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.

Tractor Supply

Today dawned with a visit to Tractor Supply. I'd seen a hand pump available for $40 on their website. It wasn't in the store but I did see a 12v diaphragm pump for $49 that claimed a gallon a minute delivery. That's now on my "interesting" list. It's not yet on my want to buy list. I'm not really that sure I want a diaphragm pump or even an electric pump. There is that manual pump but it's large and its heavy. We're I to use that pump then I'd probably need to replace the bathroom countertop with a section of my plywood and I'd probably want to replace the handbasin. To be brutally honest, I'm not keen on the handbasin I have. I'd much rather get an enameled bowl and put a hand pump to pump water into it and put a drain in the bottom. The only problem would be how to secure the basin to the countertop.

Another thought I had - which would simplify plumbing tremendously would be to have no handbasin in the bathroom but have a manual pump poised over the shower base that I could use to fill a plastic bowl with water. Hot water could be provided by boiling cold water in a kettle and mixing it with cold or by having a warm water tank under the bus heated by solar power.

After returning from Tractor Supply etc, the rain was coming down hard. Thus, it was time to paint inside the bus. The bedroom table, toilet and kitchenette countertop all had their final coats of paint. The dinette countertop needs to be cleared then painted. The saloon doors need some touch up and the galley floor needs white paint. Other than that its window tint and the closet chain that need doing plus of course the shower base mount.

I'm very much in favour of having as much of the bus as non electrically dependent as possible. I want to remain 100% gas free too.

Although my last batch of privacy film arrived today, I started painting instead of installing privacy film. There just wasn't enough light to do anything else - even with my 550 lumen led lantern. I have no idea whether I'll have the inside ready by Sunday night. With the idea of doing away with the handbasin, a redesign of the bathroom vanity countertop might be in order.

I have to consider my options. Whether this will be a boondocking bus or not. Eric's suggestion of using the alternator to charge batteries makes sense in the short term.

After a while, the paint had mostly dried so I set to and cut one of my new rolls of window tint into 26x12 inch pieces. This time, the supplier had not supplied a blade nor a spatula. I used a razor blade to cut the film and achieved the same effect. Six pieces was all one roll would provide so I'll have to start another roll for the seventh. By the time I've finished, 20 panes will be tinted and 4 will have been tinted twice due to my cockups!

Interestingly, in my conversation yesterday with Eric, I mentioned my carpentry and how I was sure Jesus would weep if he saw it. Eric made pretty much the same comment about his own carpentry. From what I've seen, his carpentry is good. Perhaps we are our own worst critics?

So, I tinted three window panes today. That leaves four remaining to tint. Just for fun, I've a photo of light behind my tint. It doesn't add privacy at night but certainly does during the day!

And of course a truly gratuitous photo from the inside, of my almost completed tinting. I definitely need to get something better than a razor blade to finish trimming the excess tint off!

Tomorrow will be more of the same - tinting, painting and possibly installing the shower base mount. Who knows - I might even get to the closet rail!

Thinking further on the plumbing, if a hot tank is installed then I'm not sure whether a diaphragm pump could handle the heat. I know a manual pump could but would absorb much of that heat. I think I'm just going to have to try things. If they work, fine. If not, try something different.

I can see exactly why people use gas. It has many advantages related to its small size and high calorific value. It has too many potentially deadly disadvantages though. The same goes for gasoline generators.

Saloon doors!

This morning I put off doing saloon doors because I didn't know how to build them. Thus I started by putting on some window tint. Needless to say, the roll of tint ran out after the first pane. There was enough left over to do one of the two small bathroom windows.

After procrastinating and looking up ready made saloon doors online, I noted that most seemed to be 42 inches long. As it so happened, I had a section of hardboard left over that measures approximately 10 inches by 44. The plan was to use that as a panel set into one door.

Perversity being what it is, looking at my supplies, I didn't have enough 2x2 to make a complete box frame. I did have some 1x2 though. Thus the saloon door became a physical thing. Now, I don't have the time nor willingness to make fancy tops and bottoms for my saloon doors so my initial design is pretty basic.

There were three problems with this. First, the 1x2 was bowed. Second, the cross members were a little long and third, one door is mounted 1/4 of an inch too high.

The long cross members were shortened with the circular saw being used to shave off 1/8 inch off each cross member for both doors. It'll make the insert a strange size but that cannot be helped. The mismatch in height totally escaped me until later.

The bowed 1x2 was resolved by putting an extra cross member in. Having done that, the doors swing freely. Looking at them and my supply of hardboard, it looks as though another pair of cross members lower down might be a good idea. My leftover hardboard is a series of odd shapes and sizes. To hold the hardboard into the frame, quarter round will be employed. I had sufficient, given that my entire doors would be made of 2x2 however since the design has had to adapt to my available offcuts now I might need more but I'll try to work within what I have.

My goal is, working within the wood I have, to build saloon doors. I don't see any value in buying a big sheet of hardboard to use a small piece.

After getting that far, I needed to consider the matter before proceeding further. Thus I grabbed my two big film offcuts and applied it to the bathroom windows. The first piece (pictured) wasn't very satisfactory. One side tore and one corner just won't stick down. I'll redo it when my next shipment of tint film arrives.

Tomorrow I'll probably complete my saloon doors and maybe put up the closet chain. After that, its a case of screwing down countertops and painting the saloon doors, the rest of the toilet unit and that should be most things done inside the bus.

I was going to put vinyl floor tiles down on the countertops. My new idea is to Velcro vinyl tablecloths onto the countertops. Same idea but cheaper to switch out or replace.

Tinting

As my last paint splattered shirt is awaiting the attentions of the washing machine, other things had to be done inside the bus. I took a while to do it but I put 5 sheets of window tint on the windows. I'll probably have to buy yet more tint.

After the 3 tinted windows in the photo, I tinted 2 more before being called away to attend to a shopping trip.

On that trip I called into Lowe's for 3 more sections of quarter round. I have a plan for the saloon doors that uses quarter round to hold hardboard into place on some 2x2. I also bought longer bolts for my knob. It seems its an 8-24 thread.

I'm probably going to run out of tint. I'm hoping I can complete the galley windows but I have doubts. After the galley windows, I have 4 more 11x24 windows and two smaller windows. I know one of my offcuts will do one of those two windows. I'll have to see about ordering more for the others.

The tint is going on well enough though there are bumps where duyst particles have attached themselves. Oh well, its not noticeable unless I really look hard so I'm not bothered. Nothing in that bus is perfect anyway!

Almost momentous achievements?

This is my almost table. Today, after yesterday shaping the plywood, I mounted a beam on the wall and some supporting beams. Getting to the critical point, cutting the 2x4, the circular saw stopped.

Wiggling the saw flex produced brief spurts of saw power. Then I saw a section wrapped with tape. Unwrapping the tape revealed that the cable had at some time been cut in two. One can only presume that the operator at the time considered the cable a bit long, tried to shorten it then had a change of heart. The ends of the wires had clearly been pressed together and had clearly parted.

Whipping out my trusty soldering iron, I sat in a hit bus with a hot soldering iron, repairing the cord. Lacking electrical tape, I used duct tape but that'll work. A few moments later, the deed was done. The saw once more worked.

Having cut my beam ready to bolt to the table as the new leg, I took a break and fitted a lock to a cupboard door. The lock turned out not to be that great. If I bang the door, it pops open. Very unsatisfactory so I'll be looking for better locks. To add insult to injury the power ran out on the cordless drill!

Having pretty much come to an end for construction, I looked around and my dissatisfaction with the window tint I'd applied resurfaced. I peeled the film off one of the two windows with poorly applied film, cleaned the glass and put a new film on. That having gone well, I repeated the process with the other window. I'm sure you'll agree it looks better!

Looking down the bus from the bedroom, its shaping up nicely.

It'll probably take me a couple of days to paint the support post and table but when I've erected it, that represents the end of major internal construction. After that I have handles and latches to install in the kitchen, quite a bit of painting and cleaning. By Friday next week, I assume that I'll have finished. I must admit that though there's external work, its nice to have got this far single handedly.

How to apply window tint properly with Lexen tint film.

Today I slipped some liquid hand soap into my spray bottle and had a go at another window. That didn't go any better than the previous attempts!

Feeling rather disheartened, indeed disappointed, I resigned myself to the fact my window tinting was always going to look amateurish. Then somebody on a forum I follow came up with a useful suggestion . The problems were that the film was hard to control. It was also hard to separate from the backing layer.

Tools...
Paper towels
Masking tape or any adhesive tape
Knife (supplied with tint film)
Spray bottle with water and soap mixture.
Plastic spatula (supplied with tint film)
Glass scraper
Smooth surface - I had a sheet of plexiglass.

Method...
Scrape paint and other detritus off both sides of the window.
Spray inside of the window with the soap solution.
Wipe the glass clean with the paper towels
Clean the sheet of plexiglass with soapy water and paper towels
Spray the plexiglass liberally with soapy water.
Using tape, lift one corner of the backing sheet on the film.
Place the film sticky side up on the plexiglass so the water will hold it in place.
Remove the backing fully, ensuring the film remains face up on the plexiglass.
Spray window and the glue side of the film (this is the up side of the film) liberally with the soapy water solution.
Pick the film up, hold it in position over the window and press it against the window.
Starting from the center, press the paper towel firmly against the film and smooth the film so there are no bubbles or wrinkles.
Working with the spatula, chase any water bubbles out. It helps if you use downward motion since gravity works with you that way.
Trim the edges of the film using the supplied knife.
Smooth any areas that need extra work.
Pat yourself on the back.

My worktop looked like this...

My finished window looked like this


Then I ran out of film and had to order more. My film came from Amazon and at the time of writing was $10.40 for a roll 20 inches wide by 10 feet long.

Needless to say, I ordered three more rolls though I have a suspicion that 14 panes of 12 x 24 inches with wastage might need more. If the others go on as well then I might replace the film I didn't do so well. It's definitely time consuming!

Other than that, I found several paint companies have apps that tell me what color my paint is. Sadly, the light is not uniform on my Carpenter blue paintwork but it looks like it could well be Swan Sea. I'll grab the bull by the horns and buy a pot tomorrow together with the green paint.
I still have to finish cleaning and prime my bus cockpit but things are getting done. I'm feeling quite positive about the project.

I had a go at gluing some plastic planks together using plastic glue but it wasn't a great success. I'm giving thought to gluing a plastic plank mount together to hold my shower base.

The tint film is 20% and looks OK though I suspect 5% might have been a better choice. I can see into my bathroom from certain angles. The solution will be to Velcro shower curtain to the inside of the window frames.