Happy Easter

Now that spring is finally here and today is Easter ( the official first day of spring for me ) I am taking the day to relax and be with my family.

Progress

I had a good day today, the weather was warm and the sun was out. It was a good day to work on the RV.
Today was the day I had set aside to fix the exhaust and I got a bit of a late start. I had to run to the storage facility to pay for three more months. While I was there I pulled out my Sawsall, an important tool in the removal of car parts.
I left the storage place and headed north. On the way up I stopped by an auto parts store to pick up a few things like pipe adapters, a tailpipe and other little bits and pieces. And then off I went to the maker space.
When I arrived I unpacked my car and laid out my tools and parts. I backed up the RV to a dryer spot and crawled under to get a good look at what I'm about to do.
Aside from the muffler being all exploded and stuff the rest of the exhaust didn't look bad and the pipes were quite solid. This would make for an easy welding job, you can't weld to thin rusty metal.

The I noticed a bit of a gas smell wafting in the air, so I investigated. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a drip coming from the vicinity of the fuel pump. I crawled under the front of the van and saw the culprit, the pressure side fitting was dripping. Ok, easy fix, I grabbed my wrenches and cinched down on them. No movement. The fitting was as tight as I could get it and now I will have to replace it.
No big, but this means no welding under the vehicle. So I thought of a work around and measured out the parts and fittings that I would need and I welded up everything I could in the shop. I took the mass of welded exhaust parts and slid under the rig. I had to run back to the parts store because I needed a couple of clamps to get everything tight. After that it was as simple as positioning the parts and tightening the u-bolts.
I had purchased a section of tailpipe because the pipe end was rusty and didn't look good. I cut back the pipe to good metal, which was not far and pushed the new tail in position.

My next task was to get the taillights done. I had painted them over the last couple of days and now they were ready to be assembled an attached. The wiring was strait forward and I attached them with coated exterior screws. I bought the LED driving lights and mounted them to the bottom of the housings.

They are nice little units and they put out a lot of light. Maybe not good enough for driving lights but more than adequate for back up lights.

Here are the left and right sides. I sealed around the top and sides with silicone caulking and left the bottom open so water could escape. The lights work great and are nice and bright.
All I have to do now is mount the plate light and attach my plates.

Aside from the interior work here is what I have to do.
-Fix the gas leak (easy)
-Attach plate and light (also easy)
-Finish installing the front marker lights (I keep putting it off for some reason)
-Fix the hood latch (very easy, I should have done that today)

The list is getting smaller and when I'm done it goes off for inspection.

As for the interior, I have stripped all the cushion casings off and will bring them to a laundry-mat to clean them. They are in real good shape and the foam is perfect. Once I get the cushions recovered I will clean up the interior of the RV.
The bathroom will be the last thing I do. There are a few items that need attention like the black water tank. Apparently the previous owner had a heck of a time backing up. I think he used the braille method. While I was under the vehicle I looked at the black water system and noticed that the dump pipe had been driven up into the floor. Nothing is damaged but it has to be pulled back down and re-secured. I also noticed that I have a gray water tank. The tanks look like they are in good shape and I should have no problem.

Paint Light Assemblies, Check.

I finished the light assemblies, with the exception of the back up lights. I will shop for them on Saturday. The big project for Saturday is repairing the exhaust.
I bought the muffler a week ago and I picked up ten feet of 2-1.4" pipe today. That should be enough to get me going, I may have to buy some bends but I will not know until I disassemble it.
The y-pipe looks good but the tail pipe may need to be replaced.

The Cold Weather is Slowing Me Down.

I had intentions of painting my lights last night and I got as far as cleaning and priming them, but it took a long time to dry so instead of rushing the paint and risking all kinds of mean nasty problems I opted to let it dry completely overnight and paint them tonight.
I will also remove the temporary lights and attach the new pigtails for the truck lights. All I'll need now is back up lights. I looked at some LED driving lights intended for the front of the car and they look like they will be very useful as back up lights. I'll attach them to the bottom of the tail lights.

I'm buying a back up camera and these should put out enough light to assist it for night time shenanigans.
Here is my idea.

The backup light will hang below and to the right. The other side will mirror it.

Local Transport

I've been building a cargo bike at the Port City Makers Space for the last couple of months. Although the RV has taken a lot of my time I will finish this bike and add a custom bike rack to the back of the RV to accommodate it.

This is an older picture, I have the cargo bed nearly finished and one brake line functioning. All I need is a derailer control and a quick paint job. It's going to be a great grocery getter,

Getting Closer. . .

I just insured the RV, one more step in the right direction. I had to insure it as a pleasure van. The reason they gave oddly enough was that it didn't weigh enough.
Go figure?
I'll have my trusty AAA card with me just in case, along with the purchased roadside assistance through my insurer.
I'm getting the itch to travel, or maybe it's the new soap I'm using.

Tail Lights

I drove up to the maker space after work today and made the tail lights. I had this burst of energy and creativity so I thought this was the best way to vent it. I bought tractor trailer tail lights because they are plentiful and cheap. They are also LED so they will be nice and bright. And they are DOT approved.
I bought sheet metal at the local home store and got soaked, they really mark that stuff up. Anyway here it is, one of them, I left the other in the car.

I installed one light to see how it fit and it is good. The sheet metal is 16 gauge steel. This is the drivers side assembly. The top and right side are bent at roughly a half inch radius and it over hangs the box by a quarter of an inch.

The tabs are for securing the assembly to the RV. The lights themselves are water tight and use a plug, nice and simple and easily replaceable. I left room on one side so if I wanted to add a trailer light receptacle I will have room. I'll paint them tomorrow and attach them on Friday.

One more thing off the list. This will leave me the weekend to fix the exhaust. 

Bathroom Remodel

This past weekend I made great progress with the Nomad. I removed the fresh water tank and water heater and, with the exception of the shower and toilet, completely gutted the interior. There is surprisingly little in support and structure in the walls. What I thought was soft wood ended up being just insulation.

 Here it is in all it's glory. It's pretty tight quarters for a bathroom but as far as RV's go it's massive. Lots of RV's today of this size use the all in one bathroom or wet bathroom and they are so small that you have to back in. Not my RV, it sports a small tub /shower a toilet and a vanity sink. All in a fairly spacious room.
Now to tear it out.

 First goes the vanity sink and to my surprise some of the original carpet is still there. I have found several swatches of carpet in a few places around the old homestead and some of it is in remarkably good shape.

The whole RV must have been done in this vintage  green shag carpet and later had been cut out and replaced by linoleum. I never though carpet in the bathroom was a good idea and I will be installing either that click floor or the strips of rubbery linoleum, both of which are floating floors.
The tub is in good shape and that side of the RV is solid so I'm going to leave it in place. The real work is the vanity side where I have to gut it to the studs. That corner of the RV has come apart and needs repair before it moves anywhere.
I have no picture of before the repair was made, I thought I did. Anyway. . .

 The water heater and the fresh water tank have to be removed. The water take was not secured and it just sat on the floor under the water heater. It is very hard to get at so I decide to do more demolition to give me better access.

 You can just see the closet shelf in the top of the picture. After removing that everything was very easy to reach. The water lines connected to the water heater were supporting it so I left it alone while I worked on the water tank. I have to disconnect the fill tube, drain tube and feed tube. Then it was just a matter of wrestling with it to get it out the access hole on the side of the camper. Unfortunately I broke the filler inlet and will have to replace the tank. I'm not too broken up about it because I think I would like a tank that's bigger and made of more modern materials. After all, I will be in the desert most of the time.

 I stripped out most of the cabinetry and to my surprise there was not very much holding the walls together, even if the wood was not rotten. But the corner is completely gone as is most of the 1/8" plywood and studs.
You can see sunlight through the corner and I had taped it up with gorilla tape so I wouldn't get any critters as overnight guests.
Next I needed to remove the water heater and this involved undoing three lines, two water and one gas. I undid the gas line first and after getting a couple of turns on it I noticed a rotten egg smell. Well there must be a little gas still in the system so I just kept going. I loosened up the nut a little more and now I could hear the gas escaping. Well, I think I'll just tighten that line back up and check the tank valve. I know I shut it but maybe some kids were playing around so I crawled under and grabbed a hold of it and it was shut. Ok, the valve is probably bad. So I ran to the home store and bought a plug fitting. My plan was to undo the line and secure it with the plug. I undid the line and as soon as it came free there was a rush of gas for a split second and then nothing. That made me feel better, it was just residual pressure in the line. I put the plug in place and continued to remove both water lines.
I unscrewed the eight hex head screws holding the front to the wall and cut the gasket material with a utility knife. And it pulled out without a problem.

 I took some notes and ran off to the home store again to buy building supplies. The total came to thirty two dollars and change. I bought six two by threes, a box of three inch exterior screws, a box of two and a quarter exterior screws and some metal roofing screws.
It was getting late in the day so I framed up the wall and attached the siding with the roofing screws. I had to do some creative body work because the previous owner looked like they had trouble backing up, or going forward for that matter. I banged out the outer corner molding and buttoned it all up.

The corner is now as solid if not more than when it was new. I taped up the water heater hole with some plastic and replaced the water tank cover. Done.

I cleaned out all the debris from the bathroom and filled four large industrial garbage bags. My car can only hold two, so a couple of trips will be needed to get it all gone.

I will not be replacing the water heater, rather I will be using a couple of on demand heaters powered by the generator.

Now all I have to do is figure out what I'm going to install.

Comments

Like I said, I'm new to blogging and as such I have just learned how to allow people to comment on my page. Feel free to leave your wisdom.

Bathroom Rebuild

Well, I didn't get to start on the bathroom yet and barring any snowfall tonight I will start pulling out the fixtures this evening.

Making it Legal.

The RV needs some things to make it road legal. For starters it needs new lighting all the way around and I have started to replace the markers already. I only have seven more to go. I've replaced the headlight and I may replace the other as well but the store only had one. The directionals need new bulbs but I think I will replace them with LED units. The last and most important one are the tail lights. I had mounted a set of LED trailer light to the back so I could drive it home but they wont cut it. I am designing and building a set of lights that will use big truck LED lights. They are cheaper than the ones purchased at wally world and they are sealed units so they may last longer. The chief benefit of using this type of light is they are readily available at any truck stop across the country.
The light box is going to be made of 16 ga. steel sheet. I'm making them at the Port City Makerspace in Portsmouth NH. They have nearly all the toys I need to make it. I figure I'm going to use two lights per side, one for directional, one for brakes and both for running lights.
I have the lights, pig tails and sheet metal and I have a design in mind. I think I will work on them tonight. I'm waiting for the rubber mounting grommets which should be in my hands by the end of next week.
Other than that it should be ready to go.
I've been itching to take it out on a short trip to get a feel for it. It drives like a tank but after fixing the carburetor it's running like new.

A Little Further Down The Road. . .

Ok, it's been a week since my last entry. But I have been very busy chasing down problems with my Dodge. After a long day at work followed by an evening of turning a wrench I have not had the energy to sit and collect my thoughts. But today I turned in early so I could dedicate time to this blog.

Getting there was very frustrating, but in a good way.

I will start from the beginning.

Last Sunday I arrived at the maker space early so I could get a full day in. I got there at about eight. I had picked up the rebuild kit and a can of carburetor cleaner on my way. I set myself up on an old router table outside the garage because the gas would be overpowering in the shop.

After I set myself up I opened up the RV and removed the doghouse. The engine is surprisingly clean for it

s age. I removed the air cleaner and assessed the job at hand.

Yeah, I know. Clean.

But if you look carefully you will see the soot inside the bore from the poorly running engine. One thing I noticed whilst I investigated was the fact that there was absolutely no fuel filter. None. I checked all the way to the tank which I can only assume has a sock on the intake.

I proceeded to remove the linkages and vacuum tubes moving them to the side so there was little chance of them getting in the way. I found my half inch wrench and attacked the first flange nut, which was loose. Hmm. The next one was loose as well and the same for the third and fourth. Well, that was easy. I pulled the Holly up and out and set it on the seat.

I did I bit of housekeeping and cleaned the intake manifold then I covered the opening with a couple of rags. Since the carburetor still had gas in it I found a cup and emptied the contents of the bowl and poured it back into the tank. At the price of gas I'm not going to waste a drop. Next I carried it over to the table and got comfortable.

When I rebuild something I always like to take a lot of pictures so I can reference them when I forget where a particular screw goes or why I have so many parts left over. And I always have parts left over. I'll explain later.

So, where to start? I like to strip to external devices first since they are usually in the way. In this case I started with the choke pull-off. This device is used to open the choke once the engine starts. It helps when the engine is cold. Just a couple of screws and off it comes.

I also like to keep all the parts together with the corresponding screws and lay them out in the same position as to when they are assembled. Maybe a little OCD here. Next I remove the accelerator pump lever and linkage. It's the rusty plate with the two slots in it.

The accelerator pump is critical to the operation of the carburetor. What is does is it injects a spurt of fuel when you depress the gas pedal. The reason it is needed is because the air/fuel mixture is a careful balance and when you introduce more air by opening the throttle, like when you accelerate, you lean out the mixture. The accelerator pump gives an extra spray of fuel so the engine doesn't stumble or stall. I realize this is ancient information and is next to useless today but I feel that I should pass down my knowledge in the event that it may be needed.

One lever, linkage and nut. The last little bit to be removed is the lever and linkage that connects the choke to the idler cam (the white plastic thingy.)

When the choke is closed when the engine is not running this cam holds the throttle open a bit to increase the RPM's of the engine to make the warm up easier. What a lot of people don't know is how to properly set the choke during operation. It's really simple, you hop in and pump the gas once or twice, this action allows the heat stove to pull the choke plate closed and set the idler cam. You turn the key and start the engine and let the carburetor do the work. If you give it gas the vacuum pull-off will open the choke. Hopefully the engine has warmed enough and you can go about your business. Otherwise you will have to pump the gas or hold the throttle open yourself. If you find that you have to give it gas when you start it then there is something out of adjustment.

Idler cam linkage, lever and nut. Now for the fun stuff. The top plate of this Holly carburetor is held down with seven screws. Each one comes out and is placed on the table to the left in the same pattern as they were on the plate.

The reason for this is sometimes the screws can be different lengths and you don't want to mix them up.

The ring at the top of the picture is the gasket for the air cleaner. Now the top plate can be removed. Care has to be taken when separating the top plate from the horn because the accelerator pump and float are attached to it. It pulls strait up and off.

You can see the accelerator pump and float. The pump is the red thing and the float is the brown thing.

The plate to the right of the gasket is held by one little screw. It's a diffuser, it's used the keep the incoming fuel from messing up the works. The float is held in place with a plastic rod and just slides out. I take care with the float so I don't bend anything. The settings should remain the same and as long as the float is good nothing but a quick check will be needed.

This is the accelerator pump and it's in very good shape. Next I take a look at the float bowl. And here's a shocker, it's got crap in it. All the brown stuff on the bottom here is dirt and rust an what have you from the unfiltered fuel. Dumb. Carburetors are precision devices and will not tolerate dirt. So I am comfortable in my conclusion that this was the problem. And the fact that the timing was WAY off.

The next part to remove is the throttle plate. Again I removed the screws and placed them in order for the photo op. 

If you look to the right of the throttle plate you will see two white-ish caps at roughly forty five degrees. These are the idle mixture screws. The white caps are a kind of adapter that let you use a philips screwdriver. These broke off when I removed the screws.

Now I cram as much as I can into the cleaner and wait about an hour. The can says twenty minutes but the parts are really dirty. While I wait I take the old gaskets tat I carefully removed and found it's corresponding replacement. The new accelerator pump rubber was a bit smaller than the old one so I will probably use the old one. I find all the replacement gaskets and put the rest back in the box. 

Here is where we get the extra parts. The kit covers a few different models and not all the parts are used. This is why you have to be careful that you get exact matches to the old ones. A missing hole or an extra hole will make your life upsetting when you go to run it.

The first batch is done and the top plate and throttle place are now soaking. The parts are rinsed off with hot water and dried with compressed air. Remember to wear proper safety equipment. After the rinse and dry I sat sown with a clean rag and wiped everything down.

After all the parts were cleaned I reassembled the unit in about ten minutes. I didn't get any pictures of this, I was in the zone. I had just enough time to install the fresh carburetor back on the engine before I had to call it a night.

Monday I worked, and after I headed back to the RV. I was chomping at the bit when I stopped by the auto parts store to pick up a fuel filter. I installed it just before the carburetor. I hopped in the drivers seat and slid the key into the ignition. I did another visual check of all the linkages one more time. Now I had to prime the beast.
I turned the key and the engine cranked over with the mighty sound of three hundred amps spinning the starter. I watched the fuel filter for gas (it is clear plastic) and waited. I released the key to let the starter rest. Ok, no big, It's a long way from the tank to the pump it just needs a little more time.
I turn the key again and the mighty sound is a little less vigorous. No gas. To keep the battery fresh I hooked up jumpers from my little econo-box to the van battery. I gave it about ten minutes of charge and I tried again.
I turned the key and the engine spun faster than it had ever before. The battery must have been a little on the dead side. Still no gas. Then a thought occurred, maybe I had installed the filter backwards. I did look for an arrow and I pointed it in the direction of flow but I removed it anyway and blew through it. It's not the filter. Maybe I'm out of gas? I check the gauge and it's at half. Maybe the gauge doesn't work so I quickly do a calculation in my head. I put in twenty gallons before I left the sellers town. I drove about fifty five miles. so at an estimated eight gallons a mile that came to about seven gallons. I should have plenty. Did someone siphon my tank? Not unless they had about twenty feet of hose, the filler is on the back and the tank is located about center.
It has to be the fuel pump. Why now? I ordered a pump and picked it up the next afternoon. After work I drove up and installed the new pump.
Ok, here it goes. I hooked up the jumpers again and I hop in the drivers seat. I inserted the key and gave it a twist. The engine spun again with a sound that is unique to the Chrysler 350CID. And about three or four seconds later the fuel filter filled up. I let it rest and breathed a sigh of relief. The next crank will tell me if I was successful or not.
I turned the key again and almost immediately the engine fired. Vroom. And luckily, I it sounds like everything is set correctly. The throttle has a snappy response and it doe's not hesitate stutter or stall. I looked over the carburetor and noticed a fuel leak. This was quickly fixed when I tightened the fuel line which I had hand tightened.
I put the air cleaner back on and closed it up.

Today I took it for a small ride and it feels good.

Holly Two Barrel Carburetor

Here's an update for the carb rebuild.
I have acquired the kit for the Holly 2 barrel on the van engine and I'm ready to start. Barring any bad weather I will be pulling it Saturday. I want to do this as a step by step photo shoot so I will have the results posted by Sunday night.
I know carburetors ore an old technology and no one is probably interested but I still think there is a lot of useful info that can be passed down just in case of the zombie apocalypse. All joking aside I know there are more than a few engines that still use this quaint fuel system. One of which is the generator, which also needs to be rebuilt. I need to get the engine info before I can order it.
The principles are the same, the equipment is different. Just something that's good to know. Remember the higher the technology gets the more susceptible it is to failure. My engine may sputter and backfire because of a faulty part but I can get it running good enough to get me where I need to go whereas if my computer fried I'm up the creek.
Don't get me wrong, I love tech, I play with all sorts of high tech gadgets. I just want to be self sufficient.

It's still winter, Let's Plan a Trip

I think I tried to do too much in the nice weather. It was not as warm as I thought it was and now I have a head cold. Oh well, I had a couple of good days. I should be firing on all cylinders by the weekend.
So I think I will play around with my travel plans.

To start off, my first destination is Albuquerque, NM. My sister moved out there last June and I would like to see the house. But I think I want to break up the trip into several legs. I don't want to drive the 2200 miles in one long stretch. A good rule of thumb I've learned is planning the distance and time using an average of fifty miles per hour. Now I'm not saying I'm going to drive fifty miles per hour, this number works well because it takes into account the stops you have to make and potential traffic. It has worked very well for me even when the local speed is upwards of seventy-five mile per hour. It's not exact but it is very close.
So using this rule I can now decide how long I want to drive in one day. I used to be able to drive a strait sixteen hours with little problem, but now I get more fatigued faster so I will keep the legs to a maximum of eight hours. So using math I can calculate that my longest distance traveled with no interruptions will be four hundred miles in an eight hour leg.
In the past I would get out my truckers atlas and compass and swing an arc set at four hundred miles. But now with all the computer gadgetry available I can run a search at the four hundred mile mark and see what is in that area of the country.
One word on electronic gadgets, they are best invention since sliced bread except when they fail. So I still keep an up to date truckers road atlas in a safe place. I get the truckers atlas because it has more detailed maps and the pages are laminated to keep it from getting ruined.
So I look up the radius from my start point and since I'm taking the upper route (Int. 90) my first stop will be in Buffalo, NY.
I don't plan on doing any sightseeing there so I will just camp out at one of the rest stops. I will be hopping on Int. 71 in Cleveland, OH. and then changing to Int. 70 in Columbus. For those of you not familiar with the OH state police, here is some friendly advice, DON'T SPEED. I used to curse the fact that they are so strict but now days I don't see the need and I have respect for the OH State police for keeping their roads safe.
I will try to find an RV park near Richmond IN.  My only prerequisite for a camp ground is internet access, preferably wi-fi. I've been to some places that say the have internet access only to find that it's an old 386 on a modem. I need wi-fi. Luckily there are a lot of hot spots around and if the campground doesn't have it I'm never too far away from an access point. A lot of coffee shops and fast food dives have this feature.
I located a KOA park in Richmond called Deer Ridge Camping Resort (I'm planning and looking up this stuff as I write this.) I will make a note of this and call them later.
The other prerequisite is a pull through spot. I don' want to do any off-roading with my RV. Some of the campgrounds I'm looking up are also open year round so it may be a little cheaper in the off season.
I'm going to take Int. 70 to St.Louis MO where I will change to Int. 44.
There are a few campground near the town of Rolla, MO. so I will have to take some time later to go through them.
The next leg will take me to Oklahoma City, OK. and I will stay there a for a day.
The last leg of the trip may be a little farther than 400 miles but Albuquerque, NM isn't much past my preset distance, I can always stop at a rest stop along the way.
Now to run the numbers, total miles driven, RV park costs, gas and a breakdown fund.
Ok, here are the numbers:
Total Miles: 2281
Stops: 4
Days: 5
Gas: $1150.00 @ 8 Miles per gallon
Camp Fees: $400.00
Food: $150.00
Emergency Fund: $1500.00

Total expenses for the trip: $3200.00

Once I get to Albuquerque I will look for some part time employment to subsidize my funds. I don't have any idea of how long I will be there but I know I will be exploring the NM, AZ area. I have no plans of visiting CA or CO.

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Day two, I start in earnest

It's day two of my adventure. I started in earnest working on the RV. The plan today was to replace the marker lights with new LED units and get the genset running, or more accurately, see if it runs.

I got started early this morning at eight and the first thing i did was start it up. It has not run for about a week and I expected to have a difficult time. Luckily it was warm out at about 40F and it didn't take many attempts to get it to idle. I backed it up to the garage and got the goodies out. 

The light I bought didn't have a ground wire so I had to take them apart and solder a ground lead. that only took about twenty minutes. The weather was beautiful and the sun was peeking out, it was a perfect day to do this. After about an hour or so I had five of the seven red markers done.

After I finished the red marker lights I moved onto the generator, I was really curious to see if it worked. I opened the hatch to see the Kohler 4000 watt gen-set.

It was pretty clean for an old generator. I checked the oil and shut the main breaker to the left off. I pushed the start button and. . . nothing. Well I figured that there must be a switch or something that I was missing. I opened the hood and looked for anything. Then it occurred to me that it may have its own battery. So I walked back to the generator hatch and looked around. There was a battery sized hatch directly to the left of the genny. I opened it and there it was a Die Hard deep cycle battery which was stone cold dead. I fetched my car, borrowed a set of jumper cables and hooked up the battery. Ok, now I have some time to kill.

I had purchased some cleaning supplies and I decided I would go to town on the interior which used to be a playground for small gray furry creatures. There were dropping everywhere. good thing was the prior owner had laid down a type of foam grippy stuff on most of the shelving and all I had to do was roll it up, throw it out and attack with Lysol. The kitchen cleaned up real nice.

The stove does not look like it was ever used and the cabinets and sink are in ok shape. I may replace all of this later but for now it will serve fine.

Here is another shot of the interior.

This is the living area, I have some things stored from the move and a stack of cushions that need to be cleaned cluttering up the room but it is spacious. 

Well now I want to test the systems so I get my power extension and RV plug to 110 adapter. I start by turning all the circuits off. and I unplug the refer and mystery plug next to it.

Here is a shot of the main circuits.

Everything is labeled and easy to figure out so now I switch the selector to off. The selector allows me to switch between the generator and line power. I plug in the extension, take a deep breath an flip the selector to line. Nothing happened, but in this case it's a good thing. I switch the main on and nothing, again good. I take a stroll around the RV with my power tester (my Dewalt battery charger) and check all the outlets. No power.

Next I throw the breaker labeled General and go back inside. This time I noticed that the light above the sink is on. Yes, we have power. The outlets however are still dead. I test all the lights and they all work.

Next breaker to go is the one labeled appliances. I flip it and everything is good. I test all the outlets and find they are now all on, even the one for the fridge. One note about the fridge, I was told by the owner that it did not work so that is why I unplugged it.

There is one last breaker, the one for the roof air conditioner. I flip it and go inside. I turned the switch on the ac to low fan and it came on, then to high fan and it sped up. Now for the litmus test, I turn it to low ac and it seemed to work, then to high ac and again it was faster. I will not be able to tell if the ac is working until it gets warmer out, but I'm optimistic.

Ok, now I'm ready to try and start the generator. I go over to it and push the start button and this time it started to spin slowly. Then it sped up a bit but it did not seem to be firing yet. I let it rest for a minute and I checked to be sure both of the fuel shut offs where open. I pushed the button again and this time it spun faster but still no action.  let it rest again and tried for a third time, this time it started to cough and dance on the isolation mounts so I held the button. It started to fire and I made a mental note that it needs a muffler. It seemed to be running on its own now all be it rough so I let go of the starter and it kept running. The smell of old gas was permeating the air and as I write this I can still smell it on my clothes. It was shaking and bucking and I pushed the stop button to do some tinkering but when it stopped gas started to pour out the air cleaner. Well there's my problem it was getting too much gas!. I will now look for a carb rebuild kit and it should be good to go.

I should have mentioned that I had deployed the awning to see it's condition and to keep the rain and snow off of me while working. Our weather newscasters are not very accurate so the awning served well as shade.

At this point I think it was close to sixty degrees out.

One last project I had planned was to remove the drivers chair and move it back two inches. I accept that I am a large person but these vans were made for little people.I unbolted the mount from the floor and removed the seat. The floor is solid and the bolts looked new.

I carried the seat into the shop where I removed it from the mount.

I drilled a set of hole two inches back.

And I welded an angle iron to the rear to accommodate the other two holes. I ran to the local hardware super store and bought a can of white Rustoleum. I cleaned and painted the base an reassembled everything.

The seat is now in a perfect spot.

That's enough for today. I will return tomorrow afternoon and play with the van's carburetor.