Follow Our Progress
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November 14th
2003
I'm not feeling all that well this evening. I believe that I
caught Emily's cold... My head is all stuffed up and my sinuses
are aching pretty bad. I managed to get a little work done on the
bus today even though I took it pretty easy for the most part.
Becky did some grocery shopping and kept Emily hostage for the majority
of the day, so I was alone for the first few hours.
The water system held up OK overnight. There were a few drips
here and there along with a surprise. I forgot to glue one of the
elbows for the shower lines, so when I went to investigate a small
puddle in the area, I got more than I bargained for and ended up pretty
soaked with water before I was able to shove the pipes back together and
shut off the water. I drained the lines, dried everything off for
the most part and glued the joint together.
I built a nice big fire to help dry off and warm myself up a bit.
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While I was warming up and drying out I ran the electrical supply cord for the bus
through the floor. For the past month or so it has been
hanging out the window and forcing us to leave the window
cracked open.
I disconnected the cord from the breaker box and ran it up
through a hole I drilled in the floor. At some point I
will build a box under the bus to store the cord when traveling.
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The second job was to cut a hole for the water supply line...
I cut out a hole for the water supply door, but then realized
that it was lower than the fill tube for the fresh water tank,
so I had to move the hole above the floor level.
I'll have to put an access door or something where I cut the
first hole now. I guess the cold is getting to me since I
didn't think it through all the way before cutting the first
hole...
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Becky helped get the plumbing routed from the new
access door to the opposite side of the bus where the main line
comes into the plumbing system.
I spent about a half hour under the bus cutting, gluing and
securing the plumbing. Becky kept me supplied with parts
and tools and laughed at my stupid movie impersonations
<grin>. I think it was the fumes from the pipe
cement...
I have not hooked up the fresh water tank or pump at this
point. I will be patching that part of the system in
before our first trip. At this point I am not sure how to
mount the fresh water tank under the bus so that it will have
adequate support... |
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I cleaned all of the lines to the batteries. They were
pretty thickly covered with some white crust. I used a
small metal brush and wiped everything down with a rag when I
was done.
I'll need to get some of that dielectric grease or whatever
it is that they use to protect the terminals of the batteries.
This picture is mostly for my friend Alan who gave me some
grief about not cleaning the battery terminals up a long time
ago <grin>. Here you go Alan. I finally broke
down and cleaned them all up - see how shiny they are?
<laughing>
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I hooked up the gas to the water heater. It did a fine job
of heating the water, but the pressure relief valve leaked
horribly once the water was hot.
I turned down the temperature a bit and fiddled with the
relief valve until it stopped dripping. I think I managed
to get it to seal again, but I'll have to crank up the
temperature again and check it again.
I didn't trust the hot water heater enough to leave it lit
overnight. I shut off the gas to the water heater until I
can monitor it for a full day. I think that there may be a
problem with the main gas valve. As you can see there is
still some gas coming out and burning even though the water is
up to temperature. The pilot is actually located just
inside the burner tube out of view. I don't think the main
burner is supposed to stay lit like it is in the photo - it
seems like a waste of gas to me... I'll have to research
it a bit to make sure, but if it is faulty, we will replace the
entire water heater.
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The water system is all sealed up now. I ran a temporary drain
from the bathtub to the underside of the bus so we can now wash our
hands at least. I didn't have the energy to try to tackle the gray
water tank today, so it will have to wait until I am feeling a bit
better.
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