by dbhosttexas » Sun Aug 22, 2021 3:10 pm
Busy day at home so far...
#1. Spent about an hour and a half testing and wiggling connectors on the malibu. I have literally about a half dozen codes for the Body Control Module, and another dozen related to the Power Control Module. I have mentioned the issues indicated previously on a recall / service bulletin on corrosion issues with the BCM and PCM connectors. The Power Control Module connectors were absolutely crusty. Only got about halfway through before the heat started getting to me, so went back inside. I need to move my wood shop to a shed in the yard so Ican use my air conditioned garage for working on cars... But I digress...
#2. Made breakfast for my wife and I. She does it during the week so Sunday is my day to make her breakfast...
#3. Wife and I prepped and have on the stove a small size batch of Caldo de Pollo, A.K.A. Mexican chicken vegetable soup. Except our version is sort of like Abuela and Mrs. Boudreaux got together to make Sunday soup...
#4. Sewed up a blown seam in one of the doggie beds, and started taking half the stuffing out of them and transferring to laundry bags so that we can launder the doggie beds at home... Wife got busy with laundry by this time...
#5. Replaced crushed male hose end with a hose end mender. I am NOT giving up on my garden hoses. I have seen what new ones go for and I am keeping these old ones going a while longer!
#6. Made blank out patterns for the truck side windows. I am planning on making Reflectix insulators for the truck windows. Most likely back them with fabric from some pulled out black blackout curtains a friend was throwing away. The idea is in camp. I want to keep the cab of the truck as cool as physically possible.
#7. Spent a little bit of time practicing aluminum welding / brazing for the truck camper. build. Tested joint strength.
4' segment of square tubing, brazed at 90 degrees, with simple triangle gussets, attached to 3' segment, that is anchored to the ground via sliding it under a floor jack and applying light lift pressure to subframe of the car. Then apply a 350lb human weight to the end of the 4' segment, and lean into it.... The result? 3' segment bent, joint unfazed.
Given this information, I can safely assume that brazing the frame for foamie camper, combined with the remainder PMF build should provide a more than amply strong, while remaining light structure for a camper.
#8. Measured, double checked, did the math to add the corners, cut, and made screens for the living room windows. Started with one. My math with fractions still stinks, and I forgot to include the space the spring takes up. I can fix this thankfully, but that is about a yard of pet proof screening that is now gone... WIth the springs the screen is too snug going into position, need to shave about 1/32" off to make it fit well. And I believe I ended up 1/2" too narrow on the cross pieces. I can reuse them as uprights on the next ones... I miss the connectors that allowed me to miter the frame and get a better fit without funky math... I did the screens on the front of the house last year, and I am hoping to have them back of the house done for the fall so I can open the windows and air out the house without worrying about the cat chasing a bird through a screen...
#9. Bathed the dog. He NEEDED it... STANKY!
#10. Giving LOTS of thought to how to mount / store / haul the on demand water heater. I am pretty sure I do not want a permanently mounted wart on the side of the camper, so removable is the way to go, yet I do not want it getting smashed up bouncing down the road. Mounting inside a Pelican or similar case would be good idea... But none of the affordable models seem to be sufficiently long enough for the heater and quick connects. The Pelican 1600 would fit, the Monoprice would BARELY fit, but none of the others are long enough... I might have to build a PMF road case for it...
#11. Spending a considerable amount of willpower to not pull the trigger on a Sportsman 1000 Inverter generator from Tractor supply. I like that the smaller generator uses less fuel than a bigger generator. But I want to run a 5K BTU Window AC, a 12v fridge, and keep my laptop going at the same time via inverter... Oh and keep the CPAP battery pack charged up. Thinking about holding off for a 2K inverter generator instead.
Last edited by
dbhosttexas on Sun Aug 22, 2021 8:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.