Leaks possibly stopped

Today got off to a very strange start. The usual compressor was not available but there was a smaller compressor available. That had refused to work for me before but what the heck, why not try it again and fix it if it doesn't work. Well, that started a morning (and an afternoon).

The compressor was at the back of a shed that for 5 years the doors have been opened, things have been thrown in and the doors closed. Thus it was piled up waist high with all sorts. A lot of absolute trash went into a pickup truck ready to go to the dump. Lots of cardboard boxes that had held tomatoes, some wooden boxes that had held corn were in there too as was torn-up plastic sheeting and an old Harbor Freight 900W generator that somebody had dismantled and not put back together. All went in the back of the pickup for a dump run.

Then the wood that had been lying flat was stacked neatly - aside from one massive sheet that was just too heavy to handle. That got dragged to the house and put down where it would be beneficial as a piece of flooring. This all took til well past midday. Then there was a thunderstorm and a torrential downpour. To cap that off the lights went out too.

When everything had dried after the storm the stepladder made an appearance and I ascended to check out the leaking red top marker lights. As I suspected they weren't screwed down tightly. That was fixed and subsequent observation will tell whether there is still a leak at the back of the bus. With luck there won't be.

The tiny little compressor takes an age to fill. It hadn't been started in years and needed a little fiddling to make it work. When it did work it sputtered but then after resting for a while seemed to pick up and work reasonably well. For the riveter it worked really well. The air drill, however, did not work well. That needed a bigger tank.

The self-drilling screws used to install the panels on the driver's side of the bus were removed, the holes enlarged with a drill bit and a little sealant applied to the holes before the new rivets were installed. 

The mandrel on one rivet decided to snap rather than break off cleanly. That was annoying! In the end that was cleaned up with the angle grinder. The areas where I'd put permanent marker to aid drilling the holes were sprayed with Rustoleum white spray paint. For some unknown reason that decided to reticulate. The paint underneath is Rustoleum white brush-on paint on top of Rustoleum universal primer. I have no idea what that's all about! On the other side, rather than spraying with the now suspect spray paint I shall simply wipe the black marks off with alcohol.

The other side was not completed today as there just aren't enough wide rivets to do it. Initially I couldn't find my short, wide 3/16 rivets. Then I found they'd spilled over the floor in the bus cockpit so it was another task to pick them all up. At the moment I think I have 10 and to complete riveting panels I need 24. Things are mounting up that I need to go to the shops for so I'll add those to the list.

Tomorrow it might be possible to install some rivets, not necessarily all and of course hunting on the floor might find a few more but it's unlikely to be 14 more.

I made enquiries about something to put over the remaining windows. To be honest I have not been greatly impressed with the results. There seems to be a very limited choice of options. To use flat bar stock would involve welding the flat bar stock. I could so that with my Bernzomatic though how strong the weld would be is anybody's guess. If I do that then I'd want to form my welds properly. To do that I think making a mold with fire cement would be the way to go - especially since with just three bars of two inches width per window I will have only three welds to do. Bending the aluminium seems a good idea however it seems even heated to be a difficult materiel to bend accurately.

At this point the remaining essential tasks are:

Brakes/lines

Tyers

Wind shield wiper pivot

Fix the horn

Minor internal electrics

I think I took care of the leak today and I'm heading toward properly securing all the sheet metal.

I also need to:

Clean the windshield of paint

Remove the back door buzzer that sounds constantly

Fix the voltmeter above the microwave

Fix the attachment points for the control panel top.

Add a small fuse box to the control panel for my extra switches - to replace the individual fuses.

Add a second light to the back of the bedroom

Caulk and paint in the bedroom.

Things are definitely getting done and it is all coming together.