June 7, 2007

Update

Ok, so I have not been the best poster here... I just work on it. So I'm going to fill you in now on what I've been working on.

As you know we started out ripping it apart. We bought it under the assumption that we were going to be able to use some of what was already there and build off from it. The more research I did, and the more I understood what I wanted the more of it we ripped out. As you can see we finally took it all out and started from ground zero.

THE RECONSTRUCTION

Ok, so the goal here is to be as light weight and as efficient as possible while saving as much space as we can. Starting with the walls, I did a ton of research and found this paint additive that is based off the technology the space shuttle uses to insulate itself so it doesn't burn up when coming back into the atmosphere. Its pretty cool, roll on insulation! After getting all that on the inside I decided that was just not going to do, mainly because of noise factor. It does well against temperature, but not much for the noise factor.

To combat this I decided to get 15/16 plywood and screw it to the walls, but then went the extra mile and layered 1/2 inch foam insulation between the walls and the wood. Now because I know we would not be unhappy going even farther on this, I put another coat of insulation paint on the inside of the wood. So now we have 1 thick layer paint, 1/2 inch foam isolation, 1 really thick layer of paint, and 15/16 plywood! I think we have a good efficient
insulating factor here!!!

TECHY STUFF

Our next task here is to figure out how to power the whole office while driving. This is harder than it sounds. We have to power 3 not so energy efficient computers, duel monitors on each one, router, external hard drive, AC unit, heater, lights, Stereo, phone/
ipod etc chargers, possible microwave, fridge, oven, assorted kitchen stuff, and well I could go on and on. SO... I know we had to get it right the first time so I went out and found a BRAND NEW 5000 Watt Diesel generator. I also purchased a 2500 watt 12v power inverter and 2 12v deep cycle batteries. The goal here is to have 2 different power sources to work from so we don't overload either one of them. So we will have a total of 7500 watts to work with. I think we should be good. There is a hurtle though... WIRING THIS ALL UP...

We have not done this yet but I have a good theory as to how I will do this. We have to develop 3 different circuits that go through the truck. 1 being the generator, 1 being the inverter, and one being the line we plug into when we are docked. This can become quite confusing. I also want to keep it nice and clean, so there is not all these wires hanging around and tons of plugs to keep track of what is what. I will have pics later to show what I did to combat this problem.

Wish me luck,
Dave

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