Cooter, Help! Zambo gets Betty too hot

Zambo

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Got the three lateral pieces of the fridge cabinet cut and mounted and squared up as true as possible. Boxed in the part that the fridge actually nests into. It has to fit precisely and line up with the vents on the outside. Also got the outlet for the fridge wired up inside that cabinet.

The thinsulate finally showed up. There is only one wall that doesn't have any wiring inside so I cut some paneling for that wall first. Its good to see some of those wall studs finally starting to disappear. There is a window behind that panel, my plan is to get it glued and nailed to the window opening, then I can make a precise cut for the window opening. But first I have to start cutting up that thinsulate and stuffing it in the voids.

BTW, the oil pan seems to be a winner. Just got a couple small leaks around those old valve covers, which is pretty common. Otherwise I think it'll run without having to wear a diaper.
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Zambo

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@Zambo - What is the R value and thickness of the Thinsulate you are using?
Its 5.2 they say. Pretty cool stuff, its only about 3/4" when its shipped all rolled up, after about an hour it expand to about an inch, and in several days its supposed to get to 1.75." Should be perfect for these walls which are between 1.25 and 1.5. The backing material is fairly strong but simple to cut with shop shears, spray a little adhesive on the aluminum outer skin of the rv, and stick the white side to the glue. Easy peezy. I included a sample of the 50 year old nasty stuff that was in there from the factory.

Finally got to the point where its time to get that stuff in the walls and start nailing up paneling. I started under the cabinet where all the plumbing is because I knew that A, I would be making some mistakes as I figured out how to best cut everything, and B, its hidden under there and needs to be made out of several pieces anyway. So after stuffing the thinsulate in all the compartments I could reach behind the shower, I finally got busy cutting the wall panels. It went fairly well and as I figured the best way to measure and make some of the cuts, especially where outlets and such are located, I got pretty good at it by the end of the day.

Now that this wall behind the first cabinet is done, I can put the water tank in and start running all the PEX plumbing. Film at 11.

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crosscreekcooter

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Awesome. Is the Thinsulate made of the same fiber stuff used in clothing? And is that a foil backed foam sheet on the ceiling?
 

Zambo

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Awesome. Is the Thinsulate made of the same fiber stuff used in clothing? And is that a foil backed foam sheet on the ceiling?
The thinsulate is the same proprietary stuff that's in your warm jacket. They are providing a lot of this material to people who are building out sprinter vans, which is really becoming pretty common. I think the "ceiling" you are looking at is the underside of the countertop panel, which is still in the wrapper from Lowes.

I really didn't know when I bought this damn thing that refurbishing RVs was such a popular hobby, but youtube and FB etc are packed with people doing this kind of stuff.
 

Zambo

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:lol: She's wrapped pretty tight!
 

divits

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Good for you, Zambo. I'm sure the finished product is gonna' look.....ummmm......awesome!

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Zambo

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Finally got to the point where I could start putting the plumbing in. I stared at everything for way too long, fiddling around with where to put the water pump, where to run the lines, where to put shutoff valves, etc. In the end once I started putting stuff together it sort of fell into place. Other than the faucet itself in the galley, its finally all plumbed and ready to take on water. Next I gotta do the final wiring to the water pump and hook up the gas lines to the water heater and the cooktop. Hopefully I can get that stuff done tomorrow and maybe get started on the cabinet faces.
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crosscreekcooter

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Very neat looking plumbing but isn't that a window?
edit*- now it appears to be inside the cabinet?
 

Zambo

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Put the fuse box and a big circuit breaker (so I can shut off all DC power when I'm not using it) on the wall next to the battery charger/converter. Installed a switch for the water pump, ran all the wires to the fuse box, etc. Now all the DC electrical is hooked up at the distribution end, just ready to put in the lights and stuff once the ceiling goes back up.
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Zambo

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Some fun stuff today! I played golf this morning so I only had a couple hours to mess with Betty this afternoon but it was productive.

I got the last piece of gas line plumbing I needed, a shutoff valve, and made the last couple flares in the copper tubing for the propane. Once that was installed, I hooked up all the appliances that run on gas, which are the fridge, the water heater, and the stove top. I checked all the connections with soapy water and found a couple that were making a few bubbles but a quick extra ugga-dugga on those fittings and no more leaks.

After a few seconds to bleed the air out of the lines, everything fired right up. The fridge is interesting because its automatic...when 110v power is removed it will automatically light its own pilot light and start using the propane to cool itself. The water heater works on either 110 or propane, but you have to manually light the pilot if you want the gas to work. If the pilot is lit and the 110 is plugged in, the temp will stay hot enough so that the burner never fires up.

I figured as long as I was leak-checking all the appliances I might as well put some water in the tank and see if the plumbing works. Spoiler alert: It does!

There are two water inlets, one lets you gravity fill the tank through a big hose, just like filling your gas tank. The other lets you put attach a garden hose so you can just use city water to pressurize and run the system. After filling up the tank high enough provide water to the pump, I turned it on to see what would happen. As you might guess with all the air in the lines and a completely empty water heater, it sputtered quite a bit. After about 10 minutes of waiting for it to bleed itself, I hooked up the hose to the city water inlet and let that pressurize the system. After I did that everything bled itself quickly and started flowing like you'd expect. These pumps don't put out a hell of a lot of pressure, but its enough to get the job done taking a shower or washing the dishes, etc. I was amazed at how quickly the water heater worked, it seemed like only 10 minutes or so after I lit the burner that the water was more than hot enough to shower with.

So basically, all the engineering stuff is working now, so the bulk of what I have left is carpentry, paint and floors.
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