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.