Painted and other news

As of this morning, the vents are now painted and the screwed on covers over the other light fixtures are painted also. I'll clean up the dribbles on the glass later.

It's always a toss-up as to whether to waste a 50c paintbrush or to use spray for small areas like this. That was decided by my finding a paintbrush and having run out of spray paint. While I was at it, I hit a few spots that had been missed before. The paint finish will never be perfect. It would only ever be perfect if I were to spend a ton of money on having the paint stripped and painted in a garage by somebody armed with more than my paintbrush and roller. For a 20 year old vehicle, that's just not a wise expenditure.

The whole point of buying a cheap bus is to do the work cheaply, by myself. If I'd wanted to spend $10,000 then I could have walked away two years ago with a ready to run motor home. I wanted something less pokey than the light truck conversion the RV place was selling though. While the shower in it was better, the rest was worse.

Having done the paintwork, my plans for the day came unraveled. I was sent on a food obtaining mission. As milady is still laid up, that meant a load of quick microwave meals. I made use of the time though. I stopped off for stuff in Tractor Supply, Home Depot, Lowes (hiss, spit), Radio Shack and Walmart.

I looked for bits to complete several projects. Having removed the flashers, I can and should remove the flasher controls. That means removing lights, switches and the flasher motor from the control panel. One of my purchases was blanks to cover the switch holes. I'm not sure I have the right ones but I'll try.

As my current solar panel can't be used outside, I'm going to put a power plug on it and a power socket on the console. That way I can plug it into the battery and while the bus is parked, the batteries can get a trickle charge.

I also got a handle which I riveted to the bus door. This way I can pull it closed from the inside. 

Having been woken every 2 hours every night by milady who is sick, I am thoroughly exhausted. This is probably why today has been a day of little achievement. Having said that, I did two other things not already mentioned. The first was to spray the inside of the front wheel arches with under seal. That at least gets rid of the last area of school bus yellow. The other thing was a minor fix for my batwing doors. One had slipped a little so I fixed it.

I'm just hoping I can get a decent sleep. It's really affecting me now.