Solar South Finder Experiments

This post is to document my experiments in finding solar south and recording the required photos and documents for the Solar Finder BB.

My first experiment in this area taught me that I needed a firm, sturdy, level area to work on.

In the second experiment, I set up the solar finder on a solid pallet with a large piece of paper (about 3-ft x 3-ft) and a dowel inserted into a drilled hole for the vertical.  I also tried to use a giant piece of cardboard but it had been bent and did not work well.
Unfortunately, December is a month of overcast so while I knew local solar noon (from an online calendar) I was unable to take readings due to the overcast skies. For comparison, solar noon in early December is around 11:55 am PST.

The third time is a charm as they say.  I set up the solar finder on the solid pallet and a piece of scrap shower wall panel - vinyl.
Solar noon is expected to be at 12:16 pm PST and I verified this by marking the height of my pencil as solar noon approached and after finding the shortest line which denotes solar noon.  I also marked the time as I made the marks.  Solar noon for the week of March 3, 2021, is 12:16 pm PST

I also marked the length of the marker at the same interval before and after 12-noon - for example, you could take a reading one hour before solar noon and one after solar noon - connecting these two marks gives you an east-west line perpendicular to solar south.  I decided to take this type of reading so that the solar noon area of my vinyl sheet would not become cluttered by the data collection.