Getting down and dirty

Today was a day of achievement and visible achievement at that! In short, the plumbing under the shower is complete. There is a question as to whether I should perhaps add a jubilee clip on each end of the pex tubing so I probably will, just to be sure.

The nuts on the cable grips were replaced with stop nuts. Getting them off was easy despite the application of Locktite Blue Thread Locker. I had anticipated a struggle given the instructions to heat the screw to 700F to release the Thread Locker. I had to do no such thing. Clearly Thread Locker is a garbage product trading on unsubstantiated claims. It was applied to clean, new bolts and the nuts installed just after the stuff had been poured liberally over the threads. It just didn't stick. This is why I trust stop nuts. They just don't vibrate loose. As it transpired, there was insufficient space on the thread for two nuts so I only had to work on one barrel. The other already has stop nuts.

The next thing was to replace the screws and clean up the excess silicone goop from when I installed the sheet metal over the schoolbus flashers. I ran out of 3/16 steel rivets. I'd been rather overzealous with my fastnings and had clearly put 27 holes in each plate. I'll get more rivets tomorrow.

It looks a little better now. A little less obvious. I didn't feel it was worthwhile to weld though soldering would have been useful had I a functional propane torch. While I was up there I replaced the broken CB aerial. This time, rather than having it vertical, I have angled it slightly in order to lessen the chance of tree branches snapping it off.

Now is getting to be the kind of weather when working under the bus is getting unpleasant. Fortunately I don't have much that is truly essental to do underneath. I had to brush off one tick, swat one mosquito, brush off some ants and a couple of spiders. Right beside the bus were a couple of anthills.

Clearly it is going to get really unpleasant soon. The good news is that I have only two things that need doing under the bus. The first is to redo the hillbilly wiring. Now for that I might just get my mechanic friend involved. As for the other, it's a case of doing the plumbing under the sink into the other barrel. For that I need to get a new sink connector and a 1.5 to 1.25 inch piping adaptor plus some 1.25 inch piping. I found my hole saw makes 1.25 inch holes so it seems better to get cheap piping to fit rather than an expensive hole saw the right size. Of course, under the bus, the piping has to reduce to 0.75 inch tubing as I have a lot of 0.75 and my junction is 0.75. I'll further need another 0.75 to 0.5 pex adaptor. The whole plumbing setup is nonstandard because of different ideas that have cropped up as I have been working.

In some places I have overspent. In other I have had bargains. I'm pleased with the hosepipe valves that I picked up for $2 in Walmart. They are way cheaper than anything Lowes (hiss, spit) had. As there will be no real pressure, they don't even have to be very strong!

I am sure my waste water system will leak though I don't know how much. Some leakage is desirable in order to reduce the need to actively dump the waste water. In actual fact, it's just soapy water used for washing. That's not really dirty. The only problem will be non biodegradable deturgents.

I have been giving thought to carrying freshwater and located a 15 gallon barrel at Walmart for $47. That's quite a bargain when U-Line sells them for $41 with $30 shipping. Either that or a 220 mile drive to the nearest U-Line suplier. At 19mpg and $1.85 a gallon, paying shipping would be cheaper than visiting U-Line. Anyway, the Walmart solution sees best. A manual pump also seems in order. Those seem to be between $20 and $60 with electric pumps coming in even cheaper. An alternative to the pump would be just to draw water from under the bus via one of those handy Walmart $2 faucets.

Right now, the goal is to obtain the supplies needed in order to complete current operations. The back door lower window needs to be replaced with something solid. That will involve welding. In fact, quite a lot of welding and some grinding in order to make it smooth. 

Finally, the front door locking mechanism needs addressing. I have encountered linear actuators that sound interesting though pricey. Currently I'm returning to an old idea using the two electromagnets I bought from China that won't repel anything magnetic. Rather than have them pushing the latch upward, pulling it upward - if they're strong enough. Placement will be ultra critical however.

On the whole though progress is painfully slow, I am happy with what has been achieved thus far. I am looking into some kind of fireproof box to keep important documents safe. By that, I mean passports, insurance, registration and citizenship documents. Sadly, thus far, all I am encountering are pretentious pieces of junk. I am seeing fire proof boxes calling themselves safes and sporting ludicrous things such as combination locks and keypads. How utterly insane! All I need is a fireproof box with a latch. I don't want to fuss about with locks or fiddly trash like combination locks. Most of those alleged safes can be picked up and carried away for later opening or can be quickly opened with an angle grinder or a can opener!

When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping!

Today I have to report that my $55 RCA tablet purchased from Walmart at Christmas has ceased to charge properly. The likely culpret seems to be the flimsy little USB charging connection. Needless to say, this should not have failed with just 3 months usage. On the occasion I get it to start charging, I quietly walk away while it is charging and return to find it has not charged but rather discharged. I seem to have to hold it in order for it to charge. This is very irksome as I use this for updating my blog in the absence of a real computer.

I fully intended to buy all the plumbing parts needed in order to plumb in my shower waste water tank. I had to abandon the trip to Lowes (hiss, spit) because a whole series of really rather tiresome people kept approaching to talk to me. It seems that I am attracting timewasting people whose only pride is in their verbal diarrhea quite a bit at the moment. After the third or fourth person that broke my concentration, I gave up and headed to Tractor Supply for the bits that I needed. 

At Tractor supply I grabbed a cart intending to leave with potting soil and 4 baby chicks for m'lady but the potting soil was outside and it was raining hard. Believe it or not but Tractor Supply didn't know whether their chicks were male or female. It seems ludicrous that a company should not know what they are selling! The metal links and cable grips I needed were available but had to be hand carried despite the cart as they kept falling through the mesh of the cart. Having paid for the bits I headed across the road to Walmart but there, my card didn't seem to work. Paying for the two faucets and the cooler I'd spotted via alternate methods, I found my bank card had expired yet I had not had a replacement. All that entailed a long phonecall to the bank and a mad dash across town to an open branch. By then it was getting pretty late and m'lady was calling.

The upshot is that on the next dry day I will be able to install the barrel for the handbasin. I will not be able to do any of the plumbing but I will be a lot closer to having working plumbing. The next stage will be to reinstall the bathroom handbasin. This time I will have to fabricate mounts in order to fasten it down properly. That might involve some welding but I doubt it. It's handy to be able to weld.

Lowes wanted $8.95 for faucets yet what I got from Walmart for $1.95 will do for my waste tanks. All I need to do is to put garden hose connectors on my plumbing and it'll work just fine since there's absolutely no pressure involved. Things are looking up!

Slapped in the face by a wet kipper!

Yes folks, the wet kipper of reality just slapped me in the face. As I worked today, I discovered that the inlet thread on the barrels is the same size as the vent cap. I further discovered that it is the same thread as the average garden hose. What a fool I have been! I could have connected the shower directly to some garden hose, let it dangle to make the U bend (or S bend), put a T adaptor on the vent hole with the hose going into that. A separate piece of hose raised a bit would act as a vent and an overflow. At the bottom of the barrel, rather than having the inlet/outlet going into plastic piping, I could just have an ordinary faucet. I could have saved myself no end of effort, some welding and so on. It would also have meant the whole asembley would have been able to flex if the barrel swings a little. Not only that but it would have allowed me space to put a second barrel underneath the shower - with its own faucet.

Well, today started by my having to clear a space underneath the bus on which I could lie to work. The winters leaves had all collected on that side of the bus. A quick blow job later and the leaves were gone.

I looked underneath the bus and the ribs are just about perfect. It seems to alternate two opposing C sections and two box sections. The C sections I can easily drill into to install the attachments for the chains that hold the drums.

Visualising how to hang the drums, I found my cheap dollar store cargo straps are way too long and will probably need to be trimmed but I can see how the drums will hang. Knowing about the hose connectors lets me think more about adding that second barrel. On the other side of the bus, there's space for a white and a grey and possibly a black too. I'm not sure that I want to put a battery underneath though. It just seems that I won't be using that much power anyway. I thus have my eye on a different solution or different series of solutions.

In order to hang the barrels I need to put pairs of holes perfectly aligned. Three pairs of holes will do. Thus I made a small template to guide me for the second hole. Looking at the C section above, I should have no problem with the sections bowing under 125lbs weight. Indeed, given that I'm using three chains with each chain capable of holding 450lbs and three turnbuckles each capable of holding 130lbs plus other bits that are pretty darned strong (can't recall the specifications), I think I have plenty spare capacity. The most I can reliably say it'll stand is three times 130lbs (the strength of the turnbuckles) so 390lbs. Of course I'm unlikely ever to reach more than 125lbs given barrel capacity.

Underneath the bus, I set to and drilled three holes - one for each chain that will pass around the barrel. The second hole posed more of an issue. I had no 5/16 bolt to bolt my template to the first hole. Oh, I haven't told you about the template. I made a template that matched the two sides of my U bolts as shown in the photo.

So, without using the template my first hole was not quite in the right place. I had to do a lot of filing to make it right! And of course prudence being the better part of valor, I departed to Lowes (hiss, spit) where I picked up not only a pair of 5/16 nuts and bolts but also some Thread Locker. That's useful stuff that is painted on a bolt then the nut is tightened and the nut then does not come undone without a significant fight. Just the thing for under bus usage!

While in Lowes, my phone rang with an unfamiliar out-of-state number. I didn't answer but let it go to voicemail. Then when I listened to the voicemail, it was a woman I vaguely remembered trying to help in the past. Eventually figuring out her phone number since Google Voice had screwed up pretty badly, I returned her voicemail. A few minutes later, she rang back. During the ensuing conversation I remembered her as being particularly needy and so the daylight escaped as I made multiple attempts to excuse myself, politely. Eventually after 40 minutes I did get away but the daylight had gone.

Undaunted I grabbed my lantern and an S hook and slid under the bus. Blow me down if the lantern trick didn't work. It was phenomenal! I used my bolt and template and made two very successful holes in just the right places. It was I felt too dark to work on the other side though so I packed up and came inside. Tomorrow it is alleged to be going to rain so I might get under the bus in the morning to drill the other six holes (and rust proof them).

The first barrel could be well hung by tomorrow night. Having said that, I'm rethinking my plumbing ideas since the barrels have hosepipe fittings. I did look at some faucets today but did nothing further. I want to let my ideas and thoughts gel overnight. It could well be that while a better solution exists, it would be financially better to stick with existing plans and just modify them a little bit. Being able to use flexible tubing would be a good thing as it allows the barrels a little movement.

Lesser achievements but achievements anyway

No photo today. Sorry - it was dark before I'd really done enough to merit a photo. The day started off with my planning to do the plumbing under the bus. Thus, I played around with my plumbing bits and found the S bend I'd bought wouldn't fit anything else that I had so I coupled together a few bits and bobs to make a strangely shaped U bend. The problem is that I've bought bits from Lowes (hiss, spit) and Lowes (hiss, spit) seems to specialise in non-inter-compatible fixtures. 

The resultant U bend looked pretty good and was glued together. Then I realised I should - since it was a fine day - get up on the roof to finish off the final seam with silicone seal. Oops... The silione seal had dried up. There weren't quite enough plumbing supplies either. That and the fact m'lady's chickens were out of feed meant a trip to Tractor Supply.

Before I left, I had a quick look underneath the bus. The barrels will fit very nicely between the main chassis members and the side of the bus with enough room for my plumbing parts. I judged I would need 4 more right angle bends and two T sections plus some kind of faucet. Making a quick list, I headed out. Half way down the driveway I had inspiration and went back and grabbed a stopper from one of the barrels.

Arriving at Tractor Supply in glorious sunshine, it took a while to find a cart to carry 100lbs of chicken feed. That 100lbs should last the chickens about a month to six weeks. Then on the shelf I spotted some galvanizing paint. That, apparently is 98% zinc and should protect my fresh welds very well from rust. Then after getting the plumbing parts I wanted - aside from the faucet, I saw something interesting - a great big T junction with threads. Out of curiosity I tried my stopper from the barrel into the T and it screwed in perfectly. Then I found the male mate. I picked out two - one for each waste water barrel. 

When I looked underneath the bus earlier, I found two barrels could be fitted very nicely between I section girders. That means I can use simple bolts to attach the straps that hold the barrels. That makes life considerably quicker and easier. The whole plumbing operation can be carried out simply and painlessly. The sections that screw into the barrel are way big in the center and need to be stepped down to fit my pipework. Needless to say Tractor Supply didn't have the correct parts.

Leaving Tractor Supply, the next stop was Walmart for silicone sealant. Tractor Supply had it but it was 50% more expensive than Walmart so I picked some up. While I was there, I looked at the camping gas cookers and saw a very nice dual burner cooker with wind shields for $35 and a set of cooking pots for it for $30. That was very interesting and it seems a pair of gas cans are $6. According to the blurb it seems that on full blast with both burners going, 16oz of gas will last about 90 minutes. That sounds very doable.

Leaving Walmart, I visited Lowes (hiss, spit) to see if they had anything I could use as a faucet or to step the big pipe down. Needless to say, they had rack upon rack of irrelevant stuff. As I studied the racks an announcement came over the speaker to the effect the store was closing in 4 minutes and that I should proceed to the registers. So, not having found anything I headed to the door and left.

It transpires there's a better plumbing store on 378 so I might visit that or the plumbers supply in Lexington later this week. The plumbing looks like it'll be a load easier than I thought. I didn't get plumbing straps nor any means of attaching them to the chassis but that doesn't sound that hard. Everything has been a case of working out how to do it. I'd been wondering how to stop the barrels from sliding but having seen the space available, there shoudn't be a problem. I could probably use two straps per barrel but I'll probably use 3 for safety.

Once the plumbing is done, I can work on the battery compartment. Having cleaned and painted the metal that will be the floor of the compartment, I expect that the first fine weekend I shall be welding the floor to the compartment. 

The front door remains a problem waiting to be solved. I'm going to keep the door as a concertina affair. I just need to work more on a way of getting the latch to lift. If I had air brakes then I could simply tap into the air cylinder for a simple plunger and use residual pressure after bleeding the tanks. On the other hand that would mean I'd need to pressurize the tank every time I opened the door. It is, of course, possible to put a small air tank but I don't think I will.

Daylight robbery!

I've been subjected to two of the most appalling acts of robbery known to man or beast. The first was last night during a spell of insomnia when I actually paid $19 for a key switch to use with my forthcoming door opening device. I'd have had too go and have a good lie down after that had I not already been lying down on the job!

The key switch chosen is a high security ignition switch from a Harley Davidson. It's one of the circular keys. I'd have used a cheaper switch if it hadn't looked as though a two year old with a paperclip could have operated it without having seen a key.

The second bit of daylight robbery arrived this morning in the form of a demand for tax for my bus. The cheek of it!

They want a whole $23.40 and they're not even offering any discounts! I'm definitely going to have to sell the deeds to Brooklyn Bridge to pay for that one!

Meanwhile, after work, I sat on the bus for a while, enjoying the sound of the crickets outside. I really should get on with work on the bus but since it's now dark shortly after I arrive home, work has now to be weekends only.

I'm still hunting for 15 gallon barrels and drawing a complete blank. This is most frustrating and, as I predicted, I'll probably end up having to pay through the nose for something paltry. 55 gallon barrels are easy to get but are way too big. If all else fails, the plastic totes might suffice. Actually, for the fresh water supply a plastic tote could be better because of its known origin and known previous content. The foul water container just has to have a way of emptying. That could either be via a pump or a faucet. They each have advantages and disadvantages.

This weekend, the plan is to rebuild the battery/cable compartment the hillbillies built. I have to get steel rivets and a better rivet gun or a bag of nuts and bolts. Either way of construction has advantages and disadvantages.