Dark and rainy today.

Today wasn’t a long bus work session. I’d have liked it to be but a long-time friend of mine had just been laid off and thus gave me the opportunity to meet with her and get her to be my reference for a job I want to apply for. Needless to say as I went to meet her in my working on the bus clothes (read not suitable to be seen in), I couldn’t then rush off to drop off the application.

Returning home, I did work on the bus a bit. Connecting my light to the existing fuse box for illumination, I worked on the fuse box and installed all the existing wiring. I didn’t install the wire for the second bedroom light nor for the back light. The back light I need both a switch and a bulb holder in order to install.

The power is connected and all the current circuits are connected though as yet there are no fuses in place. I’ll probably have to order a ton of 1A and 3A fuses. Those little multi packs of fuses and even the bigger multi packs contain massive fuses but it’s very hard to obtain the lower amperage fuses. I’ve connected 5 circuits. Those are, in order, the shower, the spare light, the second galley light, the galley USB charger and the code-lock for the front door.

I’ve installed the 12V socket that I got in one of the car parts stores a week or two back. The black (earth) wire is connected to the bolt on the other side that’s bolted through the seat rail. The bus body is my earth. I have yet to run a wire from the socket to the wire entering the bus. I had to switch out the connectors on the wires as they were totally unsuitable.

As it was raining hard, I had to spray the bracket for the bedroom light, inside the bus. I found a nice piece of plastic packaging that worked well to shield everything else from my spray paint. I’ll have to respray tomorrow (and I hope it’ll be dry tomorrow). Actually, tomorrow I’ll have to squeeze in a quick trip to the place to drop off the application I need to make. If I get that job, I’ll be paid more than I was paid in my last job for doing pretty much the same thing but working for a different district.

As a trial, I put the switches in my new switch box. I’m not really happy with it but I’ll have to see how it all goes. I do need a pushbutton switch on the voltmeter. I might just switch out and get a totally different box. That box wasn’t cheap but it has features that I’m not happy with. It’s also way too big. I’ll do my best though. I think one of my drilled switch holes might have shifted to an awkward position while I was drilling but I’ll see. I find project boxes are very hit and miss. Sometimes things go in them just fine. Other times they’re way too small or way too big (This one is way too big) and then it’s a 50% chance that the drill will skip when I’m making the switch holes.

Given that I want to install an extra light in the back of the bus, it would make sense to get a smaller box just for the USB charger and the voltmeter. Then get two extra switches to use for the lights. Those switches I bought are not cheap but they feel really solid. They feel like they’re going to last and keep on going. The dinky little Radio Shack switch I bought in their closing sale works but does not have a satisfying solid feel, feeling fragile. It’s like the difference between a meat cleaver and a toothpick!

Tomorrow, if I have time, I will install the wire for my shower and might install the second bedroom light. Given some decent weather, I might even look at the door code lock. Particularly I might look toward mounting it and passing the wires back into the cockpit.

Ventilation as good as it’s going to get

Today I spent an absolute age removing one of my mushroom domes and clearing away the plastic mesh and mosquito mesh underneath it. It wasn’t eventually time well spent. Here’s why...

When I put my trusty anemometer on the inside of the ventilation system with the mushroom dome and mosquito mesh in place I had a reading of 1450 feet a minute. Without the filter or a dome this rose to 2500 feet a minute. Putting the dome back and using no filter I had 1850 feet a minute. Without a filter but with the louvered vent I had 2500 feet a minute. With the steel louvered vent I had from West Marine, I was down to 1450 feet a minute.

I really liked the West Marine vent. Mind, I liked the louvered vent too. Now the louvered vent came from Lowes (hiss, spit) and was listed as paintable. Thus, I prepared it by painting it grey like the rest of the bus. That, as it turned out was a total waste of time as though it’s “paintable”, it must be paintable in the same way soap is paintable. It can be painted - but the paint won’t hang on there for very long. I think Lowes (hiss, spit) is running some kind of scam there.

On of the other problems was that the louvers didn’t close properly every time. That means it’s an entry point for outside critters. No thanks! I have enough to deal with the critters that come in anyway without extras. I had to exterminate a spider the other day. I don’t know whether it was a friendly spider or an noxious spider but it was exterminated as the chance of it being venomous was too great.

In the end I put a piece of mosquito mesh over the hole, screwed down the vent cover and trimmed the mosquito mesh before repainting and recaulking with silicone caulk. Unless something else comes along that looks like it’s going to do a way better job, the ventilation is staying as it is.

Yesterday I started to mount the new fuse box but ran into wiring on the other side of the wall so I stopped, not wishing to damage insulation and cause a short circuit. I also realised I should have a light in the back closet. It’s not essential but would be nice. Today I installed my new fuse box after making sure the attaching bolts would not run afoul of any wiring.

The box is top left. It’s not connected to anything right now but soon will be. As darkness was falling I rigged up a temporary work light. That worked so well I did consider making it permanent. I’d have to buy another G4 bulb mount though. The pack I had, had 5. I’ve used one each in the bedroom, bathroom and galley. I’m planning a second in the bedroom and the galley. That makes 5. The closet thus might not ever get a light.

As can be seen I had a huge bundle of cables to put into a sleeve. I did that but though I had light in the back, I needed daylight to find some of the tools and parts I needed. I wanted to clamp the cables to the ceiling using the existing torx screws that hold the ceiling panels in place. My torx screwdriver bit is somewhere at the front of the bus as is my ratcheting screwdriver. The plan is to connect the cabling to the fuse box then as before, add each circuit as I complete it.

I set to and drilled holes in the last of my eBay project boxes. This is the one that was advertised as steel but which is actually quite solid aluminum. I’ll mount it vertically but I do need to visit the store. I have two switches - which is fine. One will be a light switch and the other will switch a USB charger on/off. That’s the USB charger that’s currently winging its way from California, the last one from China being just plain wrong. I need a pushbutton switch so that might be a trip to an auto-parts store. I quite like my rectangular red push button switches but as I got those from the now defunct Radio Shack, I don’t think they’re going to be available aside from at high prices on eBay.

At some point I might revisit the extraction vents but that’s not a current plan. That’s a plan for some future point. Right now I’m getting the bus conversion completed so I can work on other things. I’m using my in-between jobs status as good time to do this.

Things remaining to be done:
1. Complete the current electrical section
2. Install the key code unlocker
3. Tidy the keyed unlocker wiring.
4. Connect the solar wiring from the external solar input.
5. Put a cam lock on the fuel door
6. Put a locking latch on the battery door.

Yesterday I visited Grainger to see if they had the latches I was after. They certainly had latches but as it was a warehouse everything had to be looked up on their computer. The only latch found was a horrendous price and the cam latch couldn’t be found either. Overnight I thought about it and decided that I’d probably be better asking the International dealer on the other side of Columbia.

My next idea for the ventilation system involves off-the shelf components like a drier outlet that has a steel tailpipe. That will involve probably redoing my interior carpentry on the inside of the vents but what the heck. I just need something that allows me to pump the full 2500 FPS of air out. It gets pretty hot in summer!

What a horrible day!

Today started off with my going to work on making the rear ventilation fans more efficient by changing out the mushroom domes and replacing them with flapper vents, thereby eliminating the need for a mosquito screen. That didn’t actually happen.

It took an age for me to find my reserve adjustable hole cutter - never mind the original! When I did, I carefully marked out a piece of plexiglass that would have been ideal to mount the new vent to and over the old vent hole attachment (that sounds very confusing and it is but I don’t feel like explaining).

So I started cutting with the hole cutter which looks like some kind of medieval torture device. The cutter snagged and tugged the plexiglas so I gently freed the cutter without realizing I was still slightly touching the trigger. The thing spun one time and hit my thumb with a whack. It wasn’t that bad of a whack but it hit my on my thumbnail.

Uh Oh! See that nice crack reaching 2/3rds of the way across my thumbnail and quite deep down? That’s going to be a major problem for the next probably 4 - 6 weeks until it grows out. So, I had to down tools and head to the store for some nail glue to try to hold the nail from breaking and falling off. Anyway, I got some nail glue and I’ve glued it. I also got some fake nails as well - just in case I need to reinforce my broken nail. That’s going to be somewhat strange as I don’t wear fake nails. I suppose I could cut a strip off one and glue it on.

On my way back from the store I found the mail had arrived. In it, the USB charger I wanted had arrived. Or had it? This is the kind of USB charger I was expecting.

 That was what I ordered. A simple USB charger. It just fits in place and behaves itself. This is what I use to charge everything!

Sadly, that is not what arrived. What arrived was a 12v socket with a mini USB charger that slips inside. That is most definitely not what I wanted and will not fit within my specifications. Bloody Chinese being devious and dishonest again! If I was to use that piece of junk then I’d probably one day pull that USB thing out and try using the socket as a 12v socket then wonder why my fuse kept blowing. The problem is I have wired the system for a 3A socket, not for a cigarette lighter socket. I would have used heavier cabling if I’d been going to use a cigarette lighter socket.

Now I have to source another USB charging socket and pay more for the privilege of it coming from somewhere in the USA. This socket is just trash as far as I’m concerned but worse than that - I worked to pay their wages to send me trash! So, hunting around online, I’m now $6.79 poorer and have what I hope will be the correct thing on the way from California.

I think I can honestly say that a fake fingernail looks just wrong, particularly when you can see these hands do plenty hard work. So, stymied twice today - on the ventilation and on the internal wiring. The only projects remaining after those two are the digital code lock, tidying the wiring for the door unlocker and putting locks on the fuel and battery doors. It has to be Friday the 13th somewhere!

And to cap it all, I was sitting in the bus with the lights on yesterday when suddently the charge controller switched everything off. It’s a 20A charge controller and I had on at the time my USB charger (max 3.1A), my 150ma CPU ventilation fan, my 2.5W room light and my twin 2.5A fans had just turned on when the power went out. Now that’s a grand total of 8.46A assuming the maximum. Most certainly not 20A. Even allowing the fans to have a starting current higher than 5A (which they do), even that doesn’t explain it as the fans are on a 7.5A fuse that has never blown. Even more wasckily, I flipped the main power switch off then on again and everything started back up again. What caused that to trip is unknown. When you can’t find the cause or identify a cause, it’s ample evidence that the French were behind it all!

Dirty horizontal gymnastics

I got down and dirty today. In fact I got absolutely filthy, rolling around on the ground under the bus. I had sand everywhere - my jeans knees are now dark brown and I even have sand in places where sand should never be!

So, today I got jubilee clips fitted to all the Pex connections under the bus. That’s all four Pex connections so four jubilee clips. The clip that fought me so much yesterday under the sink went in ever so sweetly today. In fact none of the clips dared to put up a fight today!

After that it was time to get down to the day’s work - something I’d planned for completion days ago. I started by repainting the brackets from yesterday but the paint just didn’t set hard. It remained soft. That was a bit of a disappointment so in the end I used a different paint.

The hole to put the solar cable through the floor was easy enough. That went perfectly and the solar cable went down. The problem came when it was time to fit the bigger of the three mounts. There just wasn’t sufficient clearance. In the end, feeling somewhat exasperated I did what I said I wasn’t going to do and simplified matters by mounting the 12v socket in the side of the skirt.                                                                                                                                  

That having been completed, the cables were secured to the skirt with a bolted cable grip. The loose cable was fed back through the floor so it’s all nicely fitted. I’d added an extra cable so that I have four wires in the cable sleeve. That gives me options to do other things without having to make extra holes in the floor in the future.

Then it was time for the water inlet. That was probably the easiest thing to fit. I used far less tubing than I’d anticipated too. No photo of that but the water goes in through a pressure regulator that brings the pressure down to 40psi. It goes up through a half inch pipe to my sink sprayer with a stop valve midway. As I’m planning on jerry cans of water rather than un underbody water tank, this should be far better. I can just use water when I’m connected to a supply for small things like filling kettles, shower supplies etc.

Aside from the cable going from the defunct speed sensor under the body into the transmission housing, that’s about all I have to do that I can think of, under the bus. I’d like to remove that cable but since I’ve already seen wasps out and about, it’s not going to be long before wasp nests become a problem under the bus.

The next thing to do will be my ventilation outlets. That will involve climbing a ladder and all kinds for fun stuff like that. The goal will be to do the ventilation outlets tomorrow. To that end I have a supply of Bondo, some vinyl plank and the remains of my PVC glue.

The internal wiring and fuse box can wait until a wet day. I also have to find enough cable to be able to extend the wires sufficiently. That might mean a trip to the store but I rather hope it does not. After the ventilation outlets I might make some intake screens though I haven’t decided yet.

The next thing will be the keypad entry system. That’s going to be really nice when that’s working. I’ve already identified a couple of places where the keypad can be sited unnnoticed. You would imagine after my rundown of the things to do yesterday that the list was shorter. Sadly, it’s the same length as I remembered I want to put a keyed lock on the battery door and one on the fuel door. No lock is foolproof but they deter the idle thief.

What with it being Friday night, my having had a dirty day and the washing machine having just been repaired, I have a Friday night date with the washing machine! In fact I’ll probably spend the rest of the evening naked under my robe! Oh the small things that give us pleasure in our 50s. 20 or 30 years ago I’d have been out painting the town blue!

Projects underway

At the moment, the number of projects underway can almost be counted on the fingers of a single hand. It’s pretty amazing when you consider the immense journey that converting this bus to a motorhome single-handedly has been, especially when it has been financed entirely from working in the kind of trashy low-paid jobs that only South Carolina offers. Most work in South Carolina is only half a step above flipping burgers in the local greasy spoon.

Projects that can be counted...
1. Installing the solar inlet.
2. Completing the water inlet.
3. Completing the internal wiring for the underbody cable just installed.
4. Installing my electronic door unlocker keypad.
5. Tidying the wiring for the keyed door unlocker.
6. Opening the transmission housing to remove the stray wire that’s hanging from the bus.
7. Working on the ventilation outlets.
8. Replace a bad relay in the driver’s console.

Today I prepared for the plumbing and for the solar input by assembling the U brackets for the plumbing and making a bracket for the solar input. While the solar input could easily be passed through the skirt of the bus, I’d much rather it remained out of eyesight.

There you can see the two U brackets (two L brackets each, bolted together). Now my previous U brackets I welded. I just didn’t feel like pulling out the welder for such a small job today. Mind it took a while to find the packet of brackets. The paint wasn’t dry yet so I left them to dry and harden overnight.

 Last night the rust-killing primer dried on my welded entry handrail. It was pretty hot today so I painted the handrail with black appliance epoxy. It looks pretty good and was dry by the time I installed it. The one end is held onto the seat rail by a bracket welded to the tubing that’s attached via a single 1/4 inch bolt. That should hold at least 300lbs! The steel tube came from the hand rail at the top of old-school bus seats.

The post arrived with probably my next to last delivery. The last delivery will probably be another USB charging thing. It would have helped if the postman had delivered the letters to my hand as well as the box. The letters went in the mailbox. Can’t complain - he was a pleasant fellow.

So, I opened the box and what was in it? My 12v shower that will plug into the 12v socket IU shall install  in the bathroom - beside the shower. There was also my last fuse box. That will go on the back wall, close to the other fuse box. This will mean that I have zero need for D size batteries any more. Everything now will run happily off the solar-charged battery.

Today I went underneath the bus and sealed the cable entry points for the cable just installed. That was a matter of minutes. I also discovered the reason for the leak under the handbasin when Eric stayed here. It wasn’t that my Pex piping was loose - it was that the screw connectors were loose. I tightened them and put one Jubilee clamp onto one end of the Pex tube The other end proved to be fiendishly difficult to reach. I didn’t feel too energetic today so I left that until another day.

I have sufficient Jubilee clips to complete all my plumbing tightening and will get to that all probably this weekend if not before. Really and truly, unless some hitherto unknown and unremembered project comes to light I don’t think I have much if anything remaining to obtain for this conversion aside from a replacement relay.

The big project that I’m not looking forward to is the ventilation outlet. I have materials in order to complete the project but I’m not really sure how I’m going to do it. I suppose it will become clear when I get the mushroom vents off and cut the mosquito mesh and plastic grid out of the existing tubing. It’s just the unknowns that are a bit daunting.

I almost put a 12v fan into my Amazon shopping cart. That would have run off the 12v socket in the bathroom. The idea is that when I’m camping, to wash my clothes using the $3 walmart bucket and $5 Walmart plunger then to put the washed clothes onto a drying rack situated in the shower base. My next tirck then is to have a fan blowing continually on the laundry. That way it dries faster and doesn’t go hard.

I almost forgot the biggest project - locating any receipts in my car and still in the bus and writing downs dates, amounts and locations then adding it all up. I’ve been told I’ll probably faint when I see the total spend. On the other hand, I consider it money well invested.

I am very glad I had the opportunity to drive a school bus for a living as that taught me a lot about driving big vehicles. It made me much more confident about driving mine though I think I’d be gentler with my own vehicle. On a schedule when somebody else is paying the repair bills, vehicles get thrown around like toys. I tended to do that with some of the schoolbusses. Not so hard that the children noticed but harder than I would with my own vehicles. My next role will have to be more cerebral than bus driving of child minding.

My regret about the bus driving job is that it took too much time from my bus conversion but it ended at just about the right time. From what I’ve heard, things are getting ever crazier at my old workplace and it’s getting ever more unpleasant to work there. No wonder 3 drivers quit the day I did. I have to say it took me probably a year to get over my fear of driving big vehicles.

Today I looked at where I would install my solar inlet. It seems that there’s a space just in front of the battery compartment. There’s a space about 3 inches wide that looks just about perfect. The cable can come straight down the side of the battery compartment. I have some stick-on cable holders that with the addition of some real glue, will probably help tremendously.

Oh boy, I’m looking forward to completing this project!

Looking ahead.

Yesterday the reminder for my bus insurance arrived. Everything seems to be working out nicely at the moment because a day or so earlier I had a message about an insurer in Colorado that will insure school bus conversions regardless of the title. Interestingly I’ve also encountered something called mandated insurance. Apparently it’s a Federal thing whereby if you can’t get insurance, the State will provide a list of mandated insurers that have by law to insure your vehicle.

Today I got on and attached the cable on the inside of the bus. Now it reaches the roof. That’s good but will have to be extended some to reach the new fuse box. That should arrive in a couple of days. Meanwhile I can get on and install the shower pump socket and the light/charging box in the galley. Now the problem with the galley box is I don’t actually have the USB charger for it yet. That’s still coming via the slow boat from China.

Today my louvered flapper vents arrived. Strangely they came from Lowes via eBay. They’re listed as paintable so I sprayed them grey to match the bus. There’s a plastic protrusion on the back that’ll have to be trimmed off but otherwise they’re perfect. They’re a little larger than anticipated so there will have to be some fiddling to make them fit. That’s nothing new though.

I should not need a bug screen with those. They close pretty tightly. That will improve airflow tremendously. Needless to say while the one looks pretty good, the other has slight texturing. It was sitting on my workbench, freshly painted and somehow ended up face down on the ground with sand sticking to the wet paint. I had to clean it off quickly with thinner, wait for the thinner to evaporate and repaint. I didn’t get all of the sand off but I got most of it.

Needless to say, today is both warm and humid with occasional rain. Not the best time to be painting or putting silicone sealant anywhere. Thus the best I can do is to paint the louvered vent covers and put them to dry where they won’t be rained upon. Thus I transferred the painted louvered vents to the bus for the moment.

The major issue right now is that because I cut my aluminum sheet into an attractive hexagon, my new louvered vents will protrude on the corners. That gives me two options - first to use some kind of spacer to keep the vent away from the body in order to allow me to use it without modification. The second is to build up the corners with Bondo  or the like. There is a third option which I have mulled over before which is to remove the aluminum and replace it. Cutting the 4 inch diameter hole in aluminum was challenging to say the very least, given my very basic tool set here.

I went shopping and ended up with both Bondo and some vinyl planking. While I was at it, I bought some jubilee clips that I can use to complete my plumbing. Now I have to find my steel brackets. I know I bought them. I just have to find them. I bought clips to secure all my pex tubing to the pex adaptors. I’ve heard people drone about using pex clips with pex but as long as it ensures a good enough seal, who really cares whether it’s the right thing. Jubilee clips are just far cheaper than buying a one-use tool - the pex crimper.

If the final modifications to my ventilation system don’t make the bus cooler inside in summer then I really don’t know what will. I could try elastometric paint. Rustoleum has some but I want to try everything else first because it’s a special order.

Having put the cabling up the inside of the bus, I now have to extend it to the fuse box, when that arrives and install my other utilities. For the moment, if it looks like a good day tomorrow, I might head under the bus to seal the new cable, install the piping for the remains of my water inlet (if I can find my brackets) and install my solar inlet.

That will leave me with the sockets and lights to install that go to the new fuse box and of course my keypad unlocker. While I’m installing that I need to tidy the birds nest wiring that goes to my standard door unlocker.

Right now it’s 77F inside the bus and I just turned my CPU circulation fan on. That makes a huge difference! I’m sure that my extraction fans when they’re updated will make an even bigger difference.

The last thing I did before I finished for the night was to spray my new handrail with rust-killing primer. It’s not forecast to rain but if it does, it should be adequately protected now. As the paint is wet, I’ll have to leave it out all night.

The plan with this is to spray it with black appliance epoxy and let that dry then put it in place and drill the bolt hole for the bolt at the near end. Having done that, it’ll be a case of spraying again around the freshly drilled hole and anywhere the he paint has become damaged then to mount it it place. I would have liked to have had it a color other than black but sea green/blue wasn’t an option. It was either black, white or biscuit in appliance epoxy.

As the insurance is due on the 21st of March, I’m trying to get it all finished by then. Then I can add up all the receipts to see how much it has cost me before insuring with a real schoolbus conversion insurer. It’s all rush, rush, rush. Still, I think if I can do the underbus stuff tomorrow then I can probably make that schedule.

Not a great deal of progress perhaps?

Today with my neck muscles hurting badly from the strained posture I have to achieve while under the bus, I didn’t do much of what I set out to do. Certainly by the end of the day I had got the cable fully secured all the way to the back of the bus. It needs to be secured to the inside wall of the bus which is where I was held up. I wanted to use the existing torx screws but could not find my torx screwdriver bits until I had stoped work for the day. The blessed things are sitting right beside my keyboard (I use a Bluetooth keyboard to do my blog entries).

It took forever to get started today. Not just because I was procrastinating due to a neck that felt really sore and uncomfortable but due also to a bad stomach. As I’ve noticed before, I get a bad stomach going underneath my bus and lying on the sandy soil. I think there must be mold allergens or something in the soil to cause this.

So I did get the cable through the floor. As I had suspected the 28 feet or thereabouts of cable wasn’t quite long enough to achieve cable Nirvana but it’s pretty close! I can extend cables with no great problem and since I found my correct solder, soldering will be easier.

I had a mammoth task today trying to find either pair of safety glasses. I have two pairs and couldn’t find either. In desperation, having hunted the bus three times from end to end for the sky things I was going to the store to buy another pair. That was when I found both pairs (fortunately before I left) and while I was at it, I found my missing solder. They were all out in the open exactly where they should have been but I just could not see or recognize them.

I’m going to say my mind is still processing my recent resignation and the events that led up to it. I’ve heard various people mention nepotism as the main factor and others mention racism. Both suggestions have a good deal of evidence to back them up. Unlike those that brought my mind to it, I have severe reservations as to whether it’s wise or even worthwhile to pursue a discrimination case. No wonder my mind hasn’t been where it should be!

I had planned today to get the cables up the bus wall ready for a fuse box which should be arriving any day from Amazon together with a 12v shower pump. I had also planned to complete my plumbing under the bus as well as installing my solar input. I never got to either though. I did get as far as making up a cable to go to the solar input though.

That has two 14 gauge and one 16 gauge wire. The two 14s (red and green) are for the solar input. The blue will be an extra cable (you know how I like my extra cables). There’s a vague plan to use the extra cable to charge the bus battery but since I have a fairly good idea that the short circuit might well be a 15A relay in the control panel (it should be a 20A relay), I rather suspect I’d be best changing that out and then checking for my short circuit. With no short circuit I can just couple the solar panel and charge controller straight into the console and leave the battery connected.

Feeling a bit at sixes and sevens I looked at the original stair rail. It’s way too long for what I need and as it appears to be stainless steel, it’s going to be both expensive and hard to weld. As it is, it’s way too long.

In the end, feeling like doing some welding, I found the old seat back handrail. To that I welded a steel brace that I’d bought a couple of years ago, intending to weld a socket to it to use for my underbus excursions. I found another solution that time which was probably best because the socket is covered in chromium and chromium fumes are toxic. That’s one reason I have not done any stainless steel nor aluminum welding - the fumes are toxic and I don’t have the correct gas mask.

On the other end I welded a steel bracket that I cut to fit the seat rail. I still have to drill a hole in it but it’s coming along nicely. My next task with that will be to paint it with rust killing primer and then to drill the hole. The handrail will be of use only to steady somebody getting onto the first or second step. Being horizontal you’d have to be a Barbie doll to make much use. Putting it at an angle involves complicated welding, cutting and positioning that I just don’t feel like doing. What I’ve done already is quite complicated enough!

Tomorrow, if I feel up to it, I might put my solar input into place, complete my plumbing and take the cable up the wall. I’ll have to head out to buy rust killing primer though. One of the things I did with the open end of the steel tube was to run around it in concentric circles with a 7014 welding rod. That built up the metal all around so now the tube has a sealed end. That’ll stop any nasty critters from hiding in it!

As for the racism/nepotism arguments, I’m not sure. The South is so racially charged that it’s literally a tinderbox waiting for a spark. I hear such extreme views on both sides that I often wonder where tolerance went. It’s really strange - I’m in the Bible Belt but there are an awful lot of people claiming Christian values (tolerance, turn the other cheek) that exhibit anything but tolerance. In fact I am reminded of the ethnic conflict between ethic Russians and Ethnic Latvians from when I lived and worked in the former USSR. I would always claim neutrality on account of being British but would be told by Russians I could not be friends with Latvia/ns and by Latvians that I could not be friemnds with Russians.

I think I’ll be alright now. Nurse... where are my meds?

End of the day!

I had somewhat of a late start to the day. I knew I needed to get under the bus and get dirty - something I really dislike. I put it off as long as possible, finding other things to do that were of little to no consequence. My late aunty would have called it “fiddle-fiddling” and somebody on LinkedIn would have considered it to be procrastination. Certainly it’s procrastination of the highest order. I’m guilty as charged!

So, the first thing I did was to revert to my original plan for the water inlet. I mounted the water gun below the handbasin. I could have got away with just a little plastic faucet but there seems no really easy way to mount one.

Now my countertop is as flat as it was before - the way I like it. This will make it easier to fill jugs, and jerry cans with water while parked and plumbed in. I didn’t however, get underneath to complete the last bit of plumbing.

Instead I got on with my extra wiring. I’d got almost to the back when two things happened simultaneously - the daylight jumped on it’s horse and got clean away and the puny little battery on my cheap Harbor Freight drill ran out of charge. I could have grabbed my power drill but I’ve broken a few bolts with that as it’s just a little over powerful.

 There you can see the power cable coming down from the bathroom. That carries wires for my soon to be installed 12V shower and the light and USB charger for the other end of the galley. There is also a spare cable. I’m not sure what it’ll be used for or if but I have found spare cables usually get used for something.

 I spent several hours rolling in the sand and dirt under the bus and I do mean rolling. Rolling is by far the easiest way to move around and to get under the bus. I lie down and roll under. I have got a creeper that I made but it only works if I’m on solid ground, not sandy soil as here. Each of the cables in the photo represent wiring that I’ve installed. It’s getting to be quite a lot!

One of the irksome things about spray cans is occasionally they don’t work. This was a can of Rustoleum self-etching primer. I bought it a long time ago and it worked for maybe a couple of minutes then instead of spraying, dribbled paint all over my hand. I’ve had a couple of spray cans do that to me. Anyway I went to use it recently and though it’s almost full, it wouldn’t hiss or let any paint out. Needless to say, when it won’t let the paint out of one hole, the only thing to do is to make another hole (or two) and let the paint out that way! Of course by the time I’d gone to the paint can after making the holes (from a safe 100 yards), the paint had all gone and was rapidly drying. Darn!

As I said, my work was not quite completed today. Having attached probably 20 feet of cable every foot or so and with maybe 4 or 5 attachment points to go, the drill ran out of power and the day ran out of light. Still, I’m way advanced over were I was last week. There’s still plenty to do though.

Advances and a disappointment

I bought some nifty stuff called plumber’s putty. Only after I’d used it I found it was not supposed to set hard. Well, time should take care of that. I’ll just have to be careful with my water inlet until then. Given South Carolina’s hot summers I should imagine a single day would have that cured pretty hard.

Meanwhile I had a look at my exhaust vents, thinking I could fit a flapper valve inside them. While the flapper valve I have would fit as long as it was modified by removing the flange, it really isn’t suitable. There would be a lot of work and no guarantee of a fit. I’m too keen to get this done to be spending forever on fiddling around. Instead I’ll just get some exterior flapper vents that I can use to replace my mushroom vents. My mushroom air intakes are a pestilential nuisance to make so I might go over to a similar intake to the one I used originally - a barrel shaped intake. Though having one almost completed and having the supplies, it might be better just to go ahead and complete the one that’s giving me problems and then build its partner.

The mushroom design eventaully turned out to be a non-starter. Or rather it’s a starter but not really a finisher. The concept is beautifully simple. The execution however isn’t so much fun. Still, I have time. The goal is to stop critters from getting into the bus from the outside. I have a filter on the outside under my mushroom vents but the reality is that I need that to disappear as it’s reducing air outflow rather much. Hence my interest in an external flapper vent. Replacing the mushroom vent with a flapper and removing the insect mesh might reduce noise and increase airflow. It’s going to be a good idea though to have a mesh on the inside that does not reduce airflow but which prevents critters from getting all the way into the bus.

I ended up straightening the drawer handle I bent earlier. I’d been trying to screw a drawer handle to the wall so that I could use it as a rope attachment for my luggage bay. The self drilling screw bit into it and twisted it around a little but with some muscle power and a vice it was possible to straighten it to reuse. That, together with the cleats purchased yesterday and the things installed before now give me the possibility to tie things down so they don’t slop around in motion.

Eventually I’ll have to put some method of keeping the microwave tied down and the fridge tied in place but those aren’t urgent yet. I’m more concerned with getting essentials done though the luggage bay is a distraction.

The water inlet is looking pretty good. I might have to change the putty out later but for the moment everything is looking pretty good.

Now my original plan had been to mount the spray nozzle on a bracket just above the inlet valve. As that would have involved work and there was a perfectly good hole in the handbasin already, I ended up using the already present hole. It kinda spoils the sleek flatness of the countertop but at this point I’m tired and just want an easy life.

It doesn’t look too bad. At least it’s whiteness matches the countertops. Ideally I’d like the hose to be a foot or two longer so that it will reach a jerrycan placed on the floor or on the sink top. I suppose I could always move a chair and put the can on a chair and fill it on the chair.

The problem with using plumbing adhesive is that it gets all over one’s fingers. It takes an age to dry and peel off too. The plumbing primer is even worse. That’s a deep purple color and it stains anything it touches including my fingers. Now it looks like I’ve put on nail polish (heaven forbid) and not been too careful about removing it after! Still, I’m coming to the end of the plumbing (I hope - probably vainly).

All I can say is I hope that if it doesn’t come off in the shower tonight, that it sweats off overnight. To quote Dr Seuss... Purple fingers I do not like.

As can be seen - there’s plenty junk to clean up on the floor - short pieces of electrical cable etc. Not one of those cables is long enough actually to do anything with that doesn’t involve a join of some kind. I had hoped to use one of the twin cable lengths for my supplementary solar input.

As can be seen - there are ropes going around my boxes. Those boxes contain nothing more exciting than clothing - most of which hasn’t seen daylight in 8 years. I’ll have to settle down and go through all my clothes because I’m pretty sure there are plenty that I really want to wear but can’t and plenty that I now can’t stand but best to go through it all.

As can be seen from my attempts to make a mushroom dome for my ventilation unit, flat rolls of material do not curve very easily. I thought by cutting four pieces that it might have worked better. As it is there are sufficient gaps for me to spend forever trying to fix them. Better at this point to start afresh! Perhaps with a decent flapper vent cover a mosquito mesh won’t be necessary. I’ll just have to order a couple of flapper vent covers and see what happens.

Finally, I bought some more 12 gauge wire the other day. Today I soldered it onto the end of the 12 gauge wire in my final cable bundle and though I couldn’t find the right solder, it all soldered together very nicely. I had to use vinyl tape wrap as the shrink cable insulation objected to one of the sharp protrusions (I said it wasn’t the proper kind of solder). Now that cable is complete with one 12 gauge and three 14 gauge cables running from end to end. That cable will power the light and USB socket on the other end of the galley and the shower. Now that’s three circuits and I mentioned 4 cables. Well, as experience has proven time over - I’ll usually want an extra cable for something down the road so there it is, ready and waiting.

And thus ends another day in which I spent most of my time either working on household plumbing, caring for the infirm or working on the bus. The plumbing inlet still needs a few things done. The cable wrap still needs to be installed. There are a few small projects that haven’t been commenced and some that are nearer to conclusion.

Shopping day

You know the old adage - when the going gets tough, the tough go shopping? Well, today I went shopping. First stop was Tractor Supply where I bought chicken feed and marveled at the high prices of their plumbing supplies.

The next stop was Lowes (hiss, spit) where I marveled at the dreadful grammar and presentation on the signs in their car park.

How much effort would it really have taken to make that sign grammatically correct? How much effort was put into ensuring that it doesn’t make them a laughing stock? We will never know because it was probably somebody passing through what is laughingly called an education system at their base in North Carolina. Perhaps they were pre-emptively smoking weed in anticipation of weed being legalized in all 50 states?

Anyway, shopping took most of the daylight out of the day and I ended up working in the dark. What I did was to buy some plumbing bits to make my water inlet work. I already had a brass pressure reducer from Walmart (of all places). My problem had been a lack of a way of converting the 1/2 inch water pipe to a 3/4 hosepipe fitting. That took no fewer than 3 adaptors! Lowes (hiss, spit) has a lot of plumbing supplies but it always seems to be a case of getting several things to achieve what one piece should do (but never seems to be available).

This time, since I’m using the piping for pressurized water, I’ve primed my tubing before gluing. I had to get a 3/4 threaded to 3/4 slip adaptor then a 3/4 slip to 1/2 slip adaptor. That meant that I had also to get a length of 3/4 piping of which I have used about 3 inches.

I drilled a hole through the floor under the handbasin, close to the wall so that I can secure my piping to the wall. I’ve scraped my paint finish a little, unfortunately. I’ll fix that later though. I had to measure carefully before drilling the hole in order to avoid the underbody ribs. I’ll put my tubing in another day.

While I was out I bought some rope, drawer handles and some cleats. Those are the cheapest way of putting rope tie-downs in the back of the bus. I have boxes of stuff in the back of the bus - mostly clothing I’ve not worn in years. One day I’ll have to go through it all and see if any of the clothes fit any more. For the moment I’ll tie them down because over the next week or so my bus has a mission. I need to go and get some sheets of plywood to fix the floor in a trailer on the land here. I can’t fit them in the back of my car and I’m very wary of using the roof rack. The back door of the bus being usable and the aisle being usable, I can fit several sheets in through the back door and stand them on their sides.

Putzing day

Today started with a lovely bright sunny day. The kind of day that would be great in summer. I really wasn’t feeling it though. Having gone from a fantastic job on Thursday morning that I couldn’t wait to wake up to go and do, to a dreadful job that I really hated every minute of by Thursday afternoon, that got so bad on Friday that I had no option other than simply to resign, I was feeling somewhat melancholy.

I had a list of small tasks to accomplish on the bus. In fact I went to the bus for some solitude with my, myself and my melancholia. The first task took several hours and all it involved was putting a breaker switch into the power supply from the battery to the solar controller.

I did get it installed though and it works well. It’s a two way knife-switch that’ll handle up to 60A or three times sad much as my charge controller. I had to take down my solid state relay but that was OK, it wasn’t currently in use.

Throughout the day I’ve been waiting for the glue to set on my piping. I should probably have used regular glue rather than soft-set and regular connections rather than screw joints. My thinking had been that it would be easier just to unscrew something. The fact is though that there’s so little plumbing involved that replacing sections would cost next to nothing in time, effort or expense.

One of my battles has been to make a ring that will glue to the piping below the bus floor to serve as a clamp to clamp it to the floor. The piping connectors seemed ideal. Cutting one laterally in two though it transpired that they taper toward the middle. Not very helpful to be honest. My solution was a longtitudional cut. That should allow sufficient expansion to clamp the tube nicely. This was untested.

By the end of the day I’d started a hole for the piping to go down through the floor. The drill battery went flat and I really didn’t feel like using the power drill. It’s one of those days when I just want quiet and solitude. I suspect it’ll be like this for a few days to be honest. Resigning from a job that suddenly turned bad is probably somewhat akin to other traumatic life events. There was little other option though and no sign that anything would improve from that point.

That is daylight - I almost got through the floor. Another go tomorrow and I probably will get there. Then it’ll be a case of putting the pipe through and sealing like crazy. That’ll almost see the freshwater input done. I’ll have to add a little bracket to hang the water gun though. There will be no faucets used on the bus - they’re way too costly!

A few days ago I found an insurer willing to insure school bus conversions. I told them I have no intention of retitling the bus as a motorhome. They were fine with that. Now the reason for that is that with the title left alone, if the insurance ceases then I can go back to straight collision only commercial bus insurance. They wanted to know the conversion cost so I’m going to have to find all my receipts and tally them up. My guess is $3000 - $5000.

Throughout the day I have been building my mushroom air inlet vent. I’m not 100% sure I’ll be using it though. It seems to me that with the flapper valves I have, in place and some louvered vents replacing my mushroom vents I should be close to insect proof. With the ventilation system active, any insects that get in should be blown out.

There, you can see the mushroom vent. The mosquito mesh needs extra glueing. There are two pipe clamp clips I made and a foot from the hillbilly bed that I’m planning to retake. That will be riveted to the side of the bus with a cigarette lighter socket attached. That will form my external solar input.

And here’s proof I’m not up to scratch. I swept the stairs. Cleaning is something I only do when I’m really under the weather. Normally those steps are knee deep in sand. I need to sweep a lot of sand out of the bus and do a lot of cleaning with my purple industrial cleaner. 

I could rabbit on about all the other worries, frustrations, annoyances and problems in my life - of which there are many - but you really don’t want to read all that. Most of you probably don’t really want to read the blog - you just want the free candy that pops up out of certain computer keyboards after you finish reading!

Big changes

This week has been one of major changes. It started off with me resigning from my school bus driving position on Monday morning. That was driven by many issues involving both the safety of the bus, the safety of the children and my general unhappiness to continue working at a toxic workplace. Then I came down with something akin to the flu.

So far, nothing major has been achieved on the bus - it’s all little bits of things. The blue zip tie broke on my door opener last week so on a whim yesterday I pulled out my welder and made a steel replacement that can be bolted or pinned into place. That should never break. The plastic zip tie did rather well, breaking after 18 months of use. The steel replacement will likely last longer than the linear actuator!

I started the plumbing for the water inlet though I am missing one very important component. That’s the 3/4 hosepipe adaptor. I’m also missing some 3 inch brackets and jubilee clips with which to attach the piping to the skirt. I’ve put a few components together and shortened the tubing so that I can have a short downpipe. That will need an adaptor glued to it in order to clamp it onto the floor thoroughly. I’ll probably secure the tubing on the inside of the bus with a jubilee clip and a bracket.

Turning the ventilation system on for the first time since I combined the output of all the panels, I’ve been watching the voltage carefully. At 5 minutes on, on the hour, I seem to be putting back what I’ve used. Using the USB charger in the bedroom to charge my tablet and having my circulation fun running might use a bit too much power. I’m not certain yet. Having said that, one of my future steps will be to install an input at the front of the bus that will allow me to put an extra solar panel into the system. I can simply stand that panel on the ground, aimed directly at the sun. That doesn’t have to be any more than 50W to be honest.

Needless to say, at some point the 5A fuse on my ventilation circuit blew. Both motors are rated at 2.5A for a combined 5A. My guess is that the starting current may be a little higher hence I’ve replaced that fuse with a 7.5A fuse. That seems to be just fine at the moment. If that blows over the next few days then I’ll probably have to go to a 10A fuse.

I tried my new zip tie replacement gizmo that I welded the other day. It didn’t quite fit so I ended up locking myself out of the bus and having to use the rear entrance. That’s always pretty uncomfortable! Fully painted, it looked quite pretty!

The problem was that the chain didn’t reach far enough to meet the spike and the link I had spare was a shade too long to use as a link replacement. Thus the latch didn’t lift far enough. Harbor Freight came to my rescue though.

Looking at the problem, one of the Harbor Freight cable clamps with the rubber gasket removed fitted perfectly. All I need to do is to put a proper nut and bolt through and I should have a perfectly opening and closing door latch with none of the limited lifespan of plastic zip ties. I ended up taking a small piece out of the edge with my angle grinder to make it all fit but now fit it does. The bolts that kept snapping on me that I bought cheap from Festenal did me proud too. One of those shortened with the same angle grinder made the whole thing work.

So, looks like I wended my little cap thingy for nothing but I’ve ended up with a better system for the front door lock so it’s all good.

I had ideas today about going under the bus to install my extra cabling and my water inlet. The cabling I just never got to. I’m feeling a lot icky with this flue-like bug. The water piping can’t be done for probably another 36 hours or until the soft-setting glue I put on the threads has cured. I wish I’d just gone with a slip joint that just glued together.

Tomorrow, if I’m feeling better, I’ll head out and get some supplies as well as visiting the one coach company and one trucking company I left my details with the other day. Maybe they’ll have work for me? In any case, it’ll take a few days before I can get either the plumbing or the cabling completed.

The ventilation seems to be working though I do need to get on and install a flapper valve into my ducting. I’ll also have to get and install a louvered vent on the outside. Meanwhile I glued one of my mushroom vent covers together. I’d glued one before but as the glue was a bit old, it hadn’t stuck. This time I primed as well as gluing so that should be that. I’ll have to locate my mosquito mesh too, in order to complete that mushroom vent. Neither the flapper valve nor the louvered vent will be 100% insect proof hence the need for a mosquito mesh. Currently there’s a mesh on the outside under my steel mushroom vents. That’s slowing airflow considerably hence the need to replace it.

As far as charging my tablet while the ventilation is powered, it’s definitely more than the sunlight provided will stand in terms of battery charge. I need to put that external solar input and get that portable 50W panel. Mind, removing the mosquito mesh blockage in the ventilation system will improve matters tremendously.

As of right now the stuff I want to do fairly urgently is...

• Install the plumbing inlet.
• Install the solar inlet. While I’m at that, I might also install extra wires to the battery compartment so that I can solar-charge the driving batteries or at least keep them topped up.
• Install the latest underbus cabling.

Less urgent is to work on the ventilation system. To be done as and when will be to complete the internal wiring connected to the latest cable. 

As and when, the other things that should be done are to install a lock on the fuel door and a lock on the battery door. Then there’s also an investigation needed of the transmission bulge in the cockpit to see if the stray white cable that’s dangling under the bus is actually connected to the speed sensor. As the acellerater and rev counter drop out from time to time I’m assuming there’s a loose wire. It would not surprise me to discover that all of these things are related to the hillbilly previous owners.