Wednesday, April 20, 2022

Things you don't want to see

 Youre parents being intimate, your brother naked, a good steak burn.....all things that you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy. So society does what it can to limit you from seeing stuff that is preventable.
 
    For some time I have been 'contemplating' our options for window coverings in the bus. Everything from rollershades to aluminum louvers.
The roller shade although simple and the most economical......really ended up being unsightly and unreliable.

The short term fix, although effective....was a pain....unsightly.....and messy.
I included this pic because it made me chuckle. I finally found hardware from a display system from Nova Display Systems. After buying a small prototype I brought Michelle out to the bus to get her opinion. She was having trouble visualizing what the curtains would look like, or specifically how they would 'hang'. So I grabbed material that was close at hand and some clamps and 'viola'!!
-she wasn't as impressed, nor did she appreciate the humor.
I installed all the curtain rods.....with only minor modifications(something I don't often say when working on Fillmore) now we just have to decide on color, cut, and material for the curtains!

Now the curtains are to block people from seeing into the bus and seeing things that you dont want to see.....think of me in my undies.....
The other thing you really dont want to see is this. The buses water heater/furnace, a Webasto Dual Top 
After a trip last summer I kept getting fault codes that didnt make sense. Things would start up but then shut down saying it lost connection with the fuel pump. After trying to reset the unit and various other repair techniques....which include sitting inside the bus drinking a very nice single malt scotch while asking the bus questions as if I really believed it would tell me what the issue was. 
After pulling everything apart, checking sensors and wiring integrity, I was stumped. Until I looked at the motherboard.......water damage! A design flaw in the unit if you asked me having the electronics below the water supply inlet and hot water outlet......but no one asked me....I guess I was busy during the  R&D portion of product development.
After ordering a new blower motor (with motherboard)I decided that I was going to build a bench stand so I could properly bench test this unit to ensure there are no leaks. Truth be told the source of the leak was my fault but why do we need to point fingers? Cant we just learn from our mistakes and move on??


After a lot of finicky adjustments which involved putting things together only to take them apart again....numerous times....it came to life. It sounds really loud in the video but once mounted undercarriage it actually is very manageable.






Oh No! Not again!!

You may remember this time last year I found a  wee problem I had been checking things out and found a significant break in my flywheel hous...