Disappointment

Today I commenced work, rather late in the day to complete the battery compartment. After tightening a few nuts and cropping the overlong bolts, suddenly one bolt shattered under very light pressure.

Given that when asked, the store (Fastenal) claimed the bolts to be easily capable of holding 200lbs and probably good for 1200lbs, I'm rather disappointed. Needless to say, with a bad bolt, the whole batch must be condemned as suspect, particularly when it cannot fail. If the battery compartment failed, the consequences could be fatal.

Looking at the compartment so far, the angle bracket that came from the bunk beds that I'd previously condemned is probably 87° rather than 90°. This makes construction of a regular shape somewhat awkward.

Clearly this will have to be rebuilt. I think, sadly, it will have to be welded which is beyond my skills. Given that, I suspect it would be better to let the welder supply the steel as he would likely have access to better quality steel of a more appropriate style.

Generally, I find everything the Hillbillies installed in the bus was of pretty low quality and unusable in any shape or form. In many ways, it would have been better to have started with a bus that still had seats in it. Having experienced the conversion so far, I think I'd do it very differently next time. Having said that, I'm almost completed. I just need to add water tanks and the battery compartment. Then, there's very little else to do.

I had hoped to be able to do everything underneath myself but without welding skills, that's not possible. It's probably cheaper to get somebody else to do the welding than to buy a welder and to waste time learning how to weld. Given that I need the bus operational, I'm going to have to ask about welding. I hate having to use somebody else in my self build project.

Latest developments

Today it rained hard so I managed to check my bus leak seals. Aside from a minor drip over the shower windows, all those treated recently have been cured. That can be considered a great success! The remaining leak will have to be traced another day.

Another leak has resurfaced. A while ago, I sealed the cockpit roof vent and noted that cockpit leaks had been greatly reduced. A few days ago, I removed the plastic bag I had taped over the vent. Now the leak is back and just as bad. Given that Carpenter went bust in 2001, its unlikely that I will be able to obtain a replacement roof vent cover. I know exactly what the problem is - the vent cover is dented as though somebody trod or sat on it. I'll probably just do away with it.

The Rustoleum that I'd painted on bare aluminum has now begun to peel. It's peeling on the paintable caulking that had cured not many days before it had been painted. It's peeling off aluminum that had already been painted. It's peeling off plastic where it had dropped accidentally yet had appeared stuck fast. Let's just say I don't consider Rustoleum to be worth the bother of applying even if the paint was free! The worst of having painted with Rustoleum and wasted my money on it is not that waste of time and money but the time and money I'm going to have to invest in getting that garbage off the bus in order to repaint with another brand.

For the moment nothing can be done because almost all the work is outside. The minor stuff can be done anytime but I'm concentrating on the last big projects right now. Eventually I want to strip the Rustoleum garbage off but that is on the back burner.

Interestingly, I painted a different color of Rustoleum labelled as rust killing on the back bumper. There's rust showing through now. I know Rustoleum has a class action against them for selling a furniture restoration potion that damaged furniture. It can't be long before they get a class action against them for their other garbage.

Screwed to death!

Tonight I'm aching badly after having been screwing hard all afternoon. Indeed, I was still hard at work until the light expired on me at about 6-30pm. The evenings are definitely (or defiantly if Google autocorrect had its way) drawing in.

Achievements today - nothing especially notable. It was a continuation of yesterday, working on my battery compartment. I drilled a few new holes and installed more angle bracket and started on the lock nuts.

While I was there, I noticed what a rotten job the hillbillies had made of installing the cable compartment door. Did they just not notice that one end was a lot higher than the other? Perhaps (as I suspect) they just didn't care!

I looked at the compartment I am building and noted that the steel bracket is not a true 90° so its probably something the hillbillies got free or cheap. They'd built bedframes from this stuff and I can assure you that its pretty springy steel, having flexed it. It should be good for my battery compartment though.

Aside from installing more bolts - which was a case of drilling holes, putting the bolts in and tightening nuts - I installed lock nuts on 17 bolts. That took quite a while because I had to tighten the nuts by hand and do the lock nuts by hand too. The bolts are rather longer than any of the available 3/4 sockets so each nut had to be tightened using a spanner.

After tightening the nuts they were trimmed with my trusty and long suffering $15 Harbor Freight angle grinder. Would you believe of my original pack of 10 cutting disks I have but one left. That's how much use it has had!

I'm not worried about the springiness of the steel. When its all pulled into place and bolted, the springiness will be contained. What does concern me is attaching the cage to the bus. As I have already mentioned, welding is an interesting idea. Having thought about welding more thoroughly, its probably a better idea to get some steel rivets and to rivet the cage to the sub frame where its not possible to use bolts.

The things that factor into the riveting decision are:
1. I don't have a welder and the cheapest is $70.
2. I have never welded before and would have to learn how before I did anything on or for the bus.
3. I have no suitable face protection, no suitable gloves and no suitable smock.
4. As the steel is galvanized, I gather the fumes from welding galvanized steel are toxic.
5. Welders need a 20A power supply and I just don't have such a power supply at hand. I could install a 30A socket on the breaker box in the yard but that would probably take most of a day.
6. A new rivet gun and rivets are way cheaper than anything else at $30 for the rivet gun and maybe $20 for the rivets.
7. I am well used to riveting.
8. I'm unlikely to need to weld anything else.
9. A hand riveter does not need power.

So, it looks like I'll have to drop into Home Depot this coming week for the new riveter. My existing riveter does not work well with tougher aluminum rivets. Steel rivets are harder to use.

That's how springy the steel is! I can't wait to get this installed under the bus. I'll probably install some lighter steel bracket to hold the batteries in place. Holding them down can be done with a chain and a turnbuckle. I probably won't bother too much about water shielding as its unlikely water will splash upwards even on a wet day as the wheels are nowhere near the compartment.

I put it off as long as I could...

Then I crawled or rather rolled under the bus to measure the space available for my battery compartment as being 13.5 inches. Then I set to work.

The first thing was to shovel the sugar I dumped from my abortive sugar blasting attempt away. Scooping it up in a shovel set hoards if wasps that had been clustered thickly over it, buzzing around angrily. Clearly using sugar has hazards!

For the next hour or so, the steel for the compartment was measured and cut. The space needed is only 7x11 inches per battery but the compartment will be 19 inches deep - just in case more space is needed.

The next thing was to balance it all together and I must say, it looks pretty decent. After that came the drilling and bolting...

The plan is initially to have a plywood floor on the compartment as it'll initially solely be a cable compartment. Later, I'll replace the floor with something more suited to batteries.

Looking at the cross members underneath the bus, they seem to largely be closed box section with a few c section beams. That's not very welcome as it looks like I'm going to have to get my box welded onto the bus. On the other hand, having it welded on means that at the same time, a stouter floor could be added, stouter sides and my sections could be tack welded for extra security.

I plugged on until I was overcome by mosquitoes and darkness. Looking at my construction it appears the steel of my angle bracket is not a true 90° as the steel section is slightly wedge shaped. Given this is steel from the bedframes the hillbillies installed, I'm not surprised its not quite right. Nothing they used or did was right. I'll plug on and see if I can at least get the front square. It really doesn't matter too much if the back is angled.

That's what it looked like when I finished work for the day. There are still several bolts to install plus lock nuts. I'll have to go over all the bolts with a wrench later, just to make sure everything is tight. It's looking like the bottom will be held on by between 24 and 32 bolts. The top will be held together by a similar number. I think I can defy 1000lbs of battery to cause that lot to sheer. The extra long bolts will be trimmed after the lock nuts have been installed.

I had a casualty. One of my 4.7mm drill bits broke. Perhaps I should say I broke it. I'd drilled through a metal section and the section moved when I was drilling through the second piece. Needless to say, the drill bit objected. Fortunately I had a spare.

Unless I can get a lot done tomorrow, this underbody compartment looks like it could drag on for a couple more weekends. Having said that, its getting ever closer to completion.

In Tractor Supply yesterday I saw some very interesting U bolts. Those could come in handy for my water tanks. That is, of course, if I can bolt through C or I section rather than box section.

I'm beginning to think that I might have to investigate welding. The same nuts on the bus forums advised against Harbor Freight gasless wire welders but then they never think much of non premium solutions. This is of course typical of forums!

After completing the basic compartment construction, the next stage will be to investigate attaching the compartment underneath the bus. I'm expecting to have to trim some of the girder sections. Honestly, I can't wait to be rid of the hillbilly compartment. Left to my own devices, I'd have simply not put an underbody compartment. If I'd had the bus straight from the depot, there are a few things I'd have done differently. One thing is, rather than simply laying plywood over the central walkway, I'd have removed the central walkway!


As it is, the floor has a slight arch in the centre because of the walkway. As it had to be removed as one section, I couldn't do much about it without ripping up the entire floor. Having said that, I suspect that might have been a better option.

Lol. What a load of plonkers!

Out of interest, I had another look at the bus conversion forum online. Yup... They're still mostly plonkers. I put a simple question about paint and had answers from the outlandish to the ridiculous. Not one could name a barrier primer nor the best value economy top coat yet they all claim to have busses and all claim to have repainted them!

Today I visited Tractor Supply. I didn't buy much. In fact I spent less than $10 but in addition to 100 10-24 nuts and two M4 bolts. I got some 1\4x20 bolts, nuts and lock nuts. Thinking about it, I'd probably have been better off buying all my nuts and bolts from Tractor Supply as they sell them by the pound!

The 1\4x20 bolts will carry way in excess of 1200lbs before sheering. Again, looking for the sheer strength online produced very dubious looking figures. My usual go-to source of The Handbook of Chemistry and Physics didn't have anything bar a definition of sheer strength. Perhaps my engineering handbook would but at the moment it cannot be located.

The 4mm bolt did the biz. This screws into my electro magnet nicely. The bolt is a shade too long but I can always space it off with washers or even trim the bolt a shade with my angle grinder. All I need is to bolt one to a steel bracket and the other to the underside of the latch and the bracket to the bulkhead beneath the latch and its a very simple electro unlocking mechanism. They always say to keep it simple!

If the dual electro magnet affair works as hoped then it would be possible to add remote unlocking. Remote locking could be more challenging, however.

Thinking about a pull on the front door to close it, I realised that as I have a penchant for large size keyrings, I could put a small hook on the outside of the door and use my keyring to pull it shut. Thus I would also be more certain of not locking my keys in the bus!

Spot the silly

I goofed. My plan had been for two electric magnets set to repel each other but being extremely risk averse I ordered just one. If I had ordered two, the lock would be working this weekend. The magnet worked well on the test. Incidentally, attaching it has been solved as it seems to have a threaded hole. I tried an M5 bolt but it was too big so I assume it's an M4. Being from China, its unlikely to be an imperial thread. The plan is to screw one to the underside of the latch and one to a bracket under the latch then when powered simultaneously thge two should repel each other with sufficient force to spring the latch.

This weekend the plan is to install the skeleton of the new battery/cable compartment after demolishing the old compartment. Because of the fact I'll be using bolts, the skeleton will stand inside of the aperture by about quarter of an inch. The compartment will not be waterproof but will be splash proof. The floor might end up as wood but that's not definite and might not remain wood forever.

The water tanks remain problematic. I can see a company in Ohio offering 15 gallon drums for $30 each. The company website is broken so its not possible to make enquiries. If shipping is $20 a drum as normal then they're still way cheaper than specially designed tanks. If I used 4 tanks then $80 of shipping would cover 40 gallons of gasoline or approximately 800 miles of driving which wouldn't really cover the distance.

Meanwhile, local enquiries about tanks are yielding nothing. Online enquiries are yielding very suspect websites and strange looking craigslist deals. It's looking rather challenging at the moment. On the other hand, just about everything on the bus has been a challenge.

The bus has definitely been a learning experience. While I haven't got everything perfect, its pretty good. The paint has been a problem that was not entirely unexpected. I'd had doubts about painting over cellulose due to things I've heard. Ideally I'd use cellulose paint but since it seems not to be available in gallon cans, I'm stuck with other kinds of paint. Clearly oil paint doesn't work too well or it could have been Rustoleum being a bit weird. I'm wondering about a barrier undercoat.

Sheer strength

Not knowing the sheer strength of my 10-24 bolts, I asked Fastenal who were the suppliers and they reckoned on 1200lbs. Thus, they seem ideally suited for my battery compartment. I will, of course put them in multiples, just in case. I had a feeling they were the right bolts when I bought them. In any case, steel rivets would have had a sheer strength of 700lbs.

Yesterday I spoke of the difficulty of getting work. Here is a prime example: I applied online to one of the jobs advertised as being local and had this response.

Clearly I applied for a position on Indeed.com. That's evidenced by the email subject of "Patient Relations Call Center Representative job in Columbia, SC". I receive an email telling me to "come in and apply for this position." So, which is it? A job I applied for or a job I didn't apply for?

Obviously it was a fake job put up by an agency that leaves honey traps to collect resumes. Aside from this being exceedingly dishonest and immoral, they expect me to come to an office over 20 miles from my home and 40 miles from my job, at a time when I will be at work. It's incredibly rude for them to expect me to miss work just to come to waste time and money on a visit to an office without it being an actual interview with an actual employer. If the job was actually working FOR Roper Staffing as a bona fide employee at their office then OK but a spurious visit? Good God, if they think I have time to waste plus gas money to waste on whatever this is, they're insane! Sadly, this kind of thing is so common with agencies that I skip any advert that looks like its from an agency. Needless to say, that leaves very few genuine jobs online. In 20+ years I have never had anything from agencies bar my time and money being utterly wasted.

Hence, since admin and senior admin seem to be treated by South Carolina employers as a "women only" job, I'm building the bus so I can get a job with more forward looking, modern world employers. Indeed, its so bad in Columbia that I rarely apply for jobs here. As an example, I applied for a job, had an email requesting me to ring to book an interview and was told there were no jobs. My lady friend rang 30 minutes later and was told there were lots of jobs and to come on in. That's just one of many examples of sexism in Columbia, SC.

On the path of Houdini

Houdini could open any lock. I'm almost there myself with the front door locking mechanism. Today my electro magnet arrived from China.

The magnet apparently runs off 9v so after a long hunt I located a pp3 battery. It was inside a radio transmitter detector that had been lurking in my drawer since I'd had to track down some unauthorized listening devices in my old home. The battery was several years old yet it powered the magnet very successfully. Indeed, it even grabbed onto the door locking mechanism strongly enough for me to lift the latch.

As the magnet didn't seem to have much grabbing range its probably going to be best used as a repelling magnet. I'll mount a permanent magnet on the underside of the latch and the magnet can repel it in order to lift the latch. That's the plan anyway.

Also arrived today was my Nema 5-15P socket. I tried it with my plugs and it all worked perfectly. Now all I have to do is to rebuild the battery/cable compartment. I tried both plugs and they both fit nicely into the socket as can be seen from the combined socket, plug photo.

Speaking of the battery/cable compartment, the bolts and lock nuts arrived that are intended for use in the new compartment. I'd been afraid they'd be too thin but looking at them, they'll be fine. I'll use many more than I think I'll need, just for security.

I can't find the sheet strength for the bolts but given the entire weight that needs to be supported will be probably 20lbs for the compartment frame plus 55lbs for each of two batteries plus say 30lbs for luck then doubling it all in order to allow for rough roads. That's a grand total of 160lbs. Assuming each bolt will bear 10lbs then 16 would be needed. An unverified online source states 200 lbs sheer strength per bolt. That sounds doable. Another online source quoted 700lbs. I'm being conservative and reckoning 20lbs per bolt. I don't want 160lbs of battery compartment falling on the ground!

The shower sucked!

Again today I moved the bus. It wasn't quite where I wanted it and its still not exactly in the right place but it's good enough. It started though not as easily as yesterday. Clearly I need to put a battery maintaining solar panel in place.

Next I slipped under the bus and loosened the shower pipe nut. Tomorrow I might slip under again to check whether there's any leakage from my plumbing work.

Having loosened the pipe, I went into the bus and took the drain out of my shower pan before adjusting the hole in the floor to better accommodate the nut on the bottom of the shower pan and then adjusted the underside of the pan. There were ridges where the pan would have a waterproof washer. I smoothed those out then reassembled, adding copious quantities of plumbers glue.

Finally the shower base was all tightened down. Some say my $18 rubber shower base won't last long. People fail to realize none of this has to last a long time. It can all be upgraded when finances allow. Right now I'm having to do everything all at once and that's taking all my budget.

Next I tried the battery powered shower unit. It seemed to work well enough though there were two issues. First it didn't lift the water very high. That could be the alkaline batteries. Perhaps it'll work better with rechargeable. Secondly the Chenglish instructions aren't that great.

To get the pump to work I had to pump a manual pump on the bottom of the head unit in order to prime the pump. That should tell you right there that it's not a top quality unit. The good stuff self primes. It's just a weak motor - possibly an impeller.

Having said all that, it worked quite well. It did lift the water about three feet. The reviews of the unit are poor but I really think that for $20 or thereabouts, its not bad. The pump unit can always be replaced with something more powerful. As I said earlier, I'm doing all the construction over about a year. Even though I'm not now paying much rent, $9 an hour doesn't pay for much especially when it's part time. Sadly, that's all I can get at the moment. That's the basic reason for the bus - cheaper accommodation and I can drive to where the work is. Clearly there's none anywhere near Columbia, South Carolina as none is advertised.

This is the key switch I ordered. It arrived a few days ago. This is a high security ignition switch from a Harley Davidson. It has to be switched on then off rather than being the momentary action switch I'd wanted. On the other hand, its not beyond the realm of possibility to make the magnet into a momentary action device. Needless to say, the magnet is now speeding its way from China with the urgency of a retarded snail!

Meanwhile, I have two tasks I can complete. The first is finishing the cleaning then the decor of the bus. There is, of course, the battery compartment. I might investigate how much it would cost to have the brackets welded. That way I can get a couple of dozen 1\4 x 20 nuts and bolts and be done.

How disheartening!

Today I went to the bus with the intention of painting the roof. It seems the Rustoleum on the roof is now beginning to peel. More areas of the sides are peeling too. Clearly there's something amiss with the Rustoleum. Indeed, I contacted Rustoleum and they agreed it shouldn't be peeling and bubbling and announced they were sending some form of refund. Obviously they must know something about that batch for them to be sending a refund.



That was pretty disheartening. I have a small pot of grey Rustoleum that I was planning to use to complete the roof painting. Having seen all that, I've decided I'm not going to waste my time putting more Rustoleum up if all its going to do is peel. Clearly at some point I'm going to have to repaint the whole bus. It kinda spoils the effect but I need the bus completed, paint is something that can be left til last.

Meanwhile, my battery powered shower unit arrived as did my Harley Davidson ignition switch. They're waiting on my unlocking gizmo and my completing the plumbing.

The water tanks are proving troublesome to obtain. It seems to cost $20 a tank for shipping. Secondhand 15 gallon tanks seem to be $20 which is ludicrous for something that's only $40 brand new. I have a feeling I'll end up driving to the manufacturer in Georgia to get brand new tanks. It's 200 miles in each direction. At 19mpg and $2 per gallon, that's going to cost $42 or the cost of shipping two barrels.

Given the ludicrous cost of standard water tanks, even with the ludicrous shipping costs and having to buy new barrels they still work out cheaper.

A few days ago, I bought a lot of cheap 10-24 nuts and bolts. Those might be good enough to hold the forthcoming battery compartment together if enough are used. They're each apparently capable of 55 kilograms. Its hard to find good figures for bolt strengths online. So many sites are such unreliable garbage. I'm sure I have a mechanical handbook somewhere. There's no rush though as I haven't cut all the steel yet.

Speaking of cutting steel, that was another task that never got done today. In order to paint the roof, I had to move the bus. In order to move the bus, I had to start the engine. Oops! Flat battery. Clearly either I have a bad battery or something is draining it. Thus, the battery is currently on charge.

So, the sum total of today is nothing. I got depressed and that's about it. With luck, tomorrow should be better.

Nothing much

Today was a day when I didn't even enter my bus. I did, however, manage to get 200 two inch 10-24 bolts online for less than 3 cents each. They're zinc plated ordinary steel with a strength of 700lbs. I did get some nylon insert lock nuts to go with them. If need be I can get ordinary nuts cheaply at Home Depot. That's if I find out necessary to pair a nut with a lock nut.

The heaviest thing the bolts will be supporting is two 50lb batteries plus the compartment. I'll be fastening everything in multiple locations so I'd imagine by the time I've built it, I could probably lift the bus using it. I tend to build things strongly.

The neat thing about the bolts is that unlike steel rivets I don't need to buy an expensive extra riveter to employ them. Steel rivets cost more than the bolts did and of course aluminum rivets just aren't strong enough. If I need an extra spanner, they're dirt cheap. Basically, the bolts are a tried and trusted low cost option.

Meanwhile my battery powered shower arrived. It looks to be of decent quality though only time will tell. I'll probably test it tomorrow. The big hold up now is those blasted water tanks. As I said, those are probably going to be my biggest problem.

I contacted a couple of companies selling new 15 gallon barrels and not one responded. Clearly business must be so good that they can't handle more. Either that or its yet another example of US customer service leading the world in suckiness.

Daylight robbery!

I've been subjected to two of the most appalling acts of robbery known to man or beast. The first was last night during a spell of insomnia when I actually paid $19 for a key switch to use with my forthcoming door opening device. I'd have had too go and have a good lie down after that had I not already been lying down on the job!

The key switch chosen is a high security ignition switch from a Harley Davidson. It's one of the circular keys. I'd have used a cheaper switch if it hadn't looked as though a two year old with a paperclip could have operated it without having seen a key.

The second bit of daylight robbery arrived this morning in the form of a demand for tax for my bus. The cheek of it!

They want a whole $23.40 and they're not even offering any discounts! I'm definitely going to have to sell the deeds to Brooklyn Bridge to pay for that one!

Meanwhile, after work, I sat on the bus for a while, enjoying the sound of the crickets outside. I really should get on with work on the bus but since it's now dark shortly after I arrive home, work has now to be weekends only.

I'm still hunting for 15 gallon barrels and drawing a complete blank. This is most frustrating and, as I predicted, I'll probably end up having to pay through the nose for something paltry. 55 gallon barrels are easy to get but are way too big. If all else fails, the plastic totes might suffice. Actually, for the fresh water supply a plastic tote could be better because of its known origin and known previous content. The foul water container just has to have a way of emptying. That could either be via a pump or a faucet. They each have advantages and disadvantages.

This weekend, the plan is to rebuild the battery/cable compartment the hillbillies built. I have to get steel rivets and a better rivet gun or a bag of nuts and bolts. Either way of construction has advantages and disadvantages.

The front door unlocking

In order to unlock the front door of the bus, a latch holding the opening handle closed has to be lifted. When the latch is down the door cannot be opened. When its up, it can be opened from inside or from outside.

The goal is to lift the latch from outside. The fellow at the dodgy lock company suggested a string and said nobody would think of that as an unlocking method. Typical! My thought is to use an electro magnet to lift the latch or perhaps attach a permanent magnet to the underside of the latch and use the electro magnet to raise the latch.

Today, rather than make an electro magnet (which I could) I bought this one.

It has a 50 newton lifting force which means it should lift 5kg (11lbs). The cable will go to either a key switch or to a key pad. It all depends how fancy I feel. In the spirit of keeping it simple, perhaps just the key switch.

Apparently the magnet works off 9v so if a standard PP3 battery will do it, that's what I'll use. Otherwise, it could be 6 D cells. Those should last a good long time since they won't be used for many seconds at a time. It really is high time I had a way of getting in and out that didn't involve acrobatics. It's almost as bad as the Dukes of Hazard sliding in and out through their car window!

The key switch I can get at any stage. I want to make sure the system works before putting more money in than I have to. I've already bought quite a few bits and pieces that haven't been used for one reason or another and a few that just plain didn't work or that worked for the job for which they were purchased but not for later jobs.

I'm still baffled about what caused the paint on the hood to break up and what caused it to break up on the side of the body in two places. This is most mysterious. All fixed now though.


I did tweet about it to Rustoleum and was given a number to call. I don't know when I'm going to be in an area with cell phone reception and when I'll have time. I spend half my day in areas not covered by cell phones and can only barely get reception where I'm living.

C'est la vie!

Today I pulled out the grit blaster and attempted to use it on the flaked paintwork. First in went sugar. I pulled the trigger and had nothing bar air. Putting my hand over the filler cap, there was suction. Figuring the sugar might be too thick, I replaced it with baking soda. Again, suction and a good blast of air but no soda. In the end I put it away and got the electric drill with a wire brush attachment. Probably an hour later, I had all the loose paint off. Oddly enough, the soda blasting hadn't been terribly effective the previous time.

As far a returning the grit blaster is concerned, it'd take an hour of driving in each direction plus nearly 3 gallons of gasoline. It's just not cost efficient. That is, of course, without mentioning I'd have to pass over the rickety Lake Murray dam.

So, having scraped the affected paint off, I cleaned away the debris and set to work painting. I had thought of using the sprayer but I was done in an hour using just a paintbrush. I'd have been done earlier if I'd not messed about getting the air compressor set up only to have to put it away again. That Harbor Freight cheap stuff is very hit and miss. Mostly its OK but sometimes you get a real dog.

I scraped the ends of the two leaky seams on the roof and sprayed rust killer. Later I applied silicone caulk. In theory, that should be the end of the unexpected repairs. It's becoming very clear that I have to start working on the front door unlocking gizmo. Climbing in and out through emergency exits with the aid of a stepladder is definitely for the birds!

I'm sure you'll admit that looks better. Despite having scraped the loose paint very thoroughly, I'm sure I've missed enough to need to do more work later.

For a long time, construction debris has been a source of friction. Today I took steps to remove debris. This will take a while; weeks in fact.

I didn't get to do anything that I wanted to do this weekend as it was all repairs. One thing I did do was to paint over my NSA2011 signs. I figured they might be a hindrance to getting it reregistered as a motorhome. Some nut at the DMV might consider it to be an impersonation of a government vehicle. I can always redo it later though I'm more in favor of anonymity, these days.

The roof never saw a lick of paint. I figure I'll get to that, maybe next week. It really needs a second coat but I want to wait for the silicone caulk to harden first. With luck, there'll be heavy rain tomorrow that should test my weather proofing.

China wins again!

I've had major issues with US based suppliers of Nema L6-30 FI connectors. They just don't seem to want to sell the product they advertise. Twice I've had my order cancelled by some joker that says I cancelled yet I did not. Then I found a local supplier that wanted $50 for a $15 part. Others wanted $80 for a $15 part. So, the upshot was I went back to eBay and ordered the part from a Chinese supplier. I expect it will be delivered next week. I just don't get why this is such a problem for US suppliers. It's not as though customer service is a challenging skill. Equally US suppliers seem mathematically challenged. Surely its better to sell 100 of an item at $1 profit per item than to sell 1 at $40 profit?

It rained very heavily overnight. Thus when I checked the inside of the bus, I was pleased to note that water ingress where the ingress had been bad was down to a few drops. The bedroom was down too but there was still a small puddle.

Not so welcome was what had happened to my paintwork. It looks like somebody has thrown acid over the paint. I'm pretty sure they haven't but the hood will have to be redone. There's paint peeling off the rub rails too though curiously only in tiny patches and only on the tops. The roof of the bus is unaffected. It can't be the baking soda because that was all over the roof and the roof is unaffected. It's just the hood (where there was no baking soda) and selected areas on one side of the bus. Notably, under a tree but the tree is only by some affected areas.


If it was a problem with my painting Rustoleum over cellulose then surely the paint would have bubbled universally yet it has not. I'll have to load my sprayer with sugar, sugar blast the affected paint (which peels away in big flakes) then repaint with Rustoleum. Perhaps I'll spray this time.

When its dry, I'll head back to the roof and will attend to the questionable seam. Clearly I missed something. I might just as well work on the other seams while I'm up there - adding more silicone.

The rain came down heavily again, putting paid to the motion of more work outside or under the bus. Indeed, even going out to the bus was too much of a challenge. The rain was that heavy!

Turkey day!

No. It's too early for Thanksgiving but not too early for online turkeys. They say things come in threes and I have two so far.

In my work toward completing the bus, I ordered a Nema 6-30P inlet off some twit on eBay. Needless to say, a couple of days after I ordered, I suddenly had a bizarre note to the effect my paid order was cancelled at my request. No such request had been made. I wouldn't mind betting they advertised something they didn't possess!

In my work toward a solar system, my plan is to use rechargeable D cells for my lighting etc, I hunted around online for information. Drawing pretty much a blank, I put a question on a solar power group. Let's just say nobody ever read my question and I won't be back.

Yesterday for $15 I saw a simplistic solar charger in Harbor Freight. It was basically a solar panel and a diode plus an expensive plastic box. Somehow I doubt it'd live up to its claims. I remember trying to charge a cellphone off a larger solar panel. It took a full week to get enough charge for a 15 minute conversation.

The third turkey arrived today. This is why I'm building my motorhome, of course. The positions available in South Carolina don't put food on the table for they all pay 3rd world wages with 3rd world employment conditions. Indeed, South Carolina is a 3rd world country in the middle of the richest country on earth! I'd applied for an admin position on one of the jobs websites. I had an email back...
I got your resume from a job you applied for on Monster.com.  I just wanted to follow up with you to see what you are looking for in your job hunt and to see if I could assist you in your career search.  Please contact me if you are available to come in and meet with me about how I can help you in your search.
That was a bit suspicious. Clearly the position I'd applied for was the same level of fakery as that mysterious Nigerian prince that wants to give me millions of dollars. I played along...
I'm looking for admin/office/clerical, preferably as a manager but I'll take lower positions if it means a job with a future, real wages and full time hours.

I presume the position I applied for was clickbait rather than a real job?
The fellow responded, denying that the position was clickbait while at the same time, proving that it was...
Our job posting usually cover more than one position since they have similar requirements.  Currently we have 12 administrative assistant positions that all have similar requirements, so instead of posting 12 separate opening, we can cover more ground with 5 or 6 postings.  That being said, they are all real jobs.  Please let me know if you would like to come in and meet with me so I could assist you in your hunt.
 
I look forward to hearing from you.
There's all this emphasis on coming into their office for no clearly visible reason. I'm wondering if it's like the college that asked me to interview then appeared to ask for a bribe. I don't do bribes. Maybe that's why I have such problems finding work? Maybe I'm just too honest? Well, I'd rather be honest than compromise my principals! So, I responded...
I'm happy for you to assist. I remain to be convinced that spending time and money on coming to see you will achieve anything that cannot be achieved via email or telephone.

You have seen my resume. I went a little over the top by putting full job duties instead of the main ones but as you can see, I've been doing admin/clerical/office all my life. With 12 vacancies, I would welcome your putting me forward for them.
Needless to say, since I clearly wasn't going to be a cornucopia for the guy, showering him in chocolates, champagne, roses (or God knows what else), I never heard back from him. And agencies wonder why I block their phone numbers!

Meanwhile, an email arrived from my dad suggesting I put a deadline on finding a decent job in the US. Then simply sell everything at the deadline and just write off the US and go back to an equally uncertain future in Britain.

Today I worked more on the roof seams. They all need work. Truthfully, they all need to be sandblasted, painted and caulked professionally. All I can do is to treat the worst and hope for the best. It's going to rain tomorrow so that's all I have time to do.

It was just a case of caulking where I'd sprayed with anti rust etc. Oddly enough, I'd just done that when the sky began to darken. Clearly I finished the caulking just in time, even though rain is not forecast until tomorrow.

When I worked on the roof a few months ago, I painstakingly climbed up and down a ladder. This time, it seems easier to climb up the ladder then on the way down to slide onto the hood then climb down from the hood. In theory I could do that in reverse using a pair of folding step stools. That would take so little room I could make a pair of step stools part of normal equipment.

A small thing done as well was to fasten the CB radio aerial cable into place using silicone caulk. I taped it with aluminum tape while the silicone sets. I must admit it looks tidier. One day I might even get around to replacing the drivers fan!

After that I commenced work on the battery/cable compartment by cutting some of the steel bedframes that were in the bus. The aperture seems to be 24 inches wide so I'm cutting the frame to 29 inches to working space.

The plan is to make the compartment capable of holding a marine deep cycle battery in addition to the breaker box. Dependent upon the size of the battery, I might make space for two.

In other news, I'd ordered a Nema 6-30P inlet from Amazon since the jerk on eBay decided to cancel my order. It must be the same jerk under a different name. He cancelled the order again, claiming again that I cancelled yet I know I did not. Well, perhaps that was for the best because I've had a different idea on how to achieve my goal. I'm rather more in favor of using a standard 5-15 pair of inlets with the 30A cable ending in a Y junction. That would have the effect that I could use a standard household cable to plug into one inlet or a 30a cable to plug into a splitter. As I'm aiming for low power usage, the 5-15 has much merit!

The marine battery specifications are decent enough for low power usage. By that I'm thinking charging D cells, AA cells, phones etc and possibly also using a small electric element for boiling water in a cup etc. It's 105AH, 44lbs and measures 11x10x7. That means I could have two in the compartment in an L formation or even two in there side by side.

I continued cutting the long members for the compartment until I had four the same length. The offcuts are between 18 and 19 inches long. They will be trimmed to 14 inches. That will allow a battery to be seated end on. Looking at the official battery compartment, there is a roof over it. That, presumably, is designed as a fire guard should the battery catch fire. It looks a good idea and since steel is plentiful I'll probably implement something similar.

I am definitely on the home stretch!

50 miles for what?

Today I took a 50 mile round trip drive to Harbor Freight. Nobody else stocked a grit blaster. It wasn't expensive either. Of course, I paid $2 more to get one with a bigger hopper though in practice it wasn't necessary.

Rather than paying $35 for a huge bag of soda, I went to Walmart and got 3 boxes of soda for $2 each. As it turned out, I didn't even finish one box.

What with driving and so on, I didn't do an awful lot then just after I'd blasted all of the seams that needed attention, the sun went and hid itself. The soda wasn't all that abrasive. Perhaps I might have been better using sugar but all the loose rust and loose paint flakes have gone.

After that, each area was sprayed with rust killing spray. Tomorrow the plan is to repaint each seam with grey Rustoleum and then, when that's dry to go over the affected seams with silicone caulk. Following that, there is a plan to repaint the entire roof since it wasn't fully covered when I rollered it in December.

An area where I had previously used rust killer remained rust free. Clearly the stuff works! The silicone had not stuck well to it so I'll paint and the silicone will stick to paint.

Looking at the steel of the old bed frames, it looks ideal for the battery/cable compartment. I had thought of it as too heavy but it looks good enough. The floor of the compartment might have to be plywood for speed and economy. Unlike the hillbillies, I'll be painting my plywood and keeping it drained and ventilated.

The roof

Yesterday I hunted in vain for a tool to use with the compressor to blast the silicone sealant out of the affected seams on the bus. The plan was to use sugar as the blasting compound principally because its more available and cheaper than alternatives.

Proceeding gingerly along the roads, there was little to no sign of flood damage. Indeed, I had to make a detour to see any. Clearly although the flooding has been tragic, the areas I normally visit have been spared. One would not know this, given the constant media coverage. Indeed, I even saw some articulated trucks on the road. Clearly the fears of road instability have been greatly over stated. Indeed this is probably why so many people are ignoring roadblocks.

Visiting store after store, the story was the same at each one. They had grit blasting tools listed but none ever carried in the store despite what the company website claimed. The one place that would have them was Harbor Freight but as visiting them would involve crossing the somewhat suspect Lake Murray dam, I passed on the chance. Instead I shall investigate to see if small areas can be repaired and shall put tape over the affected seams. Maybe after the floods and danger diminish, I can visit Harbor Freight.

The alternative to Harbor Freight is either Northern Tool and a trip across the dam or heating the silicone and scraping it out manually. Had I started that yesterday rather than wasting fuel and hours driving, I could have been done. That would have been today's plan had I not had another fever. It seems I have some kind of rolling virus. I gather others complain of the same virus and how it lasts about a month. That must have been shy yesterday's shopping was do tiring and lackluster.

Today I purchased from eBay a battery powered shower head. The basic plan is to heat water, dump it into my cooler then use that water to shower with. Unlike other shower heads, this one is powered by 4 D cells.

The advantage there is that unlike the rechargeable shower heads with built in batteries, the batteries can be changed. Unlike the 12v plugin shower heads, it runs off a power supply with more possibilities. By that I mean that if I don't have freshly charged D cells, I can use alkaline D cells. Coincidentally, my LED lantern also uses D cells.

That all has me thinking about solar panels to charge AA and D cells. For simple small cell charging, the solar panel need not be gigantic nor expensive. Indeed, 4 D cells might be all that's needed to power my forthcoming front door unlocking system.

Looking at the solar panels available is pretty mind boggling! The whole thing seems vastly complicated. All I want to do is to put a small solar panel on the roof, connect it to a battery charger inside the bus and be done. It's not simple though. As ever, it seems that what I want to do is unusual and not catered toward.

A short term fix for my plumbing came to me this morning. Yesterday while in Walmart I noticed 5 gallon gas cans. My thought is to collect waste water under the bus in a bucket then decant to a 5 gallon gas can for subsequent disposal. For potable water, a few off the shelf camp water containers would work.

Needless to say, these are all inexpensive things that can easily be upgraded at a later stage. Even the cable compartment, rickety as it is, can be upgraded at a later stage. Consideration has to be therefore given to completing the shower plumbing and the interior soft furnishings.

Despite feeling pretty rough, I managed to put a few minutes in, painting the galley floor. It could probably stand more work to attain perfection but it's pretty good. The next thing will be to put a movable vinyl floor covering such as those that protect carpets from mauling by the wheels of swivel chairs.

There are pits and dents in the plywood of the floor. These are due to the plywood the hillbillies laid being of low quality. Still, those sections were in good enough condition not to have to redo which is why they were left. This is probably why they tiled their floor with such disastrous consequences.

Idly I considered visiting the roof. There is an area that needs more grey paint but the paint can is in the middle of the galley workbench which cannot be accessed due to wet paint! Grabbing the ladder, I leaned it against the bus more in hope than anticipation.

As tomorrow is also a non work day, due to the recent floods, I can leave roof stuff until tomorrow. I'll probably just tape the seams with aluminum tape if I can't clearly see any possible leak sites. At least then, it'll all be done. I did look online at a Harbor Freight grit blasting attachment. Online its $17.99 plus $6.99 shipping. Instore it'll likely be the same but a quick calculation showed that gas getting to and from the store was likely to be $4.30 plus a couple of hours time. I think the wear and tear on my car is more than the $2.69 saving. That is, of course, if I opt to clean out the seams instead of taping and painting.

That's what I was going to do. What I really ended up doing was to head to the roof anyway. It took one trip and a look to see the problem. What has happened is rust has lifted the silicone sealant and allowed water underneath.

The three affected seams aren't too bad. It puts paid to my idea of using a wire brush though. I need to get under the seam more than I can with a brush. This looks like it will have to be a grit blaster and the sooner the better! I'll have to hit Harbor Freight tomorrow. For the moment the seams are duct taped against unexpected rain. It looks like I need a lot of rust killing paint and probably some real baking soda since I don't need to blast out silicone. Oddly enough the hard to remove silicone came off easily with a razor blade. I'm glad I caught it before it became too bad. I have no idea what the other seams are really like though they seem OK. The good news is that where I applied rust killer before, without removing any rust, there was very little live rust.

South Carolina floods

This is what remains of the road close to where I live. Given that many bridges, roads, dams and homes have been compromised by the recent floods caused by the record-breaking 30 inches of rain over the past few days, its probably pretty safe to say that the roads leading to and from my workplace are impassable. Indeed, due to that I might even be correct to consider that I now need a new job.

Leakage inside my bus overnight was minimal. As its still raining, I couldn't go to put tape on the roof. In fact, aside from looking at things in the bus, I really didn't do anything today.

I'm lucky to be parked on high ground in the countryside. I hear there's major flooding in lower lying areas with many people now being homeless. In the cities and some residential suburbs, looting has become a problem. Much of South Carolina is currently under curfew from 7pm to 6am or dusk til dawn.

If I am correct in needing a new job then my bus is all but ready for living. At a pinch, it is usable - even without running water.

Sanity vs forums

It is very interesting to compare Eric's response to my leaky roof to the forum response. The forum response was to spend $200 on a roof sealant whereas Eric's response was to fix the leaks. I think that tells me pretty much what I knew already. Forums are a waste of my time reading because behind basics the users are full of dangerous or expensive ideas. It brings me back to what somebody I met once said: if your only contact is via a computer, how do you know the person you're talking to his even human? I've already deleted one forum because the users were antisocial and childish. Perhaps it's time to recognize that I really am on my own doing the bus conversion.

As a temporary measure, the first dry day, I shall head to the roof with duct tape. That'll buy me time until I can get the joints soda blasted, painted, sealed and taped with tar based tape.

After last night's heavy downpour I hastened to check the state of the inside of the bus. The bedroom tabletop had a puddle of water on top. The bathroom had water on both sides. The galley had water only on one side. That leak is quite bad as the drip catcher I'd set up was almost full!

I'm jolly glad I only have three leaky seams and that the water ingress was mostly caught. I tipped that outside so now its ready for tonight's downpour!

I checked my new electrical connectors. Behold! They don't fit together!

It seems that I'd inadvertently bought an L5-30 socket and L6-30 connectors. Oops. So, I've had to order the correct socket. I've now got two sockets I can't use but two plugs I can. I'd much rather they weren't locking plugs but they are and I'm in deep enough now that I really don't want to change my route.

I went back to the bus and discovered my water catcher had a teaspoon of water already in it. The hardboard is pretty soaked and had fallen down. Attempts to replace it weren't highly successful until I changed to a bigger, more stable drip container.

Looking at my microwave, the inside is pretty rusty. There seem to be rust bubbles on the outside too. Given that the thing was used between November of 2011 and April of 2015, that's unacceptable. The warranty was a year or basically, long enough for Walmart to get you out of the door.

Given that it would take a lot of work to fix and since microwaves use a hell of a lot of power, I'm wondering what to do. I suspect paying $50 for a new microwave makes the most sense.

Meanwhile, I'm looking at the floor. I painted some of it yesterday but it's not yet dry. I am thinking of putting more plastic covering down like I did in the bedroom. Sadly I don't have quite enough though.

As it came from Walmart, I'd already looked for more but was unable to find it. Asking Walmart online so far has led nowhere, leading me to wonder if it was a special, end of line or an oddity.

As its currently still raining and raining with the heaviest downpour in history, its nice to note that only 3 seams on the bus are leaking. I shall have to attend to those seams as soon as possible. I particularly want to deal with rust.

The procedure will probably be to blast the existing sealant out then brush clear, paint with anti rust paint, caulk liberally with silicone caulk then I might put that tarred flashing up that Eric was mentioning. The goal is to be leak free. Once the leaking seams are dealt with, I might add flashing over the non-leaking seams just to be sure, particularly since climbing on the roof isn't easy without a ladder!

I still have to install frosted curtains over the bathroom windows and curtains over the others. Priority has to go to leak sealing. Then I can work on other things.

Bus leaks

Well, it seems the bus leaks could well be due to poorly applied silicone sealant. I had to patch somebody else's sorry excuse for silicone sealing. There are two ways forward:
1. The best method which involves drilling out the roof rivets and replacing the rubber seals.
2. Removing the bad silicone seals and replacing them.

Option one would need probably two or more clones of me, all working 24x7 for a week. I'd also need a big garage in which to work on a 35 foot long, 10 foot high vehicle and that had enough clearance for me! That's just not feasible. Then there's the little matter of finding rivets big enough and a riveter that could handle them.

So, option two. Removing silicone is a difficult task. It can be done manually using a razor blade and a wire brush. This is not easy however. A better method is to use a soda blaster. Soda is relatively inexpensive and the blaster would fit on an available compressor. Having done that, its a case of painting and resealing, both of which are relatively quick jobs. As an emergency measure, duct tape could be used. There is a tarred aluminum tape available but that's a British thing that might not be available in the USA.

Looking around, soda blasters go for horrible prices but soda blaster guns seem to be between $18 and $35. There's no particular reason why other powders cannot be used. I have in mind, flour, sugar and ground coffee. As long as everything is bone dry, there is no reason on earth why sugar could not be used. Painting and sealing would have to be done quickly or the first moisture would generate a sticky mess.

I gather respirators and face masks are highly recommended for any kind of blasting operations. I did have a full face mask once but I think I left it behind at a former residence.

For the moment, until I can get a dry enough day to go on the roof, I'm just trying to aim the drips into a less harmful place. Today I noticed a third drip area inside the bus. Clearly I have several seams to blast, paint and caulk.

I didn't do anything inside the bus today. There's really not much left to do. I decided my curtains will have magnets to hold them to the bus. That'll save messing about putting up curtain rails etc. I did want to tidy up but with wet countertops that's not really practical.

Had I been smart then I'd have put duct tape over the leaky seams a few days ago. Mind I've not been well so perhaps prancing around on a bus roof would not have been a good idea.

I did sweep some of the floor then noticed the remains of a can of white paint so I upended it and spread it around the floor. There really wasn't much.

Now that's oil based paint so in theory it should be much more durable than the latex paint I have used to date. The plan is to put the same kind of black vinyl floor covering on top of it in the areas I'll be walking on that I have on the bedroom floor. In reality the black vinyl runner was only a temporary thing but it seems semi permanent.

In other news, more of my electrical system arrived today. Two Nema 5-30 connectors. I'm waiting on the weather to abate before I can do more. Currently the road outside, such as it is, is deep in mud and quite possibly impassible. It's thus not even possible to venture to the store!

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The naysayers

A few days ago, I noticed some leaks inside the bus. I'm not quite sure where they're coming from because the likely seams have already been hit with silicone seal. Today, assuming a dry spell, would be an opportune time to have a look on the roof to see what's going on.

Needless to say, my thought of tracking down the actual leak and spot sealing it with silicone caulk or aluminum tape got poo poohed. One day I will stop paying any heed at all to what others say on allegedly sensible online groups. I bet the people that run commercial bus companies fix their leaks cheaply and easily. I bet they don't do what the people on those groups insist is the only method which is to put a $200 bucket of Kool Seal. Kool Seal didn't exist when I was young and buses didn't have leaky rooves. Clearly the Kool Seal only idea is yet another example of internet groups following their leader like lemmings. In fact, I find the vast majority of other people are a bit lemming like but this is especially pronounced in online groups. It used to be especially entertaining to go to sit in an internet cafe with a book and a cup of tea to just watch the rows of lemmings glued to computers. Indeed, my dad used to run a library and his prime complaint was of people that would sit down to play with the computer and who would be there all day, hogging the computer without even going to the bathroom. Indeed they even exhibited aggression when asked to allow others to use the computers. Basically, an addictive reaction.

As far as Kool Seal goes, $200 is a ludicrous price to pay to fix a leak that could be fixed with a small patch of tape or silicone seal. Certainly, if there were multiple leaks then an all over solution might be good. For patches, its very much overkill. I'll just never truly understand peoples thinking.

The plan otherwise was to put bolts onto all the newly installed drawers and to paint the dinette floor though with oil based paint rather than latex. As today is a day when I could be called in for work, I had an ear open for my phone while working.

The roof leak has flooded my countertop at some point. I'm glad to see the wood has not been adversely affected despite having swollen slightly. One of my receipts has been washed clean of ink, however. As soon as there's a dry day, that leak will have to be located. Had I had vinyl stuck down then the water would have caused damage. I'm glad I stuck with the cheaper option!

Meanwhile, here's a photo of my first drawer lock.

Putting it on required a piece of hardboard to space the bolt assembly off the structure. Putting the receiver on was tricky. That involved all kinds of fiddling but it worked in the end. That was the first drawer. There are seven more! I'll be so glad when this bus project is completed.

I'm very clearly still not over my recent illness. I did one bolt and had to rest due to feeling wobbly. I returned and did another two and felt more wobbly. Clearly I still have some recovery to do. Having said that, 3/8 of the bolts are now installed.

Yesterday I plugged the bus into the power supply. Today I had not just my battery hurricane lantern but a real, honest to goodness electric light in there. That made working so much easier!

Reading further about roof seals, apparently Kool Seal only lasts 5 years or so. That's $75 for what I'd call a bodged roof repair. Bus Kote is $200 and requires a protective coating which likely is another hundred or so.

The hillbillies that had the bus before me had attached hooks to the bus which probably attached a tarpaulin over the roof. Clearly their caulking didn't quite solve the problem. Thus, on the first dry day I'll put aluminum tape up and paint over it all! It might even be worth painting the seams and rivets white then putting tape then painting grey. That way, damaged areas of tape will be easily visible.

The bolts are looking quite good. I managed a further two before feeling wobbly and having to take a further break. I suspect it's going to be like this for a few days yet. Of course the bolts all work well. When they're completed, I can finish cleaning and tidying the dinette. After that I should put up curtains, paint the floor and possibly screw down the shower base as well as giving thought to securing the microwave and erecting my dry erase board.

Well, that's all 8 bolts installed. My drawers will not now open in transit. Of that, I am certain. I definitely overdid it today with activity, even just kneeling with a power drill putting in 6 screws at a time!

As far as work goes, it didn't matter whether there was reception or not - the blasted thing with 75% battery had turned itself off in my pocket! I hate Android with a passion! In fact I'm quite with those guys Eric spoke about that live in zero electricity houses! Needless to say, there was a voicemail from work but oh well. Too late to call them.

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