Barfworthy!

No photos today. I did work on the bus but not very much. I started the day by heading to Lowes (hiss, spit).

On the way to Lowes (hiss, spit) I became aware of not feeling too well. I pressed on and got the stuff needed from there. That was entirely plumbing supplies.

Having left, my next stop was Tractor Supply where I got the steel rivets Lowes (hiss, spit) can't be bothered to stock. I also got the hardware needed to hang a fresh water barrel. Still not feeling well, I headed off to Home Depot.

At Home Depot I was feeling pretty rough and forgot the jubilee clips I'd wanted but did get the turnbuckles needed for the water tank. Having done that, I started home.

Feeling like death walking, somehow - with breaks lying down in a cold dark room, I managed to unload the car into the bus. While in the bus I paused to gather a handful of receipts that m'lady is totting up for me. I remember telling her not to let me know how much it has cost until it is complete. I don't want to faint!

In my only construction act today, I drilled two holes and riveted a handle to the outside of the folding door. Now I have something to hold onto when I close the door. This will make life so much easier. Needless to say, putting it on was distinctly challenging. First it was dark and I had to hang a lantern off a nearby tree branch. Second, the riveter didn't cooperate well. Drilling the holes was no problem. It was the riveting that was hard. It seemed as though the riveter was sliding on the rivet pin rather than pulling it. It seemed to take forever, switching between riveters but it was done, by which time I was almost about to indulge in psychedelic yodelling!

A couple more trips into the cold, dark room and I'd locked everything away for the night. M'lady was concerned that I should eat but as what I have seems to be a migraine, it was avoided.

Meanwhile, I heard back from the DMV. It only took them a month to tell me I have to send them $15 and my bus title to get it retitled as a motorhome. I suspect they might want to inspect too but that I'm ready for.

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. 

I braved the Black Friday hoard!

Well, not really. I didn't leave the house until 4pm. By the time I arrived at Lowe's (hiss, spit), the car parks were pretty clear and the roads about as busy or quiet as normal. It was pretty mundane in actual fact.

In Lowe's I found the Nema TT 30R that I was looking for. I looked for an adaptor to turn it into a standard household socket but they didn't have one. I would have left it at that but I spied a stand with 60W equivalent LED bulbs for 99 cents each. As bulbs are dying in m'lady's bathroom, I added four and then a flashing LED necklace to spice things up a bit at work over Christmas. I got out for $16.

Next stop was Walmart where I got the Nema 30TTR to Nema 5-15 adaptor and a can on black spray paint they had for 96 cents. I got out of Walmart for about $8.

Returning home, the mail still has not brought my cooling vanes for my Peltier cooler. This looks a bit suspicious! I ordered it on November 8th and the seller provided a tracking number that doesn't state the vanes actually arrived at the carrier. I'm suspecting they're hoping I won't notice they haven't supplied the product.

Tomorrow I hope to complete the wiring for my RV power socket. The adaptor I bought says "don't use for more than 15A" yet looks to be solid brass connectors. I'm putting 20A through it and will just watch to see what happens. I suspect they labelled it conservatively. Worst case scenario, it melts and catches fire. Not a big deal, where its located.

Maybe Sunday I can do some welding!

As far as the heatsink is concerned, I suspect I'll have to buy another elsewhere and try to get a refund off eBay!

The best laid plans of small marsupials and of homo horizontalis!

I must have been laying down on the job. The idiot at Lowe's sold me a Nema 10-50R when I needed a Nema 30-TTR socket. After battling all day to lay cables, I can't put the socket in place. Without the socket in place, I can't wire the breaker box. Without the wiring completed I can't do any welding.

Tomorrow I might have to venture out in the Black Friday melee to get a socket. Perhaps visiting the mobile home parts store nearby might be in order. Otherwise, its available "cheaply" online at $15 or in my nearby * hiss, spit* Lowe's for $8.

In more positive news I did discover the spare brushes for my angle grinder. I'll have to see if that solves the problem.

Laying the cables needed two people and the conduit isn't even buried yet! The big problem was sliding the 30A cable through 10 foot lengths of conduit. It ends up needing a thin wire passed through, pulling the thicker wire. Even with that, it needed copious quantities of WD-40 to make it possible.

By the end of this weekend, I want to be welding. Heaven knows whether I will be though. Everything this last two months has been characterized by unforeseen delays. Maybe by the 3rd coming of Christ, I might be ready!

Done with lies, done with Lowe's (@lowes)

A few days ago, I was stuck with buying a second plumbing fixture from Lowe's when the first had an insufficient supply of parts. Buying Lowe's cheap plumbing stuff really worked out for me there! I'd have been better buying a standard plumbing fixture and paying a little more!

Needless to say, I complained to Lowe's via their Twitter account of @lowes and was asked to complete their "rant and rave" form online. What a waste of time that was! No action was ever taken, no help was ever offered.

Foolishly I've been in contact with Lowe's again. My bus roof has a couple of leaks. I heard about a product called Kool Seal that, according to the manufacturers website can be tinted. Even Lowe's agreed.

Thus, today I turned up at the store and asked for Kool Seal and for it to be tinted. A rather frumpish woman whose name was concealed stated that Lowe's did not tint Kool Seal. Thus I produced my phone and showed her the Twitter conversation that said Lowe's did upon which she again denied it and claimed other Lowe's might but they didn't put Kool Seal through their machines.

Aside from the fact all they do is to tip the dye into the tin then shake the tin for a few minutes, that sounds like nonsense. I asked her if she'd like me to tell Lowe's that they don't tint Kool Seal and made sure she saw me do just that!

The conversation with Lowe's continued via Twitter without resolution. I just get the feeling Lowe's really doesn't give a damn that they lose customers. Needless to say, I shall now stringently avoid Lowe's. There's Harbor Freight, Northern Tool, Tractor Supply, Home Depot, Fastenal, Ace Hardware and a few others nearby. Looks like they're getting my trade from now.

And thus was my entire conversation with Lowe's. I shall, of course, never hear back from them, cannot in any way recommend them and will recommend based on my experience; there are better places to go.

posted from Bloggeroid

Ah well

Today the bus conversion forum I'd been following descended into the predictable online mud slinging that so many seem to. It's a very regular pattern, particularly when the discussion begins to get technical and moves away from buying premium components. Go to a photo group where the members are worshipping the latest technology and show photos taken with a pinhole camera made from a shoebox and the condemnation will be amazing!

Today I did more bus parts shopping. This time some 10-2 cable which should allow me to complete some of my electrical system. I won't dignify what was said on the forum by repeating it! Anyway, 10-3 cable should be sufficient to carry power to my individual 15A sockets.

I got two 15A breakers and four socket boxes and an external breaker box with a switch that can be used under the bus to control power from my forthcoming socket to my internal breaker box. The plan is now for a reduced internal 120v setup. Instead of four sockets, I'll install two. That should be more than adequate for a fridge and another appliance.

As far as air conditioning goes, there's no reason why a simple extraction fan cannot be used. That can easily be solar powered. I'm not yet ready to put my 12v systems in. That's a task for after registration as a motorhome.

I looked at tubing and high amperage cabling. The plan is to wire for 55a between the inlet and my internal breaker box. There was cabling in the old installation. It was ridiculously light so I condemned it. The tubing they used might be usable though it's not certain. The only need for the tubing is to protect underbody wiring from squirrels.

One of the plans had been to drill 62mm holes in the side of the breaker box to accommodate electrical sockets. That plan was defeated by the fact Lowe's had only hole saws that were too small or too large that were capable of cutting metal. The new plan is to install electrical socket boxes on the outside of the box. The logic is that all the internal cables can be extensions.

Because my internal breaker box has no master breaker I'll put a master breaker under the bus. As the maximum input will be 50A and the breaker box has two sides, the cables to the breaker box from the master can be 30A to each side. I'll wire from the inlet to the master breaker with 55A cable. The actual socket will be 30A and the breaker in the master breaker will be 30A most of the time. When I'm on a 15A connection though, it'll be 15A. I'll just carry a supplementary breaker.

The plan for tomorrow is to complete my shower base mount then to install the electrical sockets for the breaker box, wire them in and commence dismantling the hillbilly cable compartment under the bus. That's badly built of rotted plywood. My new compartment will be a battery compartment that will be made of metal. That'll probably be some of the hillbilly bed frame, if there's any left and sheet metal from an old fridge. As already stated though, the battery compartment is not high priority right now.

Saloon Doors - the finalé

After holding up my hardboard to the door, it was obvious that smaller panes would have to be used. Thus, I added two extra bars. Then all the fun started...

The first piece of quarter round wouldn't fit nicely against the wood of the door skeleton and the first piece of hardboard wouldn't fit nicely inside the frame. After drilling a hole in the quarter round to screw it down, the quarter round promptly split. I measured another piece of quarter round and checked my measurements then remeasured and rechecked. Then I cut the quarter round and the blasted thing was too short!

At that point I realised that doing it the cheap ass way was as usual going to be far more expensive. Had I bought a piece of hardboard on Wednesday then I'd not have needed a special trip to go and get it. So my $11 piece of hardboard cost a gallon of fuel on top! Yes - I had to go to Lowe's.

The end result was pretty good and clapping the board on one side of each door ended up taking the warpiness out of the doors. They now both seem to line up. I'd been wondering why two doors the same length didn't line up.

That took me through until dusk. Although I do have a lantern in the bus, its not really good enough to work by. I never got as far as putting the shower base mount together.

Earlier in the day, the privacy film that still wasn't adhering in one corner was peeled off before its glue set hard enough to make it difficult. While I was there, the frosting was scraped off one of the four frosted windows. Once all the frosting is gone, privacy film can be applied. I have no idea why the film didn't stick. It could possibly have been that there was a bit of Windex on that corner rather than just soap and water.

While I was out, I looked into my vinyl tablecloth idea. Vinyl tablecloths are not expensive at $8 apiece. The Velcro was expensive though at just over a dollar a foot. Idly, I costed a vinyl floor covering and that worked out at 74 cents a foot. That looks much more achievable though trickier to cut. I'm more thinking of just slapping paint on the countertops and putting vinyl place mats where needed. Anything to cut the stupid costs!

Thinking about power, I'm still not really decided how I'm going to go about it all. A battery bank still might end up making the most sense.

And now, a view of my saloon door from the other direction...

Another thing I saw at Lowe's was cheap privacy blinds which seemed to be concertina paper. The box advocated cutting to size with a craft knife. If they can be raised and lowered, they have potential!

When the going gets tough, the tough go shopping!

As I had to work today, at my voluntary job, I took the opportunity to do some shopping on my way back. What a day!

The first stop was Lowe's where 14, 5 inch lag screws and a 6 inch drill bit cost a stupendous $32. After picking myself up off the floor having heard the price, I completed the transaction secure in the knowledge that though my toilet will have cost the same to build as one I would have bought, I have a much better toilet. Of course, no trip to Lowe's is without entertainment. Today that entertainment was provided by having to play hunt the checkout.

Ignoring the extremely long lines at the checkouts, I hunted along rows of unattended tills seeking one with a shorter line. The self checkouts that never work each had irate customers busily cursing because the things were not working. I learned my lesson long ago that the self service check out should only be used if you have too much time on your hands! Eventually I did find a checkout and once I'd attracted the clerks attention, checked out. The hard part was attracting his attention as he was engrossed in his mobile phone.

The next stop was even more hilarious. That was a food stop at Walmart where upon finding only two items on the shelf and I needed four, I asked the closest Walmart employee. Their answer really summed up Walmart's attitude to customer service: "that's not my job" and the dentally challenged moron went back to shuffling cakes on a shelf, trying to look busy while studiously ignoring me and offering no further service!

After that, I went to BiLo around the corner, got everything I needed, was served by happy staff and exited the store. Right outside was a car with the trunk open and a pair of rough looking individuals trying to attract people to buy whatever it was they were selling - if it wasn't indeed a mugging they were offering.

Returning home, I found one of my eBay orders had arrived. This is a bead curtain for the end of the bed that has come all the way from Thailand. Sadly I was too tired to examine it thoroughly but it does not from first glance seem to be much more than netting with half a dozen beads attached! It looks like a $6 scam but I could be wrong.

Oh no! Another catastrophy!

After yet another sleepless night, probably due to the extreme heat of late, I stirred myself from the realms of slumber to commence work on the bus. Arriving at the bus (and conveniently not mentioning m'ladys most excellent breakfast), I pulled out my new drill bit to commence putting patches over the last four inch diameter holes the hillbilly owners had considered it to be a jolly spiffing idea to make. Uh oh... I bought the wrong size drill bit.

At a casual glance, a quarter inch bit looks a lot like a 3/16 bit though the 3/16 bit is a shade smaller. My rivets are 3/16 so clearly I couldn't use a 1/4 inch bit and hope for the rivets to be snug. I hunted but could not find another 3/16 anywhere.

In desperation, I pulled out my angle grinder and replaced the cutting disk with a grinding disk and had a go at regrinding the tip of my drill bit. Sadly, after testing it, the drill vibrated badly as I was clearly far enough off center foir my sharpening not to have worked well.

Clearly that meant a visit to Lowes. Another couple of gallons of fuel I could have been very happy not using. Still, wandering around Lowes I looked for lift on, lift off hinges - which they did not have. Then I looked for solutions to my closet rail problem.

Lowe's had two pieces of white chain. One was plastic and clearly decorative. The other was metal and claimed to support 35lbs. I looked at the unsealed ends of the bent wire used to make the chain and chuckled. If that would support 35lbs then I'll be joining Obama on his next flying pig hunting session!

The chain in general was disappointing. My thoughts then turned to rope. Not to use in a glorious entry to the next world but to use as a closet rail. Hung and tied to eyes attached to the ceiling, that could work quite well. Still, its way too early to think about that yet.

I returned home feeling quite yucky. It wasn't nausea at having to spend money though that will do it. It was more either to do with the heat or perhaps needing to see the optician.

After dinner and in the fading light, I drilled holes in aluminum plates that I then riveted over the four remaining inch diameter holes. I did the usual thing - drill, spray with anti rust paint then after that had dried, applied silicone goop and riveted.

All four holes now having been attended to, my attention turned to the unholy mess the hillbillies had made of creating an underbus storage compartment. Their workmanship is absolutely appalling. The door is a solid sheet of aluminum. The hinge doesn't quite work. The door is bowed and where its bowed, leaks rainwater. The compartment is made of plywood which looks to be in poor condition.

The plan for the storage compartment is simply to remove it and rivet the door over the nasty hole they cut in the body. That's a job for another day though.

Just one photo today. I took it then Android stopped recognising the camera and I had to restart my phone, by which time, dripping with sweat and being chased by hoards of mosquitoes, it was time to stumble through the pitch black into the house.

What an awful disaster

Today was pretty much an unmitigated disaster from start to finish. Let's start from the beginning...

Overnight insomnia kept me from having a good nights sleep. Thus at 4am I turned my 6am alarm off. The result was that I missed my Tuesday morning voluntary job. Had I gone in after two to no hours sleep, I'd not have been all that great.

I went out to the bus after breakfast and found I needed to go to the store to buy a few things. Mind, I needed to get out of the house. This was my first trip in a week! My usual job has quit on me for the summer so its a case of not spending anything and minimising travel.

So, I went to the store and got most of the things I need. As usual Lowe's was totally out of 1/8 drill bits. After chasing down a clueless shop assistant who had made haste to bugger off when customers looked likje they were about to approach, it transpired that he'd never heard of carborundum drill bits or diamond tip drill bits. Clearly something too specialised for Lowe's.

By the time I'd finished at Lowe's, I was feeling the heat a bit because it was still over 100F outside. Thus, other things I needed never got picked up.

Returning to the bus, it was just too hot to work inside and thus I decided to work on patching holes. About 12 were just screw holes that I treated for rust and filled with a rivet. Four holes were larger requiring patches. Thus I found a suitable strip of aluminum and cut four patches with my angle grinder. Then I picked up the wrong piece of metal and burned my fingers.

Recovering from signed fingers I drilled a hole in the first piece of aluminum which broke loose from the mount, flipped around and hit my fingernail, breaking it. Cursing, I drilled a hole for the rivet in the bodywork. Then after I slapped silicone glue on the back of the piece of aluminum, I riveted the aluminum on via the first hole. While drilling the second, the drill skipped and the hole didn't end up quite where I wanted so the aluminum when held by the second rivet wasn't straight. The next hole started well enough by then my 1/4 inch drill bit snagged on the edge of a second piece of body panelling, jerked and snapped. Bugger! Now I had a broken drill bit poking out of the hole. It took quite some effort to remove it. Putting the rivet in wasn't easy either as the hole wasn't completely clear. I located another 1/4 inch drill bit that was as blunt as can be. Somehow I managed to make a hole for a rivet then put the rivet in.

At that point I gave up for the day. This was clearly not my day! After going inside I found voicemail on my phone that I should have received days ago but which mysteriously only appeared today though it had been sent days ago. Then a voicemail from my real job saying they'd lost a document and demanding another by two weeks time!

On top of all that, one of my online accounts was questioned by the account provider to the effect they don't believe I am who I say I am. Well, fine. I just don't care. I was threatened with account cancellation if I couldn't produce documentary evidence within 7 days to prove my identity. So... One of my accounts might mysteriously vanish. I just don't care!

Tomorrow I'll have to drive to Lowes for a new 1/4 inch drill bit. It will apparently be well over 100F tomorrow so heaven knows if I'll even be able to work outside the bus. The good news is I have 5 holes ready prepped to rivet patches over. After that I don't have any more bodywork holes to fill.

More good news - I'm just about ready to put primer on the whole of the dinette/kitchenette. There's stuff I'll have to move out of the way but it'll be nice to have it printed. I might prime the bathroom while I'm at it even though I still need to lay down one more board. No photos today - every time I tried my phone, the battery was flat!

How not to suck at customer service

Well, you certainly can't get any more sucky than the baboon that I met in Lowes in Red Bank, South Carolina yesterday. Well, maybe I'll take that back. This is South Carolina where customer service isn't so much a lost art but more one that's not been purchased by the big stores.

I walked into Lowes, looking for an electric shower. This is something that's simply plugged into both the electric and the cold water supply. The result is a nice, hot shower. They are available on the Lowes website and quite possibly in stores too. Not having much idea where to look, I approached two Lowes staff members, one of whom asked if he could help. The other took the opportunity to slink away.

Picture this - the customer asks a question and the Lowes baboon is standing right beside a computer with the Lowes search page on the screen. I asked about where I could find an electric shower and he shrugged his shoulders and started to walk away turning his back on me, the customer, while muttering over his shoulder that he'd never heard of one and Lowes didn't sell them.

What's wrong with this scene? More, what's right with it? Its horrible customer service! Most of the problem comes from the low caliber of staff that the stores drag out from skid row. There is a definite link between low wages and poor service. American stores in general are scared to raise prices and give the customer a good experience from well trained, happy, valued, well paid staff. They seem to prefer to give low prices with products hurled at customers by surly, sullen, rude and disengaged staff. As they say - pay peanuts and get monkeys!

What should have happened is that the staff member should have asked questions to ascertain what I was looking for. Then they should have tried it in their computer system. Had they not found it, a manager should have been summoned and the customer offered a cup of coffee while they waited for resolution. Had the manager been unable to find the item then corporate office should have been contacted - all in the presence of the customer. Now that's good customer service. Of course, this will never be seen in South Carolina because nobody cares.

Needless to say, I was so pissed off by the insolent customer service that I simply walked out of the store without buying any of the things I needed. I'll have to start shopping online since the stores are getting so unbearable.

In other news, I carried on with cutting the supports for the bathroom-dinette partition. I've got it pretty close but I'm not yet 100% satisfied with the fit. As I progress with my bus I seem to be becoming much better at getting things to fit.