This weekend looks like no progress. I have come down with some kind of flu like bug. Having said that, I use my downtime for thinking and planning!
I have plenty old steel bedframe that I can use to make underbody framework. Enough in fact to build at least two underbody compartments. Doing that would give enough room for expansion of the battery system for a time when I want to put solar panels and batteries.
What I don't currently have is steel or aluminum stout enough to go underneath batteries. I do, however, have plenty steel that can be used for sides and backs of compartments.
My hunt for water casks continues. Suggestions have been made that I look at breweries, bottling, canning, pool cleaning companies and car washes as sources of used 15 gallon containers. Needless to say, these would solely be good for used water and not potable water.
I'm not sure how much water I'd need either. I have read of people showering with just one gallon of water. If that's possible then a 15 gallon container might keep me going for 5-7 days with both showering and cooking.
For clean water, I'd need a brand new water cask. Heaven alone knows what was carried in a secondhand cask or even how many previous uses or even owners it has had.
Putting underbody compartments together, having investigated more powerful rivet guns and found them to be expensive, I'm tempted just to bolt them together. Bolting is pretty straightforward and as long as the bolts are painted with Thredlock or something similar as well as being fully tightened using locking washers, there should be no problem. Welding would be interesting but as I've never welded it wouldn't be the best to start now.
I've been reading up on thermite welding. That looks interesting but as its used mainly to weld railway lines, scaling it down could be problematic. Arc welders look interesting but I'm not sure how to use them and don't have room for mistakes. I did hear about a rivet gun that uses .22 cartridges but try as I might, I couldn't find one listed anywhere. Air riveters were the next thing but again, they seemed ludicrously expensive. There are better hand riveter available so they might be worth a look. The rivets will have to be much bigger than I have now though. So, on the whole, bolts seem the best answer.
In an attempt to find barrels, I put an advert on craigslist looking for them. I'm 90% sure I'll get no responses and that all my efforts to find used barrels will come to naught and I'll have to pay out the ying yang for brand new. That's what usually happens! I always hear about other people's great deals but I always end up having to pay full price or I usually end up paying for somebody else's garbage and still have to buy new.
The fresh water tank I probably will buy new just to avoid contaminants. The used water tank, I don't much care what contaminants there are because it isn't going to be used, merely flushed down the sewers.
Having seen people securing water tanks with nylon straps, that's probably how I'll secure mine. It's something I thought of but that was poo-poohed pretty thoroughly by people on that good forsaken schoolbus forum. I'd all but changed my mind to go with chain. Nylon seems kinder to plastic tanks. The argument was put forward about road abrasion but honestly that's nonsense. Anything that would abrade nylon would abrade plastic or paint and I see no paint damage under the bus.
I'm not sure what kind of drugs these forum users are on but I rather suspect that the streets are safer with people like that sitting in their ramshackle trailers behind their computers rather than out on the streets. If I had a penny for every lunatic thing I've seen on a forum, I'd never need to work again!
I have plenty old steel bedframe that I can use to make underbody framework. Enough in fact to build at least two underbody compartments. Doing that would give enough room for expansion of the battery system for a time when I want to put solar panels and batteries.
What I don't currently have is steel or aluminum stout enough to go underneath batteries. I do, however, have plenty steel that can be used for sides and backs of compartments.
My hunt for water casks continues. Suggestions have been made that I look at breweries, bottling, canning, pool cleaning companies and car washes as sources of used 15 gallon containers. Needless to say, these would solely be good for used water and not potable water.
I'm not sure how much water I'd need either. I have read of people showering with just one gallon of water. If that's possible then a 15 gallon container might keep me going for 5-7 days with both showering and cooking.
For clean water, I'd need a brand new water cask. Heaven alone knows what was carried in a secondhand cask or even how many previous uses or even owners it has had.
Putting underbody compartments together, having investigated more powerful rivet guns and found them to be expensive, I'm tempted just to bolt them together. Bolting is pretty straightforward and as long as the bolts are painted with Thredlock or something similar as well as being fully tightened using locking washers, there should be no problem. Welding would be interesting but as I've never welded it wouldn't be the best to start now.
I've been reading up on thermite welding. That looks interesting but as its used mainly to weld railway lines, scaling it down could be problematic. Arc welders look interesting but I'm not sure how to use them and don't have room for mistakes. I did hear about a rivet gun that uses .22 cartridges but try as I might, I couldn't find one listed anywhere. Air riveters were the next thing but again, they seemed ludicrously expensive. There are better hand riveter available so they might be worth a look. The rivets will have to be much bigger than I have now though. So, on the whole, bolts seem the best answer.
In an attempt to find barrels, I put an advert on craigslist looking for them. I'm 90% sure I'll get no responses and that all my efforts to find used barrels will come to naught and I'll have to pay out the ying yang for brand new. That's what usually happens! I always hear about other people's great deals but I always end up having to pay full price or I usually end up paying for somebody else's garbage and still have to buy new.
The fresh water tank I probably will buy new just to avoid contaminants. The used water tank, I don't much care what contaminants there are because it isn't going to be used, merely flushed down the sewers.
Having seen people securing water tanks with nylon straps, that's probably how I'll secure mine. It's something I thought of but that was poo-poohed pretty thoroughly by people on that good forsaken schoolbus forum. I'd all but changed my mind to go with chain. Nylon seems kinder to plastic tanks. The argument was put forward about road abrasion but honestly that's nonsense. Anything that would abrade nylon would abrade plastic or paint and I see no paint damage under the bus.
I'm not sure what kind of drugs these forum users are on but I rather suspect that the streets are safer with people like that sitting in their ramshackle trailers behind their computers rather than out on the streets. If I had a penny for every lunatic thing I've seen on a forum, I'd never need to work again!
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