Well, 2011 is here - progress since the last post has continued, albeit slower than previously as a lot of time has been spent looking for work - Sue found a temporary job leading up to Christmas and will be working on the census as of February. Contract work for me has been more problematic - there isn't the same level of opportunities available as even only in September. This is now top priority to stop us burning too much of a hole in the trip finances.
I've pulled the wetroom floor out recently to reconfigure the heating system - I've installed a radiation panel (thanks to Dug for the copper sheet!) under the loo tank in order to stop it freezing up in cold weather and have continued the pipes through into the entrance area to allow me to install another heater element at that end of the space when I find the right radiator/fan combination to construct a small but powerful hot air source. Whilst I was doing this there was one day of good weather - I jumped at the opportunity and cut a big hole in the side of the box to fit the external access door to the loo tank - this then allowed me to fix the loo itself in position and seal everything with silicone. I've also managed to get a fold-up wash sink and the shower fitted and plumbed - the local plumbers merchants were beginning to wonder what I was up to as I was continually demanding odd-sized bits of hardware.
The guy who built the box for us didn't seal the door - this would have been a problem for water and dust ingress and also in terms of heat loss. I've now worked out a way of achieving a good seal, have got the metal, rubber etc and have fitted it - the end result not only works but is also much neater than it was previously. I was so pleased with the way it worked that I've applied it to the locker doors too.
The basic heating systems are working well so far - a concern with the water heating system being mounted under the flatbed is that the pipes are exposed to the cold and therefore liable to freezing. The heater system isn't designed to allow you to fit any kind of frost control - however I'm working on a way of using relays to provide a switching signal from a frost thermostat mounted on the pipes to automatically bring the heater online in case things start to get too cold - first test today has revealed a problem, but hopefully we'll find a solution.
The inverter is mounted and wired - giving us up to 1500 watts of 240Vac from the batteries is good - it powers the microwave nicely.
We now have a safe bolted to the chassis that will hold cameras, laptop and other valuables.
I'm now waiting for some reasonable weather to be able to do some "outside jobs" that have been building up, including the fitting of an awning that I've managed to acquire - this will give us some welcome shade in the midday sun!
Ian
I've pulled the wetroom floor out recently to reconfigure the heating system - I've installed a radiation panel (thanks to Dug for the copper sheet!) under the loo tank in order to stop it freezing up in cold weather and have continued the pipes through into the entrance area to allow me to install another heater element at that end of the space when I find the right radiator/fan combination to construct a small but powerful hot air source. Whilst I was doing this there was one day of good weather - I jumped at the opportunity and cut a big hole in the side of the box to fit the external access door to the loo tank - this then allowed me to fix the loo itself in position and seal everything with silicone. I've also managed to get a fold-up wash sink and the shower fitted and plumbed - the local plumbers merchants were beginning to wonder what I was up to as I was continually demanding odd-sized bits of hardware.
The guy who built the box for us didn't seal the door - this would have been a problem for water and dust ingress and also in terms of heat loss. I've now worked out a way of achieving a good seal, have got the metal, rubber etc and have fitted it - the end result not only works but is also much neater than it was previously. I was so pleased with the way it worked that I've applied it to the locker doors too.
The basic heating systems are working well so far - a concern with the water heating system being mounted under the flatbed is that the pipes are exposed to the cold and therefore liable to freezing. The heater system isn't designed to allow you to fit any kind of frost control - however I'm working on a way of using relays to provide a switching signal from a frost thermostat mounted on the pipes to automatically bring the heater online in case things start to get too cold - first test today has revealed a problem, but hopefully we'll find a solution.
The inverter is mounted and wired - giving us up to 1500 watts of 240Vac from the batteries is good - it powers the microwave nicely.
We now have a safe bolted to the chassis that will hold cameras, laptop and other valuables.
I'm now waiting for some reasonable weather to be able to do some "outside jobs" that have been building up, including the fitting of an awning that I've managed to acquire - this will give us some welcome shade in the midday sun!
Ian