As if we haven't abused Erica enough over the last two months (I'm not sure she's yet forgiven us for wielding an angle grinder at her ramp), a couple of weeks ago we decided the time had come to cut another hole in her - quite a big one this time at 127mm across (or 5" if you prefer old money).
The purpose of this hole was for the fitting of the diesel-powered air heater, which is the subject of this week's video:
Whilst almost everything on this project has been a learning experience to some extent, much of the work has been somehow comparable to things we've done in the past. The fitting of the diesel heater, in common with carpeting the walls and changing the passenger seat, felt like far more of a novel task.
Fortunately, I joined a couple of
diesel heater groups on Facebook at the end of last year and over the
months I've picked up many tips (mainly from other people's mistakes).
Even so, it was a daunting task that I had in mind would take two days
to complete. I wasn't wrong on the timescale, although if some of my
tools hadn't gone into hiding, and if the weather been more amenable
such that I'd been able to have a good run at the job (rather than
snatching five minutes here and there when the rain wasn't so heavy), I
would have been pleasantly surprised at how quickly and (relatively!)
smoothly the fit went. As for complexity, it was easier than I'd
expected, even if a couple of aspects were tricky (drilling the hole was
as bad as I expected; routing the exhaust was significantly harder than anticipated).
I think you are being hyper-critical about your video creation. This was another masterpiece, especially when getting underneath and doing little close-ups. You have sailed through quite a lot of advanced DIY. I sam impressed by your advance planning - I tend to make it up more as I go along. The one skill you have not been faced with (so far) is welding. I reckon it won't be long before you're off on your first trip.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your confidence-boosting words about the video quality. I've just published the next one and I'm much happier with this one.
DeleteI've done quite a few renovation projects over the years, and back in my late teens and early twenties I used to do most of my own car repairs (buying, taxing and insuring my first car wiped out all but £10 of my savings, so when the car broke a couple of weeks later, I had little option but to fix it myself, and I went on from there), but one thing I have never tackled is welding. Maybe one day...
As for Erica's maiden voyage, the question is whether restrictions will allow us to travel once we're in a position to do so?