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5 Feb 2000
We are getting serious now about selling
up and have put GARP (Gray's Asset Reduction Program) into motion.
Actually this should be called GARP 2 as we had GARP 1 a few years
ago when we moved from a 40 square, internal pool, sauna, gym, workshops
etc house into a 12 square town house.
So what are we selling? Just about everything
I guess. My car is on the market, I had it detailed (first time
it's been washed in the six years I've owned it) and I'm riding
one of the motor bikes so it won't get dirty. The bike is fun, at
least in the nice weather we're having, and it's interesting to
be less isolated from natural things such as the smell of pine,
newly cut grass and rotten kangaroo corpses.
Both houses go on the market very soon as will
my darkroom equipment.
Most of our furniture has already been sold including
the washing machine, Chris figured that we won't have one in the
motor home so she may as well start hand washing now.
We spend so much time at the workshop now that
it doesn't really matter if we have anything at home, in fact it
doesn't really matter if we have a home. We've set up the workshop
with a fridge and microwave and it has dunnies, a shower and a kitchenette
so we can live there quite comfortably and probably will if the
house sells quickly.
Three things I'm not selling are cameras, tools
and our Jason recliners. We've been sitting in those recliners for
15 years, they're just so comfortable there's no way we're leaving
them behind so they're going into the motor home.
10 Feb 2000
I talked before about the method of applying
cladding using VHB tape and showed some drawings of how to hang
the sheets from locating pins. Now here are some photos of the process,
note that this is a small sheet that doesn't require the pins as
it can easily be rested on some magnetic squares placed on the bottom
of the frame.
First clean the frame and apply the tape.
Then peel back the ends of each piece of tape's backing and hold with masking tape. Note that I do both ends as a backup measure in case the backing tears as it is being removed (more about this later).
Here is a detail shot of the process.
Now place the sheet in position and clamp as necessary. Note that the clamp(s) should not be applied anywhere near a piece of tape that has has its backing removed. You now have all the time in the world to accurately position the sheet or even remove it for a last minute adjustment.
Now begin peeling the backing from behind the sheet. Press lightly in a few places to hold the sheet but don't press too close to an edge that has not had its backing removed as this will make the removal difficult.
When all the backing has been removed press firmly on all taped areas then bash with a rubber mallet.
All done.
Now I said I'd talk about the backing tearing.
There are two types of VHB designed for this application, 4951 and
4950. They are essentially the same except that 4951 can be applied
at temperatures down to zero degrees. There is however one other
difference I discovered, their backing material.
The 4951 has a clear, mylar-like backing that
is very strong. The 4950 has a more paper-like backing that will
tear with little or no provocation which is a real pain in the arse.
For this reason I peeled back both ends so if the backing tore as
I was removing it from one end I had a second chance from the other.
If the backing tears again as you are removing
from the second end you are in trouble as this leaves a piece of
backing still attached to the tape and of course there will be no
adhesion to the sheet in that area. This has happened a few times
but it's not a total disaster as I found that I could usually extract
the offending piece of backing with a knife and a pair of needle-nosed
pliers.
15 Feb 2000
Well the cladding is mostly done and I'm
starting to get a bit worried about the weight of the truck. I got
some trade plates from the engineer who certified the body so I
could go down to the weigh bridge. While I had the plates I decided
it was time for some "sea trials" to see how the truck
performs both on and off road.
Here we see the truck all twisted up on a spot
we chose to give as much twist to the chassis as possible. Check
out the difference between the front and rear axles.
Judging by the facial expressions it seemed that passing motorists could not believe their eyes. A ranger stopped to see if we needed any help, understandable I guess as it looked for the world like the truck was broken.
Chris and Bob peer under the body looking for problems.
Two wheels up...
And two wheels down...
No wonder the ranger stopped.
That's ten degrees difference between the body
and the chassis, the same as measured in trials I performed before
building the body.
Everything worked well, there's a couple of small
things that need attention but by and large it's working as designed.
The next day I went to weight my toy. It came
in at 9.94 tonnes which was a bit more than I'd hoped for but not
unexpected. |
