I threw myself under the bus and survived!

It was pretty bloody cold today. Thus I didn’t spend long under there. I waited until 4pm which was about the warmest part of the day. After 4 there was only an hour or so before sunset so not really much time to do anything major.

Going outside I checked the ground to see if it was dry after the massive rainstorm we’d had the previous night. I was met by a sight that I hoped not to see. I’d forgotten to bring in my 7AH battery and 5W solar panel. Checking the battery it was on 11V which it shouldn’t have been as last time I checked, it was on 12V. Having said that I’ve had plenty problems with that battery anyway. It might well be a junk battery. The solar panel seemed to have survived though. It’s not encapsulated with the cells just covered in cellophane. So, while I worked on the underbus stuff, I left the battery charging off the solar cell and drying out.

I spent most of my time securing cabling underneath the bus. I now have several cable runs. I’ve tried to keep the runs on the outside of the chassis rails before the back wheels and in the center after the back wheels. This is so that before the back wheels, there’s as little as possible that can become tangled or caught by anything and possibly snag on the brake lines. This bus has hydraulic brakes not air brakes and that means that a broken brake line is a major problem. With air brakes, it just means the bus isn’t going anywhere.

 It took an age to get the last cable run into place. Then it was time to drill through the floor. The floor covering above the steel floor is covered with wood. That’s easy to work with. The steel is somewhat harder. In fact you could say it has an iron constitution. Drills are expensive but the cheap way of getting through steel is to drill a smaller hole and enlarge it. These are my hole enlargers. They work pretty well and I think I’ve only had one of them break on me during the entire bus construction project.

I got the cables to the hole and passed the wires through then found the sheath wouldn’t cooperate. That meant pushing the wires back out, enlarging the hole and then going underneath to push it all through. This time it all fitted perfectly. I didn’t have time today to seal the conduits with silicone caulk but I have to go underneath again to connect the battery cables to the battery. I’m leaving that til last.

One the cables were inside the bus they were secured to the wall using Harbor Freight cable clamps and self-drilling screws. Oh boy, I’ve used a ton of sef-drilling screws! After dismantling the mess the hillbillies made of their conversion which used non-stainless crosspoint self drillers, I used stainless hexagon head self-drillers and it has made life much easier.

So, by the end of the day all the 12v cables are in place inside the bus. I still have one trip to make underneath to seal and to attach the battery clips. Other than than the work is all inside and can be done in sleet, snow or pouring rain. The three cable runs have to be run up the side of the bus, across the back to the charge controller and the fuse box. One pair of cables has to go to the solar input. Other than that, it’s all power lines for my lighting and so on.

Speaking of lighting, I’d been looking into ways of attaching my G4 bulb holders then I realized I could probably glue them to the steel brackets I intend to use. Similarly I found a sheet of plexiglass that I’d left in the yard. That could produce a pretty good diffuser without my having to spend any more money.

Online I found there is something called cold solder and it’s used to repair connections on rear-window demisters. I’ve a mind to get some to make the connections on my two remaining flat panels. They might be worthwhile after all! Fortunately I can take things out of my trash can as well as put them in.

Yesterday I tidied the front yard a bit by removing a load of the detritus from bus construction. That was actually easier than it sounds. I’d had a pile of trash in two plastic bins and it had been there for quite a while. I’m talking a year and more. I emptied them on the garbage pile and took what remained of them back to reuse as I have yet more trash to collect and dump. I say what remains as they were plastic and the plastic had done what plastic does best - turned brittle and cracked.

Tomorrow might be a shopping day. Given that I normally drive 150 miles a day for myself and work combined, it’s been nice not actually driving since the work holiday started on the 21st. In the last 7 days I’ve not driven 1,000+ miles and that’s nice.

After the 12V is completed - this can be done in small sections, I’ll have to put a water inlet. Then a water heater, facets and plumb the water heater to the shower. I have to modify the ventilation system slightly and install a lock on the battery compartment and on the fuel door. At some point I want to retitle the bus as a motorhome too.