Our list of truck work from this past week seemed small to us when we typed it up. There has been a lot going on getting ready for our upcoming trip(s). It is impressive how all the small details take time (getting new keys made, mail forwarding considerations, doctor’s appointments, weeding the yard, insurance updates, etc.). We are planning to do several local test trips to make sure everything is working well, and we were able to do the first test trip this week. It went really well and we identified some changes that we wanted to make for small item storage and provisioning.
Also this week, Yvonne tested out her sewing machine on the inverter. Long story short, her sewing machine didn’t like inverter power and we ended up trying 4 different inverters and 4 different sewing machines. It turns out that some sewing machines are just incredibly picky about power quality, even from a high quality, high capacity pure sine wave inverter. The good news is that we now have a nice Victron pure sine wave inverter and Yvonne has a new “travel” sewing machine that is perfectly happy running off of the Victron inverter. All good news as we near the home stretch of preparations.
- Took truck on short road trip
- Inspected truck after trip
- No leaks, everything looked good
- Packed under subframe storage boxes
- Started designing bathroom door
- Purchased spare fluids for truck
- Installed new Victron inverter
- Installed cargo tiedown straps in underbed storage area
- Started testing sewing machine ergonomics and function
- Started fabricating bathroom door
- Finished layout of bathroom door
- Added pressure relief valve to electric air compressor manifold
- Lots of trip preparation and logistics planning/organizing
- Final bonded bathroom door
- First test trip
- Laid out all mounting holes on door
- Applied first coat of paint on door
- Purchased and installed additional containers for provisioning and organization
- Moved in clothing
- Received National Parks pass
- Cut and urethane sealed oak bathroom door trim
- Final bonded and assembled bathroom door
- Installed bathroom door with mirror, waste basket, door handle, closing spring and towel bars
Wabi-sabi Overland 