Re: Wisdom in motion?
Posted: Wed Jul 04, 2012 11:37 pm
Sorry for the long delay in updating. We've been living in the truck since late February, but I'm amazed at how little conversion work I've gotten done. Our life has been crazy all spring and summer, but I do have some things to report and show. Here's what the pile of polyiso board looked like when I brung it home:
We've named the truck Molly. This is what she looked like after I replaced all the rear lights with sealed beams and leds.
This is new insulation board on the back wall:
Both the roof air units were framed with white oak. Both frames were too rotten to use. I replaced the frame of the rear unit with treated pine:
I decided to remove the front ac unit. It was apparently original to the truck (1976), and the roof leaked around it. We're not likely to need more than one AC unit anyway.
Here is an exterior and an interior shot of the patch I made from one of the aluminum panels I took off the interior walls. I made the patch 1-1/2" larger each way than the hole and sealed it with liquid nails heavy duty construction adhesive. I was surprised that the patch leaked a bit at first, but it self healed after a couple weeks in the sun. The white stuff you see on the rivet heads and patch edges is an aluminum specific primer that I globbed on with a foam brush. I'll spray the same primer on spots where I sand through the original paint when we get to body work.
I have a little more to show, but no time just now. I'll try to post again later today. One of the reasons I'm so long updating is that we've not had a good connection until recently. Related to that is the fact that Bev and I found ourselves back in the doughnut/coffee shop business at the first of June. We had done that for six years ending in 2009, and that's the reason we lost our house and are living in a truck in the first place. The return to to food service was predicated on the fact that we had sold/financed our equipment to another family member in early 2011. He was trying to run the shop in addition to a full time job. When he finally decided to get out, we had to get back in or take a major loss on the equipment. Here we are now, putting in 14 hour days six out of seven. Summer is a slow time in this business. After school starts we may be able to hire help and get back to the conversion.
I did get a temporary kitchen installed in a shed where we're living. We also have a toilet that serves the flea market where we're parked. I rigged a great shower on a side wall of the kitchen shed, but it's mostly a night time experience since it only has one wall.
More soon.
Jim in NC
We've named the truck Molly. This is what she looked like after I replaced all the rear lights with sealed beams and leds.
This is new insulation board on the back wall:
Both the roof air units were framed with white oak. Both frames were too rotten to use. I replaced the frame of the rear unit with treated pine:
I decided to remove the front ac unit. It was apparently original to the truck (1976), and the roof leaked around it. We're not likely to need more than one AC unit anyway.
Here is an exterior and an interior shot of the patch I made from one of the aluminum panels I took off the interior walls. I made the patch 1-1/2" larger each way than the hole and sealed it with liquid nails heavy duty construction adhesive. I was surprised that the patch leaked a bit at first, but it self healed after a couple weeks in the sun. The white stuff you see on the rivet heads and patch edges is an aluminum specific primer that I globbed on with a foam brush. I'll spray the same primer on spots where I sand through the original paint when we get to body work.
I have a little more to show, but no time just now. I'll try to post again later today. One of the reasons I'm so long updating is that we've not had a good connection until recently. Related to that is the fact that Bev and I found ourselves back in the doughnut/coffee shop business at the first of June. We had done that for six years ending in 2009, and that's the reason we lost our house and are living in a truck in the first place. The return to to food service was predicated on the fact that we had sold/financed our equipment to another family member in early 2011. He was trying to run the shop in addition to a full time job. When he finally decided to get out, we had to get back in or take a major loss on the equipment. Here we are now, putting in 14 hour days six out of seven. Summer is a slow time in this business. After school starts we may be able to hire help and get back to the conversion.
I did get a temporary kitchen installed in a shed where we're living. We also have a toilet that serves the flea market where we're parked. I rigged a great shower on a side wall of the kitchen shed, but it's mostly a night time experience since it only has one wall.
More soon.
Jim in NC