front money by installing fewer panels.

Thank you for reading.