OCCA Part 1 - The Plan
Outdoor Covered Cooking Area
I realise that my stories are invariably too long. I also realise that some people like me like the minutia of things.
I will try to cover the story of the Outdoor Covered Cooking Area in short bursts.
We have two seasons up on our VAQ (Vertical Acreage Queensland). Cooking inside or cooking outside.
Clearly wintertime you cook inside on the wood stove. Summertime you cook outside. Problem is that in summertime cooking (on the double sink - which is a story in itself) in the full sun can be - well “trying”.
She who must be obeyed Ruth, ordered an Outdoor Covered Cooking Area (OCCA). As I do most of the outdoor cooking I thoroughly agreed with the plan and in any case needed somewhere to park the excavator.
The round thing 500mm is the “donkey” wood burning water heater. It’s a wonderful thing. Hot and cold running water particularly hot showers.
I never want to do anything the way anybody else would do it so I decided the OCCA would need to have a roof made entirely out of solar panels. Partly because second hand panels are cheaper than roofing iron. For the benefit of the bushfire management, it needed to be made entirely of steel. I also want to do a “proof of concept” of welding straight off the solar panels. Easily get 200A or so or about 30Vdc. More than enough for welding. I will report on the success or otherwise later.
Did I mention there is no budget for these things.
Doesn’t wind up much like this design but the bones of it are there. It ends up with 30 panels not 16! Minor variations are to be expected. No change to the contracted price though!
The idea progressed and the Bill of Materials (BOM) assembled. Steel ordered from Allora Independent Steel.
The steel due to arrive I enlisted my worker Jonathan from Sydney to assist. He often shows when needed!
Could rate a mention in the “Great Stuff-ups” series. I have previously had a load of steel delivered by these guys (for the main accommodation shed or “Tin Tent”) and they had no trouble dropping it off inside the fence near the tank. So, when the guy showed up, I said drive straight in. Turns out that the driver was new. First load for these guys and he didn’t know the truck well. Trucks for this sort of steel delivery are extremely long wheelbase flat beds single axel.
I had forgotten that some work had been done on the gravel road. A couple of 100 mm of extra road base on top of the road and the table drain cleared. The truck got soundly stuck with the back up on the road and the back wheels hanging freely in the air in the table drain, the front just through the gate. I did attempt a pull with the winch on the Hilux, but it did not stack up well against a 10+ton truck and did nothing.
The driver amazingly cool. He fortunately, looked up and the power line did in fact run straight over the fence line and front of the truck. While his truck was completely “hung up” he went about unloading over the fence dodging the said power line but at the limit of his hiab crane. (I learned something new from DeepSeek - “Hiab” is actually a brand name (originally Hydrauliska Industri AB) that became the generic term for a truck‑mounted crane. Hijab is apparently something completely different. When you can’t spell you have to check these things.)
Meanwhile I called the neighbour. Always pays to be on good terms with the neighbour. Terry showed up in 10 minutes with a big ancient tractor. No brakes but otherwise a capable machine. Chained up to the back of the truck and pulled him off without much trouble. Barely owed him a beer!
Then it was just a matter of loading the stuff on the trailer for the serious 4WD climb up the hill.
A couple of hundred for the second-hand panels and mostly done. Not to mention A full set off Philip’s roof at the right price. Curious how far a “repair” can go as to not void the $0.4/kwh feed in tariff…
I forgot the screws at $50 a box that doesn’t go far. The structure entirely screwed - no welding. Just as well - cart before the horse sort of problem? Some (23) bags premix concrete added a bit more. I am claiming all up < $3k.
The structure about as minimalist as it could possibly be, but I expect it will outlast me easily barring any more tornadoes or hailstorms. Design checked out by structural engineer brother Dr Jim. “Plausible Deniability” - or as Beth would say “legally distinct”. He particularly likes designing things which would not meet any codes but are “fit for purpose”. We will see.
Enough for the moment.
Meantime a bit of drone porn!
Taken not long ago. 6/2/26 Works have progressed a bit.
This one shows some of the work BB. Before Bypass. There was then a longish delay for repairs.
This one the surrounds in the early morning. Windy up there in the treetops.
You can’t post these things without asking for subscriptions! It gets cranky.