snail powered
-
Posts
876 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Events
Profiles
Forums
Gallery
Posts posted by snail powered
-
-
Oh bushy tailed wood rats...known by their common name....pack rats! You can throw shiny Mardi Gras beads at them
. Or leave out tiny shiny button batteries for them andmaybe they will swallow them.One piece of good advice is steam clean your engine if you ever do get mice in it to remove any trace of rat/mice pee because that is what attracts more mice.
-
look on the breast plate
-
Seattle. Lunch at the beach at the Elks club yesterday! Minus 1.5 tide.
-
Don't worry so much, you can plug up any potential mouse entry holes in a very short work session. There is a very small, finite number of places that are potential entry points to the interior. Get a piece of cardboard to lay on, an inspection mirror and flashlight and crawl under the rig.
-
Audi is making diesel fuel from water and CO2 http://www.nacsonline.com/News/Daily/Pages/ND0505153.aspx#.VUwCfPlVhBc The world is starting to wise up.
Except that making and then burning diesel fuel is not going to reduce the carbon footprint issues of pollution and global warming.
At least the compressed air sidesteps some of that even if it is done with fossil fuel engines.
-
Stainless steel wool stuff into any openings in the coach such as around the holes where the vent pipes from the waste takes go through the floor. Hardware stores sell it. I put that in the over-sized holes for those pipes that they drilled into the floors. I also squirted a small amount of spray foam in it too to secure it in place and keep out the drafts and road dirt. Don't over do the spray foam or it will push the stainless wool up out of the void. There was also a big gap around my gasoline filler tube where it ran down through the floor so I did the same treatment to it. The foam and wood is just soft enough that it won't cause an abrasion issue for the pipes and filler tubes and it can be dug out if ever that needs to happen. In other words it is reversible.
-
Almost done with my aluminum sub frame for the kitchen cabinet. It needs a few more cross bars.One more cross bar at the top which will support the narrow area left between the stove top and the sink cutouts. Not sure where that will land as I have not made paper patterns for those cutouts. It also needs cross bars to support a plywood base for the new 12v/110 fridge that will fit over the fresh water tank.
-
Don,
Thanks, that makes sense, I dunno if I have these, but if I do, I will probably add steel/alu plates to the side walls and attach L-brackets to support the top cabinets from below instead of attaching them through the roof.
You won't get enough support by only attaching them to the walls. You do need to have them fastened to the roof structure as well. So lets have a discussion on how upper cabinets are created.
Cabinets are box shaped, that is what gives them strength. A modern kitchen cabinet is built as a box and then it is put in place screwed to the wall. The sides of the box are solid panels and they provide a lot of the strength of the cabinets. It is fastened at the top and bottom to the wall. An L bracket at the bottom would give not given enough support for that structure as it also needs to be screwed into the wall at the top to prevent it from pivoting off the wall which would provide enough force to bend that L Bracket into a V.
RV's are designed to be lightweight which means using as little material as possible in the cabinets. So the upper cabinet structure is essentially a long L shape made up of the front face of the cabinet and the bottom of the cabinet. It might have one panel to close off an exposed side end. The other end(s) is borrowed from adjacent structure such as a bathroom wall. The other two sides of the cabinet box are created by attaching the front and bottom to the wall and ceiling of the RV. Doing it that way is the essential part of the weight saving instead of adding more material to build the cabinets. So structurally it is essential that the top of the cabinet front gets screwed to the ceiling and that the back edge of the cabinet bottom is screwed to the wall. If you tried to support the cabinet and its contents with an L shaped bracket on the wall once again the L shaped bracket would get folded into a V shape because the cabinet along with the contents is going to want to rotate down. You would need a triangle to provide support for heavy loads if you are going to support them at the base. But even so because of the movement of the RV you need the upper front face of the cabinet to be screwed to the ceiling to provide stability. Otherwise even if supported from below it would be slamming up and down whenever you hit a bump.
Don't try to re engineer lightweight structures unless you understand structures and how loads are carried and how loads are transferred to other structural members. You don't have to be an engineer to understand the basics you just have to think it through and perhaps do a bit of research and reading.
-
It is very likely framed like many wood framed RVs. They are somewhat similar to house framing. They build the framing while it is flat on the factory floor one side at a time. Then stand it up in place. So a long board top and bottom the length of the wall with studs every so many feet and of course framing around windows, doors and hatches. The roof is done the same way, long boards at the edge and studs between. The walls go up first then the roof section is placed on top and secured to the long boards at the top of the walls. That is why the other person described it as a cage as it does resemble one. So there are no beams as such just long stringers top and bottom at the edges with studs between. But because at the top where the roof rest on the side walls it is two stringers thick (one from the wall and one from the roof) which creates a more substantial piece that acts somewhat like a beam. The siding is then attached and that creates the lateral (diagonal) stability that keeps the structure from racking. If the siding was bonded all along the studs and stringers it then creates a stress skin panel which is light weight and strong. With stress skin panel construction you don't need larger sized framing pieces. But a heavy air conditioner can regionally overload the engineered strength of the system which is why there might be sagging in that area and if water leaked in that could have also weakened the framing in that area.
Here is a video on building a wood framed travel trailer. Motorhomes of the stick framed type are built in a very similar fashion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptMwvpY-ki4
Soaking wood in water then letting it dry and/or just heating wood then placing a weight on and then letting it cool it can create a permanent bow in wood. So an RV that does not leak but is located in a really hot region with a lot of direct sun could also potentially get a saggy roof in the location of the air conditioner. I don't think a lot of people realize that it is the heat far more than the moisture in the steam box bending process that allows the wood to be forced into shapes that retain a curve.. The same is true of fiberglass shells, having a really hot roof can reform the fiberglass into developing a localized permanent sag under the weight of an air conditioner. Best advice for really hot days is park in the shade to prevent issues.
-
I have a 90 winni v6, it has foam sandwich boards and alu roof,
I have a little sag where the a/c sits.
I looked all around and from what I can see I don't see any structural beams.
Am I correct to assume that my winni does not have any structural beams in the roof structure? or in the walls?
Have you thought about using an X-ray vision stud finder that senses changes in structural density? That should help you map out the structural members.
-
Looking very nice indeed. Not many more days until its done!
-
Peugeot just announced a totally radical new approach for fuel efficiency. No batteries, its done with compressed air!
-
I use this.
Put some in a cup or jar and apply with a brush, let sit about 30 min and scrape the caulk off.
It has removed silicone and whatever the previous owners smeared all over the windows and siding.
I've never used it on fiberglass, but the add says you can.
I have used that company's adhesive remover product and it was also excellent.
-
huh?
Star Wars...Yoda with big ears....
-
Maybe we should let Debbit have her topic back?
-
Birch plywood does not play well with water.
-
Patching them is worth a try. You won't be out a lot of money or labor time if it does not work.
Of course the issue is where is the hole, how big it is and what material and adhesive are needed.
Good luck!
-
There are a ton of absolutely worthless LED's out there you do get what you pay for in build quality. The tower LED's to me kind of waste a lot of light going the wrong direction. If the price seems to be too good to be true it probably is. I have a set of recessed mount LED's very nicely made lots of light but they all most kill my FM radio with noise.
It is not the LED's themselves that are causing the FM radio noise, its the power dimmer controller doing that.
-
The two part product Back East Don bought has a recommended primer that should be used on any areas where there is a doubtful surface prep situation.
To get EDPM to stick properly you have to lightly sand the surface of it, clean it of all dust residue and then apply a specialty primer to the surface of the EDPM.
A good generalized surface prep chart for getting adhesives to bond.
http://www.adhesive.com/instructions_detail_surfaceprep__adhesives_application.html
Using chemicals on aluminum. Not a good idea to use caustic solutions on it. One thing many people don't realize is that aluminum is porous. The porosity can make it difficult to remove all traces of chemicals and caulks from the surface. If you do use a caustic then be sure to use a neutralizer. If you don't know if what you are using is a caustic look at the MSDS sheet for the product, that will tell you. Simple Green is a caustic. Acetone is not and as it leaves no residue behind it is a good last surface wipe preparation cleaner on aluminum before applying adhesives. Appropriate safety measures please, gloves on your hands and remember that is flammable liquid on those rags so don't toss them into the trash can. Do a bucket wash and rinse then hang up for a line dry. Then you can reuse or dispose of them.
Not just the aluminum but a lot of the roof coatings that people tend to put up on these roofs are damaging to EPDM. That and it complicates the adhesive part. I starting looking into alternatives but didn't like any of the options. A quick interesting read at an engineering site I've posted questions before as part of my work has this post with some engineers talking about adhering to aluminum. Eng-tips.com I never knew bonding anything was this complicated.
-
This charge controller looks good and pretty cheap
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00MB0N8K6?vs=1
Even has a couple of USB charges built in. Should be good for the wall in my over cab area
there are a few youtube videos on this model
-
Thank you for your posting. You are inspiring me get rid of the carpet in my '90 Warrior. I've figured out what to do around stair well, but I'm still unsure what to do at the front where the carpet laps over into the cab area. Can you describe how you made this transition? Also, I'm looking for advice from another Warrior owner. I pulled off the TV antenna and laid down a new rubber roof. That fixed ALMOST all of my water problems. I still have a very small amount of leakage in right corner of the cab-over bunk. It shows up in at the overlap in the interior panel just under the edge of the mattress. I've caulked all the edge seams. Caulked around the window, even sealed up the marker lights, but I still get a wet spot. Any ideas?
Captain Tolleys ..It will find the tiny voids. Sometimes takes as many as 3 applications but it really does work. Solved the leak issue at my door threshold where the only other option was to take the door frame apart which would have been many hours of labor. Solved the leak issue on our boat where even removing old caulking new bedding compound and putting on new caulking never fixed it. Mystery leak fixer!
-
Nice stash! Getting it is the fun part. Installing it all, not so much
I would like a Fantastic Fan with hood for my main vent. But the idea of crawling up on the roof and spending days chiseling off the miles thick roofing compound the previous owner spread around the vent has meant I can think of a hundred other chores to get done first. The vent was not leaking, he was just a gung-ho new owner looking for DIY jobs but he had no skills or patience with such things so he just slopped in on way too thick. Maybe in a couple of years it will hit the top of my improvements to be made list.
-
Liquid roll on coatings that are designed for RV roofs, they can be applied over metal. The company has been around for a long time.
Liquid roll on EDPM coating, Seems the easiest way to go but when you apply it the temperature must be above 55 degrees. At this time of year it might take a while to cure if the night time temps drop below 55 and the day time temps are relatively low as well. You can add another coat at a later time. http://www.advancedrubbercoatings.com/site/1584080/page/45031
This is another coating option from the same company. a two part urethane and it too will stick to metal but you only have a one to two hour pot life open time before it kicks off. But at least you can get it to kick off during cooler spring time weather. You will want to be all set up and maybe have a partner to work with so you can get it on quickly. Read the directions carefully to note about the limited window of opportunity for applying a second coat and what it will take to put on a second coat after that time limit has run out. http://www.advancedrubbercoatings.com/site/1584080/page/831707
you will probably need to prime the surface for the best results before using the coatings. Prep work is always important but it looks like you have a great start on it
http://www.advancedrubbercoatings.com/site/1584080/page/2477237
-
If you think a 30 year old rv is out of true, try redoing and patching a wood floor of a 100 year old house and adding crown molding.
been there, done that on the house before last that I owned and remodeled
. Or leave out tiny shiny button batteries for them andmaybe they will swallow them.
Peugeot Just Announced 117Mpg City Hybrid Car
in Miscellaneous & Non-related
Posted
Why do you think that burning wood is a good thing?
Burning dead trees is a good thing is when it is done in a process that produces very little C02 while creating a carbon product, bior char, that can be sequestered in the soil to enrich it and make it available to oxygen producing plant life. Bio char can turn poor quality soils into very rich soils. Right now there is a problem in the western US with a lot of dead trees that need to be harvested and turned into lumber products or bio char. Not doing so is creating issues of major forest fires which means we are loosing way too many oxygen producing trees.