Bob's caboose build

[loaderman]

Lay down closet in genius!!!!!

[bobhenry]

Well todays weekend update smacks more of a confession.

I didn't do diddly !

Grey days and no sunshine ,I sat alone Friday and most of Saturday and simply had a pity party. I am gonna miss this house. A home I have rebuilt, rewired, replumbed,reroofed,resided, and remodeled. There is a lot of me here and I feel as if I am turning my back on an old friend. Yet I know that this old friend is clinging onto my neck (and my checkbook) and about to drowned us both. I am removing a few cabinets to reuse in the caboose (don't tell the bank) and as I take them down the memories flood at me as to how hard we worked adding on our 14 x 20 kitchen. (Wow ! thats 80 square feet more than my caboose)

I know I am right and I know I am being proactive not waiting until bad times land hard but there is too much stuff. I have given away cast iron, a pickup trailer with tool boxes and topper, Rv furnaces , cook tops, rv waterheaters, rv flip up tables and on and on.

Much of the furniture went with the ex some already gone some still waiting on the enclosed front porch to leave. I am working full time still and this leaves little time to organize. Everywhere I look there is stuff. Stuff in the attic ,stuff in the garage and outbuildings, stuffed closets full of stuff. I could work 10 hours a day for a month and never even touch everything. There is 20 years plus here and the tons of stuff from up to 35 years ago we trucked in. And here I set like a deer frozen in headlights doing little to get on with life.

Furniture and dishware are of no consequence to me but the tools and even the junk. Well you know what I mean "the GOOD junk " is going to be the hardest to weed thru. My 4 trailer builds were mostly GOOD junk. The caboose build is proving to be more of the same , lots and lots of GOOD junk coming together to make my new little home. I will pick at this problem this winter and attempt to pare down so that by spring I will be able to downsize into the caboose but I wonder if I am just delaying as a form of coaping with the seperation. Oh well just the weekend update as usual except all I did was attend a pity party.

[WhitneyK]

Hang in there my friend.

[S. Heisley]

I am so sorry for all your troubles, Bob. It's enough to put anyone in a funk. It is said that things happen for a reason and that, when one door closes another opens. What isn't said is just when that other door will open. Your ex could walk away and not look back but you're going to be living there for several months yet and are in for a dreary winter. It is good that you are building that caboose and looking forward. You can do this.

I would drag everything that you aren't keeping that you can drag into your front yard and have a big sale. Get some friends to help you drag and tag prices. Whatever money you make, you can use to get what you need for your caboose. At least, that way, you get something out of it. Whatever is left after the sale, you can pick through for yourself and then have a "give away day" for the rest. You'll be surprised at how fast things will go.

Best Wishes to you.

[Verna]

Bob:

+1 for Sharon's post. Great ideas in there.

Oh, and sometimes you just have to turn on some ZZ Top full blast to get some motivation

Good Luck

[droid_ca]

hey Bob I found an interesting article on a caboose check out the observation window
http://rvtravel.com/blog/rvnow/2007/11/ ... html#links

[bobhenry]

Those are square there are the sleeker ones that extend out at a 45 degree angle. I loved the look but I am pushing the road legal 8'6" width now and didn't want to skinny down the whole body to extende that 6 - 8 foot bay. But yeah I really liked that look would have been sweet at the kitchen counter/sink area,

[bobhenry]

Oh the Monday recap of the weekend build efforts....

Friday late Rain

Saturday grocery shopping and a buddy's birthday party ( stayed the night in my teardrop in the drive.) I did mention PARTY didn't I.

Sunday got my buddy Mouse up on the cupalo and we installed the 3rd section of rubber roof over the cupalo. We cut and installed the fiberglass zip panel over the cupalo's front and rear faces. We trapped the rubber roofing membrane from the lower rooves under this panel as we had previously installed the rubber with a 4" flashing extention up the face of the cupalo. This panel rides 3" higher then the lower rooves so it will never wick water. I will need to remove them to paint them but they are in and they fit. On the extended overhangs we were at a loss as to how to trim them and I looked down at the crescent moon shaped scrap from cutting the front and rear faces and a light went on. I placed this "scrap" even with the top of the curved foam of the front edge of the cupalo. It capped off the ends where before you saw the raw ends of the purlins it made a nice finished end to the overhang. The entire roof is now weather tight ,although temporarialy installed, it is waiting for final stretching. Cleaned up the shop (yard) and damn near filled the 5' diameter burn pit in the back yard but I can now walk around the caboose without taking my life in my hands



The green panel runs clear to the plywood sub roof and is cut out at each purlin and the black outline is the "scrap pieces that became the end caps. The rubber roof will be be pulled to the bottom black line and rolled under and trapped between two 1x3's for final trim.

[S. Heisley]

I checked early this morning to get my "caboose build fix" and there was nothing! Since you were down last week, that gave me concern. Glad to see you are still at it, Bob. It's lookin' good!

[bobhenry]

Thanks Sharon.

Weather has not cooperated at all. I was dumb lucky to get the final piece of roofing installed. Even though it is not fully fastened down yet it is now shedding water and the interior is now dry as a bone. Have been using the down time to rip up the scrap blue foam at work to fit in the 21 1/2" roof bays and the 22 1/2" wall cavities. While I can install a layer or maybe even two I will need to get the electric completed before filling in the cavities. I have got to invest in some more electrical supplies and route some pex for the water lines and even get my 2 1/2" pvc duct work completed for the hvac system I have dreamed up. Everything has to go in order and I am an impatient guy who tends to often get the cart ahead of the horse so I have to force myself to wait until I can afford a few extra bucks for the supplies needed to remain in a step by step progression.

I have been trying for 3 weeks to find a weather window to paint the exterior. About the time I think the wood has dried out enough to paint here comes another wave of rain

Just keepin on keepin on ! and attacking the project one step at a time.

[bobhenry]

Well as with every other day the 40 minute drive to work was in silent pondering about the caboose and depot sight. The lot I am trying to purchase from the state is best utilized by pulling the 2 tiny trailer mounted units on to the lot with the trailers running north and south.





This means my solar panels and hot water and hot air solar furnace will all be on the skinny ends of the trailer. With the deck (station platform) in the center between the caboose and the depot (shop) buildings the rear of the units will face south so to house all the batteries panels and hot air collectors and hot water preheaters I decided it best to house all of this together.

my thought was a block bin built at a 45 degree angle and them add a couple layers of river rock to act as a heat sink allowing some after dark retention of the days collected heat. This is done to avoid the decreased effeciency of the batteries due to the cold. A layer of glazing added to the bin will heat the rock and warm the batteries. The solar panels can be added as well as my solar furnace and solar water preheater which can not be used in freezing weather By housing all of this seperate from the house allows a great deal more room and the bin can also afford some privacy to the deck as a state road runs just south of the site.

What is a solar furnace you ask ????

It's a series of black tubes mine will utilize painted beer cans. The air in the tubes is heated by the sun and the thermal rise will allow it to lift into a well placed vent into the occupied space. Mine will have a very small fan to push air from the caboose into the heater and return it to the living space after it is warmed.

[bobhenry]

here is a link to the discussion about it........

http://www.tnttt.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=52321&p=961028&hilit=solar+furnace#p961028

Mine is not built yet but all the pieces and parts are at the house so if this rain keeps up I guess I have a dining room project

[bobhenry]

Bud cans are 2 5/8 in diameter and just a dab over 4 3/4" tall. I used 4 3/4 because they set inside each other just a bit.

I fiddled with a hole saw and all kinds of manners to drill the pathway thru each can and then found a site where a guy was making one and simply used a hand held can opener

DUH !

The bottom is a bit tricky as you have to hold the opener at a weird angle.

a 27" board gives you 10 cans wide with centers laid out 1 5/8" from the end then 2 5/8" center to center. I figured mine at 16 cans tall which is 76 inches and added a 1/2" just in case! If it turns out a bit sloppy a layer of foam could be added to snug up the stack.

I figured overall height at 92 1/2" inside giving a 8" +/- entry and an 8" +/- exit plenum I cut the frame 3 1/4" deep and the plexy and 7/16 osb surface mount.This way a layer of 1/2 foam can be added inside under the cans to snug things up. Since the cavity for the cans is all but exact I saw no need to tape or seal the cans as others have done. After all where can they go. The 28 1/2" x 94" unit should be light enough to be easily handled. They could be made in modules and hooked in series for more heat.

[bobhenry]

I have been assured by many on this forum that the natural lift of the warmed air will create a non power flow thru this unit.

As to fan choices are many but the one that makes the most sense to me is a very small solar panel like a battery maintainer coupled with a small computer fan. If the sun is not out there won't be heat being produced so there is no need for a fan and a solar powered fan will not run without the sun either.

I have my 27 x 92 panel framed up and the plexi installed. I am in the process of installing the cans and the back . I promise to get some pics very soon.

[bobhenry]

74 and sunny with a forcast of cold and rainy so ol Bob took 1/2 day off. At noon I went and picked up 2 gallon of Kabota Orange paint and a couple roller covers and screamed home to get painting.

Here is the results....







Yep it's orange I am in hopes the white trim will tone it down a bit but it's cheerful.

There was rain in the forcast but I was hopeing I would get it on and seal the raw cut edges before it arrived. Well the paint needed 6 hours to skin over enough that the rain would not cause problems and I finished at 5PM and the rain arrived at 2 AM. Checked it this morning and all appears OK.

I have a fellow at work with rubber roof experience and he will help me trim and finish it next weekend weather permitting.

But ain't it orange it almost screams..... HAPPY HALLOWEEN !