Plumbing completed

There's not much to say. I crawled under the bus and completed my plumbing under the washbasin in the bathroom. It was just like the plumbing for the shower albein with narrower tubing. I still need to seal a few things underneath but not an awful lot and it won't leak if I don't.

I cut the steel strip for my back lower window cover. My new thinking is just to screw a sheet of steel over the window with a shim to allow for the window gasket. It's easier and faster.

In other news I carefully stripped my tablet down to look inside. It is the USB socket that has failed. That's microsoldered into place. Microsoldering is a little beyond my skills and equipment. I hadn't really hoped for anything. I guess the tablet is trash. Still, it'll make a nice video!

Feeling like death warmed up!

Today, in a radical departure from the norm, this blog entry is being entered via my smartphone with the task being made easier by a bluetooth keyboard. Now the reason for this is simple - after my Macbook started playing the fool, I switched to using an RCA tablet. Three months after I bought it, the USB charger decided to give out, leaving me pretty much with an RCA branded frisbee. As it appears RCA will simply toss the tablet and give me a "reconditioned" tablet that might or might not last 3 more months and wants me to pay to ship their $50 trash back to them, I'm questioning the worth of throwing more money at RCA. Thus I can either do my blog entries as emailed entries from m'lady's computer (running the heinous Windows 8) or do the via my phone. I choose the latter.

As you might have guessed from the title, I really am feeling quite unwell. This sad state of affairs has been rumbling on for over a week and all I have to say about that is it had better bloody well stop. Despite feeling unwell, wobbly and nauseaus, I did actually work on the bus today. Well, after taking m'lady grocery shopping during which I saw how Walmart's "cleaners" simply sweep trash under the displays rather than actually cleaning. On the other hand, Walmart never has had a high bar!
I wonder whether I picked up a bug last time I was in Walmart. The hygeine there is sufficiently lacking for me to wonder whether Walmart deserved a Z for food hygeine.

So, the upshot is that I only did some of the things I had intended. I climbed up on the hood of the bus, struggling to stand upright and fighting nausea. Realising that falling off the hood would not be advisable, I did my best to stay perched up there. After drilling about 50 holes I screwed in my replacements for the front flashers, slipping copious quantities of silicone goop behind as a sealant.

The screws used are not intended as final fixtures. The final fixtures will be rivets. This is just a temporary measure until such a time as I can test the lights to make sure I have not buggered up any wiring with my drill.

While I worked on the flasher panel I took a look inside the compartment behind and noticed that the rivets used were standard pop rivets rather than waterproof rivets. I had wondered about that. Clearly the individual that had written online in some forum I used to glance at had been writing nonsense. His claim was roof rivets had to be special waterproof rivets. No they don't and I saw the proof! Interestingly, the rivets used all had very long shanks. Carpenter obviously found a standard rivet was the best option.

So, the front flashers are now dealt with. Next I want to replace the bolts with rivets after checking the electrics all still function. I will probably do the same to the back flashers and possibly install my extractor fan at the same time.  

Is this the end?

It certainly looks like the end of the road for my cheap Walmart microwave. I count 5 bullet holes in its carcass. Seriously, how can Walmart sell junk like this? After a little over 2 years use the bottom of the microwave inside was very rusty. It lay idle in a dry location for a further 2 years then when I set to cleaning it up, the pan had holes in it under the paint. No wonder every time I cooked, the countertop was covered in nasty looking water.

Today was one of those days when little was accomplished. Mostly that was because I am not really all that well. I didn't go to Lowes (hurrah). I did trim a little of the excess steel from the fridge to make some blanks to cover the apertures under the top front flashers. I started that a little late in the day and despite a spectacular mishap that went to show why only fools would take the guard off an angle grinder, I managed to cut two rectangles of steel.

Once I'd cut the steel, I ground the rusty bits back to clean steel then sprayed both sides with zinc paint. The zinc spray can started dripping and dribbling paint which was annoying but on the other hand this is exctly why I do prefer a brush and pot of paint. There's just no point in wasting a 65c brush for a little bit of painting though. Spray cans are handy for quick, small touch ups and that's about it. I decided on rectangles on the basis that they're easier and faster to cut. As long as they're mounted in the right places, they should have a balanced look. I'll have to trim the top outer corners to match the curve of the roof and I'll have to trim and indentation for the CB aerial. Other than that, the steel should be fine as it is.

As the paint was drying I turned my mind to the rear turn signals and switched one of the lenses over so that unlike the right turn signal, the left now has no arrow. It didn't improve matters. I suspect the bulb could be the problem in the left turn signal. It just seems dimmer than the right turn signal.

By the way, the right turn signal is a completely new unit that I installed last year as is the right hand reversing light. I'll have to replace the bulb to see if it improves matters. Really and truly it doesn't matter to me whether the lens has an arrow on it or not. I just hoped I could make it brighter. So, it looks like a new bulb but I won't stop there. I'll see if I can get some of that silver reflective Christmas wrapping plastic foil and fit it inside each of the light assemblies to improve the amount of light coming from them. These things just aren't visible enough for my liking in daylight.

By the time the light began to go, the paint on my steel plates was not fully dry so I put them inside the bus. I would have liked to have installed them today rather than leaving tape over one of the apertures. Having said that, there's always next weekend and the tape should keep rain out.

I looked at the ground beside the bus. That'll need a good clean up when I finish working on the bus. I have a feeling I'll spend an afternoon picking up trash from the yard! The plan for the big piece of fridge is to cover the lower door window aperture at the back of the bus. I'll have one piece that I'll trim to weld into the aperture. Once that's welded, I'll fill the space behind it with closed cell insulating foam then either use rivnuts and screw a sheet of steel over the inside of the door or rivet a sheet of steel there. On the whole, I think rivnuts make more sense as it allows me to perform maintainance if needed. I just hope I can make my welds waterproof.

I am very disappointed with the amount done today. I know I have overdone it today. I know I overdid it yesterday too. I wanted to go to Lowes to get my final plumbing part. I wanted to put two stop nuts on each bolt for each barrel. I wanted to plumb the shower barrel in fully. I'm still looking at plumbing the handbasin. I just hope I can get everything completed by the end of the month. My dad was griping that I hadn't completed it by April of last year, which was my original completion goal! I think my original target was a little ambitious given that I had so much to learn and that I'm such a perfectionist.

What the Hell is that and where does it go?

Despite the fact I feel more like the Walking Dead than any semblance of being human, today I took the bits I bought at Lowes (hiss, spit) that I neglected to blog about the other day and put them together. As I currently work with small children I get just about every ailment they so generously give me. It's all airbourne stuff that's hard to defend against so this weekend I have a tummy bug. How nice!

So, the other day somebody gave me some spare 1/2 inch Pex tubing. Thus I got myself a T adaptor for the downpipe from my shower and some other connectors in order to connect the waste barrel via flexible hose. That makes life much easier for times when I might have to take the barrel down to get silt and crud out of it. I'm sure it'll need cleaning at some point!

All that fitted together very nicely though I had a problem at the other end of the Pex tubing because I'd bought the wrong size connector. I'll fix that tomorrow if I'm feeling any better or maybe later this evening. It all depends on how my virus goes.

That's a bigger view of my construction. From left to right we have...
1. A Walmart ball valve for a hosepipe that cost $1.95. That's way cheaper than the cheapest faucet Lowes has!
2. A 3/4 inch angle with a thread on the end pointing down. The other end just happened to fit into my 1.15 inch tubing nicely so I said "what the heck" and glued it in there.
3. A 1.25" T adaptor that will fit onto my 1.25" downpipe. 
4. A piece of 1.25" tubing connecting the T adaptor to a 1.25" to 0.75" hosepipe adaptor.
5. A 1.25" hosepipe adaptor.
6. A Hosepipe swivel. That will make removing the barrel so much easier as I can just unscrew the tubing.
7. A 0.75" to 0.5" threaded Pex adaptor.
8. Some 0.5" Pex tubing.

Not shown because I bought a 0.5" to 0.25" threaded Pex adaptor in error is the adaptor on the other end of the tubing that will be connected to the barrel. 

I'm pretty sure I could have got a plastic swivel but Lowes (hiss, spit) didn't have one. The dollar store might and I might look into that for the other side of the bus for the handbasin waste pipe. Actually, the handbasin waste piping will be handled totally differently anyway. I will learn from the shower outlet and do the other side differently!

After building (but not installing) the new plumbing bit, I climbed up onto the hood of the bus to use my new Grabbit tool to remove a crosspoint screw that had the cross worn out by a previous attempt to remove it. As I suspected, the Grabbit was little more than a nice-sounding gimmick. It did nothing other than cost me about $8 (or about an hour's wages). That screw will have to be removed the traditional way - with a drill bit! Then I felt wobbly and sick after my not too strenuous exertions and had to lie down in the cool for a couple of hours.

Returning to the fray, I attacked an old fridge that was dumped on m'lady's land. That yielded a nice piece of steel even though it went through 3 cutting disks on my angle grinder. There's plenty steel left too! It's a little thinner than I would like but on the other hand, it is free and welded to the back door, will make the door much more secure than a solitary pane of glass.

I did take a photo of the fridge lying amidst the foliage but for some unknown reason my phone told me it had taken the picture but had not in fact done so. I could say Bah Humbug but that being a little Dickensian should be more replaced by the modern equivalent of "bloody technology". I mean, seriously, what's the point of these wonderful electronic gizmos if they don't work ALL the time?

As an aside, I did mention that I am living way out in the backwoods of South Carolina. Remember the TV series The Dukes of Hazard? Remember the rebel flag I showed you a few days ago? Today I show you the mailbox. It doesn't get much use and hence is more of a bird's nest. That's how far into the backwoods I live!

After another trip inside to rest, I found the old U bend or S bend - whichever you want to call it - that I had put under the handbasin. It seems to be 1.5 inches. My task will be to find something that'll bring that down to 1 inch to fit my standard plumbing. Moving swiftly on, I took two photos of the old fridge - one to show where it's located.

Then I took another photo - of the side I had removed. The inside is steel also which means it could be useful. The left hand side of the fridge which is up against a tree, I didn't start to cut but looking at it, there wouldn't have been much point as that side has a rather large calibre bullet hole through it at a strange angle!

Having done that, my attention turned to the school bus flashers. The screw that wouldn't come out eventually did after I used an angle grinder at a shallow angle so as not to damage the bus. It transpired that this screw could have been ignored. It held only the lens in place. Four other screws held the flasher lens in place.

If I am careful, I can probably replace the amber lenses with arrows with the amber lenses of the flashers. That makes my indicators much more visible. Anyway, having removed the light assembley - which wasn't that hard, I cut the push fit connectors off and screwed on some wire nuts. It turned out that there were two wires and two elements inside the light. It was a most peculiar affair. Having removed it, I've taped over the aperture for now but this is what it looks like without tape.

What surprised me was not just the huge size of the aperture but the cobweb behind it! Using the lens as a template, I marked out some disks on a sheet of aluminum, ready to cut them out to cover the holes.

Having marked the circles I realise that cutting 4 circles is going to be challenging. Rather than delegate that, instead I might use steel and make two sheets of steel with vaguely rounded ends cut to as close as possible, the same dimensions. Then after painting them, simply put silicone seal behind them and rivet them into place. If I pre-drill both sheets and put the holes in the same places, it should look quite tidy.

Meanwhile, tomorrow's task - assuming I feel better which I suspect I will - is to get the plumbing completed for the shower side of the bus, including removing the nuts that I put Thread Locker on and replacing them with two sets of stop nuts. That means a trip to Lowes (hiss, spit) for a 3/4 inch to 1/2 inch Pex fitting that I can glue into place. While I'm there I might as well get the stuff for the other side of the bus too. Having done that, if there's time left, I'll add a second set of stop nuts to the handbasin side of the bus. Ideally I'd like to get the blanks put up to replace the top flashers but that might be a pipe dream for this weekend.

Meanwhile, I totally forgot to say but the AA powered phone chargers arrived yesterday. These are really nifty because it means I can charge a phone using rechargeable AA batteries or via disposeable AA batteries. Basically, that pretty much takes care of all of my electrical requirements. I just don't need electricity for anything other than lighting and my phone, tablet or mifi pad.

What was I thinking?

That I might actually achieve something today? The first thing I did was to head to the bus to find the tool needed to change the disk on my angle grinder. That was easy enough. I think after hunting through six big, fully loaded cardboard boxes I'd had enough but fortunately it was right in the bottom of the sixth box. Tidying up the other day had the unfortunate effect of concealing the things I need to find!

Having changed the disk - a task of mere seconds as opposed to the hour or so trying to find the tool - I decided to cut some steel for the back door. Just the other end of the property lies a abandoned trailer with an abandoned fridge lying in the yard. That fridge looked to be a very suitable donor!

For some reason, there was an electric cable lying along the length of the yard. Thus, angle grinder in hand I went to the fridge, expectantly. Well, that's where it all went to pot! There was no power to the cable. Undaunted and beginning to swelter from the oppressive spring heat, I traced the cable back and found it wasn't attached to the main cable. I attached it then tried again. Still no power. I unattached the cable and tried the grinder on the main cable. Nothing. I traced the main cable back to its origin which happened to be a pile of leaves. That was odd and there was no visible socket anywhere nearby. I have seen that cable in use though.

Undaunted and no longer in the mood to mess about, I went to the shed and pulled out m'lady's Harbor Freight 800w generator. It was a struggle but I carried it down to the fridge. Reading the instructions it was a case of putting the power switch into the on position, setting the choke and pulling the cord. I pulled and pulled and pulled and pulled some more. Now I know why the electrical cable has been in use. The generator just would not start!

Frustrated and exhausted, I put the generator back in the shed. Sure - it had fuel and I'd followed the instructions. There definitely was compression. It just wouldn't bloody well start. At that point I decided enough had gone wrong to merit not attempting any further work. It was the kind of day when nothing would work out and in my experience, it's better to miss a day than to make mistakes that cost yet more time and or money to fix.

My mind flitted to conversion discussions I'd read when I was a member of those silly bus conversion forums. One fool wanted to change the dual wheels at the back to single wheels just in order to cut down on tyres. The fact that the vehicle had been designed to use dual wheels did not enter into the silly person's head. Another individual wanted to change over to a different type of tyre. Instead of using the standard 10R22.5 he wanted to use something weird. The point is this is a bus. It will always be a bus no matter how it is retitled. The parts will cost exactly what bus parts cost. Yes the tyres are expensive. This is what you get when you buy a bus and people don't understand that. Honestly though, I suspect the vast majority of forum users that claim to have a bus actually do not. I recall one person swearing blind they lived in an old school bus but looking at their photos, they lived in a bus body that had been dismounted off the chassis. It was immobile and thus not a bus any more.

Having thought about things overnight, I have decided to go with the original plan for the drums in having them mounted crosswise. Instead of having a pair of drums under the shower, I decided to go with a single drum on each side. The steel chain I bought will hold 450lbs and since there will be 3 chains holding each barrel, that's 1,350lbs of holding power. I don't think a 125lb tank is going to go aywhere or that any one chain will break. I will still take precautions though!

By 3pm the sky was still very overcast and grey. The humidity was off the charts and work outside was just unpleasant. It was time to come inside and abandon the day in the hope that tomorrow will be a better day.

I would have put the microwave on the ground since it doesn't now look safe to use and put a few bullets though it, taken a picture and joked about the microwave being "shot" but what with the weather, I just didn't feel like it. My humble appologies - I'll do better next time!

Let there be a place to stick it!

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

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

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

Rolling around in the dirt like a hippo

I intended to do lots of things today but ended up doing just two. The first was to finish priming the two pieces of steel from the roller shutter assembly. After that, while the paint was drying I decided to remove the I-beam that the hillbillies had welded underneath the bus.
I'm still mentally designing the breaker compartment so going slow with it is fine. Aside from that, the existing hillbilly compartment does actually work though it is in terrible condition.

Thinking the beam would be heavy, I piled up some concrete squares underneath the end protruding from the end of the bus. It was then that I realised piling up the slabs further under the bus would be distinctly challenging with lots of trips underneath. I took a short cut and started the bus engine for the first time in a couple of months and moved the bus backwards about 6 feet. Then I piled up the next lot of slabs underneath the end again. 

There was more welding than I had anticipated on the rear bumper so I ended up with some interesting cuts. Having freed the back end, I moved under the bus and worked on the front of the girder. In all I went through 3 cutting disks and it took most of the day. 
Having removed the girder, with much rolling around under the bus, I carried it to the scrap steel pile. I have no idea how much scrap steel I have removed from the bus but I have removed a tremendous amount. I'd say probably close to two tons.

Visible in the photograph above is the reversing horn. Judging from the dangling wire that has been wound carelessly through holes in the chassis, this must have been the work of the hillbillies. It is something I will attend to in due course.
Doesn't the back of the bus look so much better without that girder sticking out? Getting in and out would be almost impossible now had I not foreseen this eventuality and purchased some folding steps in Walmart the other day. As it turns out they're a little low. I might have to get a bigger set of steps. 

After cutting the steel I reckoned the girder I had just removed would weigh something in the region of 50-70 pounds. It was definitely heavy and I certainly didn't enjoy carrying it!
These are the two blinds I installed yesterday. Worryingly, there's a dark spot on the top right of the right curtain. I don't know whether there was a grease spot or whether there is a slight leak. I will have to watch carefully to see what happens next.
In conversation today, my attention was drawn to a threaded hole in the caps of the drums I bought. It seems that they have a 3/4 inch thread. That makes life a load easer. I can see drums appearing under the bus fairly soon.

Removing the weight that I did makes a big difference. I feel happier and I'm sure the bus will drive more sweetly without that hideous thing lumped onto the back.

Ideally, I'd have loved to have had the bus before the hillbillies got hold of it. I'd have done it so much faster and better without having to fix or work around their disasters. It's almost as though a group of guys got together while blind drunk and decided to do the worst construction they possibly could. Their planning and execution was very poor.

I'm looking forward to heading to Canada at some point this autumn. My university Buddy, Eric,  might or might not make it there this autumn due to an operation he has just had. Only time will tell. Still, it'd be nice to do.

No wonder I'm depressed....

Today turned out to be yet another dull, grey, dreary day. No rays of sunshine to lift my gloomy mood. The one thing I love about the US is the way there are many more sunny days than cloudy days. Cloudy days just sap my strengh and my will and frequently (as today) give me a distanced feeling as though I'm not really here. I believe it's called Seasonal Affected Disorder.

Despite this, I went to the bus to install my new vanity top and promptly broke the tip off my drill bit, rendering it useless. That meant a trip to Lowes (hiss, spit). There, I picked up a couple of packs of 3/32 drill bits just in case. While I was there I also picked up a 5-15 plug to make the other half of my 20A extension cord. I don't want to get the 30A cable yet - I'll stay cheap right now. Then while I was there, I looked at plumbing supplies but as I didn't know exactly what I have, I didn't get anything. It turned out from investigations last night that the second part of the downpipe from the shower isn't needed - the plastic fittings I have will clamp onto the first section very sucessfully. It seems that I can simply take an off-the-shelf fixture to fasten the bottom of the tube to the side of the bus. There are some rather nice valves available to use to close the end of the pipe off when it's not needed to empty. They're somewhat stiff which means they'd definitely need to be secured very firmly. Thus, for the moment, I'll stick with my screw-in bung.

Returning to the bus, I screwed the countertop down that I'd been working on yesterday then sat in the bedroom with a cup of tea and my tablet for a few minutes. What with the dreary, miserable weather I'd taken to playing a game called "Boom Beach" and without funding the programmers drug habit by buying game credits with real money that's hard to earn, it was increasingly hard to continue. Thinking about it, while watching the dwelling I'd just errected commencing its count down to 5 hours before it could be used, I came to the inevitable conclusion that the game was as the Americans euphamistically say, "a crock".

Having deleted the game, I set about cutting some more steel for the battery compartment only it wasn't that simple. The angle grinder needed a new disk so that was installed. Then I had to find the adaptor in order to connect the grinder to my TT30 socket. That was a hunt! It was eventually discovered, hidden underneath an immense pile of Christmas stockings.

I cut the steel and then tried to straighten an angle out of the steel. It's showing progress but the work is very slow. I suspect that this might take longer than I want to spend on it.

Meanwhile, I looked at the DMV form to retitle the bus and it needs photographs of the inside plus details plus the original bus title. This is a totally different form from the one I was shown before. It looks way more likely as a form so I suspect I probably have the right form this time. I have a lot of tidying to do inside the bus before I take photos. 

I believe I'm pretty close to having it in retitlable condition. As far as I can see, I can just run it as an electric motorhome and pop a portable generator in for the inspection. Water - aside from plumbing the waste pipe properly, is already done. The shower curtains, blinds over the windows and a front door unlocking gizmo is all that's needed. Everything else should work just fine. The whole bus needs a darned good cleanig and spruce up but that should be it!

Small achievements building toward success

That's the way to do it! Today of note were several achievements in an otherwise dismal, dreary, wet day. I'd like to be able to claim major success but I didn't do anything major. The major stuff all accomplishes itself as it's all reliant upon the small but insignificant steps.

The first thing I did was to make a coil out of some wire, put my new permanent magnet inside and run 6v from 4 D cells through it. The magnet did twitch. Clearly I need to find some copper tubing slightly larger than the magnet in order to wind enamel wire around it. That should allow the magnet to slide easily and should give years of use. I just have to wind the appropriate number of coils around it.

The next success was more basic and less exciting though vital. I tried my old angle grinder without success. Banging it I could get a few spins from the motor before it stopped. I had a brainwave and changed the other carbon brush. I"d already changed one because it was broken. Voila! The thing worked when I plugged it in. Clearly that problem has been solved for the moment. The other one has a problem based around a loose connection. When I need it, I'll tighten that connector.

Lastly, I hunted around in the bushes on m'lady's 4 acres and found a nice piece of steel. It needs some de-rusting but cut with the angle grinder and welded, It;ll make an excellent bottom for my battery compartment. Unlike the hillbillies, I'll drill holes for water drainage. I'll also see about putting a lip over the door to stop water penetration.

The final solution to the power and cooking problem is, unfortunately, going to have to be a gas cooker where the microwave is currently situated. The microwave is rusted and beyond salvation. I"ll have to install an extraction fan - probably a 12v fan running off my small battery. I could run that through the window I blocked up or put a roof vent. On the whole, the window seems more accessible. I thought long and hard about other solutions but this seems to be the only one that makes financial sense. To spend $3,500 on lithium batteries, $300 on a generator or $500 on lead acid batteries to run the microwave or $40 on a gas cooker. That's $10 cheaper than buying a replacement microwave. The big bonus is because I've already done the electrical work, I can still use electrical appliances when plugged in. There's also nothing to say I cannot later just remove the gas cooker and install solar arrays, generators and solar panels.

Haltering progress

As with everything bus, this weekend looks like being little to no progress. Half the things I need have not yet arrived.

Yesterday's shopping trip could have been better and I returned to Home Depot to see whether I could find anything better. I didn't and none of the sales staff seemed to want to do anything other than chat amongst themselves. No point in making a stink about that - they're minimum wage dross who probably can't find a real job. There are a lot of people stuck in worthless retail positions because the mythical masses of jobs just don't exist. The US is still in a very deep depression while the leaders are pretending its not so.

The plan was to bury my cable in conduit. Looking at the ground, although it's sandy, there are an awful lot of tree roots. I had an idea that I should just use a 100 foot 30A extension cable instead. It turned out that would have cost $150. A 20A extension cable 100 feet long was equally costly. While a 15A cable was better priced, it would not have sufficed.

The original plan was thus resurrected. It was suggested to me that rather than digging a trench, I could just lay the cable in a conduit and simply cover the conduit with dirt and rocks. As the conduit would be in an area nobody would work or walk, that would probably work.

Meanwhile, I looked around for the scrap angle iron I'd seen the other day and couldn't find it. That's 100% due to annual inflation in the leaf economy (Autumn). I did find another suitable piece of steel though. I even found steel plate that looked suitable for a battery compartment floor!

Looking around further there was even a rust free carriage bolt that looked usable as the electro magnet I need in order to spring the front door latch. With sufficient coils, the door should open easily. I can't wait to be able to get in and out of the front door.

Today was hindered by a virus. I'm going to take it relatively easily this weekend. Laying cables in overland conduit sounds like a nice light task, the same as making an electromagnet.

Disappointment

Today I commenced work, rather late in the day to complete the battery compartment. After tightening a few nuts and cropping the overlong bolts, suddenly one bolt shattered under very light pressure.

Given that when asked, the store (Fastenal) claimed the bolts to be easily capable of holding 200lbs and probably good for 1200lbs, I'm rather disappointed. Needless to say, with a bad bolt, the whole batch must be condemned as suspect, particularly when it cannot fail. If the battery compartment failed, the consequences could be fatal.

Looking at the compartment so far, the angle bracket that came from the bunk beds that I'd previously condemned is probably 87° rather than 90°. This makes construction of a regular shape somewhat awkward.

Clearly this will have to be rebuilt. I think, sadly, it will have to be welded which is beyond my skills. Given that, I suspect it would be better to let the welder supply the steel as he would likely have access to better quality steel of a more appropriate style.

Generally, I find everything the Hillbillies installed in the bus was of pretty low quality and unusable in any shape or form. In many ways, it would have been better to have started with a bus that still had seats in it. Having experienced the conversion so far, I think I'd do it very differently next time. Having said that, I'm almost completed. I just need to add water tanks and the battery compartment. Then, there's very little else to do.

I had hoped to be able to do everything underneath myself but without welding skills, that's not possible. It's probably cheaper to get somebody else to do the welding than to buy a welder and to waste time learning how to weld. Given that I need the bus operational, I'm going to have to ask about welding. I hate having to use somebody else in my self build project.

Screwed to death!

Tonight I'm aching badly after having been screwing hard all afternoon. Indeed, I was still hard at work until the light expired on me at about 6-30pm. The evenings are definitely (or defiantly if Google autocorrect had its way) drawing in.

Achievements today - nothing especially notable. It was a continuation of yesterday, working on my battery compartment. I drilled a few new holes and installed more angle bracket and started on the lock nuts.

While I was there, I noticed what a rotten job the hillbillies had made of installing the cable compartment door. Did they just not notice that one end was a lot higher than the other? Perhaps (as I suspect) they just didn't care!

I looked at the compartment I am building and noted that the steel bracket is not a true 90° so its probably something the hillbillies got free or cheap. They'd built bedframes from this stuff and I can assure you that its pretty springy steel, having flexed it. It should be good for my battery compartment though.

Aside from installing more bolts - which was a case of drilling holes, putting the bolts in and tightening nuts - I installed lock nuts on 17 bolts. That took quite a while because I had to tighten the nuts by hand and do the lock nuts by hand too. The bolts are rather longer than any of the available 3/4 sockets so each nut had to be tightened using a spanner.

After tightening the nuts they were trimmed with my trusty and long suffering $15 Harbor Freight angle grinder. Would you believe of my original pack of 10 cutting disks I have but one left. That's how much use it has had!

I'm not worried about the springiness of the steel. When its all pulled into place and bolted, the springiness will be contained. What does concern me is attaching the cage to the bus. As I have already mentioned, welding is an interesting idea. Having thought about welding more thoroughly, its probably a better idea to get some steel rivets and to rivet the cage to the sub frame where its not possible to use bolts.

The things that factor into the riveting decision are:
1. I don't have a welder and the cheapest is $70.
2. I have never welded before and would have to learn how before I did anything on or for the bus.
3. I have no suitable face protection, no suitable gloves and no suitable smock.
4. As the steel is galvanized, I gather the fumes from welding galvanized steel are toxic.
5. Welders need a 20A power supply and I just don't have such a power supply at hand. I could install a 30A socket on the breaker box in the yard but that would probably take most of a day.
6. A new rivet gun and rivets are way cheaper than anything else at $30 for the rivet gun and maybe $20 for the rivets.
7. I am well used to riveting.
8. I'm unlikely to need to weld anything else.
9. A hand riveter does not need power.

So, it looks like I'll have to drop into Home Depot this coming week for the new riveter. My existing riveter does not work well with tougher aluminum rivets. Steel rivets are harder to use.

That's how springy the steel is! I can't wait to get this installed under the bus. I'll probably install some lighter steel bracket to hold the batteries in place. Holding them down can be done with a chain and a turnbuckle. I probably won't bother too much about water shielding as its unlikely water will splash upwards even on a wet day as the wheels are nowhere near the compartment.

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!

July is here. Holy Hell!

I can't believe it's July already! My first date for completion of the bus was January 1st but that's been slipping ever since. I swore it'd be done by July 1st but it now looks like being August sometime.

If you've been following my progress via Facebook then you'll notice my Facebook profile has vanished. I had nothing to do with that disappearing act. I had a note that popped up last week asking if I am human. I confirmed that I was. Yesterday I was denied access to my Facebook account unless I send Facebook a copy of my drivers license, social security card etc. Basically, all the stuff an identity thief or a marketer would love to have. Needless to say, I declined their request and it seems Facebook has retaliated by closing my account.

Do I open another account under a new name, say Sponge Blob or Captain Underpanties? Do I just say f* it and f* Facebook and carry on without Facebook? I asked friends if they followed my bus progress via Facebook - which was all I ever published on Facebook and most did not. I had a few Facebook friends that were so much into auto posting of jokes, recipes etc that I just had to stop following their posts. I think Facebook is more of a nice idea than something of any practical value.

Between blog postings, you can also follow and sometimes interact with me via Twitter.

Today I spent the first part of the day cleaning the kitchen/dinette area ready for painting. I also put some 1\2 inch dowel into the 1\2 inch hole I drilled in the door to the cockpit. That hole was intended for a lock but the lock was too thick. The easiest way to enlarge the hole was either to order a larger twist drill or put dowel in and redrill with a cheaper flat drill. Needless to say, this is the option I chose and as soon as the glue has dried I'll be doing that!

One of the pieces of 2x4 that I'd put in the front closet has a nasty twisting warp on one end. It will have to become cross members. Fortunately I did buy an extra piece of 2x4 yesterday. It needs to dry so its lying flat in the bedroom while I complete the dinette/kitchenette.

As you can see, I've started painting the dinette. I used a roller so I covered most of it fairly quickly. Even so, I developed a raging headache from the heat. I had to complete the first coat in 3 separate trips to the bus, coming into the house to cool down every 30 minutes.
There are corners and places that could not be reached with the roller. The drawer slide mount proved to be the problem I thought it would be hence my decision to paint the kitchenette before I install drawers.

The ceiling got a coat of paint from one side of the bus to the other. In fact, I had to stop when I ran out of Glidden Primer & Sealer. I used 3/4 of a gallon! The next stage will be to put white topcoat on the dinette. Then I will fill in the gaps where the primer didn't work, using a brush. Fortunately, I have another gallon of white primer as well so in theory I should be able to complete painting the kitchenette and dinette.

Sadly, I could not paint the kitchenette today as the counter is in use. When the dinette has topcoat, I'll transfer things from the kitchenette to stand on newspaper on top of the dinette. There are several areas in the dinette that would benefit from some latex caulk. I'll have to get on with that!

The summer in South Carolina is pure Hell for working outside. It's meant for lying on the sofa while eating bon bons! I'm sure that's what God intended anyway! Either that or this really is Hell and we've been really wicked in a past existence.

Painting the dinette is really a sign of progress! In April, the dinette didn't exist. After completing the kitchenette which could take a while what with all the drawers I'll need to build, I'll do the bathroom. The front closet will take next to no time.

Finally today I dragged the other fridge door toward the bus where with the gentle persuasion of my angle grinder and a crowbar, it gave up enough steel to complete filling in the other half of a missing window.

I had to give up for the day after this because the heat had me thoroughly exhausted. I just about made it into the house!

Frustrations at every turn

Today was more notable for what couldn't be achieved than for what could. Let's take a look at things that didn't happen first and why it didn't happen.

First, building new interior doors didn't happen because of the lack of 2x2.
Second, drilling the hole for the side door lock didn't happen because the hole saw is worn out.
Third, more internal carpentry didn't happen because it was 90F inside and 55% humidity.
Fourth I couldn't find a drill to insert the latch for the back door of the bedroom.

Now we've got that lot out of the way, what was achieved? And in fact, I achieved quite a few things.
First I filled a lot of holes with Great Stuff foam sealant. In fact I used up a complete tin of the stuff. After finishing that and finding I had two more empty cans, I took them into the back yard (don't panic - its the countryside) and used them for target practice and had a load of fun.
Second, I repositioned the door lock and started to drill the lock hole before finding the drill was blunt but hey, the lock plate is positioned in a far better place now.
Third, I hung the back bedroom door.
Fourth, with the aid of my girlfriend's sister's boyfriend, I managed to remove the ball from the tow hook some idiot welded to the front bumper.

My big problem is the heat. Working on the bedroom door, sweat was literally dripping off me. I'm very close to having to install ventilation. The other day I had to stop work because the heat was making me feel disorientated.

The big circle is what the hole saw failed to cut through. Looking at the saw, I see exactly why - it's totally blunt. It's designed for wood and so far has cut through 4 layers of 15 gauge steel and an inch of aluminum. Time for a new hole saw! In theory I should be using a hole saw made for cutting metal but since they're ten times the cost of one designed for cutting wood, I can afford to treat those designed for wood as disposable since I really don't have many holes to cut.

And there you can see how the teeth are all flat and have the edges turned over.

You're probably wondering why I don't just rush off to the store to buy the stuff I need. Well, the truth is that my day job has stopped for the moment so I don't have any income other than advertising clicks. After my job as a retail manager ended (the store closed), the only job I could find was after school child minding. That is part time and was the impetus that made me start building my motorhome. I realized there was no way that I was going to get a real job in South Carolina. I realized that I had to be able to job hunt outside South Carolina. The bus means I'm not tied to a rented hovel and means I could work as far away as Virginia and still get back to South Carolina at weekends to be with my girlfriend.

In view of the lack of income until school restarts in August, I'm eliminating all nonessential mileage. As I have a few things to do tomorrow, I shall combine everything in a single trip. So, now you know!