Jett&Voltaire

 Post 13: May and June, 2020 - Gas, water, and a bed.  Now that the electrical was well on its way, it was time to turn attention to the "bedroom" and  "kitchen" requirements. Propane for a stove, water for the sink, and a place to sleep. A plan to visit my good friend, Mary Severson, in Montana, sped up the timeline and urgency.  Jim and I found a way to work safely together and we made much better progress working together.   A word about propane. Propane safety is something that I have seen missed in many van builds, especially DIYers. It is important to have an LP gas tank sealed and vented through the floor (liquid propane is heavier than air so settles to the floor). Jim had built me a gas tank locker. I drilled through the floor once again and placed a vent tube.  I was always cognizant of balancing the weight distribution from side to side and front to back. My Ford Transit is a rear-wheel drive, so having weight over the back passenger si...

Post 12: All things electrical  - wires and batteries and inverters, oh my! The remainder of April was spent running and pulling wire through small channels and holes in the van. Dozens of hours spent trying to be clever, burdened with the knowledge that if I didn't have a great deal of forethought, it would be REALLY hard to go back and change the set up later. I had to decide things like how many lights, and where. The refrigerator location, water pump, 110 outlets, battery shut off, electrical panel/fuses, and so on. All this with ZERO previous knowledge or experience. SO many hours online researching, learning, watching YouTube videos, coupled with a bit of what you might call praying.  I had wires EVERYWHERE, and often the labels that I had attached came off and I had to sort the tangle of wires several times throughout the process.  My trusty companion Jim had built me an electrical box to house the batteries, solar controller, and the inverter/converter.  I ad...

 Post 11: On my own - As April progressed, Jim and I became more concerned about his safety. We reluctantly decided to cease our partnership until this whole thing calmed down. Little did we know how long it would last and how many spikes would occur do to poor public health compliance.  I was planning to start work on the interior ceiling which included insulation and wiring in addition to the actual ceiling boards.  At some point here, Sutter Health's response to all things COVID-19 was in overdrive - I think that I worked 34 days in a row with no break. No time for van building, combined with high anxiety and the demand for innovation,  was causing extreme stress.  When I finally had a day off, I wanted to do some work on the van - I knew it would make me feel better, and believe that at some point I may actually be able to GO SOMEPLACE. I had read in another vanlifer's blog that these long barn boards were available at Home Depot. I liked the look and w...

 Post 10: Solar Power Installation -  Let me say that I think that solar power technology is amazing. It has come a long way and continues to evolve. With so much sunshine in CA, I am able to run all the power needs in my van almost entirely off of the sun - read FREE.  There are times when I want to run a plug-in electric heater at night when in dips into the 20s and 30s, and my converter shuts off when the batteries get to a certain point - more on that later.  But before any of that can happen - the installation must occur and.....you guessed it....more holes in the roof.  I knew absolutely nothing about solar panels, charge controllers, wiring.....you name it, I spent countless hours researching and also calculating how much solar I would need for my purposes. I went on line and got free wiring diagrams that included my planned solar set up. I purchased 2-160 watt solar panels (they were out of stock and I had to wait about 2 months to get them).  A not...

 Post 9-April 2020: Working with masks and solar power By now the pandemic was in full-swing and Jim's age put him at risk. Although he is more active and healthy than the majority of his peers (he is 82 after all), we were both concerned.  We discussed the matter and agreed that for now we would both wear masks and stay outdoors, which we had been doing anyway.  I was also getting to the most challenging portions of the build for me, all things electrical.  I wanted to be able to connect to "shore power" when it was available. I didn't expect to be at RV parks, but state and county parks often have hookups and it is nice to be able to run 110 appliances at times as well as charge the batteries if it is winter and/or not sunny.  So next we installed a 30 amp external plug and wired it to be connected later to a 2000 watt inverter/converter- this component allows 2 things - the inverter takes 110 from the outside (a hookup) and changes it to 12volt to charge my 2...

  Post 8- March, 2020 : The window - Part II I am sure that I aged 10 years that week; unfortunately it didn't bring me any closer to retirement. That would happen later in the year in September. Back to the window. What was NEVER mentioned in the video, instructions or precautions, was that almost imperceptible to the naked eye, the window was ever so slightly flared at the front bottom. Meaning the template was not simply a rectangle, as the window appeared, but some BASTARD shape that had directionality. I had traced the template upside down and backwards. *eyeroll* However, LUCKILY for me, I had cut the hole TOO SMALL overall. So Jim and I decided to just hold up the window frame on the INSIDE of the van, trace it and cut from the inside.  Thank the UNIVERSE that it worked.  With a little finagling we got it to fit and screwed the inner and outer pieces together.   It was the biggest feeling of relief that I think I have ever had. It would be appro...