Oaxaca, Mexico.
Tedious and Technical
Progress on the van has been relatively slow lately as I’ve entered the more tedious, technical portion of the build. Simply figuring out which parts to order and tools needed for those parts has been a project in and of itself. This is hands down the most research I’ve done since college. But I believe I have nearly everything needed to finish the pending projects.
I did have one major win in which I finally mustered the courage to cut a large hole in the roof to run solar wires through. Like most things, it wasn’t so bad once I actually got started, but the thought of drilling a 1.5 inch hole in my metal roof was daunting enough to keep this project on the back burner for months. Once the hole was drilled I filed down the sharp edges, spray painted the exposed metal to prevent rust, installed a grommet to prevent the solar wires from rubbing against the metal, and then weather sealed everything using a solar gland which allows solar wires to pass through to the van (without allowing water in). I’m really pleased with how it turned out but am particularly pleased to finally have that task behind me.
The three pending projects continue to be water, propane and electrical, although I’m happy to say that the water system is almost entirely complete. My original plan was to have one large 30 gallon fresh water tank under the bed with hoses running through the van to the sink, but I changed my mind and am instead going with multiple 7 gallon jugs that will live under the sink. Yes I’ll have to manually switch from one jug to the other when one runs dry, but this new plan will leave me way more storage space under the bed and will be much more tidy, as my entire water system, pump and everything, will be inside the same cabinet. Plus, I'll be able to keep as many empty jugs as I can fit in the van and then just fill them up if I plan to be off-grid for a while. Expandable!
The electrical system continues to overwhelm me but I gain more confidence each day. I’m still waiting on a few items to arrive in the mail, and will likely have one more online order to make, but just about all the wires are run and I’m pretty dang close to getting all of the appliances installed permanently. At which point I’ll just need to begin connecting everything together (understatement of the year).
Regarding propane, I think I’ll leave this project for last. It's actually a really simple system and I am confident that I will be able to install it safely, however I’m slightly considering mounting a large propane tank underneath the van instead of my initial plan of having a small tank inside the van. An undermount system would probably be 10x the cost (over $1,000 from what my research has shown), but would be safer and would free up even more storage space inside the van. At this point I’m still undecided.
It looks like weather is moving in, so I don’t expect to get a ton done until next week, but I’m prepared to make a final push to get these projects wrapped up A.S.A.P. Even though I still have plenty of work to do I feel like I'm finally on the home stretch!
Thank you so much for the constant support. I'm extremely grateful for all the kind words and votes of confidence.
“Be not afraid of going slowly, be afraid only of standing still.” -Chinese Proverb
