What happened to the Playboy Bunny-girl?

Today was a bit of a mish-mash day that actually ended quite successfully. The day dawned rather too early which was not welcome. In fact, I was probably awake before 5am after having hit the sack about 1am. At 7am the alarm clock kicked me out of bed. That was followed by a rather lengthy trip to Walmart and Lowes (hiss, spit).

The overall aim of the morning's trip was to do the month's grocery shopping. While there, I took advantage of the fact that Walmart's garage was open (on a Sunday) and had them give my car a much needed oil change. While that was going on, m'lady and her mother went to do the grocery shopping and I nipped across the parking lot on foot (shock, horror - somebody in America daring to walk somewhere) into Lowes (hiss, spit) where I managed to get the U bolts I wanted, a replacement drill bit and absolutely no rivets. Lowes (hiss, spit) was totally out of 3/16 rivets!

Returning to Walmart, I picked up my car and then rejoined m'lady and her mother to discover that one of the Walmart minimum wage serfs had been insanely rude to them. Given that both m'lady and her mother are inoffensive people, that was totally inexcusable. No point in complaining though. Walmart's solution would just be to fire the disposable minimum wage serf rather than to fix the demonstrable problem with their staff's attitudes.

While in Walmart, I noted the aisles were full of Easter merchandise. I think this is probably about the closest I'm going to get to a Playboy Bunny though!


Having completed the shopping and returned home, it was time to catch up with my missing kip. So, a couple of hours later I headed to the bus and checked the running lights. Initially one of the tail lights was out but the bulb was OK so after wigglimg the bulb, the light lit. One of the top red markers is out as is one of the right hand amber markers. I'll get to those in due course.

Entering the bus, I looked around and my eye alighted on a small packet in my tool box. Yesterday I had hunted through that tool box several times looking for rivets. Incredibly, there was the packet of 3/16 rivets that I needed. Thus, I set to work.

The last two of my cheap self-adhesive paper blinds were stuck up very well. They took quite some pulling to remove. Given that the other 3 had simply fallen down under their own weight, I don't for one instant believe that they would have withstood the test of time. Thus, the two blinds in the bathroom were replaced. 

The caribinas made moving the shower curtain very easy. It was just a case of unclip, reclip and done.Sadly the caribinas were too small to use with my lantern. That's not a problem though - I can always get a bigger caribina.

Slowly, things are coming together. I need to put the water tanks underneath, themain breaker box in, a method of securing items in the back closet, a method of opening the front door from outside and to secure the lower window of the back door. 

Depressingly little achieved

Today was pretty much of a washout in terms of achievement on the bus. The blinds didn't get put up. The main breaker didn't get installed. Nothing really was achieved. I have no real excuse for that. I guess I really wasn't feeling too great what with the sudden hot day, the time change and general depression.

Despite all that, I did wipe down the power socket cover with paint thinner. Then it was sprayed with grey paint. If the paint sticks then the thinner trick works. As a control sample, another area where the paint was peeling was wiped down with thinner and sprayed. It'll be interesting to see if the thinner trick actually works. I have my doubts.

The old main breaker box, I cleaned up and removed the cables, rescuing the TT30 plug that was attached to it. The next stage was to bore a hole in one side that would accommodate my 3/4" cable sleeves. That was a challenge that took literally hours. The main cause of the slowness was that the tool was entirely inappropriate. Now the reason I used an inappropriate tool is that I make so few holes of that diameter that rather than spend $25 on the proper hole saw, I spent $7 on a cheap hole saw designed for wood. I simply use it for metal and regard it as disposable. So, the hole was bored upon which the rainspots that had been hitting me off and on for the past few minutes turned into a torrential downpour.

Retreating inside the bus, I pulled out a file and filed the hole to make it really work with the inlet. After the rain had drenched the outside world, I worked on the hole a little more with the hole saw. Then the inlet was inserted followed by the end of the 3 foot section of 8-3 cable that raised so many eyebrows in Lowes (hiss, spit). The other end will go into my sub panel. 

I never got as far as installing the panel. It was rather warm in the bus, hence my thoughts about a solar-powered extraction fan. I did have a go at installng a roller blind to replace the fallen stick-up blinds. Thus, I pulled out the battery drill and started drilling and drilled and drilled and drilled and made a small hole but not deep enough to achieve anything. At that point the light went so for possibly the very first time I put power through the inlet socket I installed and had light inside the bus powered by 120v mains power. That worked quite well.

I had a look for the vehicle registration documents but didn't find them in the obvious place. Clearly they much be somewhere less obvious. I need them to be able to send off to apply to have the bus retitled as a motorhome. To be absolutely honest, I think the insurance companies are being ridiculous on insisting on retitling as a motorhome just to insure everything. 

Let there be a place to stick it!

There is a photo of progess so far. The power inlet cover is in place. The grey doesn't match the grey of the bus but there is something I have in my possession that will resolve this - a paintbrush and a pot of paint. "A paintbrush" I hear you exclaim! Well, yes - a paintbrush - because spray cans contain so little actual paint and I have at least 3 or 4 lying around that represent about $20 - $30 of money wasted because the nozzzles won't allow paint out. Even switching nozzles has no perceivable effect. Spray cans are handy for quick touch-ups but only as long as you can use the entire can in one session. A paintbrush and a pot of paint is far less sexy but works far better and costs far less.

As you can see,the breaker box is lying on the ground, still attached to the cable coming through the floor of the bus. If you remember, I buggered up the inlet box that I was going to use on the back of the inlet - behind the skirt - the other day by snapping off two screws in the threaded holes. That was me just not thinking and using an electric screwdriver. Had I used the manual screwdriver I was too tired to find, this would not have happened.

Looking at the point where the cable enters the bus, I rivetted a steel plate around the area. As I installed that with a hand riveter and aluminium rivets while being unable to see what I was doing because of the hillbilly compartment that is now not in existence, that went a bit cockeyed. I'll see about drilling out those aluminum rivets and redoing that entry point. I rather think that replacing the rivets with screws might be a better solution. Instead of using rivets, to use rivnuts and screws. Of couse I'll have to use 10-24 rather than my preferred M5 screws on the basis that America is not all that good at metric stuff. I'll also have to use thread lock or silicone goop to ensure the bolts don't vibrate loose when I'm driving. I'd wondered why the area above felt cold and drafty. Now I know - there's airflow though my badly fitted plate. I can fix that though!

Those damn hillbillies!

Today I looked beside my interior sub panel and discovered I have 9 inches of space between the panel and the woodwork. That gives me ample space to install my main breaker. This means that I now do not need an underbody compartment. The socket box can simply be affixed to the inside of the skirt and a hole made for the plug to pass through.
Had I realised this many moons ago, I could have simply riveted the old hillbilly compartment door over the hole after taking out their nasty compartment. I would have saved several months as I taught myself to weld and built two compartments that I ended up not using. The first compartment (bottom - in grey and brown) was simply way too heavy for my liking. The second compartment (top) is better but is unnecessary extra weight.
In the end, I could have saved all that time and effort by ignoring what the hillbillies had done. Every time I tried to make use of whatever disaster they concocted, I found I wasted time and just had to fix their attempts before doing it my way.

Originally, I'd wanted to have an entirely solar-powered bus. I've since discovered that solar power produces electricity of such an inconsequential amount that it realy is just a stupid dream. In fact, unless it's done on an industrial scale I'd call solar power rather much of a scam. For the price of two solar panels that might or might not make much power I could buy a generator. For the price of the batteries needed to store power I could save a lot of weight and buy several years worth of fuel for the generator. Were I doing the bus again from the beginning, I'd use many of the lessons learned and rather than putting in a 120v system, I'd put a small underbody 4.25lb gas cylinder and no 120v supply. 

Just for laughs, today I bought a solar battery charger from Harbor Freight. I really don't expect much from this but if it recharges my AA NiMh cells then it will work on D cells too. I almost went for the suitcase solar panel on the basis I could probably rig that to charge either the LIon battery packs that'll recharge my tablet and phone or AA/D cells. Now the panel on the side of the box wasn't all that promising, to be honest but I thought I'd give it a shot.
I got it home and found it was somewhat of a challenge rather akin to the act of passing a camel through the proverbial needle to put AA batteries in the holders. Getting them out after might pose a significant challenge! I did not intend it for use with AA batteries but rather for D cells. If it works for AA batteries then it might be worth getting D cells because my LED lantern and my shower unit both use D cells.

12.5 hours for a single D cell looks pretty forbidding. That could mean several days given the fact I'm not likely to have optimal (middle of the Sahara) light. Given the size of the solar panel, I think this is more of a gimmick than something genuine. It's designed to catch the pennies of the curious rather than to provide worthwhile power.

Given that the battery holders are not that great and have a serious problem with gravity, I don't forsee a long life for this unit. Stripping it down to copy it, however, could be interesting. It should be possible to identify all the components in order to build a bigger, better charger that I could use to charge a realistic number of batteries. I have no problem with using NiMh cells as a power source!
As can be seen - this is the underside of the charger. How they expect the flimsy (I had to fix one already) contacts to hold batteries up, inside the unit remains to be seen. I rather expect that the contacts will snap fairly soon.

Meanwhile I relocated my butane torch and my butane refill cylinder. The torch would not take a butane charge. I suspect that the valve might have frozen. Given that I haven't used this in 5 years, it would seem likely. I pulled it out because I thought I might be able to use it to do some light brazing but sadly it appears this is not to be. It's not worth buying another - not at the current price of $18. When it was $10, it was fine. While I was thinking about it, I almost bought another main breaker box out of sheer laziness rather than cut and rivet steel plate over the holes I'd already made in it to situate it underneath the bus. I thought more of my money however.

Diesel is now $1.69 a gallon. I really need to get that 120v system sorted out before the price rises. I can probably put another 30 gallons of diesel in the tank. I need to be able to move the bus before I can do that though and with the main breaker attached by a cable to the bus and dangling on the ground, that's not currently possible unless there was a way to tie the whole affair up so it didn't drag on the ground.

New ideas keep hitting me!

Two members of the genus Sasquatch strolled past as, wrapped up against the arctic cold, I stepped into the freezing outside world. The aim today was to work on the breaker box compartment with a sub aim of marking the steel to cut to infill the rest of the hillbilly hole.

Last night, as I dreamed of things to be, things that might be and things that couldn't possibly ever be, I had an idea. Why not add brackets to the back of the box in order that extra securing points may be employed. Thus, the first order of the day was to locate some suitable steel, which I derusted manually, welded into place and sprayed with rust killing spray.
While I was at it, I re-welded the seam that was a bit loose that I'd welded yesterday. Yesterday I tried using my welder at the lower amperage setting since I was using thin rods and having a problem of burning through steel. That kinda-sorta worked. 40A was too low to be really useful. 70A is a bit high because extreme care needed to be taken that the rods didn't burn a hole in the steel.

Hunting around, I found my white paint. I set to and gave the assembley a white topcoat, hoping that it really won't matter much that some of the undercoat got burned off by the welding process. As rain is forecast for tomorrow, I placed an upturned planter over the assembly.
Then, looking at the sheet steel I placed behind the hillbilly aperture, I realised that it would probably support the edge of the compartment. I also realised that by being very careful I could probably stitch weld the steel into the hole after it's cut to size.
At least I found a use for the duct tape I had in the bus. It was well on the way to not being at all sticky! The steel for this operation was donated by a seat back from the bus that the hillbillies had not removed. Those with longer memories will recall that I removed it and the handrail that was attached to it in around April.

I sprayed around the perimeter of the aperture with orange paint in order to make an outline for cutting. Then, mindful of the fact rain was forecast and this is probably not galvanized steel, I sprayed inside with white paint.
The loose breaker box and cable are resting on top of an upturned trash recepticle underneath the bus. I must admit they look a load better since they were taken out of the nasty environment of rotting wood. Speaking of rotting wood, I did find some light surface rust where the wood had been in contact with bodywork steel. I treated it with anti-rust spray.

The next step will be to mount the breaker compartment in place and secure it from the front and the back. I had planned to drill holes in the tops of the sides but there isn't room to get the drill inside the box to be able to drill vertical holes. That's as of right now. In the future I might find a smaller electric drill and be able to do it.

If I put the steel infilling behind the bodywork panelling then I could weld it to the edge of the flange on the compartment and it would act as a support. I could rivet the steel over the front of the aperture too. That would solve the problem and old vehicles do have patches riveted over them. This bus is a splendid example, what with all the patches I've rivetted over hillbilly foolishness. I could butt-weld the whole patch into the aperture with the aperture (albeit with a cutout for the breaker compartment).

As far as locating the inlet box, that could be placed under the compartment or to the side. At the side, it could point downwards or go out through the side of the bus. The advantage for going out through the side is ease of access. The downside is it looks like a power socket. On the other hand, from 20 feet not many people would really notice anyway - particularly with a grey vehicle.

The paint is definitely peeling in places. I did read that somebody prepped their bus by wiping down the paintwork with paint thinner. That sounds promising and I might try that where the paint peels off. In fact that sounds easier than brushing down to bare metal, priming and painting. I can try it and if it doesn't work, I can try something else. It's not as though it has to be instantly perfect. It has to be comfortably livable inside - which it will be when the shower curtains are in place and it's all cleaned up.

12v electricity is a long-term project that will be installed at some future point. After infilling the hole in the side and installing the breaker compartment I might move on to installing the waste water barrels. I have considered various options and come to the conclusion that nylon cargo straps are the way to go. There seem to be three ways of securing barrels. I have seen some ideas that use plywood cradles but that just seems nuts having seen the way plywood under the bus just rots. 

The three ways are to use chains anchored to the skeleton and wrapped around the barrels, to use nylon cargo straps and to use plumbing strap. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. Cargo straps are pretty universal, easy to install and easy to obtain. Chains are equally easy to obtain but harder to tighten and install. Plumbers strap probably needs a special tool to apply that I don't have. 

Discounting plumbing strap, I'm left with chains or cargo straps. Chains are excellent and very strong but only as strong as the weakest link. As the tanks will be pretty close to the back wheels (unless I can situate them further forward) then there is a possibility that the chain could drop down and get wrapped around the wheel with catastrophic consequences. Nylon straps would just snap at 300lbs pressure. They'd also be kinder to the plastic barrels. Thus, catastrophic failure is not as likely. Some question how well the straps will last but protected from UV and kept dry (the only wet will be road spray) there is no reason why they should not last a good long time. Doubling them up would add extra security. The attachment points for the straps could easily be steel plate with a hole drilled in it that's simply riveted to the body skeleton.

Tomorrow, if it's raining as promised, it's unlikely I'll be able to do much outside the bus. As far as I know, the rivnuts and screw eyes I ordered on Friday won't be here tomorrow. Those will complete the shower curtain attachments. Another thing that could be done is to work out some way of raising the 3 gallon cooler that forms the basis of my shower in order to increase the efficiency of the impeller pump.

The new monstrosity emerges

Just when you thought it was safe to let the women and children out on their own, my monstrosity emerged from the capable hands of my Harbor Freight 70A welder. Starting was much delayed due to my looking for a way to hold the pieces in place. I considered riveting but couldn't find my rivets. Then I tried to bolt the pieces together but the 1/8th drill bits all seemed pretty blunt. In the end I retrieved a tiny G-clamp from something I'd put together several years ago that utilised a G-clamp. That did the trick! It held the pieces together while I welded them.

There were setbacks along the route such as letting the welding rod linger too long and burn a hole in the steel I was welding. That delayed things as I had to make concentric circles, waving the welding rod around the hole like Harry Potter's wand while I built up the steel surrounding the hole until the hole was filled.
It's not quite rectangular but I'm not bothered - the simple act of riveting it underneath the bus will pull it straight. Once it's riveted into place I might weld it as well. I'm not sure about that yet though.

I have't painted where I welded yet as I need to put sides on the compartment and the simple act of welding burns the paint off. Watching the paint in flames was quite entertaining! The original plan was for solid sides on the compartment. The power socket could go underneath the compartment. That would simplify things considerably. The cable needn't go through any complicated routes.
Looking around, I found some steel mesh. It looks ideal to use as sides. That would have the advantage of allowing air to evaporate any water that seeped in through the compartment door. The whole point of the compartment is twofold - firstly to top squirrels from eating the electrical cables and secondly to provide somewhere to mount the electrical inlet. It would be nice to keep spiders out but they get in anyway.

Checking the bodywork steel, it seems to be the same thickness as the vast majority of the lightweight sheet steel that I already have. It should not thus be a problem to fill the cavity left in the bodywork by the hillbillies. Certainly moving the welding rod as swiftly as Harry Potter's wand means I should be able to weld thin steel. My welding has definitely come a long way since I attempted to weld two steel conduits together and burned right through them.

Tomorrow's plan is to continue with construction of the compartment and possibly to demolish the old wooden compartment as well as removing the aluminum compartment door. Like as not, there'll be some hidden nastiness there that'll need to be dealt with. I might even need to move the bus closer to the power supply in order to do more welding.

I can kinda sorta see why people sniff at the cheap Harbor Freight welder. It is pretty slow to weld with. On the other hand, I'm not in any particular rush. If I can get the breaker box compartment completed by the time I return to work on Tuesday then I shall be elated.

Starting with electrics

Today I had enough energy after work to visit Lowe's to pick up some electrical supplies. I now have a breaker box although I suspect it might be a little oversized for what I need. They were put into the bus to await commencement of the electrics. I like to be a little ahead.

Meanwhile, here's a photo of my almost cleared countertop. By the end of the weekend, that countertop will be cleared and repainted.

Today also, a surprise phonecall. This morning, Eric who's currently touring Canada rang. I didn't answer as I was otherwise employed so this evening, I rang him. We had a nice chat about the bus, my plans and electrics.

His recommendations were to go for a secondhand fridge. His opinion of the Haer dorm fridges was that they were power hogs. His recommendation was to go for a small household fridge or a 12v fridge. I think initially, I might just use an ice box.

From Eric's travels, the 30A socket was the most common at campgrounds. This means that I've way overdone it with my breaker box. Really, I want each socket on a separate breaker but the box is a bit big. I'll have to see if I can fit it or whether I should exchange it for a pair of smaller boxes.

On the 12v side, Eric recommended hunting for an Opel Astra fuse box from a scrapyard. Apparently GM built a copy of the Opel Astra that was identical on all levels. Another recommendation was some kind of smart relay that could be used to make cabin batteries charge from the alternator.

It was such a high speed conversation that I missed a lot of what was said. Really I need my bus and Eric to meet. I think he'd have a blast redoing bus wiring, wiring in trailer lights and so on. That's unlikely to happen until next year though.