Adventure Van -> Truck Camper -> DIY.Roamer

Dang, you might have just one-upped my evil twin story.

Met another Nick Davis once, on a camping trip at Deception Pass up in Washington. This alone is way cool when you're like 12, but this kid turned out to have the same birthday as I did, one year older. And we had exactly the same cheapass K-mart digital watches, set within a few tenths of a second of each other.

Okay, that sounds dumb now that I typed it all out.

On that subject, is there a way to recalibrate the speedo so it is accurate with the larger tires? I am thinking I will go with similar tires once my stock ones wear out. I am way to cheap to do it while there is still good rubber on these.

In a pinch I have used a socket head cap screw full threaded nut and 2 washers to set them in confined spaces.

On the cap screw and spin the nut up against the head add washers and insert.
Insert in the hole holding the cap screw still wrench the nut down (gear wrench helps) compressing the insert till it is clinched.


tom

you might could make some extra $$ with that riv-nut tool there Geek.

Talk to your LBSes. You'll get frames in with loose riv-nuts and the shops don't have any way to repair em.

M

I have one of the squeze handle types for aluminum rivnuts but just saw this one and figured it would be handy for hard to reach spots, or for steel rivnuts.



http://www.rivetsonline.com/to-aa184.html

I finished my taxes this weekend... I can now resume spending

House batteries & charger are 1st on the list.

Does anyone know if the Odyssey brand batteries are actually better?



They target the Optima batteries I was considering specifically with their marketing


"Featuring rugged construction and packed tightly with pure lead plates, the non-spillable AGM design ODYSSEY battery protects against the shock and vibration that can quickly destroy other batteries. And the pure lead plates mean more power—twice the overall power and three times the life of conventional batteries—up to 400 cycles at 80% depth of discharge!"

I don't mind spending the extra money if I'm getting maximum aH per pound on board and the things are going to last longer...

Looking at two models in their marine lineup:

34M-PC1500 = 55lbs = 135 minutes @ 25 amps = 22 hours @ 2.5 amps
31M-PC2150 = 78lbs = 205 minutes @ 25 amps = 34 hours @ 2.5 amps

.. or two 34M-PC1500s = 110lbs = 44 hours @2.5 amps.

"Useable" would be 50% of these numbers....

If you were gonna insulate on a budget for noise, what materials for roof and walls?

I dont have LLP money.

USPS lost my rivnut tool

Frustrating because the forecast is in the 60s this weekend and was hoping to get a bunch done on the van.

Having another one overnighted... we'll see if it gets here tomorrow or not. I'll deal with getting a refund on the missing one later

Yeah! Stupid Fed Ex!

I'm no battery expert, but everything I had read indicated that the thicker the lead plates the better, for just about everything except weight.
Also seems to be one of the main reasons 2x 6v golf cart batteries are so common in RV's, the lead plates are a lot thicker making the batteries last a lot longer.

I got one of those free ~15 years ago, it works so well it's all I've ever used.

Yeah! Stupid DSL!

Geode: I always appreciate your input; If you were me... and you want 150-200 ah... what batter(ies) would you buy?
House battery.. couldn't care less about cca. Budget secondary concern - best solution 1st concern.

http://advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=18148556&postcount=1727

you can use a regular bolt too

tom

Thanks Tom; I'm going to give that a try.

Just remember to hold the bolt and spin the nut the threads aren't strong enough to pull it self up the bolt.

the philosophy of that advice is good to hear from time to time (reality check)

i know i get caught up in minutiae on a daily basis!

so if one poops out, the batteries don't have to be replaced with matched pairs?

I found a very cheap and effective option for my van. There is a surplus store where I live that has a bunch of very large UPS batteries. There are a lot of places with critical power needs where they replace the batteries on a set schedule so they are not new but they still work well. 50ah 12v batteries for $25 I figure I can't go wrong. I bought 3 last summer and they have worked great for running my ceiling fan, big inverter to run coffee pot, and a few other odds and ends. I then have a very small inverter that runs off the van connected to a smart battery charger to recharge (yes, I know lots of loss with that setup but it charges the batteries well). If I don't drive far enough to fully recharge I just plug in an extention cord to the charger when I get home.

Total cost of batteries, the "charging inverter" and the charger was under $150. I could easily add a bunch more of the same batteries if needed at $25 each if I need more.