Putt

[waldenbound]

What a cute puppy!

 

[Putts]

^^^Thanks!

Okay, one last puppy post. Dart is progressing very well. We had a Farkle session the other night, music blaring, dice hitting the table.

Of course, you can't see Dart on his black bed with black towel in the back in the middle.

But here's a close-up.

He slept like a baby through all the racket. (I've been keeping him pretty busy.)

Here he is at my feet in his bed. 

He hangs around underneath me a lot.

But he's also getting a little more independent. I think the stress of the first day or two are pretty much gone.

Oh, I've started to train him to be in a backpack.

I've seen a bunch of dogs that ride on a motorcycle with their master, but I really don't like the idea; a backpack seems like a good way to go for a small dog. Took him for a walk this morning and put him in the backpack to do a little grocery shopping. He seemed to like it quite a bit.

Lastly, I promised a little video.

[video=youtube]


Putt progress report:

Yay! Actual building stuff. 

I've taken some time off work since there's a window of lovely weather about. I installed one Fantastic vent yesterday and will do the other today. Will also install the two solar panels and roof combiner box. Pics by the weekend.  Have a good one!

 

[rvpopeye]

THX Putts
Looking at that little guy , I can just imagine the look on someone's face when they come up on your camp at night by surprise and "somehow" didn't see Dart in the dark !!!!!!!!!

Skuh kuh kuh kuh kuh

 

[Queen]

Putts, Dart is such a handsome little guys, so bright and alert! Give him some tummy rubs from me.

Good to hear Putt is progressing, you'll be ready to roll soon!

 

[Putts]

Looking at that little guy , I can just imagine the look on someone's face when they come up on your camp at night by surprise and "somehow" didn't see Dart in the dark !!!!!!!!!

I've already "lost him" in plain sight a few times. He like being in confined spaces. I'll look all over the place calling his name, and he'll come out from under that table right in front of me. I thought I looked under there?

Give him some tummy rubs from me.

Good to hear Putt is progressing, you'll be ready to roll soon!

Sure will. "Soon" is a relative term I guess. Soonest I can possibly retire is August next year, but I reckon spring of '19 will be go time.

 

[Queen]

Can't imagine you'd want to endure another winter there if you retire in August? But maybe you like winter, I hear some people do.

 

[highdesertranger]

great video. I thought he had the steps down until the last few. it's good that you are training him to be a ratter. highdesertranger

 

[decodancer]

Super cute and obviously happy, both of you for that matter. Keep up the good work Dad.

 

[Putts]

Is he doing the "run around like a maniac, playing... then tip over and fall dead asleep for a few minutes, repeat"?

Now that he's settled in, yes. Decodancer got it with "eat, poop, play, sleep, repeat." He's in a groove now.

Nylabones are great too , everything Deco said !!

*snip*

The only reason I didn't mention nylabones  is they are HARD , I can see a puppy breaking off teeth on even the little ones, get him one right after he loses his first puppy tooth and git 'er done!

They've got special softer ones for pups. Dart's taking after then just fine!

Can't imagine you'd want to endure another winter there if you retire in August?  But maybe you like winter, I hear some people do.  

Well, spring would be a better time to sell the house. Summering up here is nice and cool. I'll head South that winter of '19. Besides, I think i need the time to properly outfit Putt.

great video.  I thought he had the steps down until the last few.  it's good that you are training him to be a ratter.  highdesertranger

Believe me, it would be way harder to train him not to be a ratter.

Super cute and obviously happy, both of you for that matter.  Keep up the good work Dad.

Thanks.  All's pretty good so far. Thank goodness my upstairs carpet is shot already. I've come to absolutely get your comment that i'm really the one to housebreak him by always being one step ahead of the game.  Problem comes when it's 2AM and he's whining for a pee. I do it, of course; he pees right off the bat; we come back inside; and now I can't get back to sleep. I remember when my kids were infants. That was WAY worse!  

Allrightythen...

Fantastic Vents. Putt's roof is al-u-minium, as the Britt's might say. Thinner than the side walls. I start by placing the Sharpie markers and drilling some holes.

Go up top and clean, mark, and tape off the impending hole.

I drill the corner holes so that the hole diameter is twice the metal thickness. Some structural engineer told me thst was the way to do it to prevent metal fatigue cracks best. 

Then I cleaned the flange of the fantastic vent with denatured alcohol and line it with "Bed It" butyl tape, which comes highly regarded around here.  

Lots of good information on how to use the stuff on his site. Of note is that the proper way to install, according to the site, is to use bolts so that they can be tightened from below.  That way the bolts don't spin when installed and twist up the Bed It.  Butyl tape shouldn't be stretched when installing. Well, I have to use screws when I install the rear solar panels eventually as I can't tighten a nut from below in those cases, so I thought I'd give it a go with screws now to see how it performs. It was a bit of trouble.

When I installed the first vent I simply screwed through the holes in the vent and through the Bed It tape below.  This resulted in the Bed It wraping itself around the screw as it went into the aluminum below, and making a wad of it around the screw. probably not ideal.  Also, it was hard to line up with the screw starting holes I drilled because I couldn't see them when placing the vent. So on the second vent I made sure to poke holes through the Bed It to be less likely to wind up on the screws during installation and to be able to line it up with the pilot holes.

Used a punch to remove bed it from around the holes.

The second vent went in much better than the first. 

I used an impact driver to get the screws most of the way in, but switched to a regular screw driver to snug it up.  The directions say to tighten some, wait for a while for the goo to settle, then retighten, and repeats 'til firmly set. The aluminum skin on the roof is thin, so over tightening could easily strip the holes. 

Also cut little strips so I could wrap the screw heads.

 

[Putts]

Final results look pretty good.

Got my Dicor 502LSW self leveling goop yesterday.  Today will be warm and dry....let the gooping begin!

 

[rvpopeye]

Looks COOL from here !

 

[Kenwrite]

Final results look pretty good.

thank you so much for documenting this process.  it's a minimum of 7 months before i can find, buy and build my future step van, but I'm learning soooo much watching you.  it looks wonderful, and your clear narration makes me think that, hell, maybe i can do this.

 

[Putts]

thank you so much for documenting this process.  it's a minimum of 7 months before i can find, buy and build my future step van, but I'm learning soooo much watching you.  it looks wonderful, and your clear narration makes me think that, hell, maybe i can do this.

Hell yes you can do it. I don't think skill is the limiting factor...everything is pretty straight forward and I'm not a woodworker by a longshot. The tough bit is planning, so you don't have to undo something stupid, and tools. Having a good set of tools is key, it seems to me. At this point I'd recommend DeWalt rechargeable tools. Expensive, but oh so worth it. I love my jig saw. Router, table saw, drill, impact driver, chop saw, drill press, vice, belt sander, orbital sander (need one of those when it gets to the finish and trim work before painting), some special tools like hole drills and Kreg tool, and of course the regular assortment of hand tools. Fortunately I've amassed maybe $15k in tools over the years and didn't have to buy too much for Putt, but when I do need a particular tool I'll go get one. 

Getting good tools is something you could start working on right away. Maybe start building silly stuff like birdhouses or something but with 3/4" plywood and a Kreg tool (use glue too to get used to it); all the skills transfer.

 

[Putts]

So, what do you old timers think about using adhesives to attach the solar panel mounts to the roof? Some high-strength 3M stuff? Sikaflex? Be nice to mount them without the potential for leaks.

 

[highdesertranger]

the problem I have with adhesives is you are basically adhering it to paint. IMO you must somehow address this. highdesertranger

 

[7wanders]

what if you sand the paint back to aluminum before doing the adhesive mounts for solar? my step van is all aluminum and I'm debating the same issue as I don't want holes in the roof except where necessary (i.e. MaxxFans).

my step van (Grumman-Olsen) has old school gutters and I've also been looking around for some sort of rack that mounts to the gutters and maybe mounting the solar to the gutters. the problem I'm running into is that I'm about 85 inches wide and all the racks seems to be for standard size vans or trucks and not for something as wide as my roof

anyway, I'd be curious to see what you come up with

 

[highdesertranger]

"my step van (Grumman-Olsen) has old school gutters and I've also been looking around for some sort of rack that mounts to the gutters and maybe mounting the solar to the gutters. the problem I'm running into is that I'm about 85 inches wide and all the racks seems to be for standard size vans or trucks and not for something as wide as my roof"

in that case I would just buy the gutter mounts without the crossbars and make my own crossbars out of aluminum angle. highdesertranger

 

[Putts]

Hm. 

Gutter mounts make some sense to me. Doesn't break stealth too much because it looks a bit workman-like. I've decided to put a rack on my trailer with my ladder on it to increase work truck-like stealth.

Did a little research into 3M adhesive tapes. The 4950 looks right from this .pdf.

Here's an hour atop Putt...self-leveling goop applied.

 

[Matlock]

I used 3M VHB double sided tape for my solar panels on my aluminum roof box van.

I used the aluminum angle brackets that come with the Renogy solar kits. Just clean both surfaces with alcohol and steel wool first. Wipe off the oxidation the alcohol cleans off and your good to go.

Roughly 2500 miles in snow/sleet/wind and 95* temps without issue. Although I have kept them away from trees I'm pretty sure I'd rip the aluminum off the roof before the tape would let go.

 

[closeanuf]

What happens if for some reason you need to remove or move a solar panel.  Also, I don't think I'd like to deal with ripped aluminum.  It just makes more sense to me to have a rack to attach panels to and maybe have a deck for some other purpose.  Just an old guy with old ideas and bad memories of great ideas that sucked.