Beaver Lodge Remodel Begins in Ernest
This weekend we started to get serious about fixing things with the van. There is so much to do and I guess it dawned on me that we are leaving in about 88 days. Now I'm not saying that it is time to panic, but it is definitely time to spend the majority of our at-home weekends in the van.
One of the odd things that seems to have occurred is that we appear to have developed a bit of a following where Mike lives. There are several people who have taken to staring at us as we work. Now we look at his rental agreement and it seems that there is no issue about working on a vehicle in the parking lot, but we'll see. This weekend was a good test for the Beaver Lodge. When we went out to work on Saturday it was decidedly HOT... then in less than 24 hours the temperature had dropped 20+ degrees and it was COLD. Crazy March weather that was not really in like a lion and out like a lamb or vice versa, it was just lion and lamb every other day.
On the other hand it was a bit challenging to get Mike and me down to the van to work at all, because it was the Pokemon Go water Pokemon special this weekend and we were torn between the need to work on the van and the need to catch Magikarp... hey the new shiny Gyarados is not going to build itself!
- SATURDAY -
ââ I think that the heat drove us to finally want to take the window measurements. What is there is really nice to look at, but not very functional. We decided to take the measurements and create blackout curtains that will allow us to gain some space and make better use of airflow in the van.
â Here you can see me just starting to notice how it would be hard to push the green panels aside to let light and air in. We are going to do blackout curtains but you'll have to wait a bit until I have time to get these sewn, but when they are up it is going to be amazing.
Next we worked on the seat-belts... yes there were three seat-belts on each side of the van!! They are trapped under the seats / bed area and are in the area where we are going to house all of the batteries. Needless to say they needed to go. Thankfully Mike had a tap and die set so we were able to clean off all of the bolts and nuts after taking them out so that they would go back in much more smoothly.
ââ I can't even tell you how much I have already learned while just doing minor things to the van.ââ Take a look at the picture on the left. You can see that they are hooked through the wheel well and therefore the bottoms of the bolts had been exposed to a lot of weather. Also if you look closely you will see 1/2 a deck of Peanuts, themed Uno cards, a calorie counting book from the 1980's, about 4,000 dust bunnies and enough wood shavings to give you splinters if you are not careful when you work. I guess we knew what we were getting into when we got this van... we said that we wanted it to be a project, and it certainly is.
Mike then spent the rest of the day testing this and that in relationship to the electrical system. I worked to fetch, carry, turn things on/off, and just be of as much use as possible. Let's just say that electrical is not my forte. Here you can see that we ripped apart the microwave and fridge area so that we could see what was going on in there. In the end we also realized that the van will switch from electrical power to propane power all on its own. Just one more thing that we had not thought we would need to know. Overall, pulling the van to pieces is a good use of our time because we did find some things that really need to be rectified such as the fact that the microwave was vented to nowhere, there were hidden outlets that did not have plugs in them or outlet covers, and other things that could potentially cause a short circuit at best and a fire at worst.
- SUNDAY -
So welcome to a totally freezing day! Yesterday we were in the van, all windows open, and it was roasting. Today it is all windows and doors closed, put on the sweater and just be cold. My first task today is to put on the licence plate holder that Mike's family got us. It is a saying that both of us have held close to our hearts and have tried to live by since we both read it in the Tolkien novel as children. When I was reading the novels I did not know that I would be able to do quite this much wandering!!! As we cross the Americas please don't be annoyed with us as we introduce you to our version of the misty mountains, Gollum's riddle or the proper spot and way to have Breakfast, Second Breakfast, Elevenses, Luncheon, Afternoon Tea, Dinner and Supper.
Spoiler ALERT my photography of my work for this area is very poor. I am just starting to learn how to make what I see helpful and informative to others. So here is the beginning of our gear locker. Originally we had thought that we would leave it as you see it here.
It looks good... Until you realize that we would be losing inches of space for out gear bins. So I spent the next three hours ripping out this crazy maze of wood, nails and screws. Now let me tell you that I wanted to kill the originator of this area because he did not use the same type, size or length of screw. This means that I had to keep changing bits as I worked. Then I had to switch to a hammer to get out the nails. Then I realized that the rose colored plywood that was on top was so big that the area could not be wedged out without being fully disengaged. Needless to day I did win and this is what it looks like now... just waiting for waterproofing and a top coat of wood so that we can store our gear in style.
If you take a look at the walls this is clearly one of the next projects. We want to cover them in something wood like. We have been through Loews and Home Depot but no luck yet. See you soon for the wall transformation.
