HEC updates

[romanyrose]

G'day chap's, i guess it's a good thing my wood or marine ply comes to me free having had another argument with a tape measure and figures or just with myself to be honest , at my fourth attempt i got the shape i needed .

My jig saw and i don't get on with each other and somehow my fingers have a habit of getting in the way along with cutting a straight line i usually end up using my plane to straighten things out but i get used to that giving others something to laugh at .

With my faithful saw in hand and my right shoulder held tight in position {so it doesn't jump out of it's socket} i cracked on nice and steady, i eventually got it cut to the shape i required then gave the edges a light sanding before i tried it out.

As usual the back body was full of tools so with them put aside the extension in place i laid out the mattress and laid myself down just to try it i thought , the next thing i knew was i had someone waking me up with a brew .

Time to pack away due to it turning a tad cool and i needed to sort out my little dog because of those darn fireworks that terrify her although to be honest i had done enough for one day even though it was not a lot at least it was progress ready for tomorrow and some stain .

Catch you later. R-Rose .

[romanyrose]

Hey up chap's, after a bit more final rubbing down of the second hand that i know of ply with now nice rounded edges i emptied some stain /varnish into a paint tray, using a bit of old cotton sheet with one end rolled in to a ball i then dipped it in the stain and used the ball of the sheet as a sort of brush.

This way i get a good covering of stain with no brush marks or hairs also what is applied is only a thin coat so dries quicker in the sun trap of my back yard , i managed five coats before leaving it to dry thoroughly then going to the next stage of what will be my little home on wheels.

I think my next stage will be the off side rear panel of the back body, this mean's of course a frame work has to be made that will be glued and screwed together incorporating the insulation sheet's that again had been dropped off at my back door{half pack's left over from a job} so i am happy there and it will help keep out the cold.

When i can catch my lass to put up some pictures i will. Catch you later. R-Rose .

[romanyrose]

Hey up chap's, as usual a change of plan's due to the cold getting to my bones meant bending and twisting in a small area while i tinkered was not going to happen but i was adamant something would get done.

With some carpet now stuck to my bed extension and the glue having gone off i managed with a very sharp blade to cut off the excess and a trial fit helped me plan my next step which was to cut down the original table that hung from the top anti loose pin's.

I measured the depth from front to back of the gas hob allowing an inch spare at the front section then jonny my helper cut what was not needed off with a hand saw, doing this meant my bed extension which is a good four inches lower could be used as a table to either serve up my food on or just somewhere to put my mug when making a brew.

Of course my mattress and bedding {Dose Bag and Winnie the poo pillows } are just slid back or just rolled up while dinning etc under my tarp over the canopy or awning of which ever i take with me that of course depends on the time away or where i choose to trundle off to

Again you will understand more when pictures follow so sorry for that , there is one thing i am sure of having slept outside at ease with nature with my Matchless Chop beside my tent in the midst of winter , i am surely going to be a lot warmer and drier than my biking days of the past .

Catch you later. R-Rose .

[romanyrose]

Hey Up chap's, with still being on the weary side of what i class as an exciting day out at the tractor show talking the hind leg's off a donkey while sampling a tipple and a bottle i finally gathered some strength to rise from my pit i call my bed .

To be honest the old brain box would not stop thinking of what i should be doing and the fact i was burning daylight and to many hours were spent thinking while in the horizontal position , my thought's ment time for a strong brew and venture out to my wood pile.

Thank's to my helpful neighbor my wood pile of roofing lats had grown which is what i use to make my frame work what with it being pressure treated and all that, of course i find it good to work with being the right depth and thickness although there might be a few knot's my little hand plane tube of wood glue and screw's are what i use to build the idea's i come up with.

Unfortunately some of the wood was a tad wet but then by the time i had gathered it all up and put it under my lean to to dry darkness had crept up on me which meant wood work tool's needed to be sharpened and all that would be needed for a start tomorrow was got ready and laid out in the back of HEC.

I was not ready to call it a day so having been given one of these modern wireless-cd come mp3 players i thought studying the wires would be a good idea with the print so small my reading glasses and a magnifying glass only giving me a rough idea what colour went where i had to call on my lass who could only just read it to me while i wrote what i needed to know in my book of many words.

Hopefully a more productive day tomorrow . Catch you later. R-Rose .

[romanyrose]

G'day chap's, i am kind of stuck, what with the cold and damp not helping my movement a lot, although the wood is dried out i just left every thing ready for when i am a tad more supple .

I have to achieve if only a small job a day and i had noticed some fluid had leaked on the bottom of the inside of my tyres , due to the fluid dropping down a tad in the brake reservoir i thought now is the time to think about fitting grease nipples in the top swivel pin's.

I had already come across the flap with the springs on that is part of the selector fork for AlexB, i then felt happy to have a bash at something that didn't require bending and twisting in the back of HEC, the fact i had already got the top swivels ready it was just a matter of laying out the relevant drill bit's, clean down the work area and small drill stand vice.

I dot punched the area's that needed to be drilled after measuring more times than i care to remember then started off with the smallest drill possible with my small can of oil on stand by to keep the drill bit cool.

Once the small pilot hole was drilled i marked the swivel pin a 1/4 of an inch from the bottom of the pin dead center so it passed through the vertical drilling applying plenty of coolant to the drill bit while in action, i didn't break a drill bit .

After a brew i countersunk the holes apart from the one in the middle of the swivel pin on the top which has to be drilled and tapped for a grease nipple.

By this time having been stood a good while and concentrating, discomfort had crept up on me in a big way so i called it a day, happy in one sense i had at least achieved that job, a bit brassed off about the leak and the fact i really wanted to make a start on the off side frame work .

Never mind Rome was not built in a day,if i did it all today i would have nothing to do tomorrow .

Catch you later. R-Rose .

[chippit]

Hi and thanks for the updates Brad

It is really good to hear of other peoples projects, makes me feel that even though mine is taking forever it is all worth it.
Somehow for me it is not so much about the destination but the journey getting there, some days and but then other days when months of work comes together and you feel a real sense or achievment.

Work has really hampered progress this year again but I have managed to make x4 table legs (using a table from a charity shop that had the right metal ends) The roof is now completely finished including all the trim lining and bunks back in.

We took the front bumper off so I could clean up and paint the original tool box which was looking very scruffy only to find rot in the right front dumb iron in having a good look round while fitting new parabolic springs we found more rot in the chassis at the back , the fuel tank had a slight leak so we dropped that out and found a small crack in it but on the plus side it is now much easier to get to the area that needs welding so that will be a better job and I will be able to clean and repaint all round and under the fuel tank

Sorry to interupt your post but keep at it you are doing a fantastic job

Regards Christine

[romanyrose]

G'day Christine, you have not interrupted my post at all , in fact it is nice to know people read my waffling and take time to put down just what they have been up to as well.

From what you have written so far i can see your's is a proper made camper and you will have guide lines of how it should look and work with like a lift up roof etc, as for mine and which ever one you look at the differences are what ever has been available at what ever stage i have got to .

I have a garage that i used to visit which stored caravan's, if the rent didn't get paid or the caravan was to far gone for a small charge i could take what i needed or wanted , the same applied to an old school friend who bought gas board van's from the auction's stripped off the back bodies and made them into a flat bed truck's and sold them on .

Not bothering about the value of what was in the back bodies even though i had told him i had the choice of what i wanted, before they were scrapped it was a tad frantic unbolting the eberspacers-oven's-racking and flashing orange light's all of which i use today a good 30 year's later .

Back to HEC, i thought being as i got on so well yesterday i would finish off what i had done yesterday by drilling and tapping a thread to take the small grease nipple nope! it didn't happen , i had put the small tap's in an old tobacco tin laid in an oily rag safe .

Oh Dear!!, it's that safe place again , when will i ever learn with abusive word's to myself yet again but i distinctly remember putting the said tin on my tool box, while looking around i just thought which tool box due to having more than one .

Time for some tucker and an early shower hoping tomorrow will be a tad better than today . Catch you later. R-Rose .

[romanyrose]

G'day chap's, having run out of coffee-milk and sugar i thought i will just nip to the shops but the batteries on my noddy car have seen better day's and will now only get me one way , so with me being Mr Don't do as you are told i set off to Asda for the above .

Of course not realizing a bag of shopping is not good for a person that has to use a walking stick , i got quite a few comment's about how many have you had, for some reason they didn't believe me when i said none .

Anyway when i eventually got home i was straight to bed without a brew and remember nothing till this morning , i will not be doing that again .

Anyway after a couple of brew's it was out to the truck and take a look at the number plate light's that are fitted to the top of my side opening tailgate which to be honest i was not happy with, if you remember i used a block connector that had come from a Cambra which had been used in a cock pit somewhere according to my late father.

Anyway to be honest although it doesn't resemble a modern day block connector i prefer soldered bullet's so with it only being a small job i have altered the wiring like a normal person would do , by the time i was finished it had been dark for hour's and the dew had turned to ice.

So much for a small quick job but then it's my own fault as usual .

Catch you later. R-Rose .

[romanyrose]

Don't worry chap's, you are not re-reading the same post again you are reading what seem's like the same words but wrote down in a different way , having got warm after last night standing in the bitter cold wind i ventured out to HEC, upon opening the tailgate the wires i attempted to make a good job of looked atrocious , now i know i used to be indecisive but one thing i am sure of is i didn't like what had done .

That's it the soldered bullets were warmed by the soldering iron and i started again but this time in my more refreshed warm mind, with daylight making the job so much better i could see to solder the nipples so much easier, along with not trying to solder the flesh of my finger tip's to the wire i was surprisingly happier in what i was doing .

I ended up enlarging an existing hole to take a riv-nut that will hold a double clipped bracket for the positive and negative female part of the bullet connectors, the appropriate wires were then soldered with nipples one end and to the number plate loom the other.

With two layers of shrink sleeving molded to the soldered wires i connected everything up and my odd ball number plate lights work a treat, different maybe but i have a rear wheel carrier one side of the truck and my box for carrying my meth's on the other.

My lass had been out earlier in day light to take a picture for people to understand my waffling but by the time i had finished again darkness had fell upon me ,her polite words were i will do it tomorrow, my polite words were tomorrow never comes, her reply was do you want to wear your tea!! .

Catch you later. R-Rose, Oh! and the tea was lovely having eaten it off a plate and not the floor .

[romanyrose]

Well with the sun shining through my bedroom window for some reason i got the impression it was a warm summer day, i forgot i had been up with my St Bernard in the early hour's so she could relieve herself, that meant going down the bottom of my garden to her area in my dressing gown , because she is frightened of the dark bless her .

Because i use the roof bolt's that are a tad longer to bolt the treated tile lat in place, having applied some WD to aid the undoing of the 7/16 nut's it did make it a lot easier apart from having to twist my bulk to get at the little tinkers, remembering i have the tube for the canopy rail to slid in it was a tight fit with my rather large sausage fingers .

I had to stop more than once just to give me a break which sounds strange i know but i eventually got them undone and nut's and washers paired up ready for cleaning on the wire wheel along with the longer relevant bolt's.

I know it sounds strange but by this time i needed a break and a brew so gave my little dog a trundle which was just as well because some nice person had put out a nice lightweight pair of step's and a very large wireless , yes you guessed i struggled but i got them home with the step's that i have a use for and a wireless that blast's your ear's apart but is not digital .

You will hear more about the alloy step's at a later date, as for the wireless i ran the hoover over it and spent a couple of hour's sorting in my garage ready for tomorrow, i soon got very cold so called it a night very content.

Catch you later. R-Rose .