October 5th
2003
I didn't get a lot of sleep last night. I had the cold sweats
and couldn't get comfortable. Usually that means that I am
fighting off a cold or something. When I was smoking cigarettes I
would get really sick and be down and out for a week or so. These
days, the cold sweat is about as bad as I get. I'll take some
multi-vitamins and get to bed a bit earlier than usual tonight.
That should kick whatever it is...
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I finished up the framing for the closet at the end of the
hall. I will add the door framing after I have put the
plywood sheeting on the sides.
Since there is not enough room in the bus for me to take a
picture of the entire wall, I combined a couple of images
together to make this one.
I was going to incorporate the bed supports into the wall,
but decided that we may decide to change the back bedroom layout
at some point in the future and would rather not have to patch
the plywood sheeting on the wall if we decide to remove one or
both of the beds.
All of the framing for the cabinet and closet doors and the
6" deep wall cabinet that runs the length of the hallway
will be from 1"x2" pine boards. At this point
there isn't any more 2"x2" wall framing left to
do. That's a nice thought...
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When we took the rear seat out of the bus, the engine access
cover was just laying over the access hole and
unsecured.
Since I will most likely be insulating and paneling the back
seat area of the bus soon, I put in 4 new bolts that hold the
cover firmly in place and make a pretty good seal. I am
beginning to think that the loose access cover might be the
source of most of the black dust that was all over the inside of
the bus. The thickest black dust was found under the back
seats.
There is going to be a small table between the two
beds. I will hinge it so that you can fairly easily gain
access to the cover for engine work.
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The plywood sheeting for the closet that will form the wall at
the end of the side hallway will have to wait until I have the
funds to buy more 1/4" plywood sheets. We might be
able to patch it together with some of the scraps, but the panel
will be clearly visible, so I want it not to have any seams.
Erika is still working hard on her wall drawings.
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I didn't get a lot done today... My energy level is pretty
low. I don't want to push myself again until I am feeling better.
My friend Alan stopped by to check out our progress. He gave us
some good information about solar power and different options we have to
provide charging for the house batteries until we can afford to buy our
solar panels.
It's nice to have someone that does not see the bus on a daily basis
come in and see all of the changes that have taken place. I tend
to forget how much work has gone into the bus. It seems sometimes
like nothing has really changed, but hearing someone else point out the
new work that has transformed the bus in some perceptible way reminds me
that we are moving quite swiftly toward a finished conversion.
I am a little intimidated by the electrical and plumbing. I've
never had to build the whole system from scratch before. I've
replaced and re-routed electrical circuits and added new plumbing
before, but I have never dealt with an electrical system that has both
DC and AC circuits or a plumbing system that can make use of both a hose
connection with pressure and a pump and tank.
I'm not sure if the water pump acts as a one way valve or if I have
to put in something to prevent the water from back-filling the fresh
water tank. The trailer we took the water tank and plumbing from
had been modified to only make use of a hose connection that came in
from under the trailer. The original hose connection next to the
fresh water fill line was not connected to anything on the inside.
It looked to me like someone had removed part of the system and bypassed
the fresh water tank entirely...
I need to get some good sleep tonight and take a closer look at the
plumbing on the trailer again tomorrow. I'll do some testing once
I have the supply lines routed on the bus and see what the water pump
can do. I also need to test all of the gas appliances to make sure
that they will work safely. Sheesh, there's still a lot to do and
the weather is not going to cooperate with us for much longer...
We may need the gas heater hooked up ahead of schedule if the
temperature keeps dropping. |
