Faithful readers will no doubt recall that when last we heard from the intrepid (insipid?) hillbilly, he was facing the aftermath of allowing his Detroit Diesel Series 40 to overheat. Big time! The kind of damage that allows mass quantities of water into the oil. As Yule Brenner said to Sanka Coffee in the delightful movie, Cool Runnings, “Whatever is wrong with you is no little thing.”
You can read more about that situation on Bus Conversions in the travel and use section, but the bottom line is that, come Spring, I plan to pull the engine and do a major overhaul. I also have a few other things planned for Spring, so we’ll see how priorities are assigned. Wish me luck.
Been a long time since I was even on this site. It appears to be running at the speed of cold molasses. Wonder if I'm doing something wrong.
Before I attempt a bit of update, I want to apologize for the fact that my photos will almost certainly be rotated 90 degrees to the left. TinyPic blesses me with such perspective. I’ve tried a couple other image hosting sites, but they have proven even worse. I’d love some help on getting my pictures right side up.
We were without internet from the end of June to the first of January, but we’re back at it now. The new home base will eventually be terrific. Three beautiful wooded acres in a great location, and we’ve been blessed with the opportunity to buy it. That makes our work here even more worthwhile.
The storage building we moved from the old place worked out well. Still no finished siding, but we’ll be taking down a number of mature yellow pines before long. My friend has a portable band saw mill, and we’ll turn all those trees into lumber. Pine makes great siding if stained or painted.
Took some effort to get the well winterized, but it works great and DOES NOT FREEZE! Joy, joy.
Since we can’t run a heat tape with off grid power, we use the onboard fresh water system and fill the tank on warmer days. Having the batteries and both tanks in heated space is a major winter advantage.
The well house will get also get homegrown siding.
The new Takagi tankless water heater is nearly perfect. My only complaint is that it draws power all the time. That would keep the inverter excited and quickly drain the batteries, so we unplug it except when we need hot water. I’ll eventually run it through a switch in the galley which is beside the bathroom.
Waste water has been more trouble. The new septic system cannot be installed until after we take down the pines and dig stumps. We’ll actually push the pines down with my friends large excavator, and that brings stumps out in one operation. In the meanwhile, I’m hauling waste water (combined gray/black) in a 25 gallon wheeled carrier. We bathe outside or off site as much as possible and wash dishes outside when we can. That gives me about three to four weeks before I have to dump the 105 gallon waste tank. Four trips to our old site where the septic dump is still available takes more than half a day. I’ll be pleased when that is no longer necessary, but what can you do?
The best thing we’ve done lately is buy a new wood heater. Morso 1410 Squirrel. Made in Denmark by a 140-year-old company. Cast iron. Secondary combustion. Beautiful. Just the right size.
Installed on December 7. Worlds better than the homemade stove. Took a month of experimentation to figure out its best use. Discovered that it requires powder dry wood. That’s a problem since all the wood I worked up last summer has been in the open. It’s soaked. I’ve burned a good bit of wet wood in the new stove, but it’s a challenge. Lately I’ve been able to find enough dry stuff to keep us comfy. I WILL have plenty of dry, seasoned wood before next winter.
This and a much larger pile came down in a wind storm. That's how all my wood got scattered on the ground. I never got it restacked and covered.
Our biggest challenge has been the lack of a driveway. The granite quarry is only four miles away, but the professional truckers think that trip is worth $100 or more just for the haul. I can’t get my head around paying $25/mile for truck service. Bottom line is that I’ve made a number of trips with my 16’ tandem trailer and the old GMC van. I can haul three tons of ABC or 3/4” washed stone. Takes a while to unload that much with a shovel, but I get it exactly where I want it, and I find great satisfaction in the driveway improvement. Still need a lot more stone. Maybe I’ll eventually bite the bullet and hire the truck.
I’ve been turning the old step van into a portable leather shop. I ran a sideline harness/tack repair shop for 20 years beginning in ’82. Kept my old Champion stitching machine. This area has lots of horses and no place to get leather goods made and repaired. This year, I plan to do less instrument building and more leather work. I can go to the rodeos and horse shows and work on the spot. I also have an arrangement to make custom axe and adze sheaths for a local blacksmith who sells a lot of custom tools.
My stitcher was made in the 1890s. I had to rebuild the much newer (1930s) drive motor before putting the stitcher in the truck. Here it is at work.
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We also have lots of gardening space now, so….
Always plenty to do. I’ll try to be a better correspondent. Best to all from North Carolina.
Jim
constant distractions , eh.