Measure 7 times, cut once

It's arts and crafts time in the Fillmore shelter. As we plan the interior pieces are starting to be put into  place. The wall panels are to be going up, but first the toilet must be installed. Which means it's time to do the unspeakable.
Put a hole in the wall.....

There really isn't much guess work here, the system came with pre printed templates and written instructions. Normally I would have a feeling of distain for "instructions " but I'll tell you I was glad to have a spelled out game plan. First it was time to cut and paste, good ol' kindergarten skills.

On the inside the legwork had been done years ago when I rebuilt the walls. The area for the toilet was already determined and prepped. All I needed to do was remove the insulation.

The outside was a different story. I had to ensure the spot available for the access door was lined up with the toilet location on the inside. It was, but I took nothing for granted and taped and measured, again and again.

Some might think that this is overkill but I was taking no chances.Measure, measure, tape, re measure...

And then do the deed.

Placement of the door was simple enough, trim the wall piece that I cut out and install in the door itself.

Mounting to the body was a bit of a challenge as the door is designed for the modern cube RV design, not necessarily the curved frame of the Flxible.

But we managed and in the end we have a functional door with a lock and seal.

Inside out......

It's time to start on the inside. I have been planning and accumulating "stuff" for the interior...sink, cooktop, furnace, couch, chairs, water pump...you get the idea. It's been kind of like buying pieces of leggo with the intent of building a specific object but not REALLY knowing how your going to fit all the pieces together. Now that the mechanical is done, paint and body is done, it's time to get going on the inside. Once again we start from the bottom and work our way up.

Not to imply that I'm a control freak but when the A?C was installed we put in a  mid coach heater core to use heat from the engine while we are running down the highway. They placed it where I wanted and left me ample extra hose to allow me the flxibility to reposition it to where I want. But what I wasn't fired up about was how the hoses were run underneath the bus. It would never make a functional difference or even an aesthetic difference but I knew they hung down and I knew they were low hanging fruit to fix right now while the floor was up. So I disconnected the electrical and coolant hoses and re-routed the hoses.

As I mentioned in a previous post, my water tanks required some creative ( but ultimately simple) solution. I must say since I have started the Fillmore project I have not been doing much woodworking anymore. It was great to be outside and creating some sawdust.

First job of the day, create fresh water tank covers...check!

Now on to job #2....create a battery box space. Time to put on the thinking cap...

Mornings, best time of the day.

I love mornings. The air is crisp, the birds are singing, the coffee is hot, and the world is quiet. It's a time where I can sit and think and frankly feel at peace.

On today's agenda was water. I used my quiet time of contemplation to think about how I wanted to handle the fresh water tanks. The original plan was that I would have two tanks that fit entirely below floor level, one on either side of the isle. But..... necessity required change. The space where I was hoping to place the furnace was going to be too tight, and it was needed for the engine driven A/C. So the furnace moved to the secondary water tank spot, which left me with one tank(77 Litres). I was hoping to be able to carry more fresh water than that, so my options included getting a slightly bigger tank for the given space (up to 100 L) or I could fit both tanks on their sides in the same space. The positive? I move to 144 L. The negative, the tanks would protrude up above the floor by 2" requiring me to cut and modify the floor and the tank fittings.

Not being one to shy away from change.....

I cut the floor

I will install the tanks and then build a cover over them that will ultimately be under a cabinet, and we'll never see it.

The changing of the tank orientation will require some creative fitting creations, but I love the hardware store anyway!

After a morning of playing in the bus it was time to stretch our legs and take the dogs out for a spin. After a little while our little dog "Nacho" was acting funny, kind of skiddish and little growls. A quick glance over our shoulder saw that we were being followed.....by a juvenile deer. We would walk, it would follow. We would stop, it would stop. It followed us for a hundred yards or so until a car came and scared it away!

I'm Winston Wolf...

OK perhaps a little gratuitous pop culture reference from my genera, but sometimes I feel like the whole Fillmore process, event, life choice....whatever you want to call it, has always left me feeling like I'm reactive rather than being proactive. Just like Harvey Cartel in Pulp Fiction, I feel that more often than not I can start a blog posting with:

  "I solve problems".

Of course some times we cause the problems and we play clean up as part of the daily routine.

Some messes are an inevitable  product of our life style.  I was campaigning to Michelle that if you never turn off the overhead fan then you'll never see the dust bunnies clinging to the edge of the blades.

Some messes are worth the trouble, like when my kids cook dinner, and all I have to do is supervise with a glass of red.....and then play clean up and do the dishes.

The messes that really irk me are the messes that I created but could have been prevented. Now they are going to consume time that I otherwise wanted/needed for other jobs. Take my decision to leave the protective paper on the sunroof/hatch. The thought was that I would protect the acrylic  during all the work being done on Fillmore.

Little did I know that this stuff doesn't come off easily, especially when it's had it's day(year) or two in the sun....baking the adhesive down to a hard pre-Cambrian amber.

Other messes are products of stupidity. While taking Fillmore out for a spin (picking up Jeff at a buddies place) I decided that I should re connect the wires to the gauges. I could have waited and grabbed the wiring diagram.....but NO! I'm too smart for that! I can remember which wire goes where!

Dumb Ass.

I connected the wrong wire to the oil pressure gauge and fried it.....now I have to play clean up and solve that self made issue.

Here is a pic of me fixing another self made issue. The ceiling panels have pot lights in the bathroom and rear bedroom. But the bathroom fan has to be located in a particular spot(due to an older furnace vent out the top of the bus) A tiny bit more forward thinking on my part before the pot light holes were cut, before the panels were installed would have allowed me to realize I had an overlap of 3/8" between the light fixture and the plastic fan trim. Nothing I couldn't MacGyver my way through but again that's a whack of time sitting and staring at the problem with a pot of coffee.

I would take turns working on or in Fillmore and scraping the window, with a good old Canadian automotive staple.....the ice scraper. Soak in the tub.....scape scape scape.....soak in the tub.....scape scape scape......the finish was a challenge. You can use acetone, varsol, brake cleaner, engine bright, or just about any other adhesive remover on acrylic. BUT! thanks to Michelle, Orange solvent cleaner works magic. Well magic and so much elbow grease that the cloth actually gets hot to the touch from friction.

The day was a hot one, and after getting the hatch cleaned, clear and installed, it was time for a little river magic. Cool water, cool drinks, and the beautiful ladies in my life......Life is Good.

Couldn't see the forest for the trees

 How many times do I say to my kids, break down the problem into manageable pieces. Problem solve one small step at a time. Use the process of logical elimination.
Apparently I didn't get the memo about practice what you preach. Allow me to explain...

 Last week, Saturday to be exact, I had a few hours in the afternoon to play with Fillmore. Michelle and Anna were in the city, Jeff was busy walking the razors edge of fun vs a trip to the hospital and I was going to work on the water tanks and water pump set up. I hopped in the bus and fired him up. Right away my spidey senses were tingling. The air pressure gauge has an alarm on it for when the PSI gets below 80. Being that it had sat for a number of days, pressure was low and the alarm should be as annoying as a mosquito in the middle of the night. But there was no annoying alarm, as I disengaged the air brakes and pulled into the driveway to be in the sunshine I realized there was no readings on any of my gauges. Before I could think my way through the possible ramifications, I shut it down. And he was not to start again....

Making the assumption that this was a simple connection issue. I took the dash apart to ensure all was where it should be. It was....kind of. The ignition cylinder was loose. Simply the retention nut needed to be snugged up. The issue had been that Fillmore had been out of my hands, and the guys doing the work had simply kept turning the cylinder and the whole thing was all twisted up like a piece of Twizzlers licorice. Unfortunately unwinding the mess of wires didn't help. The dash was still dead. No power at all, and I had run out of time. Jeff had to tow Fillmore back into the shelter with our Quad.

Monday brought a very unique opportunity for me. Jeff's class was going on a back country camp out, and I was able to plan ahead and volunteer.

Words seem thin and pale when trying to describe the rich and robust beauty of what is essentially our back yard. A fantastic hike with a group of highly independent and capable 12 year olds. They packed in their own equipment, cooked their own meals, and I can't recall one kid winging about anything. There was time for hikes, and naps in the sun....and maybe some time for quiet contemplation about what the HE## was the issue with Fillmore's electrical.












Tuesday afternoon brought us home and afforded me a few hours to chase the ghost. I tore everything apart checking fuses, checking relays, checking connections.




Chris and I had developed an extensive list of the fuse labels, and I checked everything that mentioned "key on circuit" or "ignition"
Our list is extensive but sometimes the obvious is too hard to see. I was pouring over the wiring diagrams one more time before I gave up and just started pouring an ounce of frustration relief.












Then I saw some of the Egyptian Hieroglyphics that Chris passes off as handwriting(you'd swear he was a physician) that said
"Ignition Fuse F7-A"
And I thought to myself, F7-A?....I have checked every fuse that says ignition and I don't remember F7-A. Going back to the list.....item 3....."Supply to- instrument control/IGN/start control"

Seriously?

Somedays are better than others

Every day can't be a perfect day. Athletes have good games and bad. Singers have days when they are in the magical zone and others when every single note is hard work. With Fillmore it is the same. Some days are easy and full of progress, and others seem to be like running in molasses.

Here Fillmore patiently awaits his turn at the A/C place-Polar Mobility. They did a great job, but even great jobs need to be tweaked. And so.....I wait

And while I wait, I "play" as Michelle calls it....or as I like to consider it I engage in product familiarization.

And planning.....yes that is scotch.

Finally after what seems like forever, Fillmore is back home. After the trip to Polar he went to Old Fluid Power (Hydraulics) to help me once and for all(god help me for saying that) get the issues with the cooling system figured. On the trip home he ran nicely about 180, then when put to work on the hills it popped up to 205ish.


Now I was ecstatic to get back at Fillmore after what seemed like such a long hiatus.....Michelle didn't seem to be quite as enthused as I was when I asked her to come out and have some input about furnace duct position planning.















But she patiently sat and if not enthusiastically then definitively gave her opinions.

Small progress but the forward and aft main lines for the furnace are through the floor. As cabinetry gets built the lines will be spit and re directed.

Tease

What thing do a scarey movie , or a roller coaster, a treasure hunt, or even a blind date all have in common?.............The thrill of anticipation.

Maybe I'll just leave it at that...

The light of my life

I get it.
Or perhaps I should say I get it now. Actually to be honest this isn't the first time I've had moments of clarity on the subject, it's been happening now for over 14 years. Every now and again it moves me to pick up the phone and call my mom and say "Ya, hi mom, it's Blake....I get it.....thanks for that(or sorry about that)". So what is it that I get? Just being a parent. Understanding the highs and lows the hopes and dreams for a good,healthy and happy life for your children. As kids, teenagers, and even young adults you don't get it. You can't possibly get it. But when you have children of your own, if your lucky enough to still do it, you call up your parents and say "thanks, and I love you".

For what ever reason, this moment right here did it for me. I asked my son to help me for a moment in the workshop. We were ripping some acrylic panels for the centre light fixture in Fillmore. We both dawned our protective eye wear (I'm a little anal about that now) and ripped two different panels into strips to be tested inside Fillmore. As we walked up the hill from the shop, I turned and looked at Jeff and was flooded with a mixture of emotions. From pride to anxiety about him growing up to fast and our time being limited.

After I managed to pull myself together, we carried on. Slipping a series of both types of acrylic into the lights it was field test time. Both lenses had positives, both had negatives.

In the end I think we will go with the slightly more opaque lens to soften the light at night.

Reinventing the wheel

I sometimes wonder about people, and by people I often mean me....but it's less self deprecating to talk in the third person....but alas I digress. I wonder because often we see people who engineer their own demise. The scenario can range from someone using negative self talk and imagery before a competitive situation (usually sport) right up to the more serious poor life choices which set someone on the road to ruin. Now my following post definitely doesn't get into the same category of ruin but sometimes I wonder if I am making choice that purposefully slow down the rate of progress or if I am just taking my time and doing things the way my heart wants them.











Take for example the furnace.....
Last year Randy and I mounted the furnace in it's little cubby hole. I then removed it when Fillmore went to paint. That then gave me time to think.....(never a good thing)... and I decided that our mounting system could be improved upon for ease of access.
So, it was time to start fabricating new brackets and supports.

A coat or two of my favourite rust inhibiting paint (POR-15)

This is just the test fit, the system allows me to shift the furnace forward or back a few inches in each direction to idealize the final position. It also allows easy access from the bottom for servicing. Once the floors in place, access from the top is not easily obtained.Thus you can appreciate my question to myself, am I just reinventing the wheel here?

All the while life goes on.

The weekend also included some automotive classes.

Some on the road...                                                                         And some in the garage...
(yes in Alberta you can get your learners licence at 14)

And while my genetic pit crew swapped out the winter tires for the summer slicks, I stayed close to all the action while doing some storage bay prep work.