It was bloody hot today!

It seemed hit though the temperature was only 95 inside the bus. I dropped with sweat but got a few small things done. It wasn't a day of spectacular achievement.

Isn't that a boring photo? There's nothing there but that really is the point. I'd peeled off the sign that gave rules for bus riders. Today I finished scraping off the no guns sign. Now that is gone, I have a clean area. I'm not sure what I'll do with it but I didn't want the sign there any more. It's not as though it is a school bus any more. Removing the last remnants took quite a few minutes. Possibly half an hour. I think I've been chipping away at that sign for weeks - it really was that hard to remove. A quick wipe with paint thinner and the glue was gone.

While I had the thinner out, I cleaned the circuit diagram that Carpenter pasted on the inside of the back of the top compartment. I can read it more easily now, even though a lot of it isn't really relevant now, what with the bits I've removed.

Needless to say, I squirted insulation in on one side. The other I have not tried yet. I do need to buy more foam. I don't think the foam squirted into the back is making a huge difference but I'm sure it is making a difference.

Another small task was that I put two cargo tie downs in place. I really need to do a third on one side and about the same on the other side but was beset by tool failure. I'd bought a long handled riveter from Harbor Freight and it decided not to work. I'm not really sure what the matter is. The jaws seem to be unable to release the rivet shaft. I have to hit the thing with a hammer just to get it to work. Clearly not well designed!

Then I checked the 5W solar panel that I'd set to charge the bus batteries. The second tool failure happened. My multimeter stopped working. I'm not sure if it just needs a battery but honestly, it has always been a little funky. When it isn't measuring voltage, it was giving a positive reading!

As can be seen, nothing is being measured! Voltage measurements seemed a little random which is why I bought a meter that plugs into the cigarette lighter socket. I'm not sure if my solar panel and charge controller are helping much due to this.

I still need to patch the hole in the floor and finish the tie downs. Then there's the insulation at the front and possibly solar panels. Then I have to clean the bus inside. While I'm at it, there's paintwork that needs touching up and I'd like to put bars over the lower door window.

Meanwhile, I looked up the portable air conditioners. They seem to have an 18 inch by 18 inch base. I've been racking my brains trying to figure where I could put one. More importantly, where I could store one. It looks like an impossibility to be honest. The only place would be my storage closet where the cool air would be pumped straight out by my solar fans.

I suspect that since the portable unit pulls 8 amps, I'd do well to calculate the power usage of a unit built from Peltier elements. 20F cooling is a big thing! It'd take 106F to 86F. Basically. From very uncomfortable to comfortable. At 60W per element and 8 amps being 960W, I could put 16 elements though with losses from transformers and fans, 12 elements is more likely. Now 12 elements would fit very nicely in a window unit or in a box mounted under the bus. It's something to think about!