Summer Fun

There are times to work, there are times to play. Having a balance between them is often eveyones' biggest challenge in life. Mine?....not so much....I like to play.....and I like my work. So its easy to do both.

My nephew came out for a visit, spending the week with his cousins and working in the workshop creating cool things with scrap materials. I love to see the ingenuity and drive!

He is also accompanying me to Guatemala next spring to provide dental help to under privileged people in unserviced areas. He's been patient, he was supposed to go a year and a half ago....but my back saga threw a wrench into travel plans for a while.

Although there is some non Fillmore activity, work continues, albeit slowly.
The house battery bank is finally in place. four 6V deep cycle batteries. One  pair to run in in series and then partnered with a second pair and run in parallel.

Each 6V battery is 220Ahr, so each pair is 12V 220Ahr and then when we run the two pairs in parallel we get 12V 440 Ahr.

Sometimes my intentions for progress are out ranked by my other hobby, last weekend I had to cut Fillmore short to perform in High River central park bandstand on a beautiful warm and sunny day!
I can accept that!!

Finally a fit!

Some of the content here has been talked about before so some of you may have a vague feeling of deja vu. Just before I left for our annual pilgrimage to Manitoba I spent some time getting the supports ready for the battery box....that would be the battery box that I had fabricated 1/2" to long and had to have them cut the end off and modify it....but that's another story.

The flashback topic is water tank fittings. Some of them I talked about last year when I sourced them out at a hardware store in Onanole Manitoba, but this time I am referring to them a I install them and a few others.

Some of the fittings for the outdoor shower were tricky to plan and assemble....but in hindsight that was more to do with my inexperience. I knew what I wanted, knew kind of where to get them, but like most things it took me a while to get all the pieces and put them all together.

The small white fittings above turned out to be the bane of my existence. All I needed was a fitting. Specifically I needed to have new fittings installed in the uppermost aspect of the water tanks. This would allow the movement of air both in and out of the tank as the tank fills and empties. Nothing special just a little 3/8" FPT. But I didn't find exactly what I wanted in the Greggs catalog, nor at Home depot or Rona. So I eventually turned to the local RV service shop. They strung me along for a while, it was a small job where they would make little and they are busy, being mid summer. Finally I did what I usually do and look at it from a slightly different angle. What is involved in doing it. I am embarrassed how easy it was. Like most things, we sometimes make things way to complicated. Drill, Fit, Epoxy...done

Sometimes I forget he is 12. While I wrestled with water tanks Jeff has graduated into taking charge of his projects as opposed to helping me with his projects. I look out of the windows in Fillmore to see sparks flying. Here is Jeff fabricating new mounts for ATV tires to be mounted to bearing sets and the tire rim.....essentially fabricating a wheel bearing hub!

MacGyver

When I was in high school there was a TV show on that I used to love called "MacGyver". Basically an action hero who got himself out of tight situations by creating things out of nothing....you know a helicopter made from shoe stings a package of sugar and a can of pinto beans. Granted, i will admit that in reality it was a stretch....who needs pinto beans to make a helicopter?
Seriously, the reason I loved it was the creativity. The thought of creating beautiful and functional "things" really tickled my fancy.

So when I see someone at work doing just that, it makes me envious. I want to learn, I wish I had the time and the means to just indulge my creative side to the degree that I would. Although I suppose in reflection that may not be the healthiest of choices.....I tend to go over the top on stuff....you know to the extreme, I mean I could have decided to restore a car....like a VW beetle.

Anyway, back to point. When I got these photos from George my thought was "damn! I wish I was there to do that!" You can see the test fit on his donor Clipper, and then the ever creative packing up of the precious cargo.

For those in Canada you will understand, shipping to Canada from the states can be a huge headache. It's not uncommon for you to find something you need, order it online for a reasonable amount with free shipping to the continental USA!....oh wait you want to ship to Canada????.....ohhh the shipping to there is.....hmmmm....double the value of the item itself!

But there is hope! Many years ago some entrepreneur that rand the hardware store (Mike) in Pembina ND found a little niche and created the Pembina Parcel pick up over 20 years ago. Now most of the bordering states have shipping/receiving depots. So I am having the ladder and rails shipped to The Montana Shipping Outlet and when it arrives we'll go on a road trip!!

Create and fabricate

The last few weeks have been on holiday shut down from a Fillmore standpoint, but work continues.Plans have been set in motion over a year ago I would say on a personal modification to Fillmore. Personal in the sense that it is something that I see in my minds eye, my vision if you will, of the finished Fillmore. I know for some out there in the Flx world what I am about to say will be blasphemy, but it is my vision. I had seen them on the old split window westfalia vans.

Yes the roof top carrier. There are a few reasons, first and foremost I love the look, second and more practical....there isn't a lot of storage apace in a Clipper, and with teenagers and bikes and such....we need all we can get. So while there has been progress on Fillmore at home, there has also been progress for Fillmore abroad. A well known fabricator and wiz bang problem solver in the Flxible community is a Gent by the name of George in Texas, with Track master fabricators. George, for many years, has been kind enough to help me out and give me advice and guidance with Fillmore.  I looked high and low for a local company to help me out with the fabrication of the roof top platform and the ladder and rails but when push came to shove there wasn't anyone that I felt comfortable with, someone I could trust to care as much as I do.
So once again I reached out to George and he took up the challenge. A natural fit really George has a flxible of his own "the zephyr" so he knows his way around these puppies.

Finding parts and fabricating others was our first challenge

George and his crew performed magic in the welding of the SS tube rails

This is what it looks like, the decking material will be on my end

Meanwhile I have been getting some local help with the fabrication of the SS battery box

Of course, there is going to be some need for some specail tools to install said roof top platform...