February 22, 2018. The day we finally hit the road for a test run. The van is not nearly done, but the electrical is essentially done, the galley is essentially done, the water system is essentially done, the heater is essentially done, the wardrobe is functional, the bed is in, it’s time to get out and find some snow. I’m typing this post during a snowstorm from the SE corner of Idaho heading into Utah as we are on our way to visit friends and snowboard in Colorado.
I didn’t post anything yesterday because we have put in a couple long days to get ready to leave. Here is how it all went down.
On Tuesday I mentioned the problems with the driver’s seat swivel hitting the electrical cabinet. Here’s the photos.
In any event, I finally got the seat back around so we could finish the electrical cabinet.
The next morning it was fun to see the solar panels doing their things in some solid sun and nice cold air. As a reminder, we have 3 x 180W panels on the roof.
Yesterday, we put in the galley. It was always a challenge to take it in and out and we had to do it a couple times in order to fit it in. Once we had it where we wanted, we wanted to make sure it was well secured. As it sticks quite a ways into the doorway there is only a little wall onto which we can bolt the cabinet so we wanted to make sure it was also screwed down solidly into the floor joists. Of course, we have covered those joists so we had to find them again.
With the galley in, we had to install the water system and wiring. The water pipe leads from the tank into the galley to the pump and then the sink. We have also installed an accumulator tank to maintain some pressure and a t-valve that leads to another pipe running back to the back of the van where we will eventually install a dog/bike/people wash. The galley also has a regular AC outlet on it and the pump gets DC wiring and a switch.
Our initial attempts to force the fittings into the 1/2″ tubes, even with a hair dryer to heat the tubes, was miserable. I was twisting and pushing and hammering (with a rubber mallet) and they still didn’t want to go together well. Fortunately I realized I could put a little dish soap on the barbed fittings and then they started sliding right in. Amazing what a little lubricant will do.
This morning I still had to finish plumbing the sink and working out a drain. Two trips to Ace before 9:15 a.m. mostly got that done!
With the water done, we have no reason not to get out of town so we finished packing it all up and hit the road.
We have already learned a couple important things about the van. First, we have to find a good way to secure the drawers beyond the small pull of the drawer slide. We made it all the way to the end of the driveway before the drawers slid open! We also learned that both dogs can eat out of the dog food bowls in the drawer. (Sara was confident it would work. I was skeptical.)
