Arctic Family Bus

[Biscuitsjam]

Nicholas was . . .

older than sin, and his beard could grow no whiter. He wanted to die.

The dwarfism natives of the Arctic caverns did not speak his language, but conversed in their own, twittering tongue, conducted incomprehensible rituals, when they were not actually working in the factories.

Once every year they forced him, sobbing and protesting, into Endless Night. During the journey he would stand near every child in the world, leave one of the dwarves' invisible gifts by its bedside. The children slept, frozen into time.

He envied Prometheus and Loki, Sisyphus and Judas. His punishment was harsher.

Ho.

Ho.

Ho.

-Neil Gaiman

 

[Biscuitsjam]

Day 5:
-34 today. I spent the day getting ready for the movers and setting up a workshop in the spare bedroom of the cabin. I also went to pick up packages at the post office - the same mailman that wouldn't leave any packages on my porch left me a pickup slip with the wrong post office on it.

I'm about to head to the store to get parts to service my pickup before the trip.

 

[Biscuitsjam]

Day 6:
Still -28. I'm impatient for Monday when it is supposed to warm up to -10 or so. At that temperature, I should be able to start the bus and drive it over here.

Fun fact - in extreme cold, rubber becomes extremely stiff and won't easily change shape. Also, as the temperature goes down, tire pressure also goes down. That means at -30, every time you start your car, you'll have one flat side on each tire. You'll drive around like something from the Flintstones with square tires "thump thump thump" until the tires warm up enough to become round again.

After today, I'm almost completely ready for the movers. I also did a lot of prep for my projects - laying out parts, buying stuff that's missing, assembling what I can inside, etc. I also spent 4 hours moving stuff to and from my unheated storage facility and rearranging everything to make it fit - not fun. And, I set up a workshop inside my cabin.

 

[matthews2001]

http://www.skoolie.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=40647&stc=1&d=1578836938

I'd want a heated igloo to work on my bus up there

Saw this south of Denali

 

[plfking]

Day 5:
-34 today.

I enjoy reading your updates........they're like a slightly-less-dangerous version of London's 'To Build A Fire', but with a bus instead of a dog.

Keep an eye out for snow-covered creeks.

 

[Biscuitsjam]

http://www.skoolie.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=40647&stc=1&d=1578836938

I'd want a heated igloo to work on my bus up there

Saw this south of Denali

I lived in a smaller one of those for a few months when I was a newlywed back in Georgia. You could turn off the heat and it would stay warm inside for days. The heating and cooling bills were just a few dollars a month. The awkward part of it was trying to put furniture in the rooms, since the outer wall was curved along both the floor and curved inward at the top.

The one near Denali was built as a hotel. However, the guy who started it forgot to read the building codes, and it couldn't be used. The windows were too small, so he abandoned it.

Another fun fact: Fairbanks and North Pole are in a valley that has a temperature inversion sometimes in the winter. There are some houses in the hills that can be up to 45 degrees warmer despite being only 2 or 3 miles outside of town. A couple days ago, the difference was 25 (-35 versus -10). A lot of businesses have giant furnaces with chimneys and you can see the smoke rise until it hits the temperature inversion, then it looks like it hit a ceiling. If the temperature inversion lasts more than a few days, the air gets hazy and your lungs and eyes burn going outside. It usually happens a few days a year, so the EPA is trying to ban wood stoves up here, even though half the town is so poor they can't afford anything but wood. Right now the air quality is poor, but the weather is going to change before it gets worse.

 

[Biscuitsjam]

Day 7:

-32 degrees. There's a full moon at 9 AM and the sun won't be up for a while. There will be only 4 hours of daylight today. My truck is plugged in and I'll drive to the Army Auto Skills Center in a few hours when they open. The Auto Skills Center costs $5/hour for bay space with a complete set of tools. You can also ask mechanics to show you how to do things. This will be my first visit to service my pickup. I'll do the bus next week, but I'll need fo get 3 bays.

Parts for projects staged (not in order of priority). Sopme parts have been ordered but not yet arrived:
1. Rear camera
2. Propane (POL adapter for my 100lb tank and new regulator because the old one freezes at +10 degrees)
3. Vent stuff for my propane furnace
4. Auxiliary heaters
5. Trailer hitch
6. Spray foam kit
7. Maintenance (oil, filters, grease fittings, glow plugs)
8. Misc tools (heaters, lights, etc.)

Other projects not staged (not in order of priority):
9. Driver's seatbelt
10. Tires
11. Breather heater kit for second generator
12. Underbus storage box
13. Fuel can brackets
14. Flood lights

My indoor workshop:

 

[Biscuitsjam]

Most of the time here, it is "too cold to snow." Why not 100% true (it can snow in extreme cold), snow generally comes with warm fronts. So, when the weather warms to -5 tomorrow, it's supposed to snow for two days, then drop back to -30. This is very frustrating, since the forecast a few days ago was very different.

 

[Brewerbob]

http://www.skoolie.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=40647&stc=1&d=1578836938

I'd want a heated igloo to work on my bus up there

Saw this south of Denali

Hotel that they wouldn't let the guy open because the emergency exits aren't to code. They didn't bother to tell him until he was ready to open tho.

I'll do the bus next week, but I'll need fo get 3 bays.

Nice. The hobby shop will let you work on your bus there? I'm on APG Army base. The bays are nowhere near big enough for my bus (40'). It would fit in 2 bays across but there's no way to get in the building from the driveway even if they let me drive thru the building.



I need to read thru your thread. Quick question which is probably already answered somewhere in here but how much insulation do you have in your bus? I'm a whole lot further south but I want to be able to winter wherever the hell I feel like it.

 

[Biscuitsjam]

Day 8:

-11 degrees and snowing. I have to go into work for a half day today. My big goal is to pick up the bus from the RV lot. I'll need to shovel the yard a lot more to have a place to park.

My other task today is to finish up the work on my pickup at the auto skills center. I worked 8 hours straight without a break yesterday, but I needed about one hour to finish: change air filter, oil change, fuel filter, top off fluids, spark plugs and wires. Basically, the spark plugs kicked my ass because of how seized up they were and how hard they are to get to.

Right now, on the bus, I have 1 inch insulation on the floor, (plus 1/2 inch plywood), 3 inches on the walls below the windows, and 0 on the front, back, and ceiling. Once I get into the auto skills center, I'm going to change fluids, replace the glow plugs, and do spray foam. I have two 600 square-foot kits.

I checked nearby Eielson and the Auto Skills bays there are far too small. If Fort Wainwright didn't work, then I would have checked Fort Greely (2-1/2 hours) and JBER (8 hours). I probably could have used the warm storage bays at our motorpool on the weekend too, but I don't want to open that can of worms.

 

[matthews2001]

spray foam application is poor if not warm, spray foam and surface!!

I put cans in warm bathtub overnight (I do my rental properties interior foundations with it), even then "cold" foundations in basement affects quality. Warm means WARM 75-80degrees. googd luck!

(To) Build that Fire!

 

[Brewerbob]

Day 8:

-11 degrees and snowing.

Taht would make working on a vehicle outside "challenging".

Right now, on the bus, I have 1 inch insulation on the floor, (plus 1/2 inch plywood), 3 inches on the walls below the windows, and 0 on the front, back, and ceiling. Once I get into the auto skills center, I'm going to change fluids, replace the glow plugs, and do spray foam. I have two 600 square-foot kits.

No roof raise I take it. Sticking with 1" in the floor?

I checked nearby Eielson and the Auto Skills bays there are far too small. If Fort Wainwright didn't work, then I would have checked Fort Greely (2-1/2 hours) and JBER (8 hours). I probably could have used the warm storage bays at our motorpool on the weekend too, but I don't want to open that can of worms.

Nice to have options. Mine is stored on base and I can work on it in the RV lot. There's electric and I run an extension cord. Not out of the weather but better than nothing and cheaper than in-town. Would be nice to park it in the yard but the yard isn't big enough.

 

[Brewerbob]

spray foam application is poor if not warm, spray foam and surface!!

I put cans in warm bathtub overnight (I do my rental properties interior foundations with it), even then "cold" foundations in basement affects quality. Warm means WARM 75-80degrees. good luck!

I had both foam and surface at temp but the directions do say the surface can be as low as 40°F. It also says application won't go as far.

 

[matthews2001]

https://sprayfoamkit.com/help-center/cold-weather-foaming/

Not my experience, I got large bubbles and some runnyness of chemicals, I think 60 degrees+, maybe not possible in AK haha

 

[Biscuitsjam]

Inside the Auto Skills center, it is about 60 degrees, which is at the low end of the Touch 'n Seal recommendation (60-80). I can leave heaters in the bus overnight and try to raise that a little further.

I'm going to get the spray foam kits warmer than that, but not sure how yet. I don't have a bathtub (no running water at my dry cabin), though I suppose I could put them between electric heaters for 4 or 5 hours before starting.

 

[Brewerbob]

I ran out of Part B in at least one set of the 600 bf/ft kits. I've done 3 thus far. I might do one more. I plan on using either 1/2" or 3/4" foam board on the walls and either 1/2" or 1/4" ply over that. That will bump the walls out even with the chair rail. If I could make up my mind what I want to do for a final wall surface, I might be able to skip the ply. The one additional spray kit would be for filling in the voids behind the foam board.

 

[Biscuitsjam]

Brewerbob, I have foam board on the bottom half of the bus. I'm planning on doing spray forms flush with the ribs of the ceiling and likely adding foam boards over them later also.

I'm thinking of warming my foam tanks in a cooler. I have a stove that I can heat water in - it's smaller than a bath tub and I can only fit two tanks inside, but it should work.

 

[Biscuitsjam]

Day 9:
+1 degree and snowing
I wasn't able to pick up my bus from there lot yesterday. After I did my half-day of work, I went to the Auto Skills Center to finish the work on my pickup and ended up working on the truck for 4 hours. I stripped the threads inside one of my cylinders during spark plug installation, and had to recut the threads. Fun!

I also fixed my blinker wiring, repaired a snapped vacuum line, and put nitrogen in the tires. Nitrogen still fluctuates with temperature, so a change from +60 to -40 lowers pressure by about 10 psi!

I also spent a couple hours shoveling snow. It only snowed a couple inches so far, but I need to make a bigger space before parking the bus in the yard. Unfortunately, my shovel broke before I finished. The screw that holds the blade to the handle sheared off, so when I tried to pick up a shovelful of snow, it just spun and dumped it right back on the ground...

I'm supposed to spend a full day at work attending classes on suicide prevention, presentations on various family programs, classes on budgeting, etc. followed by a medical checkup. I'm planning on missing most of it. If I don't get the bus today, I may have a problem, since the temperature is forecast to drop to -24 again tomorrow.

 

[Brewerbob]

Day 9:
+1 degree and snowing
.
.
.
since the temperature is forecast to drop to -24 again tomorrow.

Must have been a heat wave today.


P.S. How does a guy in AK, especially a guy that does a couple of hours of shoveling, not have a snow blower?

 

[tugboater-SKO]

http://www.skoolie.net/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=40647&stc=1&d=1578836938

I'd want a heated igloo to work on my bus up there

Saw this south of Denali

A little more info on that place...been around a long time.

https://www.thealaskalife.com/blog/abandoned-igloo-hotel-alaska/