Saturday the Fourteenth is Jason day

The wacky stuff that is alleged to happen on Friday the thirteenth finally arrived. Friday itself was quite boring but Saturday...

The first thing I did was to set out to do some welding to make a security screen for the lower back window. Thus, I got out my extension cord and found both the plug and the connector had disintegrated. The plug and connector were from Lowes (hiss, spit) and purchased new about 6 months ago. The cord had been used two or three times then put carefully in a closet on the bus and nothing put on top. In the intervening time, one plug had cracked and both plugs had broken away from the screw threads holding the two parts together. What a diabolical disaster. I can't believe Lowes (hiss, spit) had the cheek to charge for that garbage.

Working around the cable issue, I got my welding gear together and started welding with my latest rods. That didn't go at all well! The rods with no hesitation burned right through the steel.

Looking with dismay at the holes, I took my welding helmet off whereupon it immediately fell apart. Clearly Friday the Thirteenth was a late arrival! I gave up for a while.

After a rest, I carried on with plan B. That involved riveting metal strips onto the security patch. As the welding had torn up the edge of the steel sheet, I had to move the security sheet nearer to the center of the sheet of steel i had cut from an old fridge some weeks ago.
  

Having trimmed the steel and riveted the steel strips on the edge, i painted the passenger compartment side of the panel with anti-rust paint then with white appliance epoxy. At that, it was time to pack it in for the day.

Tomorrow I want to try to complete the installation, including installing it. As tomorrow has been declared by milady to be a shopping day, I'll have the opportunity to buy some needed supplies.

I need to get some plugs to cover the faucet holes on my handbasin since there won't be a faucet. I also want to get some white paint. 

Inside the bus, the temperature was 108 farenheit. That was pretty hot! As many busses in SC have white rooves, I think I will paint the roof of mine white. That will reflect some heat at least.

TThe next stage will be to add extraction fans. I have a usable solar panel that I can glue to the roof. Today I had it connected  to a CPU fan. It worked pretty well though I probably need to add a capacitor to collect low current in order to give the fan a starting boost.

I'm not initially going to have a battery or a generator nor a fresh water tank. Those can be added at any time as can a modified swamp cooler.