Cloudy Day Makes For A Good Work Day

 We could have named it "GREY FRIDAY" as the clouds didn't let sunshine though, so our 3 connected Solar panels couldn't deliver much power. But the weather enticed me for another work day on the roof.

But first I had to drive to Holtville and the ACE-store. I had been running out of washers and the screws for the strut channel were just a tad too long, so I had to get 3/4" screws to continue the mounting work. The first three panels got mounted until noon. After lunch I brought the remaining 4 strut channels onto the roof, and Bea helped reaching them up to me!

Left: The line

Both strut channels glued on

The attached photos are showing the steps to install strut channels. First, a line along the edge of the roof, then the Eterna Bond and as the last step the strut channel. It is important to put pressure on the channel to make sure it really connects to the Eterna Bond.

I did all 4 channels today and I am ready to mounting 6 more solar panels.

The latest 3 panels - not yet connected and flat on the roof.

Tomorrow, I will mount the last 6 panels to the strut channels.

I Was On The Roof Again

 While Bea was walking Dixie this morning, I readied myself for another job on the roof.

Challenge #1 was to get the panels onto the roof without damaging them - or the rig. Climbing the ladder with them was not an option as I had to use both hands to keep me from falling off it. So I borrowed an extendable ladder from a neighbour and placed it behind the coach. Then I took a solar panel, covered the solar side with some of the cardboard they came in and put 2 slings of rope around it all. This "package" was then placed against the leaning ladder. With the end of the rope I climbed onto the roof and was no able to pull the wrapped solar panel along the ladder until I could grab it from above. This procedure was done three times.

I mounted the crossbars onto the mounting rails (strut channels) then bolted the solar panels to the cross irons.

By specially tightening the nuts on the outside, I was able to tilt the panels towards the sun. They will get a support for that position later.

Then it was to connect wires and run the main connecting wires down the side of the motorhome, where I temporarely connected them to the charge controller. 

The panels down on the trailer had already been disconnected, so now the roof aray could take over. The whole operation today took about 6hrs. I clambered up and down the rear ladder many times and tonight I can feel it in my knees.

Today's achievement is only one quarter of all work I still have to do.

A Little More Progress

I knew that getting 12 solar panels installed on an RV Roof wouldn't be done in a hurry. Lots of time passed just to get all the parts for the installation. Repeatedly I just got the last inventory the stores had, and I have been at Home Depot and Lowes as well. Besides, I discovered that both stores have a lousy customer service andjust about the highest prices for everything.

But we got a nice break in the work as yesterday we had a Potluck Thanksgiving dinner in Camp. 33 people showed up.

Like always, cutting the turkey was a "man-matter" as the photo bears proof of. We ate very well, nobody left hungry.

Today, I was "back to work". I went to town and picked up 2 parcels containing more solar wire, solar in-line fuses and a package of strut nuts and bolts. I also stopped by the local ACE-store where I found 3 4ft. length of slottet angle iron, which completed my total need. I bought a hundred small hex screws, with washers and stop nuts. Also a bunch of selv-drilling screws to eventually drive into the roof, though I am still not sure whether to do that.

The beauty of an ACE-store versus big-box stores like Home Depot is that you can buy a lot of things without pbeing pre-packed. Bolts and nuts can be found in loose weight from small bins. And you just pay by the weight.

So today I spent only 80bucks on all of it. And they actually have staff you can ask if you need something special. Try that in a Lowes store! 

Back in camp, I started mounting the previously cut 2ft. long cross bars on the solar panels. The panels have pre-drilled holes, which made the work more efficient. I did 7 panels, while 5 are temporarely connected to the motorhome batteries.

While being in town I also stopped at a car-parts store to get a marker light for the front of our bus.

And even one of our 5gal. drinking water containers got filled.

So overall, a pretty satisfactory day I'd say.

Passing Days

When you are on a long-term vacation days may go into a blur. While we always have something or else to do, it is not always I take pictures of things I do. And there are days we don't remember what day in the week it is. But I guess, it's a perfect sign to blocking out a lot of daily concerns.

F.ex. the other day, when we had a cooling breeze, I put two more mounting rails on the roof. So now, I have covered one side of the rig with it. I also went to Lowes in El Centro og purchased the angle irons needed to actually mount the solar panels with. I cut the 8ft long irons down to handy 2ft. lengths. Unfortunately, Lowes was no better than Home Depot, as I could not find enough of the strut nuts and bolts. 

So when I got home I went online and to my surprise, I found both nuts and bolts at a much, much lower price than what the stores here in town are charging. I expect them to arrive on Thanksgiving day, though I won't be able to pick them up tomorrow.

I have also added a 4th solar panel to the temporary setup.

But we still need to run the generator for a few hours in the evenings.

It is now a month ago that we took over this motorhome in Colorado.

The time has been used for various repairs and fixings, one of them being replacing the main door lock. So far we had to use the dead bolt to lock the door. It wasn't very satisfactory, so I had ordered a new door lock. It's a lot of work with taking out a lot of screws to get behind the door panel, but eventually I got it done and it works perfectly!

The day after we arrived in Trinidad,CO we went to a propane place and got the tank filled.

Today, after one month, we took the rig to an RV-park in El Centro for propane. We were greatly surprised when we learned that we had only used 18.5gal of propane for the whole month. That is quite a bit lower than what we would have used with our trailer. The much better insulation of this rig along with using a residential AC fridge might account for the low use of propane.

As the propane tank takes 38gal. we won't go for more propane any sooner than 6 weeks from now.

While I have been puttering around outside with any number of projects, Bea has been keeping a good eye on issues inside the coach. CLEANING has been a major part of her work. Some times you might find a rig being super clean when you purchase it, but I guess most times its cleanlyness is not what you want for yourself. 

But we are far from letting work projects take away the fun of enjoying this motorhome. So we have time for meeting friends, taking doggy walks and simply hanging out around the rig. Weather is fantastic with warm days and cool nights. It is great that desert nights are cooling off so we can sleep. Evenings we read or are watching a movie on the TV or Internet.

"Rosy" the pink elephant is always with us on tour

                                                  A little Christmas out front