ExpeditionVehicle build

[LargeMarge]

Review -- Craftsman 20v Inverter
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Thirty days ago, we acquired a Craftsman 20v 150-Watt inverter at Lowe's for us$49.
We got it in Oregon, so the purchase-tax was us$zero.
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We got it specifically to charge the telephone.
With our collection of 20v batteries, we gave it the 'what-for' during our test.
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Conditions:
T-MOBILE RVVL 5G 6"+/- screen, 18-months in-service.
Cool, dry, late-summer.
Telephone used normal, discharged to '30%' (juice remaining) showing on the screen.
Plugged into the inverter using a wonky 10yo-old 'Generic Inc' cord from a bin next to the kosher in BigLots (formerly McFrugals).

* Charging the 'Off' telephone on one 2-Amp battery -- three charges to '100%' showing on the telephone screen.
* Charging the 'OFF' telephone on one 5A battery -- about five charges.
* Using the telephone for YouTube while plugged into the inverter -- maintains the Charge State without discharging the telephone battery.
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We notice no difference in charge time until 100% (full).
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We acquired this inverter because we have a bushel of 20v batteries for our other Craftsman tools:
* chain-saw
* weed-whacker
* impact g*n with post*l-grip
* fan, three-speed, flip-head
* DA orbital sander (to smooth the cooking surface on cast-iron skillets (60-grit if you cannot find 40-grit) to a nice mirror)
As usual, Craftsman offers a three-year warranty.
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Cost vs value:
q -- do we think this midget inverter is ridiculously over-priced?
a -- yes.
q -- is the internal fan too loud for normal conversation between consenting adults at thirty paces?
a -- I suppose that would depend on your level of concentration and the exuberence of your moans, now, wouldn't it.
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Flashlight is dazzling, and I anticipate permanent retinal damage to any Sasquatch or Chupracabra rummaging your bins at Mad-Slasher Midnight.
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Here, we see some random joker 'testing' this inverter using a stupit amount of appliances.
Disclaimer and Warning:
* nobody in their right mind expects a tiny 2A battery to drive all that nonsense, the discharge rate would suck the innerds from that poor poor battery.

 

[LargeMarge]

Shower Gizmo duration for four-gallons of Magic! Sauce!
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Conditions:
* Eugene, Oregon, elevation about 500' (about 150m).
* October 23, 2023.
* Cloudy, 53°f, during the 6:16pm sundown.
* Bathing 'al fresco' on our porch... with nary a stitch... 'exhibitionist-style'.
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Process:
We started the telephone stop-watch a couple-three seconds prior to pressing the Gizmo rocker-switch to 'HIGH'.
Although my usual shower usually uses perhaps six quarts (six liters/litres), for today's eval, I ran through the entire contents of the hopper.
Around four gallons and change (13-liters/litres).
.
We stopped the stop-watch as I stepped inside to grab my towel.
Results:
* about twelve minutes and twelve seconds ('12 and 12' as Chuck Woolery might say).
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Procedure:
Our method to prep for a shower:
* set a couple of four-quart pans on the Coleman propane two-burner camp-stove
* insert about three quarts of water in each pan (leaving room for sloshing during walk/pour)
* kick the tires, light the fires, crank the afterburner to 'Shoot The Moon'.
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After each pan indicates the water is boiling, add that to the gallon or so of ambient water in the hopper.
On a chilly day, we immediately start a 'third' three quarts on an empty burner.
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This puts about nine quarts (nine litres/liters) of relatively boiling water inside the hopper.
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I top the hopper -- to the top of the screen -- with ambient temperature water (today, that was 53°f).
I flip the rocker-switch on 'HIGH' to transfer the ambient water in the shower-wand hose back into the hopper opening (if you start your shampooing with 53°f water, you have my condolences).
I screw the cap onto the hopper top.
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Adjustments:
* If this water is merely 'quite-warm', I drag the shower-wand next to my pale tender sensitive flesh.
* If this water is 'too-hot', I hold the shower-wand a couple-three inches away so it cools slightly as it falls through the air before it caresses my pale etcetera etcetera skin.
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Usually, my usual regular shower consumes five/six/seven quarts (5/6/7 litres/liters) of this 'comfort' water, leaving enough Magic! Sauce! buffer to temper the next showerer's scorching water from the stove.
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I hope this helps!
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[LargeMarge]

Mister Heater filter 'fail'?
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www.bimart.com/mr-heater-fuel-filter/p/470754
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This in-line propane filter is engineered to screw into a Mister Heater heater.
Problem.
Our Wave 3 catalytic heater has a different fitting, so we experimented by screwing it into the regulator going into the side of the Coleman propane two-burner camp-stove.
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And there it hung for probably a dozen years, happily filtering away.
Until this afternoon.
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Prepping for my eval shower [Post 22, above] this afternoon, the two burners barely reached 'simmer'.
Time passed, fingers repeatedly touch lids for the desired 'HOT', but came away with a disappointing 'still warm'.
!!! ACK !!!
Wide-eyed alarmed by the setting sun and the crashing temperature, we unscrewed the filter, then connected the hose directly to the camp-stove regulator.
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Clicked with the sparker, the two burners responded with a ROAR!
A nicely satisfying roar, I might add.
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Lifting and lightly palm-toss weighing the filter, it seems significantly heavier than my eyecrometer test of last month.
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Apparently, it did its job, it did it well, it did it efficiently, effectively, successfully.
Please, a moment of silence during its memorial service.
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An aside:
Our Wave 3 catalytic heater chugs-along filterless.
Going on twenty-one years.
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Why a Wave 3 instead of a Mister Heater?
They accomplish the same task, but with our excessively obsessive insulation, the lower 'LOW' of only 1,700Btu serves us just dandy.
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Chatting this afternoon with my training partner 'Michael' outside his 2001 Chevrolet 3500 cargo van with zero insulation, he mentioned his midget Mister Heater turns his interior to approximately the surface of the sun in a few minutes.
He gets up, shuts it 'OFF', and the van returns to ambient atmo in a few minutes.
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So... he gets up and re-lights the dang thing...
...then gets up and shuts it 'OFF'...
...a couple-three dozen times every night.
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Michael tells me he is considering insulation.
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www.collinsdictionary.com/us/dictionary/english/atmo

 

[user 29855]

Shower Gizmo duration for four-gallons of Magic! Sauce!
.
Conditions:
* Eugene, Oregon, elevation about 500' (about 150m).
* October 23, 2023.
* Cloudy, 53°f, during the 6:16pm sundown.
* Bathing 'al fresco' on our porch... with nary a stitch... 'exhibitionist-style'.
.
Process:
We started the telephone stop-watch a couple-three seconds prior to pressing the Gizmo rocker-switch to 'HIGH'.
Although my usual shower usually uses perhaps six quarts (six liters/litres), for today's eval, I ran through the entire contents of the hopper.
Around four gallons and change (13-liters/litres).
.
We stopped the stop-watch as I stepped inside to grab my towel.
Results:
* about twelve minutes and twelve seconds ('12 and 12' as Chuck Woolery might say).
.
Procedure:
Our method to prep for a shower:
* set a couple of four-quart pans on the Coleman propane two-burner camp-stove
* insert about three quarts of water in each pan (leaving room for sloshing during walk/pour)
* kick the tires, light the fires, crank the afterburner to 'Shoot The Moon'.
.
After each pan indicates the water is boiling, add that to the gallon or so of ambient water in the hopper.
On a chilly day, we immediately start a 'third' three quarts on an empty burner.
.
This puts about nine quarts (nine litres/liters) of relatively boiling water inside the hopper.
.
I top the hopper -- to the top of the screen -- with ambient temperature water (today, that was 53°f).
I flip the rocker-switch on 'HIGH' to transfer the ambient water in the shower-wand hose back into the hopper opening (if you start your shampooing with 53°f water, you have my condolences).
I screw the cap onto the hopper top.
.
Adjustments:
* If this water is merely 'quite-warm', I drag the shower-wand next to my pale tender sensitive flesh.
* If this water is 'too-hot', I hold the shower-wand a couple-three inches away so it cools slightly as it falls through the air before it caresses my pale etcetera etcetera skin.
.
Usually, my usual regular shower consumes five/six/seven quarts (5/6/7 litres/liters) of this 'comfort' water, leaving enough Magic! Sauce! buffer to temper the next showerer's scorching water from the stove.
.
I hope this helps!
.
.

Just a tease... seconds would be written as 12''

 

[LargeMarge]

Box-Truck on Eugene, Oregon Craigslist.
Could this be your next home?
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2014 Peterbilt 330.
Cummins, Allison.
Runs fine.
Asking us$9,700 or offer or trade.
Nick : (541) 579-7600
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Disclaimer:
a : Nick is autistic, so be prepared to work at his speed.
b : I have zero interest in the vehicle, other than sharing its VanDwelling potential.

 

[LargeMarge]

Could this be your next home?
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We strongly advocate plenty of GVWR.
After you remove (sell for scrap?) the apparatus and associated equipment, a vehicle like this could carry and tow pretty much anything you need to be independent.
A 'plus' is the amount of storage in those compartments.
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We have no stake in this vehicle.
We are merely offering the type/style as a potential, hoping to 'fire' your imagination.
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* We prefer old, mostly because the warranty issues are pretty much cleared.
* We prefer old, because no computers.
* Apparently, the firetruck is in the general vicinity of Portland, Oregon... so zero purchase taxes!

 

[LargeMarge]

Our Light System?
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2003, we built our ExpeditionVehicle using Black&Decker cordless power tools.
These have a 20v square-base battery-pack.
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We engineered our rig for simplicity.
'Simple' eliminates most plumbing and electrical.
Accordingly, our lights are flashlights:
* Black&Decker 20v with those square-base battery-packs.
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In the rig, we have five by the door, plus two each side of the bed.
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Each vehicle has another couple-three of these flashlights, plus plenty of spare packs, plus a 750-Watt inverter we can plug into the cigar lighter (aka 'power-outlet') for the chargers.
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Why so many?
a) each tool we acquired as a kit, a drill and flashlight, a saw plus a flashlight, you get the picture
b) we like duplicates and redundancy, a pair while night-walking seems twice the reliable.
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Over two decades full-time live-aboard, the couple-three dozen battery-packs are going strong... except one, and I re-built it for a couple fedbux with cells from the local-owned family-operated electronics shop.
The battery-packs are entering their third decade of operating a variety of saws, drills, weed-whacker, cut-off tool, plus other stuff.
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We drop them, leave them out in the rain, occasionally hammer with them.
Zero issues.
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A full pack lasts at least a couple-three hours, then it goes back on the charger.
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Sadly, for the security enthusiasts, we never experimented with muzzle-blast.
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The LED head pivots, so the square base can sit on the window sill, and the head can tilt to illuminate the stove or shoes.
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www.blackanddecker.com/products/bdcf20/20v-max-led-work-light

 

[LargeMarge]

Our Class A Motorhome Experience, plus a tribute to a distressed member:
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a)
One of my hobbies is walking wrecking-yards aka 'dismantlers'.
I also enjoy cruising the insurance salvage pool... 'Copart'.
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At Copart, we saw a lovely -- and by 'lovely', we mean 'nice! decals!' -- Class A motorhome.
As we entered the rig -- equivalent to climbing Mount Everest -- we immediately noticed the lack of destruction.
Pretty much everything was intact, except for a small fire indication in the galley.
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As our feet touched the floor, we were on a trampoline.
The floor was the equivalent of stiff Jello™.
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This verified our suspicions about the integrity of factory RecreateVehicles:
* the majority of the structural integrity comes from the box enclosing the quarters.
The frame is merely a way to connect the front axle to the rear axle.
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In that salvage motorhome, a very small fire on one wall reduced the structural integrity to pretty much nothing.
And apparently, the insurance adjuster agreed.
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Darn shame.
We liked the decals!.
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b)
[for the man with the lost cat, Class A burned, not seen since he rode away on his trusty Harley Davidson a week after the destruction]
Life-long motorcyclist here.
If I build another Harley Davidson motorcycle, I would probably get rid of everything and ride away forever.
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Sounds as though your neighbor went through the 'get rid' business, went directly to the forever part.

 

[LargeMarge]

Could This Be Your Next Rig?
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Springfield, Oregon.
From the advert:
* "This is the perfect platform to build your Overland Camper and/or Zombie Apocalypse vehicle!!! Or a RV / Tiny Home / VanLife!
Wired for power with multiple outlets, inverter, dual alternators, lights, heater, and more!
1000 times better than an RV.
Intercontinental truck body is built to withstand commercial use and abuse.
Aluminum - you don't have to worry about rust/leaks/rot.
Roof is Aluminum diamond plate - incredibly strong - can be walked on (or chairs for a great view!).
Roof rack with storage and ladder to access, all metal provides an amazing place to mount your solar panels without worry of them leaking or flying off when driving."
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Disclaimer:
I saw this, and thought of you.
I have zero involvement in any transactions with the rig.
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[LargeMarge]

Outside galley:
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After years of contemplation about size/shape/location, we mounted two wire-rack shelves to the rear wall of our rig.
We mounted these using hinges, so they fold down for travel.
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The aft of each shelf is supported by chain and 'S'-hooks, so they can easily be quickly leveled using a different link.
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In this portrait, the Astute Observer might notice our shower gizmo.
Why shower outside?
Why cook outside?
Probably something to do with comfort and mold.
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Supervising the camera operator is CallerNumberFive!, one of our Heelers.

 

[LargeMarge]

Could this be your next rig?
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Twelve-foot enclosed box, plenty of compartments.
Tires/wheels are standard heavy-truck 22.5, so it has plenty of GVWR.
Cummins and automatic.
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I have no involvement with the rig, I merely offer the image as one potential conversion.
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