The new plan

Today I went onto the bus and fixed some warped hardboard which had warped due to the water ingress from the leaking roof last month. The door between the cockpit and the galley needed adjustment too. That had been badly warped but now it works correctly.

Thinking about the battery carrier problem, I realised I might have been overreacting. Thus, today I went ahead and got some more tools from Harbor Freight. I'd been in need of a better rivet gun and of some deep sockets so I picked those up. A welder was not on my list this time.

The rivets should have a sheer strength of 900lbs which means plain rivets should work. I'll have to see if the bolt holes are too big. If they are then I'll use 1/4x20 bolts instead. Otherwise, I'll try rivets.

Meanwhile, I'm looking into two other things. The first is super capacitors and the second is thermo electric generators. In order to power a microwave for 20 minutes, I'd need 1200w at 110v. Given the losses from an inverter of around 15%, the power supply at 12v would have to provide 12,650W. Given that my favourite battery would provide 500CCA, I'd need a bank of at least 14 in order not to overload any of the batteries. That would cost at least $1,000, weigh at least 700lbs and take way more space than there is space available.

Super capacitors can provide a lot of power quickly. They're not as energy dense as batteries but the idea is that if they could provide a 20 minute burst of power, they could be backed by just one lead acid battery. The task now is to find a super capacitor setup that can provide sufficient power.

As far as thermoelectric power generation is concerned, I have a feeling that like most non gasoline powered generators, its going to be expensive or worthless in terms of power generated. The two methods under current investigation are Stirling generators and Peltier generators. Stirling generators use magnets and coils together with a closed air system. Peltier generators use heat difference to generate power.

The suicide tools

Today was a little bit of a disappointment. I didn't get half the things I needed to do done. The usual problems of heat and heat exhaustion combined with mosquitoes that infiltrated the bus with their subversive presence. I'm rather glad they don't carry malaria.

Despite the heat, I managed to put most of the wood I'd planned to install into place. I'm getting close to needing more 2x4 and more OSB. I definitely ran out of 1 1\2 inch self-drilling screws but I have plenty 1 1\4 inch self drillers that will do the job perfectly well. I only needed the extra 1\4 inch for the plastic planks I used on the bathroom floor as they were thicker.

As can be seen from the photo above, the second box has been built though it's lacking the rear vertical. It's all perfectly symmetrical. My carpentry is definitely improving! The bottom bar is almost secured to the floor. The floor proved somewhat challenging to drill through. The aisle-side bracket was screwed down successfully. The far side bracket proved problematic. In one position I simply could not drill through the floor. Heaven knows what was up with that! Thus I moved a few inches and the first hole drilled through brilliantly. On the second hole, the drill bit stuck in the hole and the keyless chuck opened, leaving the drill stuck. In a moment of carelessness, not being able to find my pliers, I gripped the drill bit in the keyless chuck and the keyless chuck grabbed it off-center, spun and broke the drill bit. It would be so much less problematic if chucks with keys made a comeback. These keyless things release drill bits randomly. So my 7\64 drill bit died today and as I use a 7\64 to predrill all my holes before putting in my screws, that was pretty much an end to woodwork until I get a new bit.

It was still daylight and since there are other things I can do without a drill, I got on with them. It just didn't make sense to drive 20 miles to get to and from Lowes in order to buy a $3 drill bit when I'll pass Lowes tomorrow on my way to and from work. Thus I got on with some painting.

Two doors were up for painting. One door received its first coat and the other received its second. Some day I'll get to painting the other sides of the doors too. Initially I started painting with a 3 inch brush that I'd used before and which was mildly stiff and not that fun to use. It was a cheap dollar store brush. Getting a bit tired of it, I pulled out a mini roller and mini paint tray. That sped up painting no end then the roller disintegrated. I'm not surprised, really. It was a cheap dollar store roller.

Returning to the brush which had hardened considerably, I completed the task hurriedly. I'd employed the roller to speed things up in order to get away from the great outdoors as I was being eaten alive by mosquitoes, gnats and other insects.

The day hadn't gone quite as planned. I'd hoped to get the last couple of members into place in my dinette then put a temporary top onto which I would have placed the things sitting on the kitchenette. After that I wanted to dismantle the kitchenette and start to put the new kitchenette together.