Westfalia travel, wrenching and general thoughts.

Looking at my recent posts, I'm thinking I should title this blog a Bline. Or a Whog?     ;)

Jeepers. Long days, with what seems like no return. And it's still raining!

Got the fridge in. It fits real nice and with the medium thickness close cell foam strips on 3/4" blocks of ply (two on each inner wall), it's really stable. I kept the rubber feet on. That and the foam might help reduce noise transfer.

I'll update with pics at some point. I've been working so hard that taking pics rarely enters my mind!

The fridge fuse ended up in a strange spot, but that's partly b/c I wanted to leave the new circuit "upgradeable". The supply wire from battery is "long", as are the wires to fridge. The long fridge wires meant I had to tuck the inline fuse up through the RH rear corner into the cupboard but the fuse is fairly easy to get at. Leaving wires long means I can cut the #8 supply wire if I want to install a small fuse panel in the "secret space" area beside the cubby. Not the most convenient location though so may choose another spot.

This is all taking more thought than I realized. Like locating the solenoid "can" isolator. Turns out the engine bay is best since both posts of the can are live at any given time; putting it in the rear seat area wouldn't be a good idea IMO. Searching in the rear seat in dim light, especially someone new to the van, could be deadly. But, this means taking wire routing into consideration etc. in engine bay. More thought and work. Regarding wiring in the aux. battery, Dennis Haynes made a comment on fusible links. I know what they are and certainly appreciated the tip, but parts sourcing locally can be a challenge it seems. As it stands, I'll fuse the wire between the solenoid isolator can and battery. I might also install a fuse at wire between alternator and isolator, but that may be overkill and the alternator to starter wire is not fused OEM so....

The rear seats are slowly taking shape. Was about to glue the new foam on with contact cement, but upon reading further, it seems that stuff can deteriorate certain kinds of foam. Used a small cartridge of construction glue instead but now I have to wait overnight at least. Had planned on stapling fabric tonight. Oh well.

Still lots to do. Different local weather forecasts seem to conflict. But if Sunday is indeed sunny, I might tackle the tent canvas. I'd much rather get this bus in shape before doing any traveling. My goal would be to stay out for a month but OTOH, time just keeps on "slippin, slippin, slippin, slippin...."