21 Years in a 1973 Dodge Van

Looks great. Any running water?

 

Only when it rains. That's why it's so convenient to be only 6 miles from town. I've been hauling my own water for 32 years and the majority of the time I was driving 2 to 3 times that on killer washed out and washboard roads. Much easier on an old van and older man.

 

Okay people, I have a few minutes, so I will start to fill in the highlights, and the lowlights of the missing years. 5 years ago Harry, the original owner of the welding shop had a catastrophic stroke. His whole left side is wiped out and he's mostly confined to a wheelchair. He has to have almost all of the most basic things done for him. So sad. He was such a strapping, vibrant, healthy brute. He has 2 acres and it's filled with junk. The mowing and weedwhacking, with all the obstacles, can take a week. Since he can't do that stuff anymore, as soon as the weeds took over, the city started coming around and threatening with talk of a 1000 dollar fine. I figured I could help.

One year later, the guy that had bought the shop from Harry closed it down. I worked for that guy for 16 of the 22 years I worked at the shop. I was 62 years old at the time and therefore could start collecting Social Security if I didn't mind taking a big hit on the amount of the monthly checks.

Every month I go see Harry and his wife and repair anything that's broken, clean the land and keep the city off his ass. I spend the rest of the time in the boonies.

Harry by TwoDogs posted Jul 27, 2018 at 6:06 PM

Lawnmower guts by TwoDogs posted Jul 27, 2018 at 6:23 PM

Lawnmower repaired. by TwoDogs posted Jul 27, 2018 at 6:37 PM

Harry's place by TwoDogs posted Jul 27, 2018 at 6:28 PM

Three years ago, BabyG, the ratty terrier girl dog I had got snatched by a mountain lion. She was 15 1/2 years old at the time. She didn't have a chance. Blind, deaf and arthritic. She didn't suffer though. One yip and that was it. She had a great life and as far as I'm concerned, a good death. I want to go in an instant too after watching my father suffer for 4 years.

(To be continued.)

 

When Brent decided to close the shop, I had to scramble. I had a lot of stuff stored at the shop and didn't have room inside the van for everything that I wanted to keep. I cut up an old Ford pickup camper shell, made a steel frame that I welded to the roof of the van and made a clamshell pod on the rear of the van.

Pod by TwoDogs posted Jul 28, 2018 at 7:37 AM

After the shop closed, I had to do all my mechanical repairs and revisions wherever it was convenient. At that time I was also spending a lot of my time at my friend Dan's. I dog sat for his 4 dogs and watched his house while he and his wife bounced around the country. I also worked on the van. I ordered two 21 foot Unisolar roll up panels on ebay. I asked the seller if these solar panels could be cut in half. He responded that they couldn't. Sooooo...I cut them into quarters. They were a bit tricky when it came to connecting them all again. Unisolar panels of this type have an adhesive backing that when glued down to clean metal is supposed to withstand winds up to 160 mph. Perfect...just over the speed I normally drive. (The van COULD reach that speed if I drove off one of the mountain cliffs.)

Unisolar by TwoDogs posted Jul 28, 2018 at 7:41 AM

That is 280 watts worth in the pic, or 14 amps @ 20 volts in directly overhead sunlight.

(To be continued.)

 

I'm impressed. I think 12 volt solar is the way to go on my own van. I have a Ford E350 (one ton chassis)

 

If you can find the Unisolar roll up panels on ebay, I'd get them if I were you. Unisolar is out of business now, but they made the panels here in the USA. High quality stuff. I could give you a tutorial on how to slice and then splice. It's not really that hard to do if you have a basic VOM to make sure that your connections are correct.

 

Clamshell by TwoDogs posted Jul 28, 2018 at 12:06 PM

Clamshell1 by TwoDogs posted Jul 28, 2018 at 12:07 PM

Clamshell2 by TwoDogs posted Jul 28, 2018 at 12:08 PM

Don't you know that every time I climb up onto my spare tire to open the clamshell at Walmart or Safeway that someone is videotaping, hoping to catch a 66 year old go splat on the pavement for youtube.

 

I kind of feel like that last bit encapsulates everything wrong with the human race.

 

They're just hoping to be the lucky ones that cash in on the inevitable. Right place for them, wrong time for me, and all that. It's bound to happen. It won't be the first time that I've fallen off the roof of the van.

 

TEC by TwoDogs posted Jul 28, 2018 at 12:42 PM

This is my biggest power draw. 9 amps. It's my homemade thermo-electric cooler. They aren't as efficient as a compressor type refrigerator, but don't draw as much amperage and there's never any need to refill coolant gas. It'll keep anything inside approximately 40 degrees below ambient temperature. So...to me, at least, a near beer at 60 degrees tastes much better than one that's 100 degrees.

 

The fact of the matter is, you can't live like TwoDogs unless you're as handy and smart as TwoDogs. I am neither.

 

Two Dogs for president!

 

Two Dogs for president!

 

It's just as well McFuddy...You can't be out bumming around...Gotham needs you.

No thank you. The White House doesn't have good enough scenery.

 

Your lifestyle has kept you healthy and fit.

Congratulations on the property purchase.

 

Thank you Aerianne. I'm excited.

 

Awesome!

 

I used a Cooletron 12 volt cooler in my semi truck for over 20 years and know they do work.

 

Yeah, I looked at getting one of those. But...already had a cooler that fit into that spot and it was only 25 dollars or so for the all the parts to make one. Being a cheap bastard, I went that way.

 

with two fans pulling air across that evaporator you should be better off then with one from the truck stop. I am assuming you have a one piece evaporator that goes from top to bottom on the inside? If so, you should be safe keeping eggs, milk, and cheese cool enough?