Nearer to solutions

Today I went shopping - I needed to get another tube of caulk to do the rear roof seam which appears to leak despite not appearing to initially (hence I never bothered sealing it). My first stop was O Reilly's. They had no caulk. I proceeded on to Walmart to do the grocery pickup. That was a complete shambles.

There are 19 pickup bays and the staff seemed to have extreme difficulty in servicing just one bay. I believe I waited 15 minutes before somebody came out to check on me (despite my arrival already having been announced online). It was a full 30 minutes after that that the groceries finally appeared.

My next port of call was Advance Auto and they were out of the caulk I wanted. That was pretty incredible! The only other place was Autozone. In there I did find two tubes of caulk but needed only one. Picking it up, I joined the line and waited. The staff did not seem to bothered about manning the tills or talking to the customers. After probably 20 minutes I gather from the customer in front that their computer system was down. That would have been nice to know! I put the tube of caulk down there and then and walked out. When a company has been shut down by technology problems they need to hang up a sign that says "closed for business". They also need a manual backup method!

Having got the groceries home and unloaded, I looked under the hood of the bus. I'd ascertained using a voltmeter a few minutes earlier that the horn button actually worked. That means I don't have to fight to undo the screws. 

Following the wires into a plastic box, I removed the cover and found a rat nest (minus rats) as well as a bundle of wires. Looking at the wires it seems that rats chewed through one wire and bit on a couple of others. The chewed through wire is the horn wire. The hillbillies that owned the bus before me put their own wire that bypassed the horn switch and the horn circuitry inside the cab. Heaven knows why!

It looks as though I should just join the grey wire that's been chewed off to the grey wire to which the hillbillies that owned the bus before me had twisted a red wire. Those guys hadn't even removed the rat nest!

Curiously there's a mysterious wire with a connector that has been disconnected. Heaven knows what that's for. My next mission under the hood will be to connect the horn wire correctly while leaving the red wire until such a point as I'm sure the horn really works with the steering wheel button. 

Meanwhile I looked at the control console and how the lid won't secure well. It seems very much that it should be possible to install rivnuts and 10-24 machine screws to hold it down properly. While I was at it, I looked at the buzzer and found it had a white wire with black dashes on it. That, according to the circuit diagram led to the back door etc but the wire seemed to go forwards rather than back. That merits further investigation as do the two grey wires that came from the buzzer and also went forward. 

A new Tractor Supply opens locally soon. That will be an easy trip for me to get the aluminium I want for the roof vent - though I have yet to remove the tape to test the roof vent for leaks.

There is now more light in the bedroom!

Today started off quietly with a fairly unhealthy breakfast of donuts and coffee. It is, however, the American way. The only way to be more American would be to eat Cheerios doused in Bud Light while wearing a baseball cap!

It was pretty hot today with a temperature of about 98F so I wasn't too eager to get out to the bus to work, given that the extraction fans are turned off. When they're on, the excessive heat becomes bearable as the air is moving and moving at quite a lick.

Going out, the first thing to be seen was a dragonfly. It's a shame this fine example didn't like me to get too close. 

So, I went to the bus with the intention of sorting out the horn and completing installation of the lighting wiring started yesterday. Again, sweat began to drip off me onto the floor and my arms were covered in a glossy sheen of perspiration. 

Eventually, after about 30 minutes the light was working and working off the same fuse as the other light. Both are BA15 mount bulbs but I switched the halogen bulb for an LED bulb from eBay. I don't think those LED things are very bright at all.

After that I was pretty exhausted with the heat and all the sweating I'd been doing. I had briefly turned the fans on but really needed to have put extra solar panels out to power them. My next task would have been to work on the horn. In order to access the horn I would have had to clear a way to the driver's seat and that was a pretty daunting task, to be honest. I balked on that for today. I had already balked on working on the main brake line.

It began to bucket down with rain. That was accompanied by thunder and lightning and a welcome reduction in the temperature. Going out to the bus after I checked to see if the leaks were still present around the lights and discovered it's not the lights that are leaking now - it's a roof seam. It is, of course, a seam I have not yet worked on. There are definitely two and possibly 3 roof seams as yet untouched. I will have to work on all of them. No point in being half-assed though with these temperatures I'm unlikely to be able to do more than one a day. In the case of the back, one seam is very close to a possible seam so it'd make sense to do both simultaneously. That'll involve another tube of seam sealant or possibly two. I will nail these leaks!

102F today and I went shopping

Today was a shopping day. Aside from needing things for work, I wanted some things for the bus. Oddly enough I could not find all the things I needed. 

One plan is to put 2 inch deep bars over the windows. Looking at the specifications of prisons, it is recommended that bars be 1 inch thick tool steel impervious to cutting and a maximum of 5 inches between the bars. Well, I'm using aluminium because it's lightweight and cheaper. Each window is 24.5 inches from top to bottom, approximately. I had originally planned on 3 bars but that's 6 inches away from 24.5 leaving 18.5 inches of free space. Divide that by 3 and that's a shade over 6 inches between the bars. That's too much! Thus it has to be four bars.

As bars come in 6 and 8 foot lengths locally and a longer length is needed the idea is to cut a diagonal on two sections then to use the Bernzomatic to weld the two pieces together. In order that the molten aluminium does not flow where it's not supposed to, the plan is to cast a mold using fireproof cement. Thereby is the problem. That was easily available in Lowes a few months ago. I saw it when I bought some concrete for a fence post. Now it's not there and the staff deny it ever was. I checked Home Depot as well with the same result. Plaster of Paris would have been an alternate solution but that couldn't be found either.

There was, however, no shortage of 2 inch aluminium. I have already got a short piece. Before going for my bold plan I wanted to cut it and weld it and get it perfect. No cement means that plan is on hold. Doubtless my bank account thanks me!

As the back of the bus is somewhat dark with the two half windows covered over, it was time to install another light. This one took quite a while to get installed that far. It has a switch built in and I'll probably wire it to the same fuse as the light the other side of the aisle. That way they can both be on or both be off. As I have a stack of LED bulbs I put one in though it's a halogen fixture. The only thing not done so far is to connect it to the power . It would probably be a good idea to frost the inside of the lens too.

It was pretty hot inside the bus. It was 102 when I went in there so after working for a while I ran the extraction fans and they made a huge difference. My sweat at one point was running down the bedroom wall as I worked. The wiring behind is not as yet connected. That's a quick job for tomorrow.  Originally the light switch for the other light would have been used to power on both lights but it just made more sense to have a light and switch each side of the door. This one can be reached from the bed.

Once the interior light is fixed I should work on the brake lines. I'm so enthusiastic about going under the bus to work on it that I'll probably fix the horn, remove the cockpit buzzer and all that good stuff instead. 

Hoorah! The window panels are fully rivetted.

It was 96F in the shade. Working in the sun for more than ten minutes in a session was unbearable. Thus it became a case of removing 4 self-drilling screws, drilling the hole out, squirting some seam sealant into and around the hole then popping a rivet in, riveting and then rushing inside after each batch of four.

Yesterday I'd found 14 available rivets so today it was time to have a good hunt on the cockpit floor as I recall tipping a container of rivets on the floor. Well, sharp eyes and hunting through the things piled up on the floor yielded more rivets. I needed 24 and by the end of hunting I had 25. 

Hunting inside the bus there were two packets of rivets and some rivnuts I had totally forgotten about. The big bonus of the day had been finding the short rivets. There were a lot of longer rivets that could have been used in a pinch but I didn't and that was another bonus.

With rivets instead of self-drilling screws the panels are much more secure and cannot be removed by idle no-goods. They also can't accidentally come unscrewed in transit.

There had been a problem with paint from a spray can attacking the finish. Today I pulled out my can of white Rustoleum and sprayed one rivet. That went well with no reticulation so I continued on until the spray can was empty.

Next I pulled out a can of Krylon white paint (also claims to have a primer) and sprayed one rivet. The paint on the rivet is just fine. The paint around the rivet is reticulating. It seems the culprit is the Krylon paint. Clearly it seems to be self-etching. I shall just have to get more Rustoleum and skip the cheaper Krylon. It's probably not worth trying to fix the damaged paint. I'll just wait for time to peel whatever is going to come off, off and respray then and only then.

The next task, I'm not sure about. I really should be thinking about brake lines. At least as far as the differential.

 

Leaks possibly stopped

Today got off to a very strange start. The usual compressor was not available but there was a smaller compressor available. That had refused to work for me before but what the heck, why not try it again and fix it if it doesn't work. Well, that started a morning (and an afternoon).

The compressor was at the back of a shed that for 5 years the doors have been opened, things have been thrown in and the doors closed. Thus it was piled up waist high with all sorts. A lot of absolute trash went into a pickup truck ready to go to the dump. Lots of cardboard boxes that had held tomatoes, some wooden boxes that had held corn were in there too as was torn-up plastic sheeting and an old Harbor Freight 900W generator that somebody had dismantled and not put back together. All went in the back of the pickup for a dump run.

Then the wood that had been lying flat was stacked neatly - aside from one massive sheet that was just too heavy to handle. That got dragged to the house and put down where it would be beneficial as a piece of flooring. This all took til well past midday. Then there was a thunderstorm and a torrential downpour. To cap that off the lights went out too.

When everything had dried after the storm the stepladder made an appearance and I ascended to check out the leaking red top marker lights. As I suspected they weren't screwed down tightly. That was fixed and subsequent observation will tell whether there is still a leak at the back of the bus. With luck there won't be.

The tiny little compressor takes an age to fill. It hadn't been started in years and needed a little fiddling to make it work. When it did work it sputtered but then after resting for a while seemed to pick up and work reasonably well. For the riveter it worked really well. The air drill, however, did not work well. That needed a bigger tank.

The self-drilling screws used to install the panels on the driver's side of the bus were removed, the holes enlarged with a drill bit and a little sealant applied to the holes before the new rivets were installed. 

The mandrel on one rivet decided to snap rather than break off cleanly. That was annoying! In the end that was cleaned up with the angle grinder. The areas where I'd put permanent marker to aid drilling the holes were sprayed with Rustoleum white spray paint. For some unknown reason that decided to reticulate. The paint underneath is Rustoleum white brush-on paint on top of Rustoleum universal primer. I have no idea what that's all about! On the other side, rather than spraying with the now suspect spray paint I shall simply wipe the black marks off with alcohol.

The other side was not completed today as there just aren't enough wide rivets to do it. Initially I couldn't find my short, wide 3/16 rivets. Then I found they'd spilled over the floor in the bus cockpit so it was another task to pick them all up. At the moment I think I have 10 and to complete riveting panels I need 24. Things are mounting up that I need to go to the shops for so I'll add those to the list.

Tomorrow it might be possible to install some rivets, not necessarily all and of course hunting on the floor might find a few more but it's unlikely to be 14 more.

I made enquiries about something to put over the remaining windows. To be honest I have not been greatly impressed with the results. There seems to be a very limited choice of options. To use flat bar stock would involve welding the flat bar stock. I could so that with my Bernzomatic though how strong the weld would be is anybody's guess. If I do that then I'd want to form my welds properly. To do that I think making a mold with fire cement would be the way to go - especially since with just three bars of two inches width per window I will have only three welds to do. Bending the aluminium seems a good idea however it seems even heated to be a difficult materiel to bend accurately.

At this point the remaining essential tasks are:

Brakes/lines

Tyers

Wind shield wiper pivot

Fix the horn

Minor internal electrics

I think I took care of the leak today and I'm heading toward properly securing all the sheet metal.

I also need to:

Clean the windshield of paint

Remove the back door buzzer that sounds constantly

Fix the voltmeter above the microwave

Fix the attachment points for the control panel top.

Add a small fuse box to the control panel for my extra switches - to replace the individual fuses.

Add a second light to the back of the bedroom

Caulk and paint in the bedroom.

Things are definitely getting done and it is all coming together. 

Another outside session and another needed.

It was another 94F day today but it was time to head out and work on the bus. Today the plan was to install the last two metal sheets over windows. The first was the short, 58 inch sheet. The second was the longer 88 inch sheet. The first gave hardly any problems. That went up sweetly and easily, having learned the lessons of yesterday. Once it was up, I pulled it down and pulled out my two ends of tubes of Dynatron caulk. Using the last remaining caulk from once which ended up producing a 12 inch line before it was out, the second was put in the caulk gun only to find that really had come right to the end. Nothing for it but to open the very last tube of caulk (until such a time as I go shopping again). The caulk was applied and the panel screwed back down.

Looking at the end of the panel, it didn't look square with the bodywork so the set square came out and I found that the body isn't quite square. Well, that's no biggie. It's accurate where it matters.

With the smaller panel in place, putting the bigger one in was the next issue. The new one covers three windows not just two. Just drilling the holes was a challenge as there was nowhere to lay the thing flat. It also flipped and flopped about the place lie a Viagra dependent who's been off Viagra for a few months. Eventually though it was marked out and drilled using my giant sawhorses as a stand.

Some have wondered how one person can maneuver such big sheets of metal solo. The answer for the smaller sheets is I have a 150lb magnet from Grainger that I bought a year or two back having seen some YouTube things about magnet fishing. It really came out and showed its worth. Attaching it to the bus body it was possible to rest the far end of the shorter sheets on it while fastening the near end to the bus. 

conncector

With the bigger sheet though I used the magnet on one end, I had the sheet propped up on the stepladder on the other. It wall worked reasonably well though I did get one end of the sheet about 1/4 inch higher than it should have been. It's unlikely anybody will actually notice though.

So at the end of the day both sides have panels screwed into place. All the small panels are also caulked. The big panel need caulk but will get it on the ends but not the middle for purely practical purposes. It's just too difficult to maneuver. 

The next step after testing the lights all still work and that no wires have been damaged putting panels into place will be to rivet the panels. That will require 44 broad head short steel rivets. I think I might have enough.

Inside the bus it was 95F which is hot but pretty much in keeping with outside temperatures. Idly checking outside temperatures with an infrared thermometer, the body that was in the sun was 112F and in the shade it was 86F. The white paint does seem to be working.

At this point, projects remaining to complete....

• Test the roof vent and put a shroud if it leaks.
• Fix the horn
• Rework the right wiper mount
• Complete replacement of brake lines
• Pass a wire from the battery compartment to the central house battery connector.
• Wire solar charging wires from the cockpit to the battery compartment
• A few small very minor electrical fixes

Aside from that I am thinking of an expanded or perforated metal screen over the remaining windows. It would add to security and peace of mind. Another thing is that since the bedroom is now pretty dark, I might add a third bedroom light, wired in with the one over the closet area. Needless to say I still need to caulk around the plywood patch installed. That patch hasn't gone wonderfully flat but it'll do - nobody will see it but I will caulk in order to dissuade critters.

Half the job outside

The plan had been to do more, including the work that needed doing inside but the heat was horrible. It was 94F in the shade and you can bet it was worse working in full sun. In fact several times during today's activities it was necessary to take a break and get into some air conditioning to cool down.  

The first activity involved one of my two shorter sheets of metal. This had the middle holes and right hand end holes drilled. The left hand holes were left alone because another sheet of metal would be sitting on top of that end and it would thus be easier to drill the holes all in one go.

The first sheet went on requiring a break after drilling the two lines of holes because that was done in full sun. Putting the sheet on was done in shade. That was easier but it was still necessary to take a break after. 

For those that don't understand working in the heat, it's important to take a break as soon as one gets a slight bit of muddle-headedness, exhaustion or tiredness. Heat stroke and death are not too far away in the heat.

Having temporarily installed the first sheet it was time to drill and install the second. Again, breaks were plentiful. It's only two sheels of metal and 16 screws. "It's only" is what kills though. The battery from my Harbor Freight battery drill did not seem to last too long. It could be that battery is the old one from my first Harbor Freight battery drill. That drill, if you remember worked right up until the clutch gave out.

Eventually, after a couple more cool down sessions, the second panel was temporarily installed. Once that was all done and the fit checked, it was time to take it all off again. 

Straight after taking it off I went around the last three pillars with Dynatron caulk. Then I put the sheets of metal back again and screwed them down. Putting them back up was a shade easier than the first time because the caulk held them more in place. Even so, when the second piece was out of place and held by caulk it was a fight to get it back into place.

Tomorrow there might be time to do the other side. Having worked out a technique for this side, the other might be easier although one of the sheets of metal is a third longer than the longest used today. That will require a mildly different technique but shouldn't be too hard. By the way, as with everything, I'm doing this all solo.

Inside the bus with the windows sheeted over and the blinds removed, the view looks really dark.  I might add an LED light connected to my solar panels so that when the panels are producing power, the light is on. That would provide a natural wake-up light. I'll have to think on that one.

With the new wood panel in place, there's no chance of my rolling over in bed and putting my foot, knee or elbow through the glass. It's currently fastened with a single screw and some glue at each end but I'll put the other screw when I find it and some caulk then touch up the paint and of course remove the blind attachments that I nearly impaled my head on last time.

The next task will likely be the metal sheeting over the windows on the other side of the bus. With all that lot in place there's plenty real estate outside for text or graphics if I so wished to put them. With all that white painted metal there should be a ton less to absorb heat. It should also be quieter in the rain.

One thing was surprising about today and that was the metal put on on just one side needed an entire tube of caulk. I have one tube and two possible little bits of two other tubes of caulk left. It might be advantageous to get more. With the cladding out of the way there's the bars or whatever to go over the windows that will be remaining, the brake lines and the underbus wiring left to do. That should be the end of the major tasks.

Redoing the wiper mount, fixing the horn and a few bits of internal electrics don't sound like a huge deal. They might not be or they could turn into multi-day ordeals.