That was bloody exhausting.

After today's exertions, I am absolutely exhausted. Heaven knows why but I find welding very tiring. I suppose that could be because it wasn't particularly warm today but it was very dry. I didn't complete everything I would have liked to have done but I got closer to completing a lot of things.

The first task was to climb up on the bus roof to reseal one of the seams. That took a complete cylinder of silicone sealant. Ideally I'd have used something other than silicone but since I've used silicone everywhere else and it seems to be working, I've stuck with silicone. This motorhome will only ever be a 20 year old vehicle. It will never get younger so imperfections aren't that important.

After that, I thought about my plumbing. I decided that for the moment I'll plumb for a bucket under the bus. It should be straightforward to add underbody tanks. The plumbing didn't go quite as planned as it was the last thing done today. Needless to say, I cut the tubing too short after having previously cut it too long. It's currently an inch too short after being an inch too long. Having said that, this is what it looks like.

The long horizontal is an inch too short. It would be usable with a small block placed between it and the attaching point. The jubilee clip I bought to attach it turned out to be way too small. I'll have to buy a couple of bigger clips. Now the attachment point was the first thing I made this morning. Basically, it's two steel brackets welded together. 

Welding was where I made great progress today. I started using 6011 rods rather than 6013 and started getting an arc every time rather than having to fight to get an arc. Most things needed a second pass to get the weld to look good but I burned through fewer sticks and had better welds. I ended up making four tube mounts. Two are to hold the downpipe and two more to hold horizontal pipes when I get the tanks installed.

This was part way through my welding progress. Welding small stuff was way easier than I thought it would be. It was important to keep moving the rod though as I did burn the edge of one of the brackets away a little in one place. 

This is how the mounts looked when completed. After welding them and clearing the slag off the welds, I sprayed them with cold zinc plating. Now that's quite expensive but if it stops rust then it's worthwhile. One is already installed but the second isn't yet as the battery in the electric drill expired before I finished drilling the second hole.

Another task completed was to weld the two parts of the roller shutter top that I'd previously cut into two pieces. I welded with 6011 rods both at the top and the bottom of the join. I did several runs with the welding rods in order to make the welds look good. In between runs, I wire brushed the slag off the welds.

After brushing the slag off, I sprayed with my zinc spray. I would have liked to have cut the construction to fit the battery/cable box but I didn't have time. After I'd worked on the plumbing, it was just too dark. The sun had escaped from me again. I'm just hoping it appears again tomorrow!

I have concerns over whether my underbody work will be too much for the skeleton. I might complete what I'm building for the underneath and then ask my mechanic for advice and maybe get him to weld the underbody stuff. I really don't want stuff dropping off as I'm driving!

Turkey day!

No. It's too early for Thanksgiving but not too early for online turkeys. They say things come in threes and I have two so far.

In my work toward completing the bus, I ordered a Nema 6-30P inlet off some twit on eBay. Needless to say, a couple of days after I ordered, I suddenly had a bizarre note to the effect my paid order was cancelled at my request. No such request had been made. I wouldn't mind betting they advertised something they didn't possess!

In my work toward a solar system, my plan is to use rechargeable D cells for my lighting etc, I hunted around online for information. Drawing pretty much a blank, I put a question on a solar power group. Let's just say nobody ever read my question and I won't be back.

Yesterday for $15 I saw a simplistic solar charger in Harbor Freight. It was basically a solar panel and a diode plus an expensive plastic box. Somehow I doubt it'd live up to its claims. I remember trying to charge a cellphone off a larger solar panel. It took a full week to get enough charge for a 15 minute conversation.

The third turkey arrived today. This is why I'm building my motorhome, of course. The positions available in South Carolina don't put food on the table for they all pay 3rd world wages with 3rd world employment conditions. Indeed, South Carolina is a 3rd world country in the middle of the richest country on earth! I'd applied for an admin position on one of the jobs websites. I had an email back...
I got your resume from a job you applied for on Monster.com.  I just wanted to follow up with you to see what you are looking for in your job hunt and to see if I could assist you in your career search.  Please contact me if you are available to come in and meet with me about how I can help you in your search.
That was a bit suspicious. Clearly the position I'd applied for was the same level of fakery as that mysterious Nigerian prince that wants to give me millions of dollars. I played along...
I'm looking for admin/office/clerical, preferably as a manager but I'll take lower positions if it means a job with a future, real wages and full time hours.

I presume the position I applied for was clickbait rather than a real job?
The fellow responded, denying that the position was clickbait while at the same time, proving that it was...
Our job posting usually cover more than one position since they have similar requirements.  Currently we have 12 administrative assistant positions that all have similar requirements, so instead of posting 12 separate opening, we can cover more ground with 5 or 6 postings.  That being said, they are all real jobs.  Please let me know if you would like to come in and meet with me so I could assist you in your hunt.
 
I look forward to hearing from you.
There's all this emphasis on coming into their office for no clearly visible reason. I'm wondering if it's like the college that asked me to interview then appeared to ask for a bribe. I don't do bribes. Maybe that's why I have such problems finding work? Maybe I'm just too honest? Well, I'd rather be honest than compromise my principals! So, I responded...
I'm happy for you to assist. I remain to be convinced that spending time and money on coming to see you will achieve anything that cannot be achieved via email or telephone.

You have seen my resume. I went a little over the top by putting full job duties instead of the main ones but as you can see, I've been doing admin/clerical/office all my life. With 12 vacancies, I would welcome your putting me forward for them.
Needless to say, since I clearly wasn't going to be a cornucopia for the guy, showering him in chocolates, champagne, roses (or God knows what else), I never heard back from him. And agencies wonder why I block their phone numbers!

Meanwhile, an email arrived from my dad suggesting I put a deadline on finding a decent job in the US. Then simply sell everything at the deadline and just write off the US and go back to an equally uncertain future in Britain.

Today I worked more on the roof seams. They all need work. Truthfully, they all need to be sandblasted, painted and caulked professionally. All I can do is to treat the worst and hope for the best. It's going to rain tomorrow so that's all I have time to do.

It was just a case of caulking where I'd sprayed with anti rust etc. Oddly enough, I'd just done that when the sky began to darken. Clearly I finished the caulking just in time, even though rain is not forecast until tomorrow.

When I worked on the roof a few months ago, I painstakingly climbed up and down a ladder. This time, it seems easier to climb up the ladder then on the way down to slide onto the hood then climb down from the hood. In theory I could do that in reverse using a pair of folding step stools. That would take so little room I could make a pair of step stools part of normal equipment.

A small thing done as well was to fasten the CB radio aerial cable into place using silicone caulk. I taped it with aluminum tape while the silicone sets. I must admit it looks tidier. One day I might even get around to replacing the drivers fan!

After that I commenced work on the battery/cable compartment by cutting some of the steel bedframes that were in the bus. The aperture seems to be 24 inches wide so I'm cutting the frame to 29 inches to working space.

The plan is to make the compartment capable of holding a marine deep cycle battery in addition to the breaker box. Dependent upon the size of the battery, I might make space for two.

In other news, I'd ordered a Nema 6-30P inlet from Amazon since the jerk on eBay decided to cancel my order. It must be the same jerk under a different name. He cancelled the order again, claiming again that I cancelled yet I know I did not. Well, perhaps that was for the best because I've had a different idea on how to achieve my goal. I'm rather more in favor of using a standard 5-15 pair of inlets with the 30A cable ending in a Y junction. That would have the effect that I could use a standard household cable to plug into one inlet or a 30a cable to plug into a splitter. As I'm aiming for low power usage, the 5-15 has much merit!

The marine battery specifications are decent enough for low power usage. By that I'm thinking charging D cells, AA cells, phones etc and possibly also using a small electric element for boiling water in a cup etc. It's 105AH, 44lbs and measures 11x10x7. That means I could have two in the compartment in an L formation or even two in there side by side.

I continued cutting the long members for the compartment until I had four the same length. The offcuts are between 18 and 19 inches long. They will be trimmed to 14 inches. That will allow a battery to be seated end on. Looking at the official battery compartment, there is a roof over it. That, presumably, is designed as a fire guard should the battery catch fire. It looks a good idea and since steel is plentiful I'll probably implement something similar.

I am definitely on the home stretch!