Bookmobile / Turfmobile

[family wagon]

Originally Posted by turf

the next electric challenge is putting in a stove/oven. because i have a stove and a big generator.... i want to use them as best i can.
first things first though.... here is a quick electric tour of the bus.
the bus has a big Hanco generator hanging from the belly on the drivers side. the gen feeds a breaker panel inside.

How's that Hanco generator for noise? I have/had it in my head to also go electric on my bus. My recent trip to Yellowstone has me re-thinking that, however. It's definitely what you'd call "high-density camping" there, and generator noise can carry a long way in terms of number of people who have to listen to it. This last time we were fortunate to have been assigned a spot on the outside at the extreme end of one of the loops. I had a single Honda EU2000i which really wouldn't have been terrible to have sitting beside us, but since I had 60 ft of cord and forest frontage, I put it as far away (and slightly down hill) as I could. It did run about 4 hours a day and happened to be while we were cooking on the portable propane stove, but having to run something substantially louder in order to do our cooking would have been.. less favorable.

Most of my camping won't be in high-occupancy areas like that so it's possible we could use a backup plan like a portable propane stove for those occasions and otherwise use a louder generator. I'm interested to know your thoughts on the loudness of that generator and whether it'll be problematic first thing in the morning for breakfast or late in the evening.

[turf]

the generator is reasonably loud. i think its under the decibel limit, but its not a little silent honda. its less annoying than a lawn mower. because it is a diesel, you might mistake that the bus is running at idle.

im in a skoolie, so, worrying about my neighbor's breakfast pleasure isnt high on my priority list. im done with the high density camping anyway. this will be no problem in national forest. i have gotten glares in campgrounds but.....nothing has ever come to words.

my camping is a lot of atv stuff.... so its plenty fine for peeps in the toy hauler crowd. genny is pretty standard with that group.

[family wagon]

Originally Posted by turf

my camping is a lot of atv stuff.... so its plenty fine for peeps in the toy hauler crowd. genny is pretty standard with that group.

Ahh.. good point. Just gotta hang with the right crowd, and nobody will even mention the genny noise!

[turf]

i was just surfing the forum here and found a picture of my bus prior to my ownership in the "bookmobile" gallery. how cool is that?

check it out here:
http://www.skoolie.net/gallery/index...bookmobile02sm

looks like the back steps didnt work then either

[bansil]

how NSA is that

[turf]

i got new plywood for the most visible cabinet sides and bed. they took a real nice shine

again, just temporary placement of pieces, but its getting closer

[turf]

been a bit since i posted.... time for an update.

i've been working on the electric and water system. someone had posted about a fancy water fill cap from a boat. they sure looked nicer than the rv water fills you see. so i decided to use one of those fancy water filler caps.

i went on line and looked for the filler cap..... found one " straight neck chrome water filler cap w/ vent". i was excited, the perfect piece for the water tank, i ordered it and waited. about a week later, my package arrived. but it was not the water vent.






ok, no problem.....
i call the company up and state that they sent me the wrong item.... after sending them the above picture, they agreed to reship my water filler w/ vent.



well about a week later i get my reshipped water vent.



whoops! not quite right this time either..... i call the company again and complain that they "f'd up". then the woman on the phone says they refused to do anymore business with me since i used the f word and hung up.

i returned both incorrect shipments and the company refused to issue me credit. i did involve paypal and was awarded a refund after a quick investigation. what a pain in the ass!!!!!!

lesson learned
- dont get in a pissing match with a vendor

i got my angled neck chrome water filler cap from another marine supply.

[turf]

water fill installed.



inside bus, water tank and heater



and getting the conduit, wiring and lights (those are 12v led 60 watt equivalent) done so i can button up this wall!

[bansil]

What water heater is that?

[turf]

its a 6 gallon homedepot water heater. 120V

http://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-6-Gal-...8#.Un-KX_khh8E

[wmkbailey]

Originally Posted by turf

lesson learned
- dont get in a pissing match with a vendor

i got my angled neck chrome water filler cap from another marine supply.

Could you post where you got the correct one, I plan to use the same water filler cap.

[turf]

I'd try these guys

http://www.cgedwards.com/Perko/pko305-17.html

[bansil]

thanks

[turf]

the bed got reassembled this week..... hoping to make some progress. and a pic from the front showing what the interior is now.

[turf]

and i am planning on re-purposing the spare tire carrier for a big battery tray. here is that storage compartment and then the mock up of my battery tray.

[Tango]

Might I suggest several coats of epoxy to protect that steel? Battery gas eats iron at an amazing rate.

[turf]

thanks Tango! i sure will! i appreciate all suggestions. (I'm in a bit over my head)

well its not painted yet but the battery tray is assembled and working. the spare tire carrier works perferct, the rack that the spare rolled in and out on was easy to adapt to batterys. now, all i need is some nice expoxy and another battery!

here are the pics:

[turf]

heater installation

brrrrrr, its getting cold outside. i've needed a heater but.... nothing like some real cold weather to get you motivated.

well, i wanted a diesel powered heater so to avoid adding another fuel to the bus. my cooking will be with electric, so heat needed to come from an on board source. i started pricing them out and found one to suit my needs. i also saw that Crazy Cal is selling a very similar heater in the classified section here, however i opted for a bigger unit.

the heater i got is a Planar 8D heater.... about 21000btu. it is the Russian version of a webasto or esparcher air heater. the price is very competitive and so far the unit works great.

the heater pumps diesel and outside air into a burn chamber, and exhausts the combustion products back outside. inside air is recirculated over the burn chamber and the vehicle heats up. pretty straight forward heater. here are some pics of the install.

the first picture is the heater view from the top.
the second is the the heater from under the vehicle, the hole is the air intake, and the metal tube is the exhaust gases.
the third picture is the exhaust hose behind the mudflap.

[turf]

heater continued.....

the fuel comes from inside the vehicle tank. the heater came with a diptube for the tank.... i get to drill the hole and connect it up.

my access for drilling that hole in the top of the diesel tank was through my shower drain.

and then got the fuel pump mounted near the tank.

and the controller (in Celsius)

[turf]

and finally the duct work......

balancing heat, airflow turbulence, and gettting heat where you want it takes a bit more than just luck. there are lots of online calculators to help make the heat distribution work.... much more complex than i had imagined before undertaking it. but now, i got heat up front, heat in the bathroom, and heat in the bedroom.

im going to cover up the heater and ducting with a step into the bed.

i like the heater very much, it works well. tomorrow the temps will go sub zero so i'll get to test it effectiveness in the coldest temps its likely to see. the heater does not consume much battery power, but it does drink diesel out of the tank, about 1/2 liter per hr or a gallon for 8 hrs. the documentation for the heater is my biggest complaint... it was not translated from russian well. many sentences were just gibberish. good thing it was fairly simple and straight forward. the heater did come with a 2 year guarantee from the importers.

excerpt from the manual...
For the purpose of an exception of leak of fuel from a fuel tank by gravity at infringement of tightness of the fuel pump, a fuel tank it is preferable to have so that the fuel maximum level was below a cut of a fuel tube of a heater.