Saturday July 4, 2015 Guerneville CA.
I stayed home today and puttered in the yard and worked on the van. It seemed like a good idea to let the tourists do their thing. It’s nice and peaceful at home, so I stayed and enjoyed my yard.
Worked on the van
I did some work on the van. First thing I needed to do was put the engine battery back in it’s place from when I changed it over during my breakdown on the way home. I have two batteries. One for the van and one for accessories.
Low on water
As long as I had them out, I did maintenance on them and found the engine battery very low on water. I filled it up and put it on the charger, but I think it may not charge up right and I will have to replace it. I’ll check it tomorrow and see it it holds any charge or not. I will replace it if there is any doubt at all about it’s condition as it’s just too important when I’m out in the boonies running around by myself. The accessory battery needed a little water and looked good otherwise.
Here’s the two batteries I’m working on.
Battery box mods
As long as I had the batteries out, I needed to make some modifications on the battery box. I moved the two battery mounts further apart so it was easier to work on them.
Then I wanted to add a board on the metal battery box lid so the batteries couldn’t short out on the metal lid. The batteries are held down well, but it one should ever come loose when I’m bouncing around on a rough road, the sparks and fire wouldn’t be welcome.
The only problem with putting a board on the metal lid was there was a metal rib that needed to be removed first, which was good as it could short things out even easier than the lid part.
I went over and borrowed my brothers saws all and cut the rib off. It vibrated a lot and shook me good, but the rib was off.
Cutting the metal rib off with the saws all.
Next I found a piece of old board and cut it to size. I decided pop rivets would likely be the easiest and cleanest way to fasten the board to the metal lid.
The lid protector came out ok and should do the job. There’s one battery in the compartment so far and the other one is still on the charger.
Gauges
I also looked at the voltage gauge on the van that broke on me. I need to get some new gauges as the inside plastics are breaking up. I had picked up a two inch voltage gage, but looking at the old one, it’s only 1.5 inches, so I’ll have to get to the store. I likely should replace all three gages.
Radiator
I also checked out the radiator to see if it was plugged up with dirt in the fins and it wasn’t. I need to get a new radiator, something with a bit more capacity as that one has always been a bit on the marginal side as far as keeping the engine cool, so time to take care of that.
Between doing those jobs, I set the sprinklers and did some watering and just sat around and enjoyed the yard. Oh yeah. I did hit the coach a couple times, but I felt much better today, not feeling so warn out.
That’s it for another day.