Sunday, July 9, 2017

A new strategy

I looked today at the stuff piled up in the bus - construction tools, supplies and leftovers. The bathroom wasn't too bad.
The cooler contains my mini shower. The rest is where it gets interesting. I bought way too many supplies from Radio Shack when they went bankrupt. Some of the stuff I can use. Some I have no current or foreseeable use for.

At one time I was interested in building little electronic things. Let's just call them toys because there's nothing in this world that's electronic that isn't some kind of toy. Satellites and soacecraft - just toys for boys with lots of money.  So, I have a pile of electronic components that get used very occasionally. At one time I was convinced LED lighting was the future of photography. I built an LED light panel that performed really well. When I showed it off, all the naysayers came out saying how it wouldn't last blah blah. In the end though I used it a few times, it wasn't worth the effort of putting it together. I find electronics to be generally unsatisfactory in general - no matter who makes them. So, I have a pile of electronic components. I'm not really sure what to do with them. I'm loath to throw them away because they cost money yet I'm unlikely to do anything meaningful with them so they sit taking up space as they have in several previous residences all the time growing in quantity.

The dining area is little better.
Here I have cables, wires, ideas for projects intended but never commenced. Sitting, looking at it all, I've been thinking of all the little jobs that need doing. I even played with one involving CPU fans blowing air from the front to the back of the bus.

The other side is equally bad.

You might well say that the situation was a little overwhelming. Clearly something had to give!

The decision was made... paint, electrical and small tools stay. Everything else was to go to storage. Progress was very slow and went vaguely along the lines of... trash goes in a cardboard box in the yard, PVC and aluminum get dumped in the yard as they won't decay and might be useful later. Tools went in the tool shed. Stuff that looked useful and the welder went into another storage location, including rods and spare steel.

I found myself some distraction tasks, feeling a little overwhelmed. The first was to test my two sizes of CPU fan. It transpired the bigger fan shifted apparently less air. Without unwrapping a reel of heavy cable, I could not install it in the bedroom as a permanent cool air flow. I see no reason why that should not be a future development, however.

Looking at the front of the bus, the grey paint had flaked badly on the drivers edge of the bonnet. I opened the bonnet (that's a hood to those not born fully comprehending the Queen's English). A few seconds scraping with a wire brush removed the loose flakes. Self etching enamel spray was applied and when that's dry, I'll use grey rustoleum.

Speaking of flaking paint, I sprayed some of the very expensive rubber mudguard spray on the inside of the front wheel arches. It has dried up and brushes off with a broom. Utterly useless stuff! I'll have to clean that off and spray with self priming black paint.

Yesterday I raised my two new convex mirrors as high as they will go. The left mirror would have been visible were it not for a Louisiana sticker that blocked my view of the mirror.
Well done, Louisiana, on making driving more hazardous! Fortunately, it was an out of date sticker that's totally redundant everywhere else including Rhode Island.

A few moments with a scraper removed the offending sticker. That's right, Louisiana officials, this bus has not held a valid Louisiana sticker for six whole years.

Meanwhile, in my tidying process I found several tools I forgot I had. Good job I didn't need them or I'd have ended up with multiples!

By the time I stopped work, one side was brought down to three boxes. One of papers that need to be gone through, one of various things that didn't need to go to storage, the shed or the trash and one of electrics. The other side will have to wait for another day.

I end the day with a mystery. One of my Radio Shack gel batteries seems to be playing the fool. The voltage climbs to 13.4v when the sun shines then drops back to 13.1v. Needless to say my fan comes on only at 13.5v. I'm thinking I probably bought a fried battery that somebody had returned to Radio Shack. There's no chance of a replacement or refund since Radio Shack is defunct.

My ammunition box will hold a 10x5x6 battery so perhaps I can look for a larger capacity replacement. I had only intended the solar stuff for ventilation but things seem to be growing. Who knows where it's going to go next!

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