You should add silicone rescue tape to your tool kit. Self seals, even under pressure, so is great for field repair of air, oil, fuel, coolant, etc lines. Should hold well enough to get you back into town to make a real repair.
Very happy for you guys that your trip went so well! As for the fridge, maybe talk to the company. Looking at the instruction manual it has an auto defrost cycle. It's possible that it has a defect and is low on refrigerant, but it's also very possible that a push/pull ventilation setup will solve the issue. Some quiet PC case fans on a thermostat might be just the thing. You're only needing to dump a couple hundred watts at most. As for the butcher block, you'll be happier in the long run if you just rip it out and start over. Beech has one of the highest dimensional change coefficients out there. Yall are handy enough that you could build your own butcher block slab out of walnut.
We got a hanging shoe pouch for our camper. Ours hangs on the bathroom door in our camper, but you could use one with where your coat rack is on the bathroom slide.
@OurWayToRoam - If and when you add the Passthrough you and your dogs should love it. Once i thought about being in Bear country and having one in your camp then the Passthrough sounded like a good idea. A quick getaway might not happen in a Mog but some time you just need a getaway option even if it is slow.
On vertical exhaust, putting the silencer and outlet vertically certainly rees up a lot of space for lockers. Make sure you include a flexible pipe element to allow cab movement so the turbo casing and exhaust manifold don't get stressed. Side steps are a challenge, I can't accommodate a pull out solution, so have a hook-on stair stowed at the rear. My second iteration uses an aluminium scaffolding stair with hand rail and the width was cut down for lightness. Simplicity rocked, after endless bouts of excessive design effort proved all too hard and costly to make.
Regarding your laminated wood splits, do you have the wood able to move on slotted metal brackets? If any wood surface is rigidly mounted to another surface without allowing for the wood expanding and contracting, it'll tear itself apart. Figure of 8 tabs in cabinet making come to mind or a metal tab mounted to the table top that slots into the table frame, allowing a bit of movement is the go.
Really love the build and your shakedown trip videos. I felt really excited to see the next episode after watching each one. Looking forward to your next trip! ❤😊
U posted such amazing gorgeous pictures thanks for sharing. I hope u get all the tweets fixed . I Love U Guys . And I Only Wish U The Very Best. God Bless Ya'll. Hugs n Love Always from your friend in Michigan, Tam ❤️ 💕 🐕🐕
We had one of them mercedes box trucks a 1 1/2 ton looked like L Series we put a sleeper on it and then a 24 ft box. The opening had to be reinforced with square welded tube. Then we had to put thick foam mat material and sealed it with silicone in between the cab and sleeper. The twisting between cab and sleeper would never let it have a perniment seal. The silicone did a pretty good job but it is a constant maintenance issue
A tire cover if you go to a boat marine canvas tarp shop I know they can build you a custom tire cover the price who knows shouldn't be too much just dropped the spare tire off to them and get a quote
Lol, I feel bad because at the start of the video, I was giggling at the pups playing and not paying attention to what you said. I had to rewind and listen again. Glad you got everything fixed, but hey, you two are musicians so your truck was just getting into the same vibe with a nerve rattling, but steady "beatbox" for you. Love your videos!
Once you get your Air Conditioner in, this should help with the Fridge/Freezer issue. Maybe a fan to get cool cabin air into the void behind it, but once your cabin air is cool, why bother trying to exhaust the hot air outside, just find a way for it to escape into the habitat. It will be a free source of heat in the winter.
Any plan to install an engine heater to easily start in cold weather? Was the range with your fuel tank enough? - How much range would you say is the minimum to not get stressed with fuel running out?
Long term plan is to install some type of engine heater to help with cold starts. Fuel range on main take is about 500 miles, plus another 100 miles with our extra fuel cans. So 500 miles comfortably.
Cool, more build vids. Can’t wait to see it all. Your shakedown proved the wonders of Moose. Congrats on it all. Will you be doing outside builds while back home?
They make very small welders these days. We carry a welder all the time. Only had to use it twice but those two times made carrying it around worth it.
Never tried it with lithium, but I know if you have enough lead acid batteries to get to 24-48v, all you need is a pair of jumper cables, vice grips, and some 6013 electrodes and you have the lightest and most portable arc welder out there. Plus you don't have to weld with flux core.
I feel the most challenging thing about full-time bus life is dealing with our waste. How many "cycles" before the Trelino bag needs to be emptied and what are you using as the compost medium?
Definitely true! We’ve tried Coconut coir and it worked pretty well, but there’s lots of litter options so we’d like to try a few more. We prefer to leave no trace so the Trelino doesn’t always get used full time. We usually empty it after about a week, 2 weeks at the longest.
I have a vitrifrigo dp150 in my new build and the back plates freeze even though i have 2 vents. It works perfect til it gets to 90f. Its definitely not as good as the dometic i have atm
Nice video, thanks for the recap. I'm curious, how did you choose the Wallas stove/heater over using electricity to cook and a diesel heater, such as a Webasto? Wouldn't that have saved money on both purchase price and ongoing fuel expense?
Redundancy. It is good to have multiple options for cooking, we use instant pot and air fryer(both electric) quite often. Even with a power system as abundant as our we don’t think relaying on electric to heat is a good idea. The problem is when you truly need heat is the same time of when there isn’t usually much solar energy available.
You gave your Tesla owning friends enough juice from your solar/battery system so they could reach the next SuperCharger. That was bad planning on their part, but beautiful of you both to help out. I hope they brought their camping stove, food & other stuff for the overnighter, 'or they'll be shamed by fanbois if they found out that they'd eaten food from a diesel oven. 🤣😂
What about your air conditioner? Did you use it? Curious about watts it used. Love everything else. Want one of those stoves myself cook and heat……perfect!
I think putting a pause (cancel?) on the pass through to the cab is wise. After watching some hairy climbs over rocks in the backcountry and seeing how the cab and box were shifting in opposite directions, it would definitely be a challenge, if not impossible, to make that work. Nonetheless, it sounds like you guys have your work cut out for you with the other repairs/changes. Looking forward to the vids as you do them. Also, thank you for the awesome shakedown vids. They are views of the canyon that I probably wouldn’t see otherwise. 🫶
You may not answer, but I have to ask, who did the weld? I suspect Drew. Maybe I am paranoid, but I want a gun with me wherever I go. It can get complicated in some states, but I have flown to cities I consider dangerous, and carried one legally. Most states allow shotguns. Canada will allow a shotgun if headed to Alaska or a wild area like the Yukon. Vehicles don't often have corrosion issues except at the poles on a lead acid battery, however I was an avionics tech in the AF and commercial and cargo aircraft have a lot of intermittent issues due contacts corroding due to high voltage and frequency to use lighter weight wiring. It would be nice if there was a computer program that you could put the measurements' into and find out the tipping angles side to side and front to rear.
We have small 6 gallon grey tank under sink which we can easily empty by hand. Shower has small tank as well that we can use when needed or let drain on the ground when permisable. Over the years we have found this is the best system for full time living so you aren’t constantly trying to find dump stations. Always use safe biodegradable soap. 😊
