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!