A little chilly

 So last year in August as we were coming back from a camping trip in Jasper, and it started to snow. I cranked the heat, and although it was warm in the back, the air from the front of the bus was "tepid" at best. I had planned for the additional run of the coolant all the way to the front from the rear position engine by putting in a 'lift' pump or a coolant circulation pump....but something was amiss.
I made a mental note to look into it.

 So you shouldn't be surprised when I tell you it took me close to 10 months to remember the issue, specifically after a trip to Manitoba where we foolishly drove through the night and it was a little cool at times.

 The first order of business was to see if it was a simple electrical problem. Was it as easy as a connector popped off?...no such luck. Was it a fuse?....well I'll be damned the fuse had fried! So I replaced the fuse but still a no go when I flipped the switch to the pump. So I thought I would test the power to the pump. Positive was strong. Ground.....was giving me a positive power supply through the ground wire. Oh oh......

 Traced it back to the pump itself. Power going in on +ve AND coming out on -ve. It could only mean one thing.....

 I had a hunch which was all but confirmed as soon as I undid the mounting bolts for the motor casing. It was a terrible burnt smell

 And I was right....she was completely fried, melted, toast! Done like dinner!

 The internet being the wonderful thing that it is I found a school bus parts supplier on line that could ship me what I wanted for only slightly more than I would pay in Calgary, and they would deliver it right to my pretty little hands in two days. Faster than I could get there on my next day off!

Pulling the old pump out I could use the same mounting platform I had fabricated for the other pump, but I needed to drill new bolt holes and as such get new vibration dampening mounting feet...aka chunks of rubber

A quick flip of the pump head to the correct desired orientation and we are almost in business.....almost....

Summer Fun

It was July long weekend and there was some fun to be had. Some of it was in Fillmore. Earlier in May we went to a friends ranch where he hosted some qualifying races for OTTA. This weekend was a second race in the same category. We packed up a couple families(lots of kids) and headed out for the day

It was a beautiful day full of sunshine and laughs.

At the end of the trip, the mom from one of the families said "Thank you for doing this!", but really I should be thanking her. From the start of Fillmores journey, this is what I had always hoped we could do, grab some friends ,some food, some music and hit the road!

So far the summer hasn't seemed like summer, cool weather and lots of rain, so I was happy when Canada Day was here we finally got a wee taste of summer time...and some of us squeezed every drop out of it that they could!

Meanwhile back in the shop, I am experimenting. This is very early days but I am still toying with window coverings. I mean  I know what I would love to get(order) but at more than $200 each(custom width)....and I need 12 of them?.....That's not going to work. I feel like I can fabricate a more creative solution.

After a dive down the Utube rabbit hole, where I started looking at a recipe video for fried chicken and 45 min later found myself tearing up to a documentary of three legged cats singing opera on the streets of Prague  to make ends meet, I did find an interesting band of videos about bending PVC pipe

So, I'm trying to alter an existing car blind to a larger scale and fabricate a new casing....

We will have to see how this goes....I suspect this will be a long trial and error process.

Some of us in the house, although very supportive of morning coffee on the deck, seem to be less engaged in the dilemma of roller shade fabrication when I bring it up......"kids these days!"

On the list...

As I get older I am amazed at how I compartmentalize things. I am able to take an issue that needs my attention, decide it's importance and then file it into a list of "Do now" "Do Next" and "Do Later". It all sound s fine and dandy, but my issue is that often I can't remember where I put the lists! As such, like with most builds, the smallest jobs take the longest time because they have the seemingly lowest priority. But this past while I have been cleaning up the to do list,

Getting down and putting the doors on small storage spots

Attaching trim and door hardware...

Creating soft stops for cabinets.                                                    and finally getting things finished.

All this interspersed with getting my man cub ready for the trip of a lifetime. Like his sister that took summer school with MEI Academy Jeff is doing the same. Unlike his sister that went to Tanzania, Jeff is on a business tour hitting cities like New York, London, Paris, Hong Kong and Beijing. I am excited for him!






















In between the drama of getting him ready, I continue to plod forward and FINALLY get to reinstalling a tow hitch and associated electrical. First I had to gain access to the rear mounting platform.

Then I realized I didn't have enough vertical space for the drill so I had to put Fillmore up on blocks!

Finally I started the arduous task of drilling 4 simple holes through 1/2" steel. Thankfully the bit broke on the very last hole, and I had a back up!

Shout out to my good man Harold, who years ago came and stayed with me for a few days and laid hands on Fillmore. As I lay underneath Fillmore taking a break from drilling I looked up through the engine to the inner surface of the air chute. Little did I know he left me a little nod to his contribution. In my mind he was donning his coveralls a year or two ago....but 7 years go by fast.

Once the holes were drilled for the mounting bracket, I decided to weld the hitch directly to the bracket, as opposed to bolting it on.

Now remember I can "weld" but never have I claimed to be a 'welder'. Maybe my nephew will come out one day and give me a lesson.

Its not pretty, but it will be strong!

The final piece of the puzzle was reattaching the electrical components, which I squirreled away more than 7 years ago when I uninstalled them before swapping the powertrain.  With my electrical book with its chicken scratch map from the super mechanic Chris Kruse, I was able to put it all back together, and I am happy to say we are ready to roll!

June is for Golf

June is the month that I am usually scrambling around trying to get Fillmore ready for his big road trip of the season. This year was no different, fortunately, unlike last year, I remembered just about everything I needed to bring, including my golf clubs!
I was very fortunate to be accompanied on the majority of the journey by my co-worker partner in crime Leanne. We worked the morning then grabbed some coffee and hit the road meeting her parents in Indian Head Sask.

I was thankful for the company, I'm not sure Leanne knew exactly what she was in for...especially when we stopped for gas. She got out and I bee lined  around the back side of the bus to fuel up leaving her stranded to face all the onlookers and subsequent questions of who, what, when, where ,why and let me tell you about my bus story! She didn't know what hit her!

After I dropped Leanne off with her Mom and Dad, I was feeling good so I decided to press on. In the back of my mind I really was thinking of going the distance to Deloraine.
But as the sun began to set, and I started to loose my energy and the likelihood of hitting deer started to rise significantly. I decided to pull over and call it a night

I knew I had time in the morning, mead and supper makings in the fridge

And a movie on my computer that I could pipe into the TV. So I called her quits and enjoyed some down time.

In the morning I had a leisurely start with lots of coffee and classical music on CBC

The afternoon found me golfing in Deloraine, one of my favorite places to be.

The grass was green, the wind was firm and the company was excellent!

More than I can say about the company at The Grey Owl....
Seriously we had a great gold weekend.

Punctuated by an absolutely fantastic wedding of  very dear friends Tammy and Kevin, who graciously asked Michelle and I to sing at the service

The rest of the weekend was a lot like this....sitting, drinking, telling lies, watching basketball and hockey. This year we brought our very own art work!(thank you Adele Sinclair)

Mornings!

I love early mornings, bright sun, quiet except for birds in the trees. A hot pot of coffee and a smile on my face. Saturday was raining, but Sunday was bright and sunny...as was my mood.

After I drank all the caffeine I could manage it was time to test fit the pantry.

Everything fit like a glove. The guide strip on the top took a little patience.  Now here is the rub. If you look at the bottom of the pantry take a look at what you don't see. You don't see the drawer slides. Under the bottom drawer I have a center column with the slides mounted to be hidden. 

Awesome! 

Great!

Just the way I wanted it to look! But I created a huge issue. In order to mount the slide column I need it be inside the cabinet. I cannot remove the slides from the pantry. So The solution is to get in behind the pantry.

 

 Through the side wall under the galley counter.

The only complicating factor to this is that my old man knee is causing me grief, so a simple task is harder than it needed to be. And yet somehow with such a simple task I still manged to draw blood.

And now you can see why, I need to be inside and behind.

Now that the pantry is in place it's time to set the wheels in motion on the latch. I felt i needed something a little more beefy that the locking drawer pulls used for all the other cabinets. Luckily I have been contemplating all of this over the last few months as I peruse Amazon. So what we have here is a old fashioned slam latch I had intended to use in the bathroom of the bus....(that didn't quite work out) and a flush mount door pull for a marine application, which I just knew I would need some day. The trouble is....they were not meant for eachother. I had a round peg and a square hole.

But with a little patience, ingenuity, stubbornness and naivete. I made it work.

Now I've got all the pieces, lets see if I can put them all together!