snail powered

Read down this article to the section quoted below. While the foil on my car door panel is not totally air bound on both sides it is mostly air bound on the side that is reflective which faces to the exterior. And indeed it is doing a good job of keeping the interior from excessive heat building up radiated into the interior. A lot of bang for my investment of about $1.25 in aluminum foil tape for each of the doors. "Aluminum foil, with its reflective surface, can block the flow of radiation. Some foils have higher absorption and emissivity qualities than others. The variations run from 2% to 72%, a differential of over 2000%. Most aluminum insulation has only a 5% absorption and emissivity ratio. It is impervious to water vapor and convection currents, and reflects 95% of all radiant energy which strikes its air-bound surfaces."

My under cab floor cushioning started going in today. It is high density closed cell foam onto which I am applying foil backing. The foam has sound dampening and decoupling properties as well as being insulating and cushioning. The metal is for reflecting heat. The foam I am using was specifically made for auto insulation and sound dampening. I buy it by the foot from a supplier. Its an industry standard product for the purpose rather than something being hyped by a company selling overpriced items. The average consumer simply does not know a lot about what the common products for auto insulation are as you don't typically find them in retail stores. I used this foam in other places in my project and still had enough on hand to do the floor cushion. I also had the adhesive back foil on hand. So I am no money out of pocket to do the cab floor project. Good thing I had enough on hand as when I was there the other day I noticed the supplier was out of stock. There is not a tinny door slam sound in my Sunrader but maybe I have not heard it because I don't go around slamming doors

The topic of this tread is insulation from summer heat. This thread is not about the acoustic characteristics of audio systems. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SSUXXzN26zg

You will have a good sized space to work in if you take the stove out during the project. Propane line to unscrew plus a few screws holding the cabinet in. Essentially that opens the cabinet up without removing the cabinet itself. Removing the stove was not all that bad. It will easily fit through the passenger door in the cab with that seat removed. I was able to handle the stove removal by myself as it is not very heavy. I did not put mine back in as I found upon removal the backside of it was rusted out.

Why would I paint a liquid on the inside doors of my cab panels that are made of hardboard and in the process of it destroy them by having them warp? Why would I want the extra weight of that product when something far lighter will do a better job? Why would I want the high cost of the product when I can spend less than $2.50 to reliably accomplish the task? Why use chemicals when you don't need to? your plan B is not going to work as a plan B, sorry no cigar for that one The characteristic of thin aluminum foil as a heat reflective material is well established and the documentation is reliable. You could even prove it to yourself if you had a surface temperature sensor. But you do need to remember it has to be a reflective surface, if you coat the surface with adhesive it won't be very effective. So duct tape aluminum foil is only going to reflect heat away from the shiny side that has no adhesive on it. It won't be suitable for every situation as the thin surface is easily damaged by scratching. The aluminum foil won't keep the cold out or in. All it does is reflect heat back towards the source. My use of it is not anything radical, they have been adding a layer of it to insulation bats for a very long time. They use shiny mylar film for the same purpose. So it is not a great leap of intelligence on my part to putting a layer of it on my car door panel to reflect the heat back towards its source. It won't do much of anything to help retain heat inside in the winter as it is facing the wrong direction. I did an experiment and took a thermometer over to my Sunrader yesterday afternoon. I went over there at the hottest part of the day (89 degrees) just to see how effective my heat countering measures are. There are others in place besides the foil on the doors. The sun was hitting my motorhome on the south side which is the way the cab was facing and also on the west side as it is was mid afternoon. There is a metal building against the east side and its steel cladding does absorb some heat during the day which radiates back towards my Sunrader. But at the lower level of the building back away from the nose of the cab the temperature is at ambient as it is always in the shade. The motorhome had not been opened in the last two days other than the two roof vents were cracked open about an inch. The ambient outside air temperature was 89 degrees and the inside temperature measured at 93 degrees. Four degrees above ambient temperature is an excellent result for a vehicle that has been sitting in direct sun much of the day. In under ten minutes I had the inside temperature down to 88 degrees using fans to exchange the air. The intake fan was pulling in air from a window on the shady east side. But 88 is still much too hot for comfortable working so I left. But at least I took the tools and materials I needed over there so I am all ready to go at sunrise.

A simple to do but very effective way to keep the cab interior a little cooler. Take off the cab door lining and cover the backside with aluminum duct tape. That will reflect the heat from the sun hitting the metal car body back out towards the exterior. A good place to buy this kind of tape in larger rolls that cost less per foot is at the big box home center stores. Look in the aisles where they sell metal ducting parts for HVAC. Don't buy it in the paint department as it cost more per foot for the very same material. You can see in this photo just how much visual reflection there is on the backside of my door panel that I covered with aluminum duct tape.

There is a more energy efficient 5,000 BTU window mount air conditioner than the one in that article. This little 5,000 Frigidaire unit has a low energy start feature which means it is more likely to be able to start with a generator. That is something important if you go off grid. It uses 4.0 amps and 450 watts for cooling but I don't know if that is on the high setting or the low setting as they don't specify. http://www.frigidaire.com/Air-Conditioning-Dehumidifiers/Air-Conditioners/FFRA0511R1/ best price I saw on the internet today is $119.00 with free shipping. http://www.pcrichard.com/catalog/catalog-product.jsp?prodId=FFRA0511R1&cm_mmc=pla-_-Window%20Air%20Conditioners-_-Frigidaire-_-FFRA0511R1&utm_medium=cse&utm_source=GoogleBase&KPID=FFRA0511R1&kpid=FFRA0511R1&gclid=CJqk14a6sMYCFVNufgod1XsGlQ There is also a remote control version of the 5,000 BTU window unit. Something that would make sense for me as I would need to install it where my propane used to be located, under the rear bench seat. It would be difficult to reach the controls in that location. It cost more than the manual control unit.

I saw a couple of youtube videos of people running the smaller BTU capacity portable 15 amp air conditioners using a Honda eu 1000i generator. That type that are roll around air conditioners with hoses for the exhaust. They were powering units such as this 5,000 BTU unit from Fridgidaire http://www.amazon.com/Frigidaire-FRA053PU1-000-Portable-Conditioner/dp/B004P8K39G that are designed with a low power start up to help prevent tripping circuit breakers. Will it work or won't it, I don't know as I have not tried it but it was working for them without doing any modification to the air conditioner. The generator has to have the eco mode turned off when you power the AC on. I might need a few more BTUs and the ones in the video were larger but they did have the low power start feature so that must be the critical component to look for if you go in this direction for trying it with one of the smaller sized compressors. My Sunrader is an early version, it does not have one of the roof beams that were added a few years later to prevent roof sag from the weight of an air conditioner. I really don't want to develop a saggy roof so I would rather not install a roof AC. Low 90's daytime high for this weekend but there is a nice breeze that is coming from offshore over the water of Puget Sound. But the hottest part of the day is over now so I am heading to the Sunrader to get a few hours of work done on my interior remodel.

That is fast delivery!

You need a bar stool tilted replacement swivel plate. The swivel plates are not very thick so they are a good choice for this project. The cost about $12.00 or so apiece and there are a number of places online to purchase them from. The tilted swivel plate is for stools that have a back on them. To install it you will need to screw it to the bottom of the chair, that might require you to add a plywood plate under the chair. First attach the plate to the chair You will need to be able to remove the top of the base you are installing the chair onto so you can attach the swivel plate to it by thru bolting it to the base of the cabinet. Then install the top of the base onto the base frame to finish the job. The other choice is an extra piece of plywood that screws to the top of your base. But if you are interested in saving height experiment and figure out what works best when you have all the parts in hand. The standard height of the top of the seat for a dining room chair is between 16 to 18 inches. I usually use 18 inches. That gives you twelve inches of leg space for a 30 inch high dining room table. Whatever height of chair you choose remember you need that approx 12 inches of leg space between the chair and the underside of the dining room table.

We have a tall wild blackberry bush that comes up inside a hedge by the workshop. Best blackberries ever and unlike most of the wild ones around here they are pretty much seedless. I turned my friend onto that bush having to force him to eat the first one since he hates seeds. He pretty much cleaned it out last year. Now he is looking forward to snacks in August. That pole picker should do the job since most of the berries are way too high to reach without a ladder.

I like that the back of those chairs provides head support. So how does the head cushion position work with your wife's back length? I have an Xtra long back myself so lounge chair backs that are typically designed for men work out OK. But the depth of the seat tends to be too much as I have short legs to go with the long back. I can't sit through an after dinner conversation in typical chairs so I do like your idea. But dining like the Romans is even better. I think they were on the right track

RV fridges are made with flanges that allow them to be bolted in place. Strapping is not going to be as secure as that. Constraining an item...an engineering term. You need to constrain the movement in all directions, up, down, side to side and front to back. Vibration cushioning would typically used along with bolting, it is not enough on its own to secure an item such as a refrigerator. For instance in a fairly typical type of vibration reduction you would have a thick rubber shock mount washer though which a bolt would go. Sometimes motors and compressors are mounted that way. However I did not see any shock absorbers used at the bolts that held in the fridge I removed from my motorhome. I doubt that adding vibration dampening would do much for you in terms of isolating the movement of the fridge from the movement of the vehicle. That would take a whole independent suspension system surrounding the fridge to make that happen and such an item would really increase the cost of the fridge. You won't achieve it with just a bit of rubber padding. On a rough road you are relying on the suspension system of the vehicle to isolate and absorb the primary shock. As you are tying the fridge into the vehicle structure by means of bolting it to the cabinet that is tied into structure you are thereby tying it into a shock absorbing system. The door on a fridge is not going to rattle as it has a rubber gasket. However you do need to add some type of locking device to the door of the fridge to keep it from swinging open while traveling.

if you are looking for chairs to mount on a box do an image search on "Japanese floor chairs". There are some comfortable looking ones at affordable prices. You could mount them on heavy duty lazy susan swivel plates.

I would have done it too... when all the computers were not all online and were not being hacked on a regular basis. But the fact is they are. Its in the news almost everyday. Apply online...so easy to do but next to impossible to undo.

In the long run you are the one who is being taken advantage of. How is giving away all your very personal information just to save $50.00 being clever? Please have some "street smarts" and don't do this stuff to yourself. Hackers are busy trying to break into all of the major companies web sites to steal this kind of info. The less of it you put out there the better off you are. Even if you cancel that card the information you gave to obtain the card will remain stored in their computers sitting their waiting for hackers to pick it off the vine.

Stand at the far end of the motorhome and take a photo of the area. Post it and I will shoot you back some ideas. But it really takes seeing exactly what is there to know the more clever approaches for how you install a table. Dinette seats do not have to be uncomfortable. Its all in the designing of them. The way the RV makers did them was all about cutting cost. They were built to the minimum standard and are not really comfortable for multifunctional lounging, eating as well as sleeping. It is not just about how to mount the table. It is about how comfortable is the seating and will it work for multifunction. Those are two very different tasks, lounging and dining and there is a difference in the best ergonomic angle of the back when lounging versus one that makes for comfortable sitting more upright at a table for eating. If you really need both to please you and your wife there is a solution you can build. Make the back adjustable. at base. You could have the seat back hinged at the top and it pulls forward with detents to fix the position and the seat base pulls forward on slides with detents as well. In this case the seat cushions on the base are wide enough so that the back edge goes all the way back against the wall under the lower edge up the seat back cushions. When pulled forward for lounging you have a nice deep couch with a reclined back. When pushed in with the seat back also pushed in you have a dining chair that is not too deep and has good back support with cushions that are not reclined back too far. With the back cushions attached with velcro so you can remove them you will still have a long bench that is wide enough that it can be used for napping. As it is built on a box that spans your wheel well you will also have storage room under the seating. It is good to have a second sleeping space as sometimes a partner is having a restless night from coughing, pain or whatever and does not want to disturb the other person's sleep.

This one deserves a place in the chow section. Build your own berry picker, the berries roll down the tube. But get a cap for the end and then you unload it into a bucket or bowl later instead of relying on a plastic bag which would be prone to getting a hole in it when working in among the bushes. Link to instructions: http://www.instructables.com/id/BERRY-PICKER/

A little tub is also good for clothes washing and dog washing.

Most of the people who are attempting the 110 home style of fridge in an RV are doing so because they don't have the price of an RV fridge in their budget. I can relate to that. My budget for a new fridge had to get pushed forward to next year. But I am hopeful of finding a good used 12 volt one. I am keeping a vigilant eye out on craigslist. Plus being in a marine based community means I have more opportunity for finding exactly what I am looking for which is a fridge without propane. People are often upgrading their boats to have larger fridges and I want a small fridge. I could also try the bulletin board trick and ask for one. There is a bulletin board by the gate of every dock in the marina. The same is true of other marinas in the area.

No guilt involved. They wanted the items to go to someone who was fixing up a Datsun. They were not likely to have paid much for them either. Its just passing it along. My original seats have good frames and springs so they will get passed along in the same spirit to someone who is wanting to do an original restoration on a Datsun. There are quite a few Ratsun members looking for the original seats to restore.

I usually end up watching most of the PBS shows online as I am often doing other things when they are scheduled for their regular times.

The Maxxair fan without the built in rain hood is priced at $140. Just be sure you are not confusing the two different models.

The MaxxAir with 3 speeds, no remote, with the built in cover seems to be selling for just under $200.00. Looks like a nice fan unit. I do like that it has a built in cover that collapses down. But it does stick 8 inches aft of the opening in the closed position so if you have solar panels that are close to the vent opening you should measure how far away they are to make sure you have clearance for the MaxxAir with built in cover installation. Or if you plan on adding panels be sure to see how this unit will work into your intended use of the roof for solar panels.

How did I get so lucky? Doing a happy dance. New to me seats to replace the seats from hell. These came from a 2000 Mercedes Kompressor. The person I got them from has already modified them to bolt right into my Datsun/Nissan 720 that powers my Sunrader. Fully electric, fully adjustable and they are heated. Not a rip or tear on them, no worn areas on the leather either. The pair came with a center console box that is also ready to screw right into my truck. All this for ...hold onto your jaw...$50.00. I did have to battle I-5 traffic for the 4 hour round trip drive to fetch them home but it was so worth it . He also gave me (free) a really good battery that I will substitute for my worn out house battery. He was cleaning house from stuff that was for a project that went in a different direction when he discovered the bench seat in the 720 truck he bought to fix up for his son was welded in and therefore these seats were not going to work out for his project. I will get back to work tomorrow and finish up installing the new floor covering and its insulation padding in the cab. Then I can put the seats in and try them out! Too bad there is not enough room behind the seats to fully recline them. But with all that ability to fine tune the adjustment my bad back will be so much better off than in any other car I have owned. Well maybe it won't beat out my S10, I could drive a 14 hour day in those seats without pain.