Hello from Vancouver, BC. Ex-liveaboard turning Vandweller I hope

[Duck]

Really good info re: the Safari vs Astro, that's the kind of invaluable stuff that often gets missed. Thank you
I actually started looking at Savannah vans as well, which seem like a good compromise as a sort of big brother to the Safari.
I'm a proud soon-to-be owner of a diesel ambulance. Ambulance or Grumman made the top of the list, the ambulance came up a little sooner than I'd hoped, but it was too good to pass up.

Pics etc to follow.

 

[One Awesome Inch]

My so-called 'sacrificial window' acts as a dehumidifier. Being colder than most everywhere else in my camper, water vapour condenses on it, ofttimes even freezing, and trickles down and outside through the drains in the frame. This keeps the rest of the camper reasonably dry. ..Willy.

I would love to see a picture of this. Very good idea.

 

[Duck]

Little small and dark, but it's the only photo I've got so far .

Needs a good clean, then it's time to gut it to act as a moving truck, and then settle in for a few months of earning money and refitting.

 

[Willy]

Well, it really warmed up here and all the ice/condensation is gone (melted & dribbled out) from the window. Gonna get colder soon, and I'll take a pic then. ..Willy.

 

[Duck]

Lot of water inside today, I sprayed down every surface inside with bleach and a bit of wax-free car wash soap in a bug sprayer. Scrubbed everything with a car brush and let it soak a half hour before rinsing and starting to dry off. Thankfully I have a shore power connection, with the heater and dehumidifier running all night tonight, even after toweling out what I could, it's still pretty wet!

Second repair job discovered too, a front wheel caliper looks to be seized :-( Going to drive slowly to the parts store tommorow and see if I can find one. Hopefully I'll improve the fuel economy too, it was brutal, hopefully due to that extra drag.

Already had my first two weird experiences with passerby, and my first repair done. I had to change a frame mounted battery with no jack, on the side of the road off the curb. Not a fun experience as the grass was all covered in dog poop! Took a few hours, hard to reach down off a curb and up under the body to lift it.

One ***** my age asked me if I was buying an ambulance, I told him it was already mine, and planning to turn it into a work truck. He got all hufy and told me it was morbid to re-purpose an ambulance as many people die in them and he wandered off, still yapping on his iphone and puffing his e-cigarette.

Second was an older gentleman in flip flops who tried to talk my ear off about retiring into one while we were working! He was much nicer, and a total chatterbox but right in the way of working, while I was under a serious deadline.

 

[James AKA Lynx]

A good thing to kiil bio-orders is liquid laundry soap.

Best, James AKA Lynx

 

[Willy]

You can compress the caliper with a large c-clamp (in situ) or use a bar and lever against the tire (carefully). I've had to do both, at times, and it's better than having a dragging brake. Ofttimes, I've found that it actually fixes the problem. ..Willy.

 

[Duck]

New caliper and pads in, I think I'm going to do the other side next week since the pads came as a set of 4 and a second caliper is not unreasonable. Should have got both at once but I wasn't sure if I could do both.

The reason for the bleach/carwash mix is to kill anything that might still be growing in there. Much nicer inside now, dehumidifer pulled the moisture out.

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[WheelEstate USA]

Very cool. Congrats on the score.

 

[Patrick46]

didja play with the lights and the siren before you tore 'em out???

 

[dg]

Looks cool man, good to see another Vancouverite Stop by here if you have time too.

 

[Duck]

Looks cool man, good to see another Vancouverite Stop by here if you have time too.

Haha, I'll send you a PM, love to check out your van if you've got some time. Cold tonight, I haven't got heat(or a bed) yet. Was going to hang my hammock, but didn't have time to figure it all out and bolt something together.


Patrick: No, they left me the lights since they're not emergency lights, this was an ambulance only for part of it's life, then it was used by the auditing/service department. That's part of the reason I picked it actually . but I need to connect the house bank to play with them. On this list once I'm not in emergency mode to get myself a place to sleep for a few days without getting frozen or sick.
I'm planning to change up the paint job, and modify the back end to avoid looking like an ambulance so much.