What did you do today

[dbhosttexas]

Ordered traction boards from Amazon taking advantage of Prime Day. Oddly enough the particular ones I ordered were not listed as Prime Day Specials, but were $20.00 off...

Organized my pack up gear for the privy, and kitchen into their appropriate buckets. I have FAR too much bakeware for camping. They are all Dollar Tree items, and I think my wife did some shopping, and my sister in law donated some, but I have 3 9x9 square cake pans, 2 6 muffin tins, 2 loaf pans. 9" round pie pan, 9" round cake pan.

I took out my red Coleman checkerboard tablecloth, and replaced it with 2 blue gingham PVC tablecloths, and packs of clips. My tent, my privy are trimmed in blue, and my dishware is blue so I am going with a theme to make the wife happy with the cosmetics...

My shower / privy gear setup I have packed up ready to load and go...

#1. Joolca Ensuite Double. I have a home made plumbing kit extending / quick releasing the shower head from my Zodi.
#2. Jaxpety 5 gallon flush toilet. Thoroughly cleaned, bag of chem pods stashed in the bowl between trips so I don't forget them. I want to add a velcro strap to keep the lid from flapping.
#3. Zodi battery shower. Modded for the plumbing set. I leave the plumbing set in the Joolca.
#4. Ozark Trail 12 cup percolator. Yes I am using space in the bucket for this, but this is what I use to heat the water.
#5. 35 gallon square bucket, former cat litter pail, painted gloss black.

I have some push air out Space Bags, I am stashing 4 large, thick Sams Club beach towels. That way I can grab and go, and not worry about towels getting funky between trips.

I also am going to head to Wally World this afternoon / evening and grab some of those FAA approved travel toiletries kits to put our shampoo and conditioner in...

[twisted lines]

Woke up at 2:30 to my wife's car alarm, borrowed her spot for One night!
She left a window down second beep they knew I was coming; They didn't know they had plenty of time
by the time I got pants on and out, there were two LEO's parked out front + my Neighbor a FED, I didn't even call neighbors his wife told him it was his
I checked her car found a window down but Locked, Guy ran away from his car and the direction i was, got caught in minutes. Attempted Breaking and Entering

And now I am waiting for clear to dry on the hidden side of my ceiling,

I mean third coat now.

[dbhosttexas]

Nothing much, Woke up, rolled my butt out of bed, and in my PJs took care of my morning staff meeting since it isn't usually a video call...

Resisted most of the temptation for Prime Day. I have been wanting something like a Joolca HOTTAP, but really don't want bulk propane due to size, hose complexity etc... Although I CAN do it, I don't WANT to...

This led me back down the path of heating water in a bucket and using a battery shower.

Found a unit with a pump that will easily fit INTO my Aquatainers, so no problem there. Honestly still probably use the cat litter bucket painted black, let solar do its thing and just top it off to temp using stove heated water for the compact setup win.

Did some research on roof basket anchors / locks for traction boards, and am not impressed. Why spend $130.00 for easily defeatable locks to keep $70.00 traction boards from being stolen?

[dbhosttexas]

Some of my Prime Day order came in yesterday. An Ivation portable camp shower. I tested it out. Popped the hose off and tried a standard residential shower hose and sure enough it fits. My intent is to replace the Zodi pump, and Zodi shower head while keeping the heater in the middle SHOULD I need it, and be able to bypass it.

I did test the Ivation pump and the critical issues were more than a happy thing. Mostly that it FIT in my AquaTainer. so there is that, no D cell batteries, although I would have been happier with a 12V pump, this will do. I know at some point I am going to grab a 3GPM 12V pump and run it through a regular 5/8 hose rig / inline filter setup with a silt screen for fresh water pickup so I can fill my water reserves from sources like creeks, rivers, stock tanks etc... RIght now i am doing it with a manual pump First Need Deluxe backpackers pump filter and it is painfully slow. I am in my 50s and have not yet had Giardia, and I am in no hurry to start now.

My other Prime Day purchase came in. My off brand Max Traxx type traction boards for the truck have arrived. I unboxed, and inspected it, and honestly, for an off brand I must admit I am VERY pleasantly surprised. Nice thick construction, multiple mount point options. Carry bag if I want to stow them in the vehicle instead of on, and a couple of cinch straps if I just want to cinch them say onto my roof top carrier. All seem to be prime grade materials with good fit and finish. There were 3 color options for these, Red, Orange, and Black. I opted for Orange because, well, I figured the color would stand out and be obvious should one fall off on the trail, easily recovered... I could be wrong. These replace these funky, MUCH smaller old ones I've had for years that are literally a spiky hump on top, and the bottom looks like the sole of a 1980s running shoe. I am considering modding those as well to be roof basket mountable to get them out from under the back seat in the truck. I need that space!

I am still slowly collecting the funds for, and am close to being able to put together the master kit for the 5.4L 3V, I am working with one of my best friends God brother (Godfathers son, very much like an actual brother) whom is a well experienced Ford Tech, he is spec'ing in the parts including upgraded cam phasers and solenoids, and a Melling high flow pump. No more starving the VCT system for oil due to flaky oil pump design.

So I need to go to Home Depot and grab a 1/2" M to 3/8 M NPT reducer to adapt the shoer head, and a 1/2" F to 3/8" barb to adapt the pump to the silicone hose. Yes I want to eliminate the factory junk hose.

I am planning on at some point over the weekend if weather holds out, setting up the Joolca again, and swapping the shower head, adjusting how much hose sticks out of the tent to make the quick connect as I want more IN the tent, and swapping over the Ivation pump to take the place of the Zodi pump. The Zodi pump will be kept as a backup, just not going to do primary duty.

I am having some, uh, issues with my design though.

My thought process here is to build the foamie truck camper, but it has to be a cab back design, no overcab. The roof of the cab gets a 2 bar rack with a cargo basket. and I have a CB due to 4x4 club requirements, and international travel plans so I don't want to have to worry about licensing regulations in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico for something like GMRS. I have traditionally run a 6" spring with a 102" ss whip antenna for best performance, and best flexibility off road. However it seems with the truck bed camper the only places I can mount it are...

#1. Fender mount. Not great for SWR, but should be low enough to keep the antenna from beating itself to death on low bridges.
#2. Rear bumper mount. I have a ball mount, and the stock rear bumper already has a few dents from backing into trailers over the years so I don't mind drilling and cutting it. BUT... It's sub optimal for SWR by a long shot,
#3. Roof basket mount with a ground strap to chassis ground. This is the most likely location if I want my best SWR, however the roof of the truck is already at something like 6ft 6in. Add the basket and the base of the antenna would be 7ft off the ground. After spring and the whip, that would be 9' additiona, or 16' off the ground. Pretty sure that is over legal limits in many states. Not sure if highway patrol and local PDs monitor that but there it is. I can get my height down to about 11 feet total if I use something like a Procomm Twister, or K40 K40BXMAX coil type antenna, which basically jams a tuneable 102" radiating element into a shorter space, HOWEVER I am concerned about smashing it to smithereens on the trail.

One option would be to build the camper shell with a retainer hoop so I can pull back the whip to the back of the truck and tuck it into the hoop, thereby reducing the overall height, making LEOs and drive through managers happy.

[twisted lines]

Turned on my Traeger for lunch & it Broke

[dbhosttexas]

Turned on my Traeger for lunch & it Broke

I would have bragged about how my Weber Kettle never breaks, but I had to replace the pivot rivet with a stainless bolt not that long ago after the rivet broke...

[twisted lines]

Turned on my Traeger for lunch & it Broke

I would have bragged about how my Weber Kettle never breaks, but I had to replace the pivot rivet with a stainless bolt not that long ago after the rivet broke...

Sucks for you! Me too; I trashed my shirt and short's trying to fix it
But thank's I forgot I had One.
I may Have dinner yet,

Since: I have never been to Burning Man, & my wife asked me twice today if I was going to the Gambler 500, I could be there right quick my little Weber & dinn Never mind.

[dbhosttexas]

So my 1/2" NPT to 3/8" barb fittings came in. I have pulled the OE hose off of the Ivation pump and shower head, and swapped the adapters over.

I installed the silicone hose to the pump using a stacked pair of shower hose washers I swiped from an extra shower hose I had in my garage, and kept the quick disconnect installed so I can adapt to the in ensuite plumbing directly.

I measured out the distance between mounting screw holes, and pre-cut plates and rounded the ends for the traction boards. .

Depending on how the weather proceeds today, I will likely set up the Ensuite and swap the Zodi showerhead for the Ivation shower head so I end up having a prooper shower head in my ensuite.

The reasoning behind this is twofold. #1. I despise the Zodi shower head. It is the same thing they use on the solar shower bags and it is only barely effective. I want an actual shower head in there with me. I'm used to a handheld shower so I can spray UP into my armpits and such when showering. And I very much dislike the Zodi battery box / switch arrangement. The D cell box is heavy and pulls on the ensuite zippered openeing when in use. I don't like that...

For the ime being, I am going to keep the funky yellow lumpy traction boards, and the MaxxTraxx copy off brand boards. I may add a second set of the off brand clones though.

I started in on clearing the top end of the engine of the stuff, airbox, CAI tube, battery, hoses etc... and after much discussion with my BIL, and the Ford tech friend, we are going to pull it full, so oil stays in place.

We'll drop the oil while on he stand, but we want to keep oil in it until we are ready to start the teardown.

And I found my old Radio Shack weather radio that I thought I needed to clean the battery compartment, but it seems to already been done. I'm too young for that level of forgetfulness, so I am wondering if my BIL did it for me. He's done that sort of stuff for me as a surprise before... Anyway it was sitting back in the box I had just looked 2 weeks ago and it wasn't there, so I suspect my wife and her brother are up to something, I haven't asked yet... She knows I was about ready to chuck this and get a new one, but it works perfect now so why?

Oh, and for anyone who MIGHT want to do this mod, keep in mind, the Ivation stuff, even though they use 1/2" NPT, pretty generic stuff, there are reliefs of BOTH sides of the males that mean sealing the threads are impossible, you MUST seal at the end with a gasket, and due to the short threads, I had to use 2 gaskets on both the pump, and shower head to get it to seal. Your local hardware store should have shower hose seals, they are a pretty common item, just get 4 of them.

[dbhosttexas]

Got up, did some housecleaning, Tested a solar shower bag in our current heat wave. I am finding it only takes about an hour and a half after sunrise in our current heat and solar intensity to make the water too hot to want to use.

I now have to wait for winter testing. Oh well...

I stood up a Rocky LInux server to get my devel infrastructure back to a supportable status... I know most folks here don't care, but I am doing Dev Ops on RHEL based applications, and I used to use CentOS for dev work at home to keep sharp for work... CentOS is being radically changed by Red Hat so Rocky Linux is being swapped in as a replacement... Probably greek to a lot here, but there we are...

I've made a double size batch of refried beans, and grilled up a mess of chicken fajita on the Foreman grill for dinner. Surplus of the beans will be cooled down fully and vacuum bagged and frozen for the next camping trip. On our next grocery run I am going to get family packs of pre marinated chicken and beef for Fajitas, and dividing them up and freezing portions for grilling in camp, and at home...

Did some, very little truck work. Put the AGM battery on the charger, hopefully it isn't toast. It has been disconnected, but unused for quite some time...

Looking into material for a stuff bag for my brown RV mat. The blue / gray one came with a bag, the brown / tan one didn't. And it is suffering for it... I need to snag a couple yards of ripstop polyester taffeta and have a good go at it.

Found an old, and I mean early 90s, slumberjack mummy bag stuff sack that I have no clue where the bag went. If I can't find the bag, will repurpose the stuff sack, most likely for tent accessories like the LED lanterns,and ceiling fan / lanterns. They need a home. Similar situation, but I know where the bag went, with a Swiss Gear rectangle bag stuff sack. Lousy sleeping bag, but good stuff sack. Bag was given to a nephew that uses it solely to add insualtion to his air mattress for beach trips... Beats using it as a sleeping bag!

There is so much more I need to do, but bleh... Not feeling it today.

[dbhosttexas]

Another day, and a little bit more effort. Epoxied a loop of paracord to the Ivation shower head, and installed it onto the DIY Ensuite plumbing setup.

Reinstalled Ensuite plumbing into the Ensutie / Shower tent. Packed it back up.

Repacked shower tent, included solar shower bag, hanging mirror, and microfiber camp towel into the bag for the Ensuite.

Attached USB charging cable to power cord for Ivation pump, Packed away in my solar heater / water can. A.K.A. Upcycled and black plastic painted kitty litter tub.

Leaving the Zodi as is for now, I doubt I am going to use it much except in the winter, and will only use it IF heating water on the stove gets annoying, or I somehow get the funds for a Joolca HOTTAP kit...

Spent a little bit, not a ton, of time on design of the foamie topper camper. I am considering too many conflicting options. Wife wants a king size bed, I would be able to get this done MUCH faster and easier witha queen as I could just do a trifold mattress, a simple platform and a Craigslist Leer 122 topper with a DIY extension and done...

I should mention, yes I do actually own a pop up camper, however I am VERY uncomfortable taking a trailer, particularly how low pop ups are ground clearance wise, to the places I want to go, for fear of dragging trailer parts, particularly plastics, through sand, mud and rocks... For example my first post getting truck happy and registered again trip will be well up the beach off of Bolivar Peninsula on the Gulf of Mexico, and I need to get up into the dune to cross over a pipeline that crosses the beach about 5 miles in...

[saltydawg]

I worked on a little guy camper that the person who restored it used masonite on the hatch. I removed the water soaked masonite and cleaned up all the old glue and cut a piece of acm to make a new skin for it, and got it glued on. Now to wait 24 hours and trim it to the edge of the hatch frame, then reinstall.

Then the owner is paying me to do a basic electrical install with solar.

[TimC]

I finished up my portable shower kit. It is made with a 2 gallon Igloo water jug and uses a shower head from a solar shower bag attached to some silicone tubing and a small hose barb installed next to the spigot. A small 12v pump is connected to that hose barb inside. The pump is wired up to an Anderson Powerpole panel mount on the back. There is a watertight foot switch for turning it on and off and about 20' of wire to get it a ways from my 12v source. It all fits nicely, including the shower bag, inside the jug. I usually use the solar shower bag to heat my water for a shower but occasionally there is a lack of sun and I then heat water on the stove.

I used to use a 5 gallon paint bucket but over time I realized I was loosing a lot of heat as I cooked small batches of water on my butane stove. I also determined that about a gallon and a half is plenty of water to take a nice shower using the foot switch to conserve water. The insulated bucket keeps the water nice and warm. I'll add a small circle of rigid foam to float on top of the water to help insulate since the top is not insulated at all (a design flaw that I don't understand in a jug meant to keep things cool AND hot).

[featherliteCT1]

TmC,

Ingenious shower rig!!!

[TimC]

Thanks. I got the idea from someone on tnttt. I just added some extra features that work for me. I have a double shower tent that I use when around others.

[MickinOz]

Today, I quit the job I have held for 45 years.