Off Grid Shop Upgrade Complete! Final Episode 

There is something so satisfying in organizing, purging and tidying spaces up. Which means it’s past time for me to clean out my barn…before summer comes.

That clean up timelapse was weirdly satisfying!

I really appreciate 🙏 that you don't giggle all the time

Mike, everything has a place and place everything in it's place equals a tidy and efficient shop. Blessings to you.

Seeing you clear up your space, is making me feel slightly guilty, I've been retired for nearly 2 years but still haven't finished mine and it's 1/2 the size of yours. I suppose though if I'm watching you, DP, NYA, Letsdig18, Diesel Creek and Andrew Camarata there's not much time left in my day. 🤣😂🤣 Have I seen a shelter for the outside as well or was I dreaming? 👍

Nice work! If you wanted to be able to power the shop from the welder/generator you could run a feed from the welder to a breaker in the panel. Keep that breaker off when you want to use the battery pack. Turn the main breaker off and that breaker on if you went to use the generator for power. If that panel doesn’t have a main you could wire a disconnect between the battery pack and the panel.

I think the reason I enjoy your channel so much can be summed up in two comments you made on this one, first, about cutting countertop without chipping it "I don't really care," and second, "cover it with gravel and pretend it never happened." Both comments have reflected almost exactly things I've done in the last two weeks! Thanks for the morning chuckles, take care!

I've found that you can get old boat trailers pretty cheap, and you can convert it into a utility trailer fairly easily.

I am impressed with your conduit bending skills.

Here in Britain we can only dream of having a beautiful vast property like yours Mike unless we’re super wealthy. Property is far more affordable in America but also with your very hard work ethic you thoroughly deserve it 👍 excellent as always Mike 👍 Best wishes from Britain 🇬🇧🇺🇸

Mike, I love to see the organization but I bet you are even happier with it! It will make your shop much more enjoyable to work in! Nice job!!

That place sure cleans up nicely. Very Organized! I was hoping to breeze through the comments to see how many electricians would have told you to run a pipe from the panel to the fan, then a pipe from the fan to the outlet box and saved piping (Yes I know the disclaimer: "I'm not an electrician, but I play one on RU-vid"!) 😁😁 Could you post something about what your using or how your cleaning your dirt power? I know someone who has a large scale system, running their cabin, but they have a high tech stove that does not like the power waves and it only runs on generator power!

No wise ass comments from me this time........The shop came out fantastic..... something to be proud of for sure

The secret to storage is to put things back after using them. I know from my own “use and drop.” Looking good Mike. Excited for your future plans.

I wish I had that Timelapse so I could get my projects done that fast.

An old steel top table saw like the crasftsman can make a great welding table. The heavy ones can actually be bolted together.

Hey Mike, I noticed the pipe that runs through the wall as your exhaust from the heater. You will want to create some kind of cap that will close it off when not in use like a tractor exhaust flap. You will house all the bee's, wasp and hornets in the county if not

nice to see you now have an indoor space to do stuff out of the weather, that battery is a game changer.

I really like the idea of a mobile solar system on a trailer as I can use that my self having 6 separate properties and 3 of those off grid. Looking fwd to that project!

I can see your set up/ organization and how you are planning, I like the fact that you are allowing for expansion and change, or another way to say it is, proof of concept, take what works and go with it and what either doesn’t work or not work well and change it. It’s been my own personal experience that a shop and storage are constantly evolving, to me you have made ample room to make that happen. Thanks for this little mini series, I appreciate your videos and the time it takes to make them.

You’re doing what I should be cleaning up my workspace

There is a RU-vid channel called Red Poppy Ranch and they are totally off grid in Southern Idaho with solar and some generator backup. He has gone thru the growth pains of enough panels and the indoor battery backup. He finally switched companies and got it working for him. You might want to see what he did.

Hi Mike. The shop space looks great! You really have quite a lot of room in there. If you are looking for another example of a large solar installation, you might want to check out the channel Ambition Strikes. They are a young couple living completely off-grid in northern Idaho. They have a large shop with welders and a plasma table, all running off solar. It wasn't cheap, like you mentioned, but could give you some ideas.

Looking good there Captain. Glad you finally got the heater to run. 🐶

Those magnetic strips can be put most anywhere and are so handy. I have a couple in my shed and hang all my metal hand lawn & garden tools. Sometimes, it's the little things.

Harbor Freight has a reasonable price welding/fixture table . Great stuff you are accomplishing!

Jesse Muller is an awesome friend of mine and an amazing person

I think your making good use of the space available Mike. You should be more comfortable and capable of doing your projects now. Enjoy your space and when it's nasty outside you can wark inside with some heat.

"I love it when a plan comes together!" - Col. John 'Hannibal' Smith.

Looking great Captain. Getting things “cleaned and organized” is very satisfying. I end up doing it every fall for winter parking.

Just realized when you were wheeling the propane cylinder into your shop that it probably best to move it outside in case of leaks/venting and explosion from accumulated gas.

Shop is looking good Mike, good organization my friend! Thanks for sharing my friend! 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻👌🏻👍🏻👍🏻🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

Organization helps production! Looking good.

Might want to change that rear main seal in the 460 while its out and easy to get too. Shop lookin good!

Good afternoon captain, you are very smart for a little guy, Steve from St. Stephen Nb

I'm in the process of cleaning up my stuff and getting rid of stuff that I don't need anymore. You got a nice little shop. Thanks for the video

Looking good Mike.

Have you looked at the Harbor Freight fixture tables. They are a bit small, but may be a good fit for you and they aren't that expensive.

Keep her going Captain!!

A place for everything and everything in its place. Awesome job.

I don't know how far the shop is from your house but I wonder why you can't run a line from your house panel. I ran a buried line from my house to barn: a 60 amp breaker, to a box on the basement, heavy wire buried to the barn, 100 amp panel, a 20 amp 220 outlet for a saw, a 30 amp 220 outlet for a heater, a 50 amp 220 outlet for a welder, 8 incandescent lights, 2 fluorescent lights, and about 12 110 outlets, and 2 outdoor yard lights. On the farm we ran a line to a pole from house to barn so we could have lights, milk cows and pump water and cool milk and run a fencer. I had the same problem when I built my house. No power line ran down my road. $5000 to run a line. But the state passed a law that the power co. had to pick up the cost. You might want to check on that. Laws change and they don't advertise.

Jesse is a very talented guy. Wide range of skills and equipment over there.

Jesse Muller has a great channel and his ICF house is amazing but your channel is great too

Have you ever seen a Murphy Bed? It's a bed that folds up into the wall. You used to see them in old time movies. I wonder if you could jerry rig that round welding table so it folds away when you don't need it.

Love seeing your space cleaned up & organized! Makes a fellow more productive! However, nothing says junk hoarder more than an old satellite dish in the backyard!!😂😂😂

Mike you might want to consider a timer for your exhaust van. Then you can leave it running for a little while after you finish and it will automatically turn off.

It looks great Cap'n !!!

Everything looks AWESOME! I'd say if it were mine, (and I wish it was, very jealous) The only thing I'd change is the "Steel Storage" being up on the bench wasting work space? Maybe 2 home depot buckets screwed to the wall to the right of the bench to get that stuff outa there? but, yes, it's way better than laying on the ground outside! LOVE IT BUDD!

Your small shop is looking Awesome Mike, now you got a shop close to home to do your smaller jobs👍👍🍮🍮😎😎❤️

hello Mike & it's is Randy and i like yours video is cool Thanks Mike Friends Randy

I bought a Ecoflow unit, with no extra battery. I use it to keep my fridge running when the power is out. It's perfect. Id love to get off the grid. Maybe one day.

👍 great video, Capt.

Like how you are approaching your solar I will be watching big time two things I could do shed at home off grid at the camp 👍👋🇨🇦

Looking great 👍. Can’t wait to see your first project in your workshop 😀

Looking good Cap'n great idea with solar panels on trailer but consider that it'll be easy for thieves to take too. Maybe jack up remove wheels every time?

It looks great!! My shop has flat surface syndrome, every time I clean it up it feels great....until it happens again.

Glad you found Jesse Muller. He is one of my favs, as are you. Like minds...

alright, great video, nice to have a shop to work in. now you have 2 shops and lots of storage.

Wow . The shop looks great !!! Good job Captain.👍💪

Shop looks awesome Mike! The place got a lot bigger for you to work in. Thank you for bringing us along on your adventure!!

A Harbor Frieght 12-Outlet, 4 ft. Metal Power Strip would be great installed on the face of the bottom shelf at the work bench. Same one I put on mine and can't work / live without it. With the small welder, grinder, drill, battery chargers and drill press at the ready for anything.😉👍👍

My next project as well when it warms up!! Great job Mike 🤗🇺🇸

I was watching DP at the auctions the other day. They had those portable matrix road signs for sale. Probably much cheaper options but you never know the structure of one of those could be repurposed. Also as I said at the time DP could use the sign at the go cart track. Alternatively you could use it as a scoreboard at the gym 😂

If you want a cheap and easy metal finder, pick it upper, throw a big magnet in the bottom of a 5 gallon plastic bucket. sweep the bottom of the bucket over the ground and you'll be surprised at what you find. Than place the bucket over a garbage can or scrap bin and lift the magnet out of the bucket. Everything that was stuck to the bottom will fall off.

Nice organization- a lot of good ideas there 👍

I dont know if your heard this before, but if you cut material from the bottom/opposite side with a circular saw, it will greatly reduce chipout from the "good" side. Hopefully this is helpful.

You always put so much thought in your projects. I think that's great, as the outcome shows. I think you are a good guy! Thanks for the videos!

In the Netherlands 10 panels 2000 watts total are about 4000 installed to the grid. But since you don't have a grid connection you need a serious battery what you don't have. What about a diesel generator, you could run it a long time before it exceeds the costs of grid connection and you're having the feeling of being self supported. Getting power from the grid isn't for free.

Nice clean up job and organization looking good 👌 👍

Looks a ton better

Captain getting things done ! 👍🏼

I really like your setup in your workshop u really deserve it captain u have always had to do a lot of work outside n the elements snow flying n trying to do a project vary awesome videos as always man keep up the awesome work

Hi there Capt! One old hack for running wires through conduit is to put a shop vac sucking from the source end and pull through a string to help pull the wire...

Well, that is looking great organization, you can find things now, good video see you on the next one

That’s a major accomplishment! Good job

Mike, check out a company called San Tan Solar and their "snail trail" panels. We buy 350 watt panels for $75 or less if you check on pricing. They sell all over the country. We have a system on our home in Southeastern Arizona with 8 panels that runs about 3/4 of our house and on our "Vaca" RV up in Northern AZ we are totally off grid and have 15 panels. This has been a work over years but the larger panels give us lots of power. You are doing a great job.

You may not be able to get them where you are, but it's worth taking a look. Used commercial panels. Solar farms replace them more regularly than home owners. You can buy big, high output panels for silly cheap.

Chech your HVAC guy, if they're in stalling new furnaces they might have a clue on the radiator.

Put a 12" square steel plate under the vise also. I found that really helped even though I had bracing under the bench. Your shop is looking very nice for a start. Buy the rolling magnet. So many places you will use it. jack

Cleaning ( especially large area's like you're getting done ) can be a huge pain in the ass....but damn if it isn't satisfying to see how nice everything looks when you're done. And right now the Shop and surroundings look pretty good now that you're done.

Good morning sunshine! Looking good! Much love from Henderson Ga USA

Cole the cornstar is getting rid of his he's got a bunch of radiators

I would keep upgrading the solar panels to higher watts plus have max input in each side help the best. To have one setup on your roof plus a trailer setup would how I would something with 2 input.

I love the time lapse and voice over. get "R" done. For me I want to see your progress. I realize it may take longer to edit but makes a half hour go much quicker with many results on your end.

In a small shop, I've found it to be more convenient to mount a big vise to a piece of steel plate so that when I need a vise I can put it on my work surface and clamp it down, and when not needed I can put the vise somewhere out of the way.

You doing a really good job looking good cleaned it up very nicely

You are innovative.😊

I agree with you. Learn small finish tall

Nothing goes above having your own mancave. Super nice. The arguments about the on vs offgrid are not valid. Ongrid cost a lot to get, but you also have to pay for your energy. Offgrid doesn’t cost as much when you can rely for the most on the solarpanels. And the solarpanels got a lot cheaper last year. A 410Wp panel is between €70,- and €90,-, thats dirt cheap. Those things last 20 years. The only problem with the current generation panels that they are not friendly to recycle, the laminates cannot be separated. Another great thing about offgrid power is getting concious about your power usage. TU Delft professor Andy van de Dobbelsteen made a YT movie about energyslaves called “energieslaven”. It shows the student rowers making energy for a household. Funny to see our addiction to energy.

2 Things in a shop that are huge time and space saver Hose Reel for Air and self-retract Reel for Extension Cord.

Hi Top work from a top team, 👍🐝🌞

The transformation on the shop is amazing.

Great clean up job Captain looking good 👍🏻

Fine job on setting up the shed the way you like it. Looking forward to the dump truck build.

So happy that things are getting going on your shop and that you got it cleaned up some more.

You could take two opposing V8 headers , bolt them together to form a radiator .

YOU are a true Renaissance MAN! Thank you

Captain thanks for sharing! Kevin

Awesome Job!!

Your shop looks really good now. That is just motivating me that I need to get out and do that to my garage. Because it is a mess also. Great job, Captain. Thanks for sharing.