Georgia Bound

I am now in the town of Canton GA. I am house and dog (Cricket) sitting for my good friends Cliff and Cindy Austin. They have taken their two kids Parker and Kailey on a vacation/baseball tournament In NY. I also have started to rebuild their staircase. They did not like the way it came down to an unusually wide bottom step, so I am attempting to make it a straight staircase. I think I can get it the way they want it or at least the way I want it. Wile enjoying my HOT and Humid GA. days, I have also been riding my mountain bike a good bit and met some really cool people out riding. I will post more on that later. Cliff being the ever giving friend that he is offered me the use of his wave runner while I am here. Bad Bad Bad idea! After only one seemingly innocuous trip to the lake, I now feel the need to own one for myself. This is a problem seeing that I don't think that towing the Tincan and a wave runner is going to work out, not to mention the extra gas, never having time to work any, or all of the other things I want to accomplish on my journey. So now I must use it as much as possible while I have the opportunity. (Thanks Cliff and Cindy) And a special thanks to Cindy for leaving plenty of BEER for me!

Coming to a town near you soon,

Rick

shower in the great outdoors

Before starting the bathroom adventure, and what an adventure it was, we built a grand outdoor shower. This was a great addition to the house as now no one will even use the new indoor shower. Imagine someone wanting to shower in the sun or under the stars, I just don't get it? As it turns out after Maryann's Mom used it she wanted me to build her one too. I think I could have stayed another month and just built outdoor showers. Enjoy the shower as long as you can guys!

Bathroom Blues

Hello everyone! I told you in the last blog that I would show you the old and new bathroom that I helped to rebuild. I think it turned out pretty well. I had a lot of fun with the LeRays and the benders and still want to extend my gratitude to them for giving me such a spectacular place to stay and hospitality that would rival any 5 star establishment.

Life at the Farm

The first leg of my adventure begins in the great town of Pollocksville, NC. For those not familiar, eastern NC 15 miles south of New Bern, NC. It is a peaceful town where hunting dogs outnumber people two to one and everyone knows everyone. My great friends Maryanne and Jeremy with their son Joshua and dog Zack live on the family farm. Close by Maryanne's Mom and Dad Jean and Allen Bender are the most gracious and sweet hosts to me and my Tin Can. They gave me the most perfect spot to park the Can, large pasture with great big old Oak trees for shade and a never ending breeze that blows though all day. I came to this lovely spot to see and help out Jeremy with a simple bathroom project, you know the kind, two to three days and Walla- a new bathroom! Well....it is more like, Lets just start a new, Strip it all down to the studs and make a whole new room. So that's what we are doing now, but it's not all work and no play we are hoping to go sailing on Sat. I will let you know how that works out. We also had a Pasture Party last Fri. night with the whole family, Maryanne, Jeremy, Joshua, Maryanne's sisters April and her son Justin, Holly and her husband Scott and Jean and Allen. We all had a great time and hope to do it again soon. I will be here for a little wile longer, have to finish the bathroom. (Bathroom Blog to come)

I will Blog again soon

Rick

Finished Product

Well It's finally finished or as finished as it is going to be for a wile. I have done just about all I can do without loosing my mind and what's left of my wallet. I have enjoyed building this thing and now I am ready to use it. I wont ramble on and on about what I have done I will just show the pictures, they do say a picture is worth a thousand words----enjoy!

Thank You

I would like to thank some folks for all there help and patience during this long and wonderful Tin Can restoration. First and foremost I would like to thank Scott and Ross Shaheen and Cary Refrigeration for allowing me to use their shop, I know it took a lot longer than they and I thought. I would also like to thank my Mom and Dad for letting me stay with them wile working on this project, thy are the greatest parents ever and almost never told me to clean my room :)I want to give a shout out to some Friends that were there for me along the way: Scott and Wendy Shaheen who fed me and gave me drink more often than not. Jack Jack for endless hours of entertainment. Allen Tutt for lunches and encouragement. John Stauber for many o night of fun and adventure. Todd and Anna Bozell for hot tub therapy. John and all of the great people at Custom Engraving and Trophy for help with my electrical panels, they are spectacular. I would also like to give thanks to all of my family and Friends that have been there with support and encouragement for my Tin Can Life.

Thank You all!

Rick

That's Entertainment

Sorry for the delay in posting, I have no real excuse, I have just been kind of slack-working-riding, mostly working.

OK one of the most important parts of the Tin Can is done. The entertainment section is very cool and seems to work great. I have installed a Sony car head unit for the stereo part, this unit has an input on the front for both 1/8 inch jack, mp3,satellite radio etc. and a USB port for any kind of music files. This unit also has an RCA input on the rear for satellite TV and DVD player.

I included an Alpine amp and sub woofer for a nice sounding system, plenty loud to offend everyone at the campgrounds. Just kidding, no loud music after 10:00pm. I have installed a 20" LCD TV. Direct TV Tivo and a DVD player as well. All of the entertainment including the TV can run off of the 12volt dc to 120 volt ac power inverter, no sense in not having entertainment wile out in the woods, you have to have the Weather channel to be safe you know.

I have also added lights in the large closet so you can find everything, they have been hooked to door switches so that no matter what door you open the lights come on and go out as soon as you close them. This is a must have for any dark closet!I have installed a convection microwave oven so I can bake and or microwave. Saves room and gives multiple cooking options.

Now for the most impressive of engineering projects to date on the Tin Can, The Electrical System! It is so way over board it isn't even funny. I sort of got carried away with the, I want it to be fail proof forever kind of thing. I wont go into too much boring detail but it has power distribution, multiple power sources I.E. two AC power inlets, two batteries all with switching between each other. Redundant battery chargers that will charge one the other or both. Power converter for 120v. AC to 12v. DC and Inverter power for 12v. DC to 120v. AC. I will be able to run everything in the trailer of of just AC or DC power. I even have a generator for back up of back up power. If you are not confused by now? I sure am.

I have started putting up all of the interior trim and will be installing the flooring this next week.

The it will be recover the couch and make new curtains install a bed and on the road I will go!!!!!

Some how this stuff never goes fast enough for me. It seems to take forever to do it all.

I will be flying to South Dakota to get vehicles registered and a drivers licence. They have better insurance rates and lower TAXES Than most all other states. So I guess I now have to put that I am from SD on the Blog info....or not.

Well enough for tonight I promise to blog sooner this time.

Everyone take care and I look forward to seeing you all on the road soon,

Rick

Storage Galore

Hello to all. I'm glad to be Blogging to you today because I am closer to my goal than ever, I now have my storage back in the Tin Can. I was able to get the overhead storage bin over the kitchen area up and all of the electrical connections hooked up on the control panel. I was also able to rebuild the range vent fan and hood control. I added two more overhead lights in the kitchen for better cooking and storage bin illumination.

With the help of Steven, Scott and Ross, great Friends, we installed the very long and awkward closet side overhead storage bin. Thank you guys for the help it would have been imposable without you! We also installed the closet doors and part of the kitchen cabinetry on the driver side of the Tin Can. All and all a very good few days.

Much more to come very soon as I am still looking for a mid March departure for FL. and possibly a few stops along the way.

Take care and be sure to leave me some feed back in the comments section.

Rick

Bath Time

Finally, I have got some good work done, the details are a killer when it comes to a bathroom. There are so many pieces and parts to a bathroom you just wouldent believe.

I thought that I would never stop cleaning and preping and painting and covering and fastening and........wow, OK it's done. The bathroom anyway. This tiny bathroom was a really fun to redo, I painted all of the plastic and wall papered the walls. I installed all new fixtures, sink faucet, shower faucet and drains. A new shower cutain Rod and curtain. I was going to install a shower door but looking at it, I thought that it would close up the space too much. So I opted for a curtain instead. This way I could leave the curtain open and it would look like a larger room. It's such a tiny space!

So, I have also finished the heating ducts and part of the kitchen walls. I used a faux Stainless Steel laminate on the kithchen walls and backsplash for a more modern look, it will come together when the cabinatetry is in and the appliances are installed. I finnished some roof details including plumbing vents and the air conditioner shroud. I installed a refrigerator vent fan to help cool the refer space when the temps get high. I was told by an older gentlman that when it is very hot outside that the refrigerator would have a hard time keeping cool unless you could provid adequit cooling for the frige vent. I also installed a automatic thermastat for the fan to be completely user friendly.

Hopfully the closet space and refrigerator wont be as hard or time consuming as the bathroom. There are not as many parts to these as the bath so it might go a litle faster? It seems that I say this on every blog, Hmmmm..... I think it will all take forever to finish, but forever is just a few weeks away.

Here is to forever may it get here soon.

Rick

Let There Be Light

Hello everyone, since last we blogged much has happened. The last few weeks have been very productive and I am starting to see the light at the end of this long arduous labor of love. The Tin Can has seen many improvements including but not limited to:

1. All new plumbing. I used Pex plumbing for ease and better freeze protection than the original copper. I also added a few features not originally available, I fabricated a permanent black water tank wash that goes through the black tank vent pipe, so when you are emptying your tanks you just hook the hose up to the fitting and it sprays a jet of rotating water around the inside of the tank. No more sticking the hose or spray wand down the toilet drain, that's just so nasty! I also included a hose bib for cleaning stuff outside the Tin Can, Me/the bike etc.



2. Furnace LPG line pre heater. Funny thing about Propane, when it gets really cold LPG has less energy per gallon than when its warm. I read a chart that said at 70deg F. a 20lb. grill bottle has about 55,000 BTU's of energy, that same bottle at -5deg F. has about 5,000 BTU's of energy. Somehow I think we are all getting ripped off when it's cold because so many people heat with LPG, shouldn't it be the other way around, the colder the temp the more it will heat? Well I think it's a sham created by the oil co. Those Bastards! That's OK since I have a genius plan, preheat the gas before it gets to the furnace! Stop me now you big Oil Co. Bullies......Sorry I keep getting off track but they are trying to kill my soon to be road trip. Now we return to the preheater It's an insulated box with about six feet of copper gas line in a coil, when the heater starts it blows hot air across the coil befor heating the Tin Can. Now the furnace gets warm LPG, More BTU's per gallon, less fuel burned for heat. I know, "It's so easy a Cave Man Could do it" Some time things are so much funnier to me than anyone else.


3. Last but not least is the new cool interior lights. I used under the counter Puck Lights, they are small, bright and fit nicely. I used ten; 4 for the living room with dimmer switch, just in case you need a little mood lighting. 4 for the kitchen and hallway for good counter top and closet lighting, no dimmer. 2 for the bedroom, yes on a dimmer too. You have to have good lighting in the bedroom, everything looks better when you squint. Right? I will also add wall mounted gimble oil lamps in the bedroom for that special mood lighting...I mean back up emergency lighting and heat.

So as you can see, things are coming along nicely. I have started to refurbish the bathroom counter and base, the shower pan and the vanity mirror cabinet. I purchased a new nicer toilet, the Thetford Auqua Magic V it seems really nice. It is taller and white, not dingy yellow stained like the other one.

It's been fun writing to you today so everyone have a great couple o weeks and I will write to you soon.

Rick

Back on the JOB

Welcome back to the Tin Can. I hope everyone had a great holiday season of too much food and drink.
I have great news for everyone, My knee surgery seems to be a huge success!! I am on the sixth week of recovery and an doing very well. I took about three and a half week break on the Can but have been hard at work for the last few weeks. The first week back was slow to say the least but the last week has kicked butt. There has been allot happening at the old Can, I rebuilt the lower door hinge and spent about eight to ten hours getting the door to seal and latch properly. All of that time dose include installing a new style door latch and deadbolt.

More new installs include two new power receptacles, one on the front and one on the left rear, and a new city water inlet.

The best news of all though is that all of the insulation and interior walls are DONE!!!!!!!!!! You just gotta love the FLOWER POWER bathroom walls!!

On the lighter side of life I have gotten to ride my mountain bike a couple of times, the first being a 10 mile all flat and paved greenway trail, the absolute best ride I have had in the last six months!!!!! Well the second ride on the same trail was even better, 15 miles of pure pleasure. I know that these trails are not very exciting but when you get to ride again after a horrible tragic bee induced accident it's just the best thing ever. I will be riding more and more as time and pain allow, I need to start working on my beach body, the Florida Keys are starting to call pretty hard. If all goes as well as the last week went, I should be leaving on my great adventure by March first.

Please keep me in you thoughts as I slave for the next six weeks, and may THE CAN BE WITH YOU ALL!

Hope to show much progress soon.

Rick

Wall and Crawls

OK It has been a wile since my last post but a lot has been going on. First on the Tin Can, I have cleaned up the wiring and added wiring for Entertainment systems, second coach/house battery and another cable for TV in the bedroom. I also Added new speaker wire and power for an amplifier and sub woofer. Got to have the kickin tunes!!! I rewired the 120V. AC system and moved the power distribution center from the rear to the front at the kitchen.









With 98% of the wiring work done I Sprayed in the Tiger Foam polyurethane insulation.
Now for some very important information from our sponsors!:

When spraying the Tiger Foam be sure to: Wear a Tivek suit with a head cover, This stuff gets on everything and sticks! It will not come off of your skin, clothes or anything else. Make sure you mask off anything you don't want to get this stuff on, It goes everywhere, it's only partially controllable when you spray. The Tiger Foam cures so quickly that it will start curing on the spray tip if you stop spraying for more than 15-20 seconds and when this happens it starts to clump and spray in funny directions. YOU MUST CHANGE TIPS FREQUENTLY! This will make the spraying easyer. This really is not as bad as it sounds, there is just a slight learning curve to the process. When you are spraying downward as with the flooring it sprays very well but when you spray overhead it will rain foam down on you and everything around. It goes back to clean tips. Change to a new tip when spraying overhead and don't stop spraying if you can help it. Be sure to take the time to prep for spraying and come up with a spray plan. Map out exactly how you will spay to have as few times of stopping. Luckily the foam is pretty easy to cut and form, I was able to use a cheap flush cut saw, like you would use to cut the lower trim when installing flooring, to cut the areas of too thick foam and to trim the ribs for the int. walls. It took a wile to get the floor cleaned up, a lot of scraping, I would definitely cover the floor with plastic! I guess you learn as you go.

Now that the Tiger Foam is in and the wiring is done I started putting in the Prodex Foil/Foam/Foil radiant heat barrier over the Tiger Foam and the ribs in the walls. I am covering the rib to help with the condensation problem when in really cold weather. The heat transfer from the outside aluminum skin and the aluminum ribs to the aluminum interior walls has been a problem with Airstreams forever. I am hoping that the foam insulation of the Prodex between the ribs and walls will stop 90% of this sweating problems at the ribs. I will in theory have about R21 in the walls now. 1"of Tiger Foam is about R7 and the Prodex is about R14. The Tiger Foam also seals everything and is waterproof and fire rated. I am thinking that it will be extremely airtight and very quiet. Well now that the walls are going back in I hope things will start moving faster. There is only one problem now...

Thursday November Twenty Ninth, 8:00am I had my ACL Reconstruction surgery. All went well and I am not having too much pain. Therapy is going well and I should be back on the Tin Can in A week or so. It has been nice having a short break with lots of legal drugs to keep me happy but like all good things it must end soon so I can get back to the plan and get my Tin Can ready for my new Life!!!

I hope to have an update before Christmas but If I don't I hope everyone has a very happy Holiday season.

Everyone Take Care,

Rick