Day 10009

Hey all! Progress has been slow over the past two weeks; probably because I've finished most of the "easy" interior projects, am hesitant to start one of the bigger projects like electrical or water, and haven't had a chance to acquire much to move forward.

What I have done is finished trimming up the shelves; adding a lip of pine makes them look much better, and they should hold items better when the bus is driven somewhere.

I've only hit my head on this shelf four times. Learning has occurred? I think? I don't remember. What?

Something that seemed like an easy afternoon task was removing the double doors. I had pulled the driver's latch off the dash a few days prior. The doors came off without too much effort; I had to open a sheetmetal panel above the doors inside to disconnect the piece that connects the door hinges. The hardest part was removing the back-side door-hinge from the sheetmetal of the cabin. I imagine that the RTV that holds this steel hinge on has a higher tensile breaking strength than the bolts that held it in. After chiseling away at the RTV for nearly an hour, I was able to pry the hinge off the cabin. I imagine I will repurpose this piece to hold a folding table on the bus's exterior.

The start of a traditional door.

On Day 10007 I met up with Iain and Darcy, who bestowed upon me a trusty futon mattress and frame, free of charge. Thanks Iain and Darcy! At about 54" wide, I still have enough room to walk by my Ikea friend/piece-of-furniture Hemnes, who identifies as a dresser, with the futon folded down. To make it fit over the wheel wells, the frame needed to be elevated about six inches. I also wanted to retain the ability to fold the futon down, so that one man and one dog, one man, one dog and one duck, one cat, or whatever combination could share the bed comfortably.

My product tester informs me it is adequate for his purposes. I sat and pondered how I was going to do this for a while, reminding myself that it wasn't the space shuttle. I built little 2x4 frames to lift the frame over the wheel-well...

... then to hide the 2x4's I repurposed the weathered scrap stakebed sides of my old F350 (my old old one, not my new old one.) This whole bus-building endeavor has allowed me to put to use a lot of unused things, and clear out the barn a bit. And use the Sawzall a lot.

The mattress cover and pillow came from my mom's stash.

In the grand scheme of things, I'm reconsidering the compositing toilet being on the inside. I think I'll just build a nice outhouse as one of my first projects, once I have land. I feel like the interior is all set, as fas as furniture goes. 

On my to-do list is the woodstove, which needs a stone floor, a heat shield, and a chimney. The water tanks need to be mounted and plumbed, and I need to figure out a water pump. The inverter panel needs to be created and installed, and to get that done I need the four Trojan T-105 golf-cart batteries for my battery bank. I think Electrical is the direction to go next.

I want to paint the exterior.

On the F350 I need to install a gooseneck hitch and get a trailer, so I can move the backhoe. I got a B&W turnoverball hitch, which mounts to the truck frame, but it's going to be a project to get that installed.

The backhoe is leaking like a sieve at the backhoe valve control. I really need to take that apart again, and either repack it or get the spools cleaned up, which is a "whole weekend" project. If I'm going to do that I might as well get a pressure washer so I can clean it again. 

Good thing I like these projects!