@glyphiks childhood videos:
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I designed this little 3 piece cable pass through for the solar panels and I’ve got one to put on the other side as well for lights out into the awning.
This bit goes through the slot I made earlier from the inside and houses 3 nuts. I sikaflexed where it protrudes through the slot.
Then the top 2 bolts tie the inner and outer pieces together, I fully sikaflexed behind this bit too.
Finally this shroud covers the whole lot and directs the cables downwards. It’s tight enough that it pretty effectively clamps the cable and stops it from sliding in or out, so before bolting it through, I had to make sure the length on either side was correct.
As well as the single bolt, it taper locks into the first outside piece, so it’s all nice and tight.
I ran out of daylight, but I got these cable tie mounts that I’ll stick behind the cables to hold them nice and close to the body, hoping the 3m backing on the mounts survives for a good amount of time.
I also cut the pocket holes out of one of the internal panels, this is the panel where the batteries and most of the electrical shenanigans will be housed.
I’ve got a box to put the batteries in that will attach to this panel, and I’ve decided that all of this will be black so I bought a tin of black paint and gave the panel and the box a coat. No daylight left so no pictures of them 
It’s a rarity to get afternoon time on work days, but I think the missus and kid are happy to have some time out from me after 2 weeks together in an even smaller van than mine 
With any luck I’ll get more time tomorrow too!
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Cut pocket holes for the rear panel and prepped it up for paint
One of the pockets in the rear needed inserts for the inverter to attach to, so I installed those and drilled holes in all of the pockets to pass wires through
And then…. Paint it black!!
My favourite cover of that song —> https://open.spotify.com/track/2mZO9VWAIJ7KvL91kbZsC8?si=S57LgMkETNagjvv9BCea8g
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Man this project is moving along nicely!
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I am sick of living in the shed 
sooner I get it done, sooner I’m of no fixed address again 
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NFA life!
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Yeah the heat island effect is real.
Once my solar box and kayak are on the racks, there will be bugger all sun getting to the roof anyway.
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Just spitballing here…run some pipes for your (hot) water supply.
Yeah, that new “suburb” was crossed off my list when I was shopping around for my place.
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Ehhhh it could work ok with a thin coil, but with the small amount of hot water I actually use it’s not worth the effort.
I plan on plumbing in fresh water and grey water tanks, but for hot water I’m cool with just boiling it as I need it
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This is what I do in my off-grid. Hot water boilers are either painfully slow or painfully inefficient. Electrical heating is terrible on your batteries, or else it’s taxing both your batteries and a fuel source for combustion heating.
Kettle is the way.
Just get a device with Xitter on it and run pipes next to it. All the vitriol will boil water in no time.
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Yeah I have a trangia stove, a jet boil and my Coleman dual fuel stove, no shortage of ways to heat water!!
Speaking of the Coleman… it was steak night in the shed last night 
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I hope you also seared the sides.
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Jetboil fuel is the tits. Shit fucks hard. Used it a ton with my MSR.
I hope you let the steak rest before diving in.
Yes on both counts!
Unfortunately I ever so slightly overcooked it, but not devastatingly so. It was still a great steak, just not my best.
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That thing was a monster!!!
So is it very hot down there right now?
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Depends what day you ask on Melbourne summer could be 40C one day, 20C the next. Today it’s about 20, yesterday it was raining and thunder storms, looks like it’s on its way up to about 30c on the weekend.
30 is nice. I could live in a perpetual 30c heat no dramas
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The other side of the van is a lot easier. There’s only one pocket because the track for the side door impedes too much on the cavity making it not worth pocketing.
I made a big slotted hole in the side of the pocket that’s there in case I wanna try and run anything through there later, I’ll have a chance to get it through without removing the face panel.
It’s probably worth while running pull strings through as many wire routes as I can so that running wires down the track has a chance at being easier.
Got the panel made for that side, painted and I fished the door cards out of storage and painted them up as well. I was going to fibreglass the door cards for a bit of extraness, but I feel like that’ll just slow me down at this point, will see how paint holds up.
I finally got underneath and measured up for my water tanks. I ended up just getting 2 of these 50L tanks. I would have liked a bigger one for freshwater, but these were cheap and will fit a lot easier.
I also ordered a water pump and water level gauge/sensor probes that will tell me how much water is in the tanks.
I’ll have the freshwater set up to run of the 12v water pump and I’m going to set up the grey water so that I can purge the tank with compressed air from inside the van, so I can sneakily park next to a stormwater drain, purge, then escape with nobody the wiser
While I was under the van I sussed out if my diesel heater would fit where I want it to, and it surely will. Starting to get very excited.
It is at this point, when everything is seemingly coming up Milhouse, that the name of the van has been revealed.
I shall call him MILHOUSE
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are you using the one inside the tall casing or did you get the setup that’s just individual components?
the main heater unit is small and can be run in line with your ducting.
It’s also a good idea to keep the diesel tank in a separate space from where you sleep. Diesel fumes are gross.
I have my controller mounted to the wall right below where my old propane thermostat is. Haven’t got around to pulling out the old thermostat yet.
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