Sara said to title this post “Hump Daaaay!” It is Thursday.

So easy to lose track of time when van construction is the only order of business.

My first job today was to finish up the microwave cabinet. I had a few more electrical connections to deal with before I could call it done. The outlet took some time as I changed out the gang box behind the outlet and added ring terminals to the wires. I did not like the idea of wrapping stranded wire around regular compression screws on the outlet. I checked with the local electrical shop about getting an outlet where the wires fit in differently, but they did not have those outlets and they told me ring terminals would be fine. I also had to rewire the heater control as I had never trimmed it.

I also spent some time working on back panels for the two compartments. The top one is done and in; the lower one needs some more thought. It is not going to fit very well if I try to cover the whole back, plus I need to keep the airflow clear. I may not worry about a back for now as it will be mostly filled with the microwave.

Naturally, the dogs wanted to help.

Grampa took Kenai for a ride so Tanzi claimed the bed. She didn’t even seem to mind using my tools as a pillow.
When he came back, Kenai got the front seat(s). Sara recently picked up the inflatable pillow to fill the space between the seats so we can make a full dog couch there.
Once I cleaned up my tools they shared the bed.

Sara spent the day securing reflectix to the back doors. We have had some of it just hanging there for a while and it needed to be cleaned up. She did an amazing job covering all the exposed metal back there. Eventually we have to decide how to finish that area, but for now at least the bare metal is covered and slightly insulated.

I don’t think we are going to get very good cell phone reception in here!
Sara working in the “basement.” It is really striking how much colder it is down at floor level than up at bed level. That difference is certainly something we have to consider in how we heat the van.

I also started making legit progress on the electrical cabinet. Although I certainly don’t have a full layout, I made some decisions that allowed me to get started on some of the wiring. I have holes now for all the DC wires, the AC wires, the AC shore power, and the vent. I *think* that is all the holes I need so I can probably bite the bullet and mount the cabinet up to the wall. I also mounted the DC fusebox and measured out all the wires and crimped on all the ring terminals. The only DC wire I have not finished is the heater wire as it is currently attached to the batteries next to the cabinet. I don’t want to disconnect any of that until I can put it straight in and turn the heat back on!

The whole electrical cabinet. The batteries will go on the right; the inverter on the left.
DC wires go out halfway up after attaching to fuse box. The shore power wire is at the bottom near where the inverter connection sits. AC wires go out in the middle. The vent is right behind one of the cooling grills on the inverter.

 

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