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Old 07-19-2010, 06:49 PM   #1
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Re: Aventuras Pura Vida...via Liahona

I'm still working all seeing all 49 states. I have no interest in Hawaii. I'm a South Florida Native. I've seen plenty of palm trees, mangoes, pineapples, climbed more than my fair share of coconut trees. Except for a volcano and the lava flows There's not much else. And there's a lava flow about 50 miles or so from here.http://www.americansouthwest.net/new...tion_area.html Actually the whole area (Socorro) is part of a dormant volcanic basin.

As for bribery... don't underestimate the power of bribery. We started homeschooling the girls in the 4th grade. They had burned out in public school during the 3rd grade. It took us 2 years to get them back reading. One of the girls was very resistant to it. So we started paying them a few cents for X pages read. And it was only from certain types of books. Now they are both avid readers (and we ended up paying lots of money over the course of 4 years). Beside how many of us would work at a job if we didn't get paid for it?

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Old 10-02-2010, 12:47 AM   #2
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Re: Aventuras Pura Vida...via Liahona

Welcome aboard...

Looks like you have your hands full in many ways...

Do you mind giving us some info on the upper cabinets you have sitting on the floor???

EDIT: I found some info on your blog... Were they pulled from an RV or another Bus???

Thanks, Luey...
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Old 10-02-2010, 05:02 AM   #3
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Re: Aventuras Pura Vida...via Liahona

Quote:
Originally Posted by lornaschinske
I'm still working all seeing all 49 states. I have no interest in Hawaii. I'm a South Florida Native. I've seen plenty of palm trees, mangoes, pineapples, climbed more than my fair share of coconut trees. Except for a volcano and the lava flows There's not much else. And there's a lava flow about 50 miles or so from here.http://www.americansouthwest.net/new...tion_area.html Actually the whole area (Socorro) is part of a dormant volcanic basin.

As for bribery... don't underestimate the power of bribery. We started homeschooling the girls in the 4th grade. They had burned out in public school during the 3rd grade. It took us 2 years to get them back reading. One of the girls was very resistant to it. So we started paying them a few cents for X pages read. And it was only from certain types of books. Now they are both avid readers (and we ended up paying lots of money over the course of 4 years). Beside how many of us would work at a job if we didn't get paid for it?

you kinda forgot about use up here in the northwest and are volcano and the lava flows! it is so much nicer up here then down south in cal.
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Old 10-02-2010, 05:19 AM   #4
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Re: Aventuras Pura Vida...via Liahona

Quote:
Originally Posted by PURA VIDA
The past few weeks were well spent. We finished getting Liahona cleaned, sanded floors (rust), re-cleaned, painted and sealed floors, sealed windows in & out, put down insulation and sub-flooring, put in quite a few of the components we have gathered, began adjusting dinettes and kitchen cabinets (this weekend I am hoping to finish up the adjusting and make sure my floor plans are going to work).

I have tried to upload pics, but am still unable to figure out why they don't load. If you want to see pics, feel free to check out our blog.

http://aventuraspuravida.blogspot.com/2 ... ettes.html

Good to see all of you that are in the middle of conversions moving along, as well. It's so nice to have a group of skoolies to share with and to learn from.

you might want to think about some thing before you get to far in to the build!!!!!! grey and black water tanks!!!! all rv's have them on the driver side!!!!! trust me on this one who ever put my skoolie together put them on the passenger side and it is a PAIN IN THE BUTT at the rv park and the rv dump station. so this is a heads up for you.....

shane
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Old 10-03-2010, 08:05 AM   #5
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Re: Aventuras Pura Vida...via Liahona

also have all the water, power and suwer all in the same area as a convenyns 99% of your rv park have it all with in 10 feet on the drivers side for hookups. yes it is a headack for my suwer line i have to run it under the monster to hook it up to the drain here in the park you talk about a pain in the but cralling under this thing to do that damn!!! i have been slowly fixing all the stuff that was not done right as far as rv's are done, but when you have the blood sucking court draining you dry it is hard to do!!!!
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Old 10-03-2010, 09:56 AM   #6
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Re: Aventuras Pura Vida...via Liahona

Quote:
Originally Posted by CAMO-MONSTER
... it is a headache for my sewer line i have to run it under the monster to hook it up to the drain here in the park...
We currently have the water/electric on one side of our RV and the sewer hookup is on the other side! You can't win... So we pulled the RV in backwards (back in site, we pulled in) so that we wouldn't have to string extension cords for the electric. Our CATV hook up is almost 100 ft away... I know because we use the line that was installed for our DISH. The sewer hose is run under the RV to the "patio" area. Good thing our sewer hose is bright red! In TX, our sewer line was about 2 ft under the RV... at the rear! I'm telling you , you can't plan for these things... too many are different. We stayed (in the popup) at a campground in Nashville... the hookups were at the front of the LONG pull thru (next to the road). Took two 25 ft water hoses and my two 25 ft extension cords to reach. Luckily we didn't have a need to drain off the grey tank.
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Old 10-03-2010, 10:41 AM   #7
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Re: Aventuras Pura Vida...via Liahona

damn!!! well when they put the monster together they put the fresh water on the inside just in front of the wheel well on the drivers side. i have a storage box under the fresh water tank on outside and the black and grey is on the other side, and when i can get every thing i need to i'm going to move the fresh water under and in between the frame rails just behind the diff and that will free up about 6' on the inside so i can move other things around to make it more livable and i might even move the crapper at that point to the driver side with both tanks to and still keep my shower on the passenger side like i have seen in some rv's. then i can put my storage box that is now were i have all the battery's and other power stuff in which i want to have on the pass side for road side safety and just have a plug in on the driver side to be able to hookup in rv park.
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Old 10-04-2010, 01:22 AM   #8
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Re: Aventuras Pura Vida...via Liahona

Quote:
Originally Posted by PURA VIDA
So, Lorna and Sean....would it be better to put all of the holding tanks and electrical on the same side? We are planning on putting the freshwater/electric/generator on the curbside and the gray/black/propane on the streetside.
that would be ok but i would do two other things also, one being put the genny on the driver side, for the noise so if your sitting on the passenger side it is not to loud for you. two being have a place to hook up to park water on the drivers side, basicly have all your hookups right in the same area so it will be easy on you to hook it upat a park or some one's house if they have a rv slab for parking.

and if any one has anything to add please chime in!!!!!
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Old 10-04-2010, 11:51 AM   #9
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Re: Aventuras Pura Vida...via Liahona

MOST but not all hookups tend to be on the drivers side in campgrounds. Older/smaller campground often end up being all over the place. I think this campground used to be a KOA (main office looks like it). As time passed, they made "upgrades" here & there. Not all the sites are full hook up... of the full hook ups, not all have cable (yet same price). We also ran into odd hookup placement in a TVA park in TN, a couple of private campgrounds and a couple of National Forest campgrounds (several sites with electric but one threaded hose bibb for all of us to share... which is why I carry a hose splitter or two with me still). The other thing is dump stations... sometimes they are on the "wrong" side... but generally on the driver's side. We tend to dump in the campground when we hook up for the night but when it comes to the stand alone dump, whether at a campground, rest stop or truck stop, about 25% of the time, they are on the passenger side. That has been my experience. It's often enough that we plan on setting up our lines to be able to dump from both sides.
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Old 10-05-2010, 02:55 AM   #10
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Re: Aventuras Pura Vida...via Liahona

Quote:
Originally Posted by lornaschinske
The other thing is dump stations... sometimes they are on the "wrong" side... but generally on the driver's side. We tend to dump in the campground when we hook up for the night but when it comes to the stand alone dump, whether at a campground, rest stop or truck stop, about 25% of the time, they are on the passenger side. That has been my experience. It's often enough that we plan on setting up our lines to be able to dump from both sides.
well that is a go idea but i have one problem doing that!!! i don't have a pusher and have a drive line to deal with kinda a big hurtle i have to deal with. but for those of you that have a pusher bus that would be a good idea, to be able to have a dump on both sides.
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Old 10-05-2010, 01:51 PM   #11
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Re: Aventuras Pura Vida...via Liahona

We don't have a pusher either. We have an FE. We will run our plumbing drain lines close to the rear axle (just in front of it) where the drive train drops to it's lowest point (heat taped and insulated). We planned our gray tank on the passenger side and our black tank on the drivers side (fresh water is on the passenger side as well... city water hookup only plumbed from the drivers side... in almost 25 years of RVing, we've never had a need to fill our fresh tank except with water that was under pressure). We want to put a macerator on the tanks to eliminate the 3" sewer hose but I'm not sure if we will do that immediately or just plan for it. If we do it immediately then the pipe to the passenger side dump can be the same pipe we use for the gray drain (2 inch?). Chances are we will simply use the smaller gray pipe anyway. We currently have an 18 gallon Black tank on the RV. The solids are all broken down pretty well by the time we dump the tank (about every 3 days). David & I have discussed the 3" sewer hose and feel it's overkill and we could use a smaller hose... We have used a 3/4 inch garden hose a few times as we were several yards from a sewer clean out (we were parked in a driveway while we worked on a house). We had no problem with draining the tanks. David was just worried it could clog up (I use lots of TP) so we rounded up the 30 gal blue tote out of the storage unit... now that's a PITA to move around when full! But to use a 2 inch drain we believe would be just fine. The valves we would use would be "ball" valves not the sorry, crappy drippy RV gate valves and going with the smaller pipes would eliminate the sorrier, crappier, drippier 3" RV sewer hose and it's horrible connections. All valves/connections will be enclosed and heated since we don't know where we will end up at. I do know that this winter will be spent here in NM. The locals keep telling us that it's not so cold here, etc. But I remember looking at pics last year posted on this forum by someone who lives not too far way in the same county... they moved in about the time we left for TX.... there was lots of SNOW... I know they were higher up and that makes a lot of difference... but SNOW on the ground... lots of it. I don't like snow. It's cold and makes me cold.
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Old 10-05-2010, 05:38 PM   #12
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Re: Aventuras Pura Vida...via Liahona

Quote:
Originally Posted by lornaschinske
But I remember looking at pics last year posted on this forum by someone who lives not too far way in the same county... they moved in about the time we left for TX.... there was lots of SNOW... I know they were higher up and that makes a lot of difference... but SNOW on the ground... lots of it. I don't like snow. It's cold and makes me cold.
i say bring on the snow!!!!! if you don't have any it will get even colder, at least it is that way here in washington and i'm at about 1,200 feet at the foot of the blue mountains. i was just told yesterday that this winter is to be are worst winter in some thing like 55 years, two years ago in the walla walla valley we got 2 feet of snow in town i posted some pic's last year of what the monster looked like with the snow, and here in dayton where i'm at now there was from what i was told 3-4 feet and that is nothing to what we are suppose to be getting this year, so i say BRING IT ON!!!!!! i just don't think the stick and staple rv's will like it that well with there flat roofs.
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Old 10-06-2010, 11:54 AM   #13
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Re: Aventuras Pura Vida...via Liahona

Regarding block heaters: I plug in my diesels any time it will go below freezing, although they would probably be fine even down to 20 degrees or lower. It just makes the engine start faster, warm up quicker, and makes it happier in general. I set up a timer on the extension cord that goes to the engine so it turns on about 2 hours before I plan to start it. That way I don't waste electricity heating it all night. The only time you'd need to heat it all night is in extreme South Pole type conditions. I should qualify my statements by saying that my other diesels have glow plugs. My bus does not, which is strange to me. Last year it started fine at 40F, but I don't think I tried to start it any colder than that, mainly just because I wasn't really driving it. This winter I will experiment with starting it cold at various temperatures and see how low I can go without needing to plug in. I advise you to do the same, so you know what to expect. To test whether or not the heater is working, well... I think it's almost identical to a water heater element. If you put your hand on the engine block near the heater plug, it should feel warmer than other metal on the bus or other peripheral parts of the engine that do not have coolant running through them.
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Old 10-06-2010, 02:05 PM   #14
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Re: Aventuras Pura Vida...via Liahona

Quote:
Originally Posted by PURA VIDA
... Would it be better to use foam sheets and a heating system in there? How should we insulate the few drain pipes that will run across the under carriage of the bus? Do we just put insulation tubing around them? Lorna, I know you have mentioned that you have a water bed heater rigged up over yours. Did I remember right? Do you have insulation around the tanks or are they up inside the bus?
Don't forget... insulation will hold heat in but it will also keep the heat out... something to remember if your pipes or tanks freeze. I am a firm believer in pipe heat tape. It uses very little power. It has a built in thermostat (comes on only when the temps drop low enough). Make sure the pipe tape is on the bottom of the pipe then cover that with form pipe insulation (neoprene lasts longest but is also pricier). You will need to buy at least 1 size larger diameter insulation than your pipe, this will allow for the space the pipe tape takes up. We have to do this on the Class C for the water hose. All other plumbing is inside.

Our RV tanks are completely exposed. We have to build a foam board box (taped & strapped together) when we are in colder weather. I placed our old waterbed heater next to the tank bottom, sandwiched between the tank and the foam board. It's a PITA to have to go buy a sheet of foam (long way to the nearest Home Depot/Lowes) and I have to find the waterbed heater... I think it's packed... somewhere... I think David is going to try to leave the holding tanks alone this year. We leave the gray valve open (we're hooked to the sewer) and if we watch the weather, we can dump black tank before nights when it will freeze. SUPPOSEDLY it will only freeze overnight and then only lightly.
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Old 10-06-2010, 02:26 PM   #15
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Re: Aventuras Pura Vida...via Liahona

Quote:
Originally Posted by PURA VIDA
... So, the main purpose is to heat her up and get her ready to drive? If this is the case, and I am only starting her up once a week (while we are just building her), I could just plug her in a couple of hours before I plan on starting her up and then leave her unplugged the rest of the week. Right? ...
Correct; the only purpose of the block heater is to help the engine start in very cold weather. If you aren't starting the engine it can sit and freeze all it wants, no problem. You only need to plug in the heater long enough prior to starting the engine that it is "pre-warmed" to some extent. In addition to experimenting with ambient temperature threshold, you might also experiment with how many hours you apply the heater. Perhaps your engine will prefer 3 or 4 hours rather than 2, depending on the wattage of the heater and size of the engine. And of course you also want to have the proper type and ratio of antifreeze in your cooling system just like any other vehicle.
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