Hello! I finished a terrific 6 week trip from Colorado through NM to San Diego and then north to the Bay arriving in mid feb, spending extra time in Tucson and San Diego. Lots of riding, great to get out of the Colorado cold, though holy smokes it was nearly freezing too often for my taste.
Re: dropping the muffler. I honestly hadn't thought about it. That would free up room. Perhaps next version. Yes, the spare: to those who need a recap, the short story is I give up on undermounting the thing. As it turns out, I now have a 4 ton floor jack that I'm planning on toting around too so I can take the under mounted water tank off any time I want. The jack itself weighs 99 lbs btw. That means all I need is a torque multiplier or a breaker bar and I can be rolling roadside assistance.
The demo is taking apart it all (yikes quoth he) save for most of the upper cabinets and the passanger chair. The trip gave ample time for reflection on what worked and where it could be better. For instance, I'd like more than 25 gallons of water, my current capacity. Do I ever love showering. Plus if I can ever get my lady friend out that's plenty more hair to rinse. The good news is that by taking apart the bed and really everything else there is room for a second, 37 gallon tank from a minimally used area. Ditto for the other side, which will hold the spare tire.
I also want to add a spigot to act as a way for the pump to draw water from another source, like a hot bag of water that has been in the sun all day.
Because the ins and outs of new tank will be over the muffler, I am thinking of making a sideways U of galvanized pipe and plumb the thing so as I am driving, naturally occuring thermosyphon is heating the tank water. Add under the bus a heat tolerant drain for winter and pressure valve to increase the likelihood of arriving alive and open/close valves inside. And thus, lastly, a way to circulate water between the two tanks.
Another area of opportunity is that of the Thetford cassette toilet, a device that was both wonderful and a powerful motivating force to implement something different. It was a drag searching out an outhouse to deal with the consequences of an unquestionably better experice of having an easy, ready option right there. So that got me reading up on composting toilets no surprise I'm sure. A post here on some toilet thread suggested they'd better named dessicating toilets than composting. Another had the poo storage under the floor. Build a dehydrator under the bus with a tube for poo and plenty of fans? Not 100% here.
Adding solar and that means a battery combiner too. I'm thinking this will be my kit:
charge controller
https://www.solar-electric.com/catal...ge-controller/
temp sensor
https://www.solar-electric.com/catal...rature-sensor/
battery monitor
https://www.solar-electric.com/bogar...y-monitor.html
Shunt
https://www.solar-electric.com/mkb-500-50.html
200A fuse or breaker to seperate the house and starting batteries
1-2 solar panels to get 200 or maybe 250 watts total
combiner
https://www.solar-electric.com/me-sbc.html
I'm tossing the solenoid I was using and probably shorted which resulted in my first ever DC troubleshooting which means my first troubleshooting ever.
Kitchen and propane storage are moving from the rear side of the bed to the front side (of the vehicle). Old: walk in and hop over bed to get to kitchen. New: walk in and presto you're there! Driver's rear corner will have the yet to be fully sorted out toilet. Above it will be some slide out shelf thing; something 2 feet deep and 3.5 feet wide will slide out from the driver's side and above the toilet towards ths passanger side wall once stopped for the night. That sliding unit will have drawers or shelves itself. THis is all because I use that rear door and bikes are stored under where the large slide out will be once extended. I'll have a tiny maybe foldout bathroom sink too. This time I'll use 3 way switches too so I can turn on the pump from multiple spots.
The fridge drawer rebuild is underway as is moving the cabinet that is above where the toilet room will be to the other side. Yadda yay I'll get some photos that'll make this understandable.
Linear Mode
