brianksears
New member
Hello all!!! First time caller, long time reader. Such a great collection of information and collaboration of brilliant or very resourceful minds. It has been quite the voyage...I say has as though it is past tense, yet I'll be on this endeavor until my vital organs misfire...but it's hard to find a place to begin. Especially because of the precarious situation I am in.
I'll begin by saying I was born, raised and lived in the Willamette Valley of Oregon for the first 29 years of my life. However, to make a long story short: I was given an wonderfully beautiful opportunity to relocate to the [font=Roboto, arial, sans-serif]Appalachian[/font] Mountains of Western Maryland. So, I packed my 1987 Toyota Camry with all my worldly possessions and embarked on my first adult journey out of the state of Oregon. (I had been on trips to Washington and Idaho, and have traveled A LOT within the state of Oregon, yet I had not yet had may opportunities to explore my own unknown) I don't mind sharing details, but for the sake of brevity I'll just say that I had a blast driving across the continent for the first time. There were factors that didn't necessarily allow me to do it in the most ideal fashion, still a blast nonetheless. Again, to save some gory details I'll say that I discovered in a relatively short period of time that the job and living situation that brought me to the East Coast had no security or stability. Awesome work environment, awesome people, awesome knowledge, unfortunately highly unsustainable.
Once that part of the endeavor ended there were some challenges thrown my way. I definitely had to jump some hurdles, hit a few speed bumps, and any other analogy that implies trying times.
Now to get to the more relevant parts: I've been living in a suburb of DC now for two years. I've been graced with an amazing living situation with very low overhead while I hold down two full time jobs. I work three 12 hour days as a veterinary technician and three 12 hour days at a farm (it's primarily an equestrian boarding facility for dressage horses. 20 in total) and I have been able to work toward a goal of mine that I have had for such a long time, but yet unable to actually execute. Not any more! As of April 26th of this year I bought my 1990 Chevy G20 conversion Sport Van. It is in pretty decent shape. It's got some aesthetic sores, but they're manageable. Higher-ish miles, but it's a 1990 so...most importantly it runs very, very strong.
So now I've begun transforming Scooter into livable space. The front seats were a little too broken in for me, so when I removed the captains chairs (and the convertible bench seat) from the back, I exchanged them for the driver and passenger seats. I should mention that before I installed them I fabricated my own swivel for the passenger seat (I didn't feel like paying $350 for a universal swivel mount) for about $30. If anyone is interested in the details I'd be more than happy to share the methods and parts I used. After the seats were removed and switched I began demolition: carpet and flooring, paneling and insulation, the ceiling and every little screw and things of the like.
The rust isn't awful, but it would have been nice if it wasn't there at all. Again I have to remind myself of the year and consider where it lived most of it's life (on the southern portion of the rust belt). This is where I'm at in my build process: I sealed the leaks in the windows, I have cleaned the rust off to the best of my ability (with a wire wheel), applied a rust inhibitor, primer and a couple top coats on the areas that have the most potential to get worse and I will be plugging the small screw type holes with flex seal and the large holes will be done with some thing gauge steel and steel epoxy. I'll include some pictures if anyone wants to criticize the ultra botch job I have done.
Regardless, I cant wait to move forward and get this done. once the floor, insulation and walls are in then the fun stuff begins. Once it's completed and I have built up a comfortable security blanket I'll be hitting the road to explore places I've never seen and really find the best work along the way (I am a laborer and I love working with my hands). I know there are a lot of conflicting stories about the availability of analog workamping jobs, but I firmly believe that it's in the company you keep.
That is one of the factors that has led to me finally contributing to the forum after the wealth of knowledge it has bestowed upon me. I have always been a bit of a loner that never felt like I fit in anywhere, really. But you guys are my people. I am desperate to be involved in the tribe and can't wait to feel a part of. Camping, Convoys, RTR and other gatherings, van builds. Everything the channel advertises in terms of lifestyle is how I picture my future. This process has been allowing me to grow and after feeling that growth I can look back retrospectively I see how stagnant and unhappy I was. This is really giving me a new lease on life. Thank you so much for being here, I'm look forward to making real friends. Something I feel that I haven't had in a long time.
I'll begin by saying I was born, raised and lived in the Willamette Valley of Oregon for the first 29 years of my life. However, to make a long story short: I was given an wonderfully beautiful opportunity to relocate to the [font=Roboto, arial, sans-serif]Appalachian[/font] Mountains of Western Maryland. So, I packed my 1987 Toyota Camry with all my worldly possessions and embarked on my first adult journey out of the state of Oregon. (I had been on trips to Washington and Idaho, and have traveled A LOT within the state of Oregon, yet I had not yet had may opportunities to explore my own unknown) I don't mind sharing details, but for the sake of brevity I'll just say that I had a blast driving across the continent for the first time. There were factors that didn't necessarily allow me to do it in the most ideal fashion, still a blast nonetheless. Again, to save some gory details I'll say that I discovered in a relatively short period of time that the job and living situation that brought me to the East Coast had no security or stability. Awesome work environment, awesome people, awesome knowledge, unfortunately highly unsustainable.
Once that part of the endeavor ended there were some challenges thrown my way. I definitely had to jump some hurdles, hit a few speed bumps, and any other analogy that implies trying times.
Now to get to the more relevant parts: I've been living in a suburb of DC now for two years. I've been graced with an amazing living situation with very low overhead while I hold down two full time jobs. I work three 12 hour days as a veterinary technician and three 12 hour days at a farm (it's primarily an equestrian boarding facility for dressage horses. 20 in total) and I have been able to work toward a goal of mine that I have had for such a long time, but yet unable to actually execute. Not any more! As of April 26th of this year I bought my 1990 Chevy G20 conversion Sport Van. It is in pretty decent shape. It's got some aesthetic sores, but they're manageable. Higher-ish miles, but it's a 1990 so...most importantly it runs very, very strong.
So now I've begun transforming Scooter into livable space. The front seats were a little too broken in for me, so when I removed the captains chairs (and the convertible bench seat) from the back, I exchanged them for the driver and passenger seats. I should mention that before I installed them I fabricated my own swivel for the passenger seat (I didn't feel like paying $350 for a universal swivel mount) for about $30. If anyone is interested in the details I'd be more than happy to share the methods and parts I used. After the seats were removed and switched I began demolition: carpet and flooring, paneling and insulation, the ceiling and every little screw and things of the like.
The rust isn't awful, but it would have been nice if it wasn't there at all. Again I have to remind myself of the year and consider where it lived most of it's life (on the southern portion of the rust belt). This is where I'm at in my build process: I sealed the leaks in the windows, I have cleaned the rust off to the best of my ability (with a wire wheel), applied a rust inhibitor, primer and a couple top coats on the areas that have the most potential to get worse and I will be plugging the small screw type holes with flex seal and the large holes will be done with some thing gauge steel and steel epoxy. I'll include some pictures if anyone wants to criticize the ultra botch job I have done.
Regardless, I cant wait to move forward and get this done. once the floor, insulation and walls are in then the fun stuff begins. Once it's completed and I have built up a comfortable security blanket I'll be hitting the road to explore places I've never seen and really find the best work along the way (I am a laborer and I love working with my hands). I know there are a lot of conflicting stories about the availability of analog workamping jobs, but I firmly believe that it's in the company you keep.
That is one of the factors that has led to me finally contributing to the forum after the wealth of knowledge it has bestowed upon me. I have always been a bit of a loner that never felt like I fit in anywhere, really. But you guys are my people. I am desperate to be involved in the tribe and can't wait to feel a part of. Camping, Convoys, RTR and other gatherings, van builds. Everything the channel advertises in terms of lifestyle is how I picture my future. This process has been allowing me to grow and after feeling that growth I can look back retrospectively I see how stagnant and unhappy I was. This is really giving me a new lease on life. Thank you so much for being here, I'm look forward to making real friends. Something I feel that I haven't had in a long time.
Attachments
-
IMG_20190706_200622_01.jpg -
IMG_20190706_200628_01.jpg -
IMG_20190706_200631_01.jpg -
IMG_20190706_200635_01.jpg -
IMG_20190706_200639_01.jpg -
IMG_20190706_200642_01.jpg -
IMG_20190706_200646_01.jpg -
IMG_20190706_200651_01.jpg -
IMG_20190706_200707_01.jpg -
IMG_20190706_200710_01.jpg -
IMG_20190706_200715_01.jpg -
IMG_20190706_200721_01.jpg -
IMG_20190706_200723_01.jpg
best of luck in renovating. hope all goes well for ya!
