Sophia's Hauler...

[galladanb]

I used the putty tape, but do you think it would be a good idea to also use
some of that EternaBond stuff or some flavor of chalking?

It rained yesterday as I was wiring it up, but no leaks as far as I could tell...

Just curious if some extra protection wouldn't hurt???

 

[Wabbit]

Very nice work! I literally can't even cut a 2x4 straight with a circular saw with a laser thing on it... I'm impressed!

 

[galladanb]

Thx, wabbit!
It was like a comedy of goofs for us!

I installed it as far back as I could, and it was still hard to reach the forward edges.
I had Sandy standing on the ground, pushing up on my backside so I wouldn't fall! 

Very uncomfortable.
Not her pushing, but the fear of falling....

I was on a ladder, with one foot, and a box with the other. Prolly would have made a great video, lol!

Got ur dun! Such Fun!

 

[ArtW]

Nice work!

 

[Ballenxj]

From The Kingston Trio to Jimi Hendrix. And all points in between.

Nice to see somebody even remembers The Kingston Trio? I guess I'm not the only one.
PS, Hendrix wasn't too bad for a South Paw.

 

[galladanb]

It rained all last week here, and I failed to check for leakage.

Good news, there wasn't any, so far!

But, I was humming that Kingston trio tune of "Oh no, don't the rain come in!"

Just saying! Lol!

 

[galladanb]

Big day today, expecting no less than 3 packages, one from each carrier! UPS, FedEx, and USPS... Wow!

Meanwhile, we are trying to find hinges that will work for the bed platform cover lids... What a nightmare. I have found no less than four different versions and the last one might work. Maybe...?

Anyway, here is a shot of Sophia enjoying one of the sanded, painted, and covered top panels. She does it sooooo well!!!

Such Fun!!!

 

[galladanb]

Big installs coming soon!

I have been busy getting ready to begin the electrical systems installs. Gathering components and wiring...

Also found a set of cloth covered seats with armrests out of a brand new (2016) van heading to a conversion place. Sometimes evil bay just works, right? Great pricing, free shipping, and I ordered them on Friday, and they are here!!!

Despite a couple of fasteners that were torqued almost to the stripped point, and nearly impossible to reach...

Both seats are installed and ready to go!

 

[AbuelaLoca]

What luck!! I will be in the market for new seats too, but haven't seen anything cheap enough for me yet. I also want the passenger seat to swivel, so I'm sure I'll have to spend a little extra there. My buckets don't have arm rests, and I don't think I can drive without arm rests! LOL

 

[galladanb]

Mine cost $350 with free shipping.

I saw some that were under $250, but shipping was around $115.
Also I needed gray, and most are tan. 
But keep searching on there, you will find some.

Mine previous ones were gray vinyl, and no armrests. Not to mention the drivers lower cover was trashed. A replacement cover was over $185, so my pair was a bargain for sure!!!

We are going to go check out our semi local Northren Tool, they are supposed to have a generic swivel for around $85 bucks. I will post here if theirs will work for us.

While I had the passenger seat out, I made a Mylar template of the seat mounting holes, so we can make a good check...

I have the pictures here on my iPad, but I can't get them to load, so I will put them up n here tomorrow! I did get them to upload to our Facebook build, so you can see them over there, if your in a hurry! Lol!!

 

[Almost There]

Just about any swivel seat base can be made to work one way or another.

Mine when I got it was from an older model vehicle that had the seat belt anchor on the base. The van has it on the door post. Had the belt extension cut off!

The floor bolt holes didn't come close to lining up. Answer - cap them off so no one hurt themselves on them and drill new ones.

The bolt holes for the seat didn't line up either - yep, drilled new ones.

Okay, so I had my favorite mechanic/body guy do it all for me. He only whined a little about it but his wife says he always whines like that...  

Oh and had it sandblasted and painted too so that it looked all pretty when it was installed.

The most tedious part was figuring out exactly where it had to be placed so that the seat would swivel without having to open the passenger door.

 

[ArtW]

i'd like to donate my mid seats to someone, but realistically they're probably going in the trash

 

[AbuelaLoca]

So they could be mine for the low, low cost of shipping :-D

 

[ArtW]

They could, they aren't perfect, but they're not ripped, and they have swivel bases
I've no idea on how in the world you ship van seats, lol
If a tribe member was passing between us and had room, it'd be easy

 

[Cammalu]

Ship thru greyhound


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ArtW]

I've heard that you can do that, never had the how of it explained, do they have to be boxed for that?

 

[Almost There]

They'd need to be boxed.

Greyhound ships parcels station to station so you have to take them there and they have to be picked up at the other end.

IIRC, they ship using the extra luggage space after passengers are accommodated so it's not a real tight shipping schedule like FedEx.

 

[galladanb]

These were boxed and shipped by UPS... 43 pounds each... YMMV!!!
I had to attach the backs to the seats, and I guessed correctly in that you would
remove the slider unit from the pedestal and then remove the sliders from the
old ones on the bench or table.

AS it turned out there was this one bolt, it's always the last one, that didn't want
to come out.

I ended up having to make a side trip to get a 10mm 6 point socket so I could
get some leverage to get it out... OH MY Word, it did not want to come out!!!

Anyway here are some images of them as they came out of the boxes, and
as I was assembling them... Also as installed! YEAH!

Such Fun!!!

 

[ArtW]

That's a fair bit of work there

 

[galladanb]

Thx, Mr. ArtW!!!

That's what I was thinking yesterday! Lol!

Today... CRUISE CONTROL! Yippie!
2 wires, and a ground, drill a hole, put it all back together!

Yay, it actually works, even get a green icon on the dash showing me its on!

Such fun!!!