The shakedown!

A first run or a shakedown run is so called because you watch for things that fall off as the vehicle shakes. Today, what with fuel prices beginning to rise, I took the bus out to put some more fuel in the tank. I put about 20 gallons of diesel in and that almost filled the tank. Today was the first run the bus has had since probably January of last year. It showed - accelleration and gear changing was sluggish but improved as time went by. It clearly needs a 1000 mile run to get it back into running order.

The gaugues all looked healthy even though the hillbillies buggered around with the rev counter wiring so they could fit a reversing horn (badly). Often the rev counter and occasionally the speedometer don't work because of their bad wiring work. That's all on the list of things to get my mechanic to fix.

A few things fell down when I was driving - mostly things that had been poorly situated such as boxes placed on top of the bed and big boxes piled on top of small boxes in the closet area. My lamp standard toppled too. I'm not in the slightest worried about any of those things. Of more concern were by S hooks. A lot of my S hooks vibrated loose and fell off the screw eyes. Some have fallen into crevices and will be hard to locate. My closet chain was one such casualty of the S hooks. Clearly I need to replace all my S hooks with carabiner clips instead. That's well worth knowing.

On a more serious note, the allegedly flexible CB aerial snagged a low-hanging twig as I was driving off the property and snapped off just above the base. Clearly it wasn't as flexible as claimed. Obviously I need some kind of whip aerial.

Today I put up the shower curtains and found I need to get a 3rd curtain in order to surround the shower fully.  As with the S hooks elsewhere, the S hooks in the bathroom were problematic. I think I'm going to have to buy a lot of small caribiner clips. Evil Bay is probably my best bet there. Failing that, for the closet chain and the shower curtains I suppose I could get stainless steel split rings. That would definitely work but might not be strong enough for clothing.

Otherwise, I spent my time cleaning the inside of the bus and putting things in boxes ready for a series of photos to send to the DMV in the retitling process. The electrics work and aren't a problem unless the power supply has a higher amperage than my cable in which case it's remotely possible to burn out the cable.

These are exterior images.





Thinking about the top flashers, I might just remove them and replace them with aluminum plate riveted in place with silicone sealant. I don't strictly need extra lighting. Rewiring them would represent an interesting issue too. As I go along with this project I become more enamored of simplicity. It might be worth replacing the arrow indicators with the amber covers that have been used on the upper flashers.

The cockpit of the bus looks pretty nice. I do need to revive the original drivers fan though.
 

Moving back, the first compartment is the galley. As my microwave committed suicide, I have no microwave to display so I put a simple set up of a kettle with my $18 gas cooker and some tea bags.
 
 
Going further back, there is the bathroom with no handbasin but a jug and bowl. It's very reminiscent of the 18th century but works pretty well.
 
 
I couldn't step back far enough without falling out of the bus to photograph the shower. My jacket is indeed hnging from one of my S hooks but was heavy enough that the S hook didn't bounce out of place. Moving back is the bedroom with the bedroom table shown in the image. Look very carefully and you can see my camera that - it's a 3 megapixel Canon S1 IS from 2001. Oddly enough my phone takes far better photos so that camera is never used.
  

As can be seen, the bedroom is a bit of a dumping ground for clothes and general junk. I'll have to sift through and get rid of the stuff I don't actually need. For some strange reason I have a box filled with several years of rent receipts and another couple of boxes full of receipts and tax records for a business that I had many years ago that proved tp be a financial nightmare.

Beyond the white door is a simple closet area in which I have a pile of empty plastic totes.

Driving the bus was quite interesting. As I said, it hasn't been driven since January so it's not yet in its prime. The 10 miles or so I put on it today was nothing. I almost took it to a further filling station because the local one was advertised at $1.95 though was actually $1.89. The further filling station was $1.69. I'd probably have used a gallon to get there and a gallon back. 25 gallons would havebeen $5 cheaper but I'd have used half of it on the run so though I was $2 poorer for using the local filling station, I felt safer using the bus on a shorter run given the amount of time it has been standing idle.

On an earlier trip today (in my car), I picked up some supplies to complete the shower curtain (which was achieved) and some supplies to help me finish the plumbing. The most important thing, the heavy chain, I completely omitted to buy! Having said that, I can always use nylon cargo strap either initially or permanently.

Are rednecks my salvation?

Today the plan was to practice welding thin steel only that's not how the day unfolded. The day itself was fine - bright, cold and dry. Enthusiasm for welding was non-existent although I did trek into the bushes to find some suitable-looking steel. Hunting around the bushes here can be very fruitful when it comes to finding steel, plastic, old-style glass Coke bottles and abandoned household equipment. Thank the Lord for rednecks and their haphazard way of dumping stuff they no longer want.

Having scoured around the bushes, I realised I need to finish the inside - that's blinds and shower curtains. The existing hillbilly cable compartment does work - it just doesn't look pretty. The plumbing works though I do desperately need to put a hook to hang the bucket. That will have to wait until I can figure out a way of doing it well.

Thus, I headed inside and started putting up blinds. Cutting them with the angle-grinder requires a steady hand - which I developed as I cut more blinds. Needless to say, I'd forgotten where I'd put the brackets for one set of roller blinds and had to have a darned good hunt to find them. In the end, they were in a Walmart bag that contained a few bags of jelly-beans (my weakness).

The roller blinds take some getting used to as they very often need manual winding for the last few inches. Having said that, they're easily cleaned, easily removed and I prefer them to curtains for the bus. Curtains would, of course, have been cheaper. They could have been simply sets of bandanas. I'm sure that since the local football teams are the Gamecocks and Clemson that I could have got Clemson or Gamecocks bandanas for next to nothing in the charity stores.

Closed, the blinds do not look bad. These cost $4.95 in Walmart at the mounts were 97c a pair. Not too bad. The blinds in the galley are just privacy blinds - not light blocking. They can be seen through the window tint as lighter areas. I did get a room darkening roller blind but that was $6.95 so I got that purely for the bedroom.

I'm getting some light-pollution problems on my phone camera at the moment. I think it's because I"m including the light source in my photos - the LED hurricane lantern. Anyway, in the photo you see my cheapo tablet and a very elderly 3 megapixel zoom compact plus my clock. After my Nexus died I figured it just wasn't worth spending a lot on a tablet since they're pretty well disposable. Indeed, I asked somebody how much they would charge to fix it and they wanted as much as my cheapo tablet cost!

Having done the main windows with blinds, there are the bathroom windows that have no kind of privacy whatsoever aside from tint and the other two half bedroom windows. Those windows I will put paper blinds over. I couldn't use paper in the kitchen because of the cooking aparatus. I needed something less likely to flutter in a breeze. The bedroom will get black, room darkening paper blinds. The bathroom will just get white privacy blinds.

I took the International logo off the front of the bus today - the grey paint around it was peeling so I removed the logo and sanded it down. Then I sprayed with the cheap, lighter paint. I'll probably slap some Rustoleum grey on it at some time. That's not a priority right now though. The priority is to get the bus operable as a motorhome which it pretty much is now.

Having done the shower curtains, I'll put separaters in the drawers and put my china in the drawers as well as giving the bus a darned good cleaning. The solar stuff can wait. That's not a priority. The breaker compartment needs to be done soon though. As far as an underbody battery compartment is concerned, I'm not too sure it's really worth bothering with one. It might just be better to charge a dozen or so AA batteries using solar power. Those could be used to power or recharge USB devices. Another thing I'll do is to mount my whiteboard on one of the walls. I have had that whiteboard for a long time and it does come in handy for things occasionally.

The whiteboard has an interesting history. At one time I was going to do face-painting and photography with really good posed photography - not the kind facepainters do. I interviewed three facepainters. One decided she didn't want to spend $3.99 on facepaints from Walmart and lied and kept lying about her facepaint order always going to arrive. Total timewaster. The second facepainter called to arrange an interview then called five minutes before to reschedule and after the third call to request a reschedule, I realised she was a timewaster too and told her that if she found it that hard to attend an interview at a time that she suggested then it was highly unlikely that she would ever turn up to work. She argued and demanded I didn't tell the welfare people she didn't show. I should have told them but quite honestly it would have meant extra work. The final facepainter suddenly announced midway through the interview that she was a lesbian and went on to talk about her girlfriend. That really had no place in the discussion but I glossed over and we agreed to work together. Needless to say that involved buying a whiteboard to write prices etc on. Then she never showed to any sessions. Again a total waster which is pretty much my opinion now of all facepainters. The redundant $6.95 whiteboard has come in very handy in my kitchen though and I expect it will

I thought long and hard about the underbody battery compartment and for the amount of power I'm likely to use, it's not really justified. I was thinking of putting a solar-powered extraction fan in the bedroom. That seems to me to be worthwhile. That'll keep the bedroom cooler in summer. That can pump air out underneath the body.

The less complications I build in, the better to be honest. This is why I'm aiming at simple, cheaper solutions. I've been thinking long and hard over the extraction fan in the kitchen. I know it's needed. I'm not sure whether to have a straight chimney with a cap and no actual fan with the chimney going up through the roof on one of the sides where it won't add to the height of the bus. Another solution would be an actual fan, drawing the air from above the stove and blowing it out through a vent either under the bus or through a vent hole in the aluminum sheet that replaces one of the missing windows. On the whole, as heat rises, it might be better to blow cooking heat and steam down and out. Nobody will notice an extra vent on the side of a bus!

Ouch! My sore arse...

Now I know what a gay man feels like! My arse is still very tender after sliding down those stairs the other day. Indeed, it's now a nice shade of purple. I did wonder how close to the purple of the galley area of the bus it is but it would be hard to color match and I'd have to get somebody else to hold up the color matching cards. I don't think the world is quite ready to see my bare arse!

Today I fully intended to get to work on the coil for the front door unlocking system but as soon as I got to the thing, the glue had failed where I'd glued the enamel wire to the brass tube. That was addressed by cleaning the glue off the tube and the wire then wrapping aroud and spraying with varnish. That should hold it. If not then I'll have to go back to taping it.

Meanwhile, those with longer memories will recall my bathroom vanity. I'd cut a hole in some wood to make the original kitchen fixture back around January and then subsequently recycled the wood when I built the current vanity to include the original handbasin that came with the bus. As that handbasin totally lacked any means of securing it to the vanity and as it also had two large holes for water piping that I coudn't easily fill, I removed it and replaced it with a piece of OSB cut to size.

Today - even though it was pouring with rain, I took that OSB to one of the abandoned sheds on m'lady's land and sprayed it white. The paint dried to touch dry astonishingly quickly given that it was - as I said - pouring with rain. 

Having sprayed both sides, I took the OSB to the bus and set it in place. I'll screw it down tomorrow. It had been dark, rainy and overcast all day so by the time it was dry enough to put in place, it was already dark.

The plan is to stand a jug and a bowl on the vanity top. Think back to the Gary Cooper westerns where in the hotels there was a chamber pot in the room and a bowl with a jug for washing. This setup gives me so much more flexibility because after washing I can just open the emergency exit door (conveniently situated to the left of the toilet) and simply chuck the water out. In more regulated climes, I can empty it into the bucket underneath the vanity ready to empty at leisure. Now the downside of this arrangement is that unlike an ordinary handbasin, I now have nothing that doubles as a urinal unless I use the shower. Fortunately I do have my bucket and I suppose that could double though it'd have to be scrubbed every time it was emptied or it'd begin to smell. On the other hand since Walmart buckets are $2.50 and the lids $2, it's no hardship to treat myself to a new one every now and then.

Thinking about the front door unlocking mechanism, if the current electro magnet idea doesn't work then I might work on some kind of cam mechanism and an electric motor. That stands a reasonable chance of success though it would have to be designed such that it doesn't remain in the unlocked position.

When the rain finally stops, I'll be able continue with construction on my battery compartment. That will first require the battery compartment floor components to be derusted, painted and welded into the compartment. Then I'll paint the whole compartment. The sides will be thinner and riveted in place after the whole thing has been welded underneath the bus.

I realised I should try to get the bus retitled as soon as possible. I need to get the plumbing under the bus completed which will basically be a downpipe going to a U bend then down to a tap that I can close when I don't want to let water out. Being closable also means it's a way of keeping critters out.

Cooking is an interesting thing. For cooking, the answer could be electric, gas or tea-lights. I've been reading about cooking using tea lights and how many preppers use tea lights for their cooking needs. I already know how to blanch almonds using a candle and a spoon but this is more interesting. I like the idea of using tea lights as the worst that can happen handling a tea light is that it melts in the heat or bounces on the floor when dropped. Unlike liquids or gasses, they're much more controllable. They also keep almost forever and the biggest thing of all - they're pretty darned cheap. Now the downside is soot but as I was already going to have to install some kind of exhaust vent, it shouldn't be a great problem.

Thinking about exhaust vents, I could put one at the top of the window I filled in or I could make a hole through both layers of the roof. On the whole, I suspect they both have the same number of problems. The biggest will be leakage and then insulation. I don't think welding will be a good solution for the vent. 

The roof

Yesterday I hunted in vain for a tool to use with the compressor to blast the silicone sealant out of the affected seams on the bus. The plan was to use sugar as the blasting compound principally because its more available and cheaper than alternatives.

Proceeding gingerly along the roads, there was little to no sign of flood damage. Indeed, I had to make a detour to see any. Clearly although the flooding has been tragic, the areas I normally visit have been spared. One would not know this, given the constant media coverage. Indeed, I even saw some articulated trucks on the road. Clearly the fears of road instability have been greatly over stated. Indeed this is probably why so many people are ignoring roadblocks.

Visiting store after store, the story was the same at each one. They had grit blasting tools listed but none ever carried in the store despite what the company website claimed. The one place that would have them was Harbor Freight but as visiting them would involve crossing the somewhat suspect Lake Murray dam, I passed on the chance. Instead I shall investigate to see if small areas can be repaired and shall put tape over the affected seams. Maybe after the floods and danger diminish, I can visit Harbor Freight.

The alternative to Harbor Freight is either Northern Tool and a trip across the dam or heating the silicone and scraping it out manually. Had I started that yesterday rather than wasting fuel and hours driving, I could have been done. That would have been today's plan had I not had another fever. It seems I have some kind of rolling virus. I gather others complain of the same virus and how it lasts about a month. That must have been shy yesterday's shopping was do tiring and lackluster.

Today I purchased from eBay a battery powered shower head. The basic plan is to heat water, dump it into my cooler then use that water to shower with. Unlike other shower heads, this one is powered by 4 D cells.

The advantage there is that unlike the rechargeable shower heads with built in batteries, the batteries can be changed. Unlike the 12v plugin shower heads, it runs off a power supply with more possibilities. By that I mean that if I don't have freshly charged D cells, I can use alkaline D cells. Coincidentally, my LED lantern also uses D cells.

That all has me thinking about solar panels to charge AA and D cells. For simple small cell charging, the solar panel need not be gigantic nor expensive. Indeed, 4 D cells might be all that's needed to power my forthcoming front door unlocking system.

Looking at the solar panels available is pretty mind boggling! The whole thing seems vastly complicated. All I want to do is to put a small solar panel on the roof, connect it to a battery charger inside the bus and be done. It's not simple though. As ever, it seems that what I want to do is unusual and not catered toward.

A short term fix for my plumbing came to me this morning. Yesterday while in Walmart I noticed 5 gallon gas cans. My thought is to collect waste water under the bus in a bucket then decant to a 5 gallon gas can for subsequent disposal. For potable water, a few off the shelf camp water containers would work.

Needless to say, these are all inexpensive things that can easily be upgraded at a later stage. Even the cable compartment, rickety as it is, can be upgraded at a later stage. Consideration has to be therefore given to completing the shower plumbing and the interior soft furnishings.

Despite feeling pretty rough, I managed to put a few minutes in, painting the galley floor. It could probably stand more work to attain perfection but it's pretty good. The next thing will be to put a movable vinyl floor covering such as those that protect carpets from mauling by the wheels of swivel chairs.

There are pits and dents in the plywood of the floor. These are due to the plywood the hillbillies laid being of low quality. Still, those sections were in good enough condition not to have to redo which is why they were left. This is probably why they tiled their floor with such disastrous consequences.

Idly I considered visiting the roof. There is an area that needs more grey paint but the paint can is in the middle of the galley workbench which cannot be accessed due to wet paint! Grabbing the ladder, I leaned it against the bus more in hope than anticipation.

As tomorrow is also a non work day, due to the recent floods, I can leave roof stuff until tomorrow. I'll probably just tape the seams with aluminum tape if I can't clearly see any possible leak sites. At least then, it'll all be done. I did look online at a Harbor Freight grit blasting attachment. Online its $17.99 plus $6.99 shipping. Instore it'll likely be the same but a quick calculation showed that gas getting to and from the store was likely to be $4.30 plus a couple of hours time. I think the wear and tear on my car is more than the $2.69 saving. That is, of course, if I opt to clean out the seams instead of taping and painting.

That's what I was going to do. What I really ended up doing was to head to the roof anyway. It took one trip and a look to see the problem. What has happened is rust has lifted the silicone sealant and allowed water underneath.

The three affected seams aren't too bad. It puts paid to my idea of using a wire brush though. I need to get under the seam more than I can with a brush. This looks like it will have to be a grit blaster and the sooner the better! I'll have to hit Harbor Freight tomorrow. For the moment the seams are duct taped against unexpected rain. It looks like I need a lot of rust killing paint and probably some real baking soda since I don't need to blast out silicone. Oddly enough the hard to remove silicone came off easily with a razor blade. I'm glad I caught it before it became too bad. I have no idea what the other seams are really like though they seem OK. The good news is that where I applied rust killer before, without removing any rust, there was very little live rust.

Bus leaks

Well, it seems the bus leaks could well be due to poorly applied silicone sealant. I had to patch somebody else's sorry excuse for silicone sealing. There are two ways forward:
1. The best method which involves drilling out the roof rivets and replacing the rubber seals.
2. Removing the bad silicone seals and replacing them.

Option one would need probably two or more clones of me, all working 24x7 for a week. I'd also need a big garage in which to work on a 35 foot long, 10 foot high vehicle and that had enough clearance for me! That's just not feasible. Then there's the little matter of finding rivets big enough and a riveter that could handle them.

So, option two. Removing silicone is a difficult task. It can be done manually using a razor blade and a wire brush. This is not easy however. A better method is to use a soda blaster. Soda is relatively inexpensive and the blaster would fit on an available compressor. Having done that, its a case of painting and resealing, both of which are relatively quick jobs. As an emergency measure, duct tape could be used. There is a tarred aluminum tape available but that's a British thing that might not be available in the USA.

Looking around, soda blasters go for horrible prices but soda blaster guns seem to be between $18 and $35. There's no particular reason why other powders cannot be used. I have in mind, flour, sugar and ground coffee. As long as everything is bone dry, there is no reason on earth why sugar could not be used. Painting and sealing would have to be done quickly or the first moisture would generate a sticky mess.

I gather respirators and face masks are highly recommended for any kind of blasting operations. I did have a full face mask once but I think I left it behind at a former residence.

For the moment, until I can get a dry enough day to go on the roof, I'm just trying to aim the drips into a less harmful place. Today I noticed a third drip area inside the bus. Clearly I have several seams to blast, paint and caulk.

I didn't do anything inside the bus today. There's really not much left to do. I decided my curtains will have magnets to hold them to the bus. That'll save messing about putting up curtain rails etc. I did want to tidy up but with wet countertops that's not really practical.

Had I been smart then I'd have put duct tape over the leaky seams a few days ago. Mind I've not been well so perhaps prancing around on a bus roof would not have been a good idea.

I did sweep some of the floor then noticed the remains of a can of white paint so I upended it and spread it around the floor. There really wasn't much.

Now that's oil based paint so in theory it should be much more durable than the latex paint I have used to date. The plan is to put the same kind of black vinyl floor covering on top of it in the areas I'll be walking on that I have on the bedroom floor. In reality the black vinyl runner was only a temporary thing but it seems semi permanent.

In other news, more of my electrical system arrived today. Two Nema 5-30 connectors. I'm waiting on the weather to abate before I can do more. Currently the road outside, such as it is, is deep in mud and quite possibly impassible. It's thus not even possible to venture to the store!

posted from Bloggeroid

The naysayers

A few days ago, I noticed some leaks inside the bus. I'm not quite sure where they're coming from because the likely seams have already been hit with silicone seal. Today, assuming a dry spell, would be an opportune time to have a look on the roof to see what's going on.

Needless to say, my thought of tracking down the actual leak and spot sealing it with silicone caulk or aluminum tape got poo poohed. One day I will stop paying any heed at all to what others say on allegedly sensible online groups. I bet the people that run commercial bus companies fix their leaks cheaply and easily. I bet they don't do what the people on those groups insist is the only method which is to put a $200 bucket of Kool Seal. Kool Seal didn't exist when I was young and buses didn't have leaky rooves. Clearly the Kool Seal only idea is yet another example of internet groups following their leader like lemmings. In fact, I find the vast majority of other people are a bit lemming like but this is especially pronounced in online groups. It used to be especially entertaining to go to sit in an internet cafe with a book and a cup of tea to just watch the rows of lemmings glued to computers. Indeed, my dad used to run a library and his prime complaint was of people that would sit down to play with the computer and who would be there all day, hogging the computer without even going to the bathroom. Indeed they even exhibited aggression when asked to allow others to use the computers. Basically, an addictive reaction.

As far as Kool Seal goes, $200 is a ludicrous price to pay to fix a leak that could be fixed with a small patch of tape or silicone seal. Certainly, if there were multiple leaks then an all over solution might be good. For patches, its very much overkill. I'll just never truly understand peoples thinking.

The plan otherwise was to put bolts onto all the newly installed drawers and to paint the dinette floor though with oil based paint rather than latex. As today is a day when I could be called in for work, I had an ear open for my phone while working.

The roof leak has flooded my countertop at some point. I'm glad to see the wood has not been adversely affected despite having swollen slightly. One of my receipts has been washed clean of ink, however. As soon as there's a dry day, that leak will have to be located. Had I had vinyl stuck down then the water would have caused damage. I'm glad I stuck with the cheaper option!

Meanwhile, here's a photo of my first drawer lock.

Putting it on required a piece of hardboard to space the bolt assembly off the structure. Putting the receiver on was tricky. That involved all kinds of fiddling but it worked in the end. That was the first drawer. There are seven more! I'll be so glad when this bus project is completed.

I'm very clearly still not over my recent illness. I did one bolt and had to rest due to feeling wobbly. I returned and did another two and felt more wobbly. Clearly I still have some recovery to do. Having said that, 3/8 of the bolts are now installed.

Yesterday I plugged the bus into the power supply. Today I had not just my battery hurricane lantern but a real, honest to goodness electric light in there. That made working so much easier!

Reading further about roof seals, apparently Kool Seal only lasts 5 years or so. That's $75 for what I'd call a bodged roof repair. Bus Kote is $200 and requires a protective coating which likely is another hundred or so.

The hillbillies that had the bus before me had attached hooks to the bus which probably attached a tarpaulin over the roof. Clearly their caulking didn't quite solve the problem. Thus, on the first dry day I'll put aluminum tape up and paint over it all! It might even be worth painting the seams and rivets white then putting tape then painting grey. That way, damaged areas of tape will be easily visible.

The bolts are looking quite good. I managed a further two before feeling wobbly and having to take a further break. I suspect it's going to be like this for a few days yet. Of course the bolts all work well. When they're completed, I can finish cleaning and tidying the dinette. After that I should put up curtains, paint the floor and possibly screw down the shower base as well as giving thought to securing the microwave and erecting my dry erase board.

Well, that's all 8 bolts installed. My drawers will not now open in transit. Of that, I am certain. I definitely overdid it today with activity, even just kneeling with a power drill putting in 6 screws at a time!

As far as work goes, it didn't matter whether there was reception or not - the blasted thing with 75% battery had turned itself off in my pocket! I hate Android with a passion! In fact I'm quite with those guys Eric spoke about that live in zero electricity houses! Needless to say, there was a voicemail from work but oh well. Too late to call them.

posted from Bloggeroid

Caulked

Today before work, I completed caulking around the shower base. That's not going to be moving anywhere on its own now. The next thing will be to install the underfloor waste tanks or at the very least, a way of emptying the waste. The waste pipe definitely needs another nut to hold it down but that has to be applied from under the bus. I don't actually have that nut either. Since Lowe's does respond to their twitter account, I sent them a tweet to try to get if not another nut, at least the specifications so I can order one online.

Lowes did eventually respond with the ultimate answer that they weren't going to help. Meanwhile I diud track down the real manufacturer, Danco and explained that due to a constructional oddity I needed a second nut. As of now I'm awaiting their response. Worst case scenario, I have to buy a complete second outlet just to get the nut!

The handbasin since it looks like its going to be used, needs to be fastened down, somehow. The proper mountings never came with it so I will probably have to get creative. It's one of the reasons I don't like that handbasin.

Since I'm waiting on plumbing parts, I'll probably work on rebuilding the battery/cable compartment. Unlike the hillbillies, I'll build it with real angle iron of which I have a large supply. Alternatively I could use aluminium which would be lighter though I'd have to buy the aluminum. Either way, I need to buy nuts and bolts. Ideally I'd rivet it but don't have a supply of strong enough rivets nor an appropriate rivet gun.

My Nema 5-30 inlet arrived today. My next task is to fit it where it can be used. To do that, I need to rebuild the cable compartment. I really wish the hillbillies hadn't made such a massive compartment. It really wasn't necessary. Really and truly, I don't need that compartment. I'd rivet the blessed thing shut given half a chance! Sadly though, I need some kind of access hatch to access my main breaker. I do wonder about cutting the door in half and putting a half-sized compartment instead. One that contains just the breaker box. The cable I can store elsewhere. As far as a house battery is concerned, I can put that in anytime and it really doesn't need a special compartment. If the compartment housed solely the breaker and Nema 5-30 socket then it need not be built strongly. In fact it could just be there to protect the contents from water!

Installing batteries is another issue entirely. Speaking of which, I noted the fridge I removed from the bus was made by Avanti. Looking at Walmart's website a search for Avanti threw up a so-called superconductor fridge for $120ish that runs off 120v AC or 12v DC. Current consumption was high at 83 watts but that's because it probably runs off a heater element. That looks interesting and something that could be fun off a pair of batteries.

I'm still waiting for my drawer bolts to arrive. They should be here anytime now. That'll complete the galley area. The bathroom plumbing and every underbody facility are my main battlegrounds now.

Red letter day!

That's an old Chinese thing. In China, a red letter means good luck. Usually on a red letter day, children receive envelopes stuffed with money.

No money for me though. The nearest to a genuine red letter is that my electrics as installed, work. I tested each of the three sockets by plugging in a humble fan. The main breaker box is not yet secured due to my needing to rebuild the hillbilly battery compartment but this is how it looks.


The whole system is earthed and the white and black wires are in the correct places. This is a very simple system with 3 sockets only. There is room for future expansion on the breaker box and, replacing the inlet cable, the system can go to a maximum of 55A. If the cable between the breakers were to be replaced, 100A would be almost possible.

The ratings on my system as installed are:
1. Electrical sockets - 20A
2. Wire betwixt sockets and distribution panel - 30A
3. Distribution panel - 125A
4. Wire betwixt distribution panel and main breaker box - 55A
5. Main breaker box - 70A
6. Wire betwixt main breaker box and plug - 30A
7. Plug - 30A
8. Breakers in distribution panel - 15A (all six)
9. Breaker in main box - 30A - dual breaker.

So, my system can take much higher amperage assuming portions closer to the supply are changed. I regard this as being a safe system. Indeed, if anybody can see a problem, I'd like to know about it!

By the way, for anybody wanting to use 30A solid, 30A flexible and 55A solid wire, yes it is hard to work with! It took a good couple of hours to complete what I just have. Partly this is because I am still not 100% recovered from my virus but also because the wire was hard to work with and I was being very careful to get it right.

My bus electrics are now 100% complete on the 110v side. Next comes the plumbing. For that, I need a few things. As it is, it should pass inspection as a motorhome. And I'm only 8 months, 12 days behind schedule! Mind, my schedule was over ambitious.

What followed the electrics was little short of a miracle. I removed the large pieces of construction debris and stored the surplus materials in a nearby shed. Given that I'm not over my bug, that was a lot of work. I can almost reach the driving seat now.

The hillbilly underbody compartment wasn't quite as bad as it looked. Certainly its badly installed and for that reason alone, needs to be replaced. It is, however made of inch thick marine plywood. I found that out when I drilled a hole through it to allow me to plug my electrical cable in from underneath.

Where the hillbillies went wrong was in not painting their plywood on the inside of the compartment. Having seen that, I'm minded to use plywood for my compartments. Mine, however will be painted white on the inside but with oil based paints rather than latex. Unlike the hillbillies, my compartments will have angle iron on the corners, strengthening and supporting them.

Thinking ahead to a 12v battery system which will power future extraction fans, charging ports etc, I'll have to find how much weight plywood will support to see how much bracing to use to support a battery. I have a feeling that just a single 105ah 12v marine deep cycle battery will provide for most of my needs. Of course, if later I use batteries to power my fridge, I might have to raise that capacity.

Thinking further, until I have sufficient solar and battery capacity to power a microwave, I could perhaps use a cheap generator to provide 800w to run the microwave while taking 240w from batteries to gain the 1040w needed. That would take me squarely into boondocking territory!

Later, after dinner, I returned to the bus and cut the PVC planking to the right size to fit my shower base. In a few days I'll have the base put together and the bus fully cleaned.

My favorite place at the moment is my bathroom as I can sit on the toilet lid and think. There, I had the idea that since my LED lantern has a loop as a handle, I could put screw hooks in the ceiling to hold my lantern. I'll have to see if Lowe's sells 10-24 screw hooks or bigger s-hooks to use with their existing screw eyes.

Some people might see my minimal electricity lifestyle as somewhat quaint. I regard it as practical. I'm just not a great fan of electrical appliances in general. This is why my forthcoming water pump will be manual.

Thinking about night privacy, I looked at my windows and measured them. The bathroom windows I don't give a rip about. I'll put pieces of shower curtain over the windows but that's all. No need for more than that.

The galley windows are doubles measuring 54 wide by 28 high. I figure a wooden dowel with a plastic fabric fastened to it together with a string could act as a roller blind. The problem would be what to use as bearings.

The bedroom windows are 54 wide by 14 high and 26 wide by 28 high. That's just 4 blinds needed. I've had various thoughts but I really like the idea of a DIY roller blind.

Aside from that, there's just the pool noodle needed over the doorway from the cockpit to the cabin and some form of lock on the front door. Well, not really a lock but a way of unlocking the existing door lock from the outside.

As well as that, I have to put my white and grey tanks under the bus and rebuild the hillbilly battery compartment. There's plenty to do and since I'm doing it all on my own, its taking rather longer than I'd like. The big thing is that I'm learning a load of new skills.

It's pretty astonishing how much I've done since I started the project in November.

Final coat!

Doesn't it look lovely? That's the final coat of paint on my dinette countertop. After this, its touch up only.

Of the major construction, things remaining to be done:
1. Erect the closet chain.
2. Add the shower base mount.

After this, its plumbing and electrics.

Speaking of electrics, last night when I couldn't sleep, I looked up Peltier coolers. It's a very neat technology that can cool up to 20c below ambient temperature. It's horribly inefficient but holds promise. For a small, 1.5 cubic foot fridge, its twice as inefficient as a dorm model. The Peltier units are neat though because they can be installed into just about anything.

Again, last night, I looked up energy usage of common appliances. Now I know why with Eric's massive 1600 watts of solar and wind power, running a 1200 watt coffee maker is such an achievement.

A lifestyle change toward low power usage is in order unless I want to haul out a generator every time I run the microwave! Clearly I need to be thinking more in terms of non intensively cooked foods. For example, fresh fruit, hot drinks, bread and canned meats. Things that don't have to be kept really cold nor cooked much.

This morning, before work, I looked at my breaker box. Again, it looks as though it will be a better option to put it closer to the point of use. Under the kitchenette countertop there appears to be sufficient space to house it. There's a handy body rib it can be screwed to and its close to the hole the hillbillies made for their power input.

The downside is that situated under the countertop, the breaker box will be behind my fridge or cooler. The upside is that my 50A cable can be really short as can my 15A cables. In fact I'm wondering whether I could get away with 30A. I suspect I probably can but for the purposes of the box, I'll aim for 50, put a 30A main fuse and see what happens.

I'll probably rebuild the hillbilly door to their underbody compartment and rebuild the compartment to take a couple of 105Ah batteries. The socket for the 50a input will be accessible underneath the bus, out of sight. The water input and waste water will be concealed also. I want my bus to look like a bus from the outside.

Thinking about plumbing, I'm not sure whether to have piped water to go into my holding tanks to be pumped manually to the point of use or whether to have a separate tap. Both options have merit though the former requires less components.

It's all getting quite exciting! Once the electrics are done, I can get on with changing the registration.

Screwing around

Today after work, I did a little inside the bus. The first thing was to tidy the floor a little. This was achieved by picking up the sink unit and popping it into its mount on the vanity. It's not screwed down because I had the fresh ideas yesterday.

After that, it was time to clear the dinette countertop. This was achieved largely by transferring the supplies from one counter to the other. I still have a massive problem. It's just moved from one side to the other.

Of course, in so doing, I inadvertantly tipped a load of screws into my tool box on top of the very tools I needed. I just didn't think ahead! I'll blame it on being tired after work! Fortunately the two tools I needed were my countersink head and a drill bit. The aim was to screw the countertop down prior to painting. Painting was not done today.

Fortunately, with sufficient pressure and an electric drill, its possible to make drywall screws countersink themselves. This worked well. Oddly I found I had not put a cross member under the join in the OSB. I'll have to see how that works out. Still, it is just a desktop - no weight of pressure expected.

Tomorrow I might even get to slap some paint on it! Then I will be short of three things that I was to have done this weekend:
1 the closet chain
2 the shower base mount
3 painting the galley floor

In other news, a few weeks ago I took down the personal bio. There's no particular need for it. I'd rather stay anonymous. Today I put up an FAQ page. How long I'll leave that up remains to be seen. Enjoy!

A day of small things and big plans

Today as yesterday, the major problem was rain showers. Even with my wonderful LED lantern, it was hard to see to work. The plan for the weekend was perhaps a little ambitious. The intent was to:
1. Finish painting the countertops
2. Install the shower base.
3. Complete the window tinting.
4. Install the closet chain.
The countertops never were completed. One was as was the bathroom vanity. Only one countertop was screwed down. All the windows were tinted and now look fantastic!


The batwing doors had a second coat of white on the edges. I'll still have to touch up areas where I screwed up with the white but that's small stuff.

One of the small plans had been to paint the wood floor inside the cockpit black to match the existing floor. It just smartens things up a little. I'd bought a small pot of black paint to do this but as I tidied the countertop a little, I found a bigger pot so I used it to paint the cockpit floor. It might need a second coat. That seems to be the way of things but it's beginning to look quite tidy.

That, of course, has to dry thoroughly before I dare walk on it. It's Rustoleum black anti rust paint but it should work and be more durable than my white latex paint. Inside the galley I had put a coat of latex primer. I'm not sure whether to put a latex top coat and just lay a black vinyl mat over it as I have in the bedroom or what. I suspect the mat will be the cheapest and most durable option.

After that, I had a look at my hand basin for the bathroom. The mixer tap is quite low so it looks very much as though it's not really suitable to fill jugs, bowls or kettles. That'll have to be done elsewhere. I did check on a spare mixer assembly lying in the yard but the holes were further apart. I'm still of the opinion that hot and cold water tanks might be barking up the wrong tree and that I might be far better off with a single hand pump, a bucket and a kettle full of hot water. If my ancestors could do it then so can I!

My thought is that simple is usually best. One drain for waste water, one source for fresh water. Here's my latest idea. Under the bus I have several 15 gallon water tanks, plumbed together for fresh water and another set for waste water. I choose 15 gallon because they can't be seen underneath the bus skirt.

Rather than having an electric pump to pump water, I have a hand pump. This eliminates problems with power supplies etc. Having just one water source eliminates many sources of potential leakage too. Having a suction pump eliminates wastage through leaking pressure seals and the big bonus - its cheaper!

The water can go into a bucket from which it can be used directly or even pumped straight into a kettle. Once in a kettle, it can be heated either electrically in an electric kettle or over a fire as a camp kettle. I could even connect a 120v bucket heater to heat it when the bus is connected to the mains or via a 12v heater such as this.

Once the water is heated to an appropriate temperature, it can be used straight from the bucket or via a shower attachment such as this.

Of course, its important to realise that as with a house, every option can be changed, improved upon or developed before or after implementation. With a drop-in heated element (the one depicted is for a static hot water tank), either a 12v or a 120v element could be used.

The element depicted is of interest on the basis that I could put a small vertical tank in the bus, fill it with cold water in the morning, let the power from a solar panel heat the water during the day and have hot water for an evening shower.

This all seems much preferable to pressure pumps etc. For the moment I have painted the existing bathroom vanity top. There's nothing to say I can't just put an ordinary plastic bowl and a straight, ordinary top instead. In fact, I would consider that to be far more hygienic!

As far as 120v power goes, I can't squeeze my breaker box into the space available. The new plan is to install the breaker panel in the rear storage closet with the input socket at the back, on the passenger side. The 120v 20A wires (all four) go in a conduit from the back of the bus to the front with the conduit riveted to the body skeleton (not the chassis).

The existing hatch the hillbillies built into the bus will be retained. A new battery compartment will be built that will house two 12v 105ah marine deep cycle batteries. These will power solely 12v equipment such as 120w 12v heating coil, fans and charging phones etc. Maybe a 12v cooler unit too.

Eric suggested a 12v fuse panel from a GM Astra but the guy in car parts store didn't have a clue. Maybe I'll have to visit a scrapyard when I next visit my parents in Britain and get a couple off scrapped Vauxhall Astras (same car, different country).

My diesel mechanic is still around so I might have him change my alternator belt and fix my rev counter. With luck, I might even get him to put in some trailer wiring and a tow hook. As I said to him, we'd have to wait until the hornets are asleep as there seems to be a nest under the bus.

Disaster - the white paint ran out!

At 7pm with just about an hour before dark I'm not going to rush off to Walmart to bug more - not when I'll be right by Walmart tomorrow on my way to and from work!

I started the day, putzing around. The first thing I did was to scrape the frosting spray off the bathroom windows. It took a while and several razor blades but it's done. As the toilet, which I intended to paint, is currently sitting in front of the window it made sense to sit on it to scrape the frosting off. That was better done before painting. I have enough paint on my breeches.

After that I installed the catch plate for my cockpit door. I'd been unable to find it and had used a screw initially. Now it was found, it could be used. Needless to say, I had to space it off the frame with washers. None of my doors are a great fit but then as I keep telling you, I'm not a carpenter. If Jesus were here today, he'd surely roll his eyes at my woodwork! My woodwork is good enough for what I need.

The next thing was to retard one if my drawers. That was a task! I had to keep adjusting and now its 1/32 too low but it slides all the way back. Doing that, I found the bottom drawer also needs adjusting. I didn't do that though. That's a job for another day.

The saloon doors were next on the list. They were carefully given a coat of primer on both sides. Mostly I avoided putting primer on my paintwork. I'll have to touch up where I splashed primer accidentally though. Latex paint splashes are allegedly easy to clean up with a wet rag. That must be on some other planet though where it doesn't start to dry so quickly.

Having painted primer, I broke for lunch but not before taking a huge pile of wood offcuts and tint backing paper to the burn barrel ready for whenever. M'lady is getting restive about debris in her yard!

After lunch I painted the toilet. I'll have to return to that though since I had to paint around the seat. The lid seems stuck down. I might have to apply force to open it!

Following the toilet, most of the saloon doors were painted. The very edges didn't get paint but will later. The fronts were painted first.

Then the backs were painted. I must be some kind of sadist because it would be so much easier to paint them when they're horizontal!

Rather than painting the edges, my attention turned to the kitchen countertop. I'd screwed it down after attending to the top drawer. The bottom drawer needs a little adjustment but it's not bad enough to make it necessary. Seeing as how there was barely half a cup of paint in the pot, I simply poured if on the countertop and spread it around with the brush. By then it was getting pretty dark.

Finishing just before the light vanished, the paintbrush was plopped into a jar of water for later washing. I like that I can do that with latex paint. Tomorrow I shall buy more paint.

As of now, things remaining to do...
1. Finish painting the kitchenette countertop.
2. Finish painting the toilet.
3. Finish painting the saloon doors.
4. Put a protective sheet over the kitchen countertop.
5. Screw down and put a final coat of paint on the dinette countertop.
6. Put a protective sheet over the dinette countertop.
7. Finish putting up privacy film.
8. Put up the closet chain.
9. Touch up lots of areas.
10. Install the shower base mount.

Then it's all electrics and plumbing. I'll probably try to get the registration as a motorhome started before I do much with electrics or plumbing.