Let's Go, Jane!

I’ve spent a total of 15 minutes this week looking for my Sharpie. Yesterday I purchased two more Sharpies so this doesn’t happen again. Fingers crossed. If I can’t keep track of a Sharpie, how exactly am I supposed to map an entire electrical system?

This week has been characterized by a series of knowledge roadblocks. To be fair, I have approached the van build by the seat of my pants, and I’m at the point where I need to work out the final details before I can proceed. Whatever holes need to be cut in the van need to go in now, or at least their location has to be identified. That includes a roof hole for the wires to the solar panels, a floor hole for the gray water tank, a side hole for the power and water inlets, and did you know that water tanks need to be vented? Not sure where that hole will go.

Each project I’ve come across this week has required extensive research. It feels like every time I start making forward progress I come to an abrupt stop. In order to pre-wire the van I had to learn all about voltage and wire gauge. I need to decide where all my lights will be and all my appliances and outlets. And then I had to order three different types of wire and run them all over the van behind where the walls will go. I think I will still need two more wire types for the camera system and the internet.

The research continues. Start. Stop.

All of the horizontal framing is done. With the exception of one board that required a little extra glue and a clamp to compensate for a non-cooperative rivnut, that part of the project went pretty smoothly. I’m getting more comfortable with the circular saw and I look forward to building the cabinets in the next week or two. That’s when the visual progress will really begin. So far my time has been spent on invisible systems that won’t show at the end—the stuff that makes everything else possible.

I also finished insulating the walls this week. It is amazing how much quieter it is to drive the van now. When Carey and I drove down from New York at the beginning of the month we had to project our voices to be heard. At the end of the drive I felt like I’d been in a club all night. This week when we drove in the van I realized that we were speaking at a normal conversational level. The insulation is not just good for warmth, it is good for quiet. I still need to insulate the ceiling and the small crevices throughout, but I’ll wait until after I’ve put in the skylight and wired the solar panels before doing that.

Today I need to watch more YouTube videos about plumbing and figure out my system. I was originally thinking I could get away with 5 gallon water jugs from the grocery store but I’ve been living out of those jugs for a couple weeks now and it’s already getting old. Five gallons sounds manageable until you’re lifting it in and out of a shopping cart every week. I’ll have a fresh water tank of at least 20 gallons and a gray water tank of half the volume of the fresh water tank, since a lot of water gets used for cooking and drinking. I would like to order those today so they can go in next week.

All in all it was a productive week, but you wouldn’t know it to look at the inside of the van. I’m making progress. Slow. Steady. Invisible. But forward.