The latest adventure was going to Wasteland Weekend in the apocolyptic scrub deserts of California. It was a fun excuse to make costumes and drag the trailer out of the drive way and make sure everything is still humming along. It was hot as balls in southern cali but we had the generator and the AC unit in the trailer kept it nice and cool for the peak heat of day. Here are some shots from the trip.
After korea our next adventure was the philipines here are some shots from the island of Palawan. We spent a week in the village of El Nido.
Im trapsing half way around the world. What an amazing and strange experience its been!
In this installment of the trailer remodel series Ill touch on the insulation. I chose RMAX insulation, its the same stuff they build hexayurts out of and works well. I used 2in thick on the ceiling and 1in on the walls. Protip the broken boards are usually 20% off. find ones in the right size and repair with aluminum tape.
I used self tapping steel screws to attach the thin finishing boards to have some ribbing to attach the insulation to. I used small squares of thin board as washers to keep the screws from pulling through the soft insulation.
heres another angle.
both panels up
side walls i finished in gaffer tape to keep the foam from making a huge mess. with a sharp razor this stuff is easy to cut quick.
next side went in quick but had to work around the inverter
another view
side trim installed. theres a big removable piece to cover the back cargo door that fits tight and lets you access the storage under the bed without letting the AC up top out. More pics coming soon!
So I undertook a large remodel of the trailer for burning man. I’m adding a solar rig, wall to wall RMAX insulation and a 9000 BTU AC unit. I’ll be posting a series of blogs in the upcoming days about it.
I’ll be posting back logged blogs about the adventure with links to the various things I’ve added.
Well, I’m turning a new leaf in life, after 10 years in the event industry I’m taking a break and going into acrobatic wheel manufacturing. my new company vitruvian is going to revolutionize the roue cyr wheel, making it simpler to assemble, cheaper to purchase and networking like minded acrobats and performers together to cross train and improve skillsets.
ill post the kickstarter info coming soon and more details to follow!
Anticipate vaxrv hitting the road to bring spinning goodness to festivals near you this coming season!
The Dodge has been reclaimed by the city, due to draconian policies regarding parking in Berkeley my RV was towed and the tyrants in charge of the tow service wanted thousands of dollars to get it back (no thanks, keep it.) Unluckily for them I was still renovating, so I had my solar rig pulled out for re-roof sealing and painting inside, so the most expensive parts of my RV happened to be in the house. whew, dodged a slight bullet.
Update 12/2013: I’ve changed my idea about what I want in a RV now and decide a truck and trailer is far more useful. I got a wells cargo 6×10 trailer and its now outfitted to be a mini toyhauler slash rv. Its all wired up for 110 but I still need to integrate the old RV deep cycle array into the fray and I’m going to keep the solar cells unattached and just have a decently long line to run them out and set them up on ground stands when I want to use them. Expect updates on the project soon.
The Issue of TV is pretty common in the RV world, and while I dont use it much, I like having the option to watch streaming movies and shows on netflix or amazon prime. In my quest for Energy efficiency I needed a low draw solution and I wanted to keep the space consumption down to a minimum. The obvious choice seemed to be converting one of my existing desktop LCD monitors into a “tv”. I choose my Samsung 22″ LCD as its got a 1080p resolution and has a really nice picture in a package that draws .8 amps when on.
Another appealing aspect was that the bottom stand completely comes off and its standard VESA 100 mountable. I found this arm mount which fit my needs perfectly and was super affordable. Here are some before and after installation shots. I find this mount to be sturdy and the knobs seem to tighten well, but its new so time will tell. I’ll update this post after tripping around with it to let you know the real outcome.
Here is the arm mount installed and a shot of it up on the wall. I had to move my Broom holder to the left to make room for the tv add on, and I have to peek around to see the temperature of my fridge now, but both are pretty minor changes to my routine. The fridge still has clearance to open and if I swing the tv out I can get it open even more. Here is the combo VGA/mini jack 1/8th audio cable I got to run from the screen and speakers to the laptop for video/extended display work.
heres another shot from dead on
I returned home last night to find all my Amazon toys arrived. I set about getting the new stuff installed before heading to work. The coolest new addition has got to be the Cradlepoint 3g router which I got off amazon for about the same price as a usual home router, but its wayyyyy better for mobile applications. It doesnt take hardly any power (and can easily be ran on 12v) It accepts most 3g/4g usb modems and then routes the signal into wifi. It can have a guest and a protected network so you can have one for filesharing/printer sharing and one for friends to pop on when you have guests. It also allows you to take another wifi network signal and use it as your internet source (which was a unique feature and one of the reasons I got it besides enabling sharing my 3g modem). You can even use its built in RJ-45 lan port to network a desktop in, or you can use it to plug in a cable or dsl modem or other internet source.
All those features in a router thats a little bigger than a deck of playing cards. Its pretty amazing and its got alot of bells and whistles built into the netbased setup interface, you can even enable gps tracking/logging/ and periodic reporting in standard GPS formats, which is particularly of interest to me since it will be in the rv and could enable even more geolocation possibilites for the blog.
Here it is mounted on the wall net to the couch (which yes, still needs a paintjob, BAD)
I’ve went ahead and bought some upgrades.
First up is a Alfa 1000mw usb wireless card with a standard screw in antenna port (so later on I can upgrade antennas) Its also got a 15 foot extension cable enroute with it. should improve my ability to find random hotspots = ]
Second upgrade is this lcd tv mount to mount my flat screen samsung lcd to the wall. I’m still debating placement and height, as I want to be able to see it from the bed above the cab but also ideally have it usable as an eternal monitor when working down below from the sofa. will post pictures and a blog on installation once it arrives.
