i

Here is the deck completed, I got around to it this afternoon, we have been busy in the shop, shortening a Peterbilt. Now the customer wants the frame blasted and painted, good for us, bigger bill for him.

Pretty happy with the deck, I need to install a fuel inlet and a access panel on the rear deck section so that I can open up the fuel tank if needed. Thinking of what I want to do for some side rails or walls and a rear bumper and lights etc.

I found a used Edge Power Chip and will have it in about a week or so when the guy comes down our way. 100 bucks and works on my year of truck, apparrently three settings, up to a 100 hp improvement, I would only want the level one setting which is supposed to up the horsepower some 60 hp.Here is the Pete, cut out a 26 inch section, move the drives up and redrill, mostly together now, tomorrow need to ream some holes and tighten it all up. Weld back on the rear section, lift postion and weld, sounds easy but can be a bear sometimes jobs like these, especially with 8 inch bolts going through aluminum housings, one inch impact would'nt even budge them, heat impact heat impact and then finally break them loose. I woke up this morning and my arms and wrists felt it, not getting any younger. Got all new hardware today, always use new hardware as I like to sleep well at night knowing the work going out the door is done proper.

Cold weather is heading our way from what I hear, glad the trailer is inside the shop.

It's been a month

Man how times flies, I have not posted anything for almost a month now. Let's see what is new. I moved the trailer indoors now, its been in the shop the last two weeks, I got tired of paying for propane and gasoline and getting dirt and gravel in the trailer cause its in a truck yard, so one day I packed it up and moved indoors. Business in the shop has been steady and if I get real busy I can always pull it back out.

Propane use is way down, a 100 pounder last two weeks now, were plugged into a 30 amp service I installed, so using the fireplace for some additional heat. I took the hd antenna off the trailer and got wire and ran it to the roof of the shop, getting at least 25 stations all crystal clear. Very happy with the tv system now.

I bought a Flojet macerator and about 100 feet of hose so that I can drain the grey and black tanks. I dump the black every two weeks and there is a public bathroom at the front of our complesx where I can do the dirty deed, usually late at night lol. Grey water goes onto the tank on the truck and out to the back of the yard. I have the empty the grey tank every day. The flojet works as advertised and can pump 100 feet no problem at all.

Last week I decided that I am going to keep my truck and not go with a bigger unit. I can't see the sense of going bigger when we only travel a half dozen times with the trailer. The truck is a 95 but only has 220 k on it, mechanically perfect and paid for. Next year I will be lucky to put on 3000 k so I might as well make do with what I have. I do need to loose some weight from the truck and I have started that project already.

I removed the steel bed and the fake fuel tanks, that was about 1400 pounds or so, built a flatbed and remounted the hitch about 18 inches ahead of where it was, it now sits just ahead of the rear axle. I am enclosing the fifth wheel hitch so that it is no longer removable. This truck will be dedicated to trailer hauling duties full time. My idea is to have the truck all setup and ready to go at a moments notice. Water and waste tanks mounted, genset mounted along with the water pumps etc etc.

I should have most of the work done maybe later this week. Once the flatbed is finished i will paint the cab sleeper and then have graphics added to match the trailer.
There she is with the hitch mounted and no deck, I had thought of enclosing the frame rails and then adding fenders but that little hump over the axle really irritates me, with the flatbed I don't have to look at it lol.
I don't need the truck till next spring anyhow, so I can take my time with the repairs

Showtruck

We had this truck in the shop for over a year, picking away at it. Custom tri stage paint, stretched frame to 310 inches and doubled up. Custom hood scoops. Looking sweet at the Fergus Truck Show. Pumping 1000 horsepower too. We built a custom headache rack, but customer has decided to leave it off for now.

The interior panels such as door panels, roof panels, are all custom made with fibreglass and then prepped and painted a dark red metallic, looks real cool.

I busted my Wingaurd antenna that is mounted on top of the fiver last summer. The damn thing would not come down via the lever inside the trailer. So I got the kid to climp up the rear ladder and force it into the travelling position. I could hear a loud snap sound as he did this so I knew it was busted.

So anytime we wanted to watch tv, we had to go and manually lift it up into position and as well it would not rotate to fine tune a station. You can see it on the roof at the front of the trailer and if you look hard you can see the round dish antenna at the back of the trailer which is the one that I installed this past weekend.

I picked it up at the old Radio Shack, The Source and it was on sale for 50 bucks off. So I got to reading about it, and apparrently it will pickup the digital stations. I had to buy the converter box for 90 bucks to convert the digital signal to anoloq to work with the tv's that I have in the trailer. Problem now is that I will need another converter so that each tv can watch whatever program they choose. I am getting about 16 channels, and it is working very well. Crystal clear cable like tv. I am getting real good signal strengths too. The antenna also has a wireless remote so that I can fine tune the station for best signal.

I am using the converter box on the bedroom tv and and the living room tv on regular anoloqe signal. The antenna is better than the Wingaurd that came with the trailer, and having a remote to fine tune the channel signal is sweet.

I mounted the antenna on a 10 foot pipe and wire tied it to my ladder on the back of the fiver. This is a temporary mount till I figure out something better. As it stands now, the antenna is about 6 feet higher than the trailer. I need to see what happens if I lower to about a foot higher than the roof, whether I can get a good signal.

I watched Nascar yesterday and 60 minutes last night, all US programming. Sweet. All I need to do now is buy another converter for the living room tv.

Work Day

Theres my office desk/mess. I work off one of my toolboxes as it is easier than having a separate office. All the customers and I make all the deals over this toolbox, everything stops and starts at this toolbox.

When I ran shops for other people, I did it the same way. Nothing fancy as this is a nuts and bolts industry. Keeps me on the shop floor and in tune with whats going on, on the floor.

The dogs have been in the shop overnight since we re opened about two months ago. I put a blanket out for them and this serves a couple of purposes. If we need to move equipment around the shop, all I have to do is tell them to go their blankee and away they go, out of the way.

They get pretty dirty here, they go in this Friday to get shampooed and will come back different colors than they are now, I will post a pic. They have freedom here at the shop and the yard, they are always on the go. They get to see alot of people during the day and this is good for them as they are well socialized.

This week we are doing a 2001 Pete for a local brick hauling company. We have done a few of their trucks over the last few years. Not too many guys these days are doing a complete body and paint, this due to lower revenue/recession.

Basically, tear the truck apart as much as possible, prep and repair all body damage and corrosion. Sandblast the frame, and paint. Truck is going custom colors, orange frame and some copper color maybe two tone on the cab and sleeper.

Rebuild the hood, new chrome grille assembly and fenders too. We have the truck for two weeks and will be painting sometime next week, I will post pics.

The shop has been busy, but has slowed down the last week. Alot of shops are laying off and some are closing. Were a small two man shop now, so we don't need alot of work to keep things going.

Here is the truck in the shop tore apart. Were almost done the prep and body repair and today I need to remove the fuel tanks and battery boxes to get it ready for sandblasting tomorrow. Luckily my neighbor does the blasting, we work back and forth and have been doing so for years. Pics are dark as my flash was not working properly. We have some small jobs outside for welding repairs, aluminum headache racks, but waiting on parts. We do alot of welding too, all sorts of dump trucks and garbage wagons etc. Frame stretches and shortening, busted truck frames, crossmembers and the like. It is usually a interesting day as each job is something different.

Full Campground

We have three fifth wheels here, and my other buddy has been off work the last week, so he has been staying in his fifth wheel too. We pulled his trailer into the shop and I repaired the underside where he damaged it hooking up somehow.

Mike cleaned out the trailer and organized his stuff. He usually is driving his truck and lives in the truck full time as he criss crosses the country hauling frieght. But typical in this economic climate, he is out of work right now and trying to get the truck back on with a carrier that is busy. Which is tough right now.

We moved the Honda's to the back of the where the trailers are parked. This last week they have been running pretty much full time. Rob has been working very little hours too, so have a couple of guys sitting around doing nothing, and cause they are here bored, they watch tv and need to have the gennys running. Still cheap though, 3 splitting the fuel works out to about 25 cents per hour each.

I go thier fivers going with batteries, although they only each have one battery, it gets them through the night although as it is getting colder, and the furnace is cycling more often, I am noticing that by morning they are out of power.

Rob's trailer will cycle the furnace once and then Mike's will cycle 6 times, that gives you a idea of how well one trailer can be insulated over another.

I am the only one here with running water, as I did all the prepwork to ensure water all months of the year. Rob showers in my trailer and Mike is usually never here anyhow, but the fifth wheel truck stop is about a half mile away, Mike showers there.

Today though I am going to run water into both trailers, Rob needs to flush out his tanks and I told Mike that I would run water for him so he could shower in his trailer.

It will be water day today for sure, as the wife is doing laundry and will need about 65 gallons for three loads of water, plus more fuel for the genny's.

Cold weather is coming our way this week, overnight temps close to freezing. It has been very windy here too, having the trailers parked close together really helps. I like the cold weather as all the water in the yard has dried up and the mud is now hard, easier to keep clean all the way around.

We have been busy in the shop, have another Pete to do for a complete body and paint and frame paint, customer might want to stretch the truck to a 304 wheelbase, see what happens. Derek my right hand man, has two herniated discs and is in alot of pain, I am sure he is going to have to shut it down and get that looked after, which means I will be running the shop myself and I can do it, but it will take everything out of me, like there is much left anyways lol.

Another buddy of mine, wants me to buy his 2000 Ford F350 Powerstroke pickup, only has 165 k on it and been babied it's whole life. It's a standard cab so not really ideal for me with the dogs, but the wife can bomb around in it. Plus nice to have another dually around with a fifth wheel hitch in the bed for moving my trailer around.

I would like to be able to leave my custom dually hooked to the trailer full time. Leave the gennys on the truck, move the water tank to inside the sleeper where it is warmer for the winter months. Keep all the rv stuff together as one unit, I don't know see what happens.

I have four onboard Crown 6 volt batteries and I phoned last week about how much to add two more. 140 bucks each, they also have the Iota 65 amp converter chargers, at 265 a piece. I have two onboard converters now that I just replaced, but I cheaped out and bought two different makes. I should have them the same plus I can use the odd ball ones in the truck camper and Rob's trailer. I have never really had a problem with not having enough 12 volt power, and that is with my family that has no clue as to energy conservation. But a overage of available power can never be a problem especially when I rely on the system throughout the winter months.

It's been good here at the yard though. No real complaints, it is quiet at night and if it is somewhat warm outside we will sit outside and have a beer. BBq off the back of the truck. We are right in town and Timmy's is across the street, beer store about a ten minute drive lol.

My next project is getting together a macerator, a tank for the back of the truck so that I can empty my poop tank and truck it to the bathroom at the shop and pump it out. I will need a tank about the same as what I have on there now, 65 gallon and then use the macerator pump to drain it to the bathroom toilet. It's a shitty job for sure, but during the winter it will save me from having to drag the trailer around the corner to the local campground that is open all year. I guess it is six of one and a half dozen of another.

I rented out a truck parking space, he just showed up and parked his truck and trailer. 150 a month and i told him not to pay till the end of Dec, as that is when my property taxes are due which works out to 900 a month, yup thats expensive. I need to rent another spot out and that will keep my overhead on the shop to where it is affordable.

At the Campground

I got over to the local campground around the corner from my shop late this afternoon. It's a year round campground. I needed to empty the poop tank. When I got here I found that I did not have my sewer hose, I left it at the seasonal campground so the wife took a trip to Cdn tire to get another one, good to have two anyhow.

Well it is peaceful here except for the traffic on the 401 which is very noticealble. But I am sitting outside on grass and in front of the campfire, the wife is making home made burgers, my shit tank it empty and I'm on my fourth beer, so it's pretty good.

I redid the wiring on my truck to the trailer again, everytime I have to move someone else's trailer I have to redo the wiring to match their trailer. I like the wiring to be neat and tidy, and the last few weeks moving all these trailers, I had a real mess. Did some cleanup on the trailer and pulled out the door screen and this is the last time, as I am going to put in plexi glass instead of the screen due to the damn cat and his claws.

The shop has been busy, but my right hand man is having alot of problems with his back. Herniated discs, so bad that the wife had to drive him home the other day, he could not even drive. He is waiting to get into the specialist but that will not happen till next month. I am thinking that is going to have to shut her down and let himself get better. I might have to work the shop on my own for a bit. Which is okay.

I miss my dogs already, they are at the shop as I wanted a break from them. I am with them 24/7. The brother in law and my buddy are at the shop anyhow so they will look in on them.

Picked up a Mr Heater diesel fired heater today brand new in the box for 300 bucks, they go for 500 in the stores and is a 210000 btu unit. Enough to heat the shop no problem. Once in awhile a good deal comes my way. It has been decent weather during the day, but in the morning, it is cool, once the sun goes down the temps drop fast. Prob going close to freezing tonite.

The campground is about half full, looks like some campers are getting ready to pull out in the morning. I would stay here for the winter, but at 550 per month plus hydro I would sooner stay at the shop for free. My buddy works here too, he is retired and is the maintence guy, he loves it. I was hoping that he would be here, but he took a mini vacation to the east coast, but I see he left his fiver here.

While we are here we are going to take advantage of the included hydro with the site fee and get all our laundry done. Running the Honda's for the laundry can cost a bit, but I think still cheaper than going to the laundry mat.

While we are here, we will do a real concentrated cleanup on the trailer. One problem living at the truck yard is the dirt that gets dragged into the trailer. Lots of dust.

I have a pull through site here, so I am leaving the truck hooked up, we have the Explorer and the wife can drop me off at work in the morning. Nice not having to unhook for a change. I might come over here maybe once a week or so for something different to do, or even once every two weeks when I need to empty the shitter.

It's been Cold

The last week has been just that, cold and colder at night. It started warming up yesterday in the sun, but as soon as the sun went down, it really cooled off.

I put a 100 pounder of propane on the fiver last Tuesday morning and it should run out late today. That is pretty much 7 days out of that tank. Not bad considering we are also running the fridge and water heater on propane too. 3 or 4 showers a day in the trailer keeps the water heater working hard.

I installed a 12 volt deep cycle battery into Rob's trailer, late last week as his battery was no good at holding a charge. All went well the first couple of nights till I took my battery charger of it and had his onboard converter charger doing all the work. It seems the his converter charger only puts out a little over 12.5 volts, not enough to charge the battery. So I disconnected that and mounted my little high quality charger in there to do the job. It is working well. But I also ran a 12 volt over to my battery bank and tapped into it.

Currently we are running both fivers off of my 4 6 volt batteries and the one that is mounted in Rob's. No problem gettting through the night and well into the next day afternoon. This is with the furnaces cycling off and on and lights here and there as needed. Were getting onto the schedule with the genny's, four or five hours per day. The wife can do a load of laudry at that time too.

I am figuring it is taking me about a hour a day, to load water and transfer to the trailer, fuel the genny's and a oil change once a week or so. Double check everything on two trailers.

I had the gennys on the truck which makes it real easy for refueling, just drove across the street to fuel up. But have them on the ground now as we are using the truck and I really don't want the genny's stolen as they are not cabled down.

Fivers in the yard

I moved my trailer and the brother in law's down to the yard yesterday, that took up most of the day. Rob's trailer was sunk into the ground about 6 inches so a bit of work getting it out with the truck. I just held the power down and then the truck started to pull the trailer. It's a heavy Newmar unit 36 footer.

The other trailer is my older unit that I sold to another buddy, he is parking here for storage which works out well, as we use his trailer to block the wind.

My plan is to run the two fivers off my two Honda's. Rob's trailer has only one battery and is almost dead so I will buy two more Crown 6 volt deep cycle batteries to add to my unit bringing the total to 6, and then run him a 12 volt line to his trailer. He could put the batteries in his unit, but he really does not need them as all the time he is parked seasonal, plus I am not sure what kind of converter charger he has onboard, and concerned about his unit frying the batteries.

Last night was our first night, Rob ran out of 12 volt power around 4 in the morning, so his furnace quit working. His unit holds the heat better than mine, but still his floors were cold.
100 pounders of propane, one for each trailer. I am going through at least one a week right now, and Rob's will last two weeks or more.

I am trying to get the Honda's on a time schedule where we only run them for four hours per day. This will recharge the batteries and power the trailer for dinner time and some time watching tv. But that has not been working out, the family runs the Honda's all day, leave them on and forget about them, basically wasting fuel.

Only my trailer will have water, Rob can shower in mine and eat with us as he usually does anyhow. So his trailer for the most part does not need heat all the time, he can turn his thermostat down to 55 or so when he is gone away working. He won't have to worry about water lines freezing up, matter of fact we will run rv antifreeze through everything just to be safe.

I still need to park some 53 foot trailers around the whole deal to block even more wind. But am thinking I might go out again camping this year, I need to flush my shit tank and make sure it is cleaned out before the winter sets in.

The truck camper is parked beside mine, and we will use that once in awhile. I will drain the water and run the antifreeze through it, and if we want to use it, just turn on the furnace for a hour or so to warm it up.

It sure has gotten cold early this year, the other night there was a few sprinkles of snow coming down. I can't remember the last time it got this cool this early in the year. I am thinking we are in for a cold winter, best to prepare as much as possible.

The shop is busy. My next project in here is getting the heat figured out, as I have natural gas heaters in here and they will drain my wallet faster than what the kids do. I would prefer radiant tube heaters but I am too late in the year now to get them in. I would like to run some diesel fired heaters and then the overhead natural gas heaters to maintain the temp.

It was cool in here this morning and the temp today is only going to 10 c. The sun is out now and we can work with the overhead door open.

More pics and stuff

I park my truck in front of my site like this so that I can have a bit more privacy and also for the dogs as they are never on a leash, the dogs get to know how far they can go. Other dogs pass by on the road, and my girls just stay put.

I leave the sleeper door open for them, and alot of times they will go in and have a afternoon snooze. Most of the time though, they are active and my site usually will see alot of traffic due to the kid and his buddies. They swarm in and then swarm out. lol.

Our site really is not all that big. The fiver takes up most of the room and what is left is just enough. The dogs tear up the grass area so we only have to mow the lawn maybe once a year.


The back part of my deck right up against the slideout. Bare bones right now as we were putting everything away for the winter.

Cold Turkey

Got into our campground on Thursday night and spend the weekend. Man was it cool. I could hardly drink beer it was that cold. Southern Comfort went down no problem though.

We moved the truck camper up on Friday night and kid and his cousin slept in there for the weekend. I filled the propane bottles, and the camper consumed one 20 pounder of propane for heat and hot water over the course of 3 days. I thought that was pretty good considering the cold weather.

There is the pic of the camper sitting behind my site. The site is small, just enough room.

Setting up for Winter

I spent the weekend getting the yard setup for the winter months. Re arranging the trailers and getting them outta the mudhole.

The kid and I spent the night in the truck camper Friday. All went well, we watched a movie and ate junk food lol. The bed is a little short for me, even though it is a extended cabover type camper. My feet were well over the edge of the mattress. We went to Walmart and picked up a flat screen tv and other things. I put in a 12 volt deep cycle battery, Walmart kind which is not my first choice, depending how much we use the camper, I might put in a set of deep cycle 6 volters. I find the onboard converter charger really does not put out alot of power and will update that too. Probably going to paint the camper the same color as the truck too. Wife went to the second hand store and got all the kitchen stuff for next to nothing. Also added a small microwave, not that I use but the kid does.

My buddy brought over his trailer and that is the one that I sold to him last year. He is storing it here for the winter and will pull it out next spring. I have it tight to mine so hopefully that will help with the winter wind. As you can see in the second pic, my awning only goes out about 4 or five feet.

I have the truck camper parked in tight too, but I am bringing my brother in laws fifth wheel down this weekend to park beside mine. So a little more moving around yet. After that is all done, I will get a couple of 53 foot dry vans to block the whole deal in. At least this is what I am thinking for now.
I moved some stuff around in the rear of the truck, put the Honda's beside each other and on the side closest to the trailer when I have the truck parked. Water tank is on the other side now and easier to fill the tank, don't have to climb onto the bed to put the water hose into the tank.

Had to do a few repairs on the truck. Heater fan motor, yes it is that time of year, and a belt tensioner. I want to put in a partition from the sleeper to the cab so the dogs can not get into the cab area, we have had so much rain and as soon as the truck door is open they hop inside and all full of dirt and mud. I powerwashed it all out and want to keep it that way now.

Was thinking of taking off my rear deck, but I think I will leave it alone. Maybe add some air bags and still move the fifth wheel ahead about 18 inches. My buddy Bill is stateside on vacation with his fifth wheel and picked me up some rv stuff at Campers World. A new brake controller, I will install that this Thursday and looking forward to seeing how this works out as it is a proportional style controller.

Yea up on the seat the other day, they completely destroy the truck when they have been in the yard in the rain. My fault though for leaving the door open, as my dogs do no wrong lol.

Truck Camper pics on truck

There she is sitting on the truck, guys went up this morning to get the truck from the campground, slid on real slick. Still have to wire it up and mount the bar underneath for the turnbuckles.

I am putting in a deep cycle battery this afternoon and I have my little 1000 watt inverter generator running the camper right now. Want to see if the 1000 watter will run the charger as well as the camper lights etc I am thinking it will.

Truck Camper

Dj and I went up to Orillia today to take a look at a 92 lance truck camper for 2500.00. I was also looking at a Jayco same year, but never got to go and see the Jayco as I really liked the Lance and bought that one. It's for the son and we are going to put it on his Chevy. Thinking maybe tomorrow bringing his truck down from the campground and getting it setup with the truck camper.

Thats the truck camper sitting on the previous owners truck, I will have pics later this week of our setup. Took Dj's truck to get the camper which is a 2500 series gmc with the 6 litre which is the same setup as our truck. The truck handled the weight no problem and had lots of power on the highway even in the strong headwind.

We cleaned it out tonite and moved some stuff in to make it feel homey. Tomorrow I will make a list of the stuff that needs to be done and we will get r done over the winter months as this is really a project for my son and I.

One lucky thing though, after reading on rv.net about lance campers of that vintage and some of the problems they are known for, apparrenty rot in the rear wall and floor area by the door entrance. The previous owner had it all repaired last year and all that is required down is to replace the linoleum, which I will with peel and stick, something like what I used in the Jayco.

Business has been good, the name is getting around and more guys are dropping in. Fleets are telling me that they are picking up and I sure hope it sticks. Have a couple of insurance jobs in the shop right now and some fleet returns, welding work is picking up too.

The last ten days has been cold and wet for the most part and my achy bones feel it. I am still smoking and having the odd beer or twelve pack. I parked the trailer at the shop into a different spot and on Monday we got a heavy downpour of rain, so I am standing at the rear of my shop watching the rain hit the yard, it all pools to one area and then makes a river right to my trailer. Like 4 inches of water around my trailer. I am going back up to the campground this coming weekend and when I come back I am placing the trailer on high ground.

New Shop Stuff

So I quit smoking and drinking a couple of weeks back and all was going good till I hooked up with my old buddy at his campground last weekend. Beer and mixed drinks and what else goes best with that, smoking, damn. So a effort has to be made one day this week to shut it down again.

Had not seen Kenny and Michelle for ten years or so, was real good hanging out with them for the weekend where they seasonal camp. More get togethers are planned and looking forward to them.

While I was away for the weekend, Derek and Dj built a wall in the shop to make a smaller shop at the one end. Derek is renting this to continue his sidework on cars and motorcycles. This will help with the overall cost of rent here in the shop and the money that he pays for rent will go to pay the property taxes on our shop which run 900.00 per month. Yup expensive.

Here is a pic of the wall with a fireproof tarp for the top section. We are thinking in the summer to remove the tarp and allow air flow. We have some work in the shop this week, a insurance job on a Volvo that hit a low bridge and some trailer work.

We have not been getting our Bell bills for the Bell stick and the cellphones, so the wife went to them to get a number on what we owe them. The Bell Stick was 670.00 for one month due to all the megabytes we consumed. Yea, just a little retarded. That was for the second month, and we should have another bill right about now and I bet its that amount again or more. Cell phones and the stick was just under 1300.00 for one month, so some changes are gonna happen here real fast.

Ran the honda's this past weekend camping with my buddy as the campground only had 15 amp service and was a fair distance from where I wanted to park the trailer, plus I wanted to try them out anyhow. We got there around 5 Friday afternoon, ran them most of the weekend for 4 or 5 hour spurts, mostly late afternoon into the night to keep my beer fridge going. Alison did some laundry and sometimes had the ac going too. Left the park Sunday around 430 pm. 21.00 for the fuel which I thought was very good.

Running both Honda's while using the ac and maybe the dryer, is the way to go, they barely rev up, are quiet and maintain very good fuel consumption rates. I never heard them rev up to full speed at any one time. Also I have two onboard converter chargers that recharge 4 batteries, and they consume a fair amount of amperage too, especially when we run on battery power overnight and into the daytime.

Here is our setup this past weekend. I parked the truck this way to keep the exhaust fumes away from our main camp area and also to have a blocked in area so that the dogs know their limits. The Honda's are on the rear deck of the truck and I ran a cord to the trailer. Worked out very well as no one even noticed the Honda's running. We also trucked our own water. Campground was very nice and we were across from the manmade lake. In that lake is a schoolbus and jet airliner as they do alot of scuba diving.

More Honda stuff

I put the honda's back into the truck. I ran them out of fuel, and I really don't like using jerry cans to fill equipment up. Having the Honda's on the truck deck allows me to drive a half kilo to the gas station, and they also sell propane there too.

I need to get the power system on a routine and what I have come up with, is running the genny's from 6 pm to 10 pm. This allows lots of power for the dinner prep, laundry time and the downstairs tv and Xbox for the kid. He goes to bed at 10 so that should work out fine. 4 hours to recharge the batteries fully works perfectly. This system will optimize the fuel we use making sure that it is not wasted. Yesterday everything ran all day for the most for nothing, intermittent laundry duties.

My upstairs tv and dvd are running off a 1000 watt inverter full-time and I also have a plug that is wired on the same circuit, which I can plug my laptop into and surf the net while laying in bed with the genny's turned off.

Here is a shot of the Honda's in the rear of the truck, with the water tank in the middle and my Honda water pump that I use to transfer water from this tank to the one that I have mounted in the basement storage of the fiver. This looks like it is going to work out well, as I want to leave the truck hooked and dedicated to the fiver. I do want to loose the steel deck and fuel tanks to save some weight but thats a project for the winter months.


Here we are hooked to the truck, everything is sort of just sitting where roughly I want it but not bolted or secured. We are heading out this weekend to a campground around Woodstock to see a old buddy of mine, so I get to try stuff out then. You can see on the last pic, how the truck is squated a bit. I either need to install air bags, or loose the deck and fuel tanks and move the hitch about 18 inches forward.

Fueled the Honda's up, they were both empty, 24.50 for the two. which is 26 litres. Now burning roughly 1.5 litres per hour, 6 litres for four hours equates to 5.64 per day for hydro approx.

These numbers are just off the top of my head and will likely change but gives me something to work from. My hydro bill at the campground for 3 1/2 months was 365.00.

In the yard

So we needed the room in shop and also have to do some painting, no sense getting overspray on the fiver, even though I could spraymask the trailer to protect it. But none the less, I moved it outside to the back section of the yard, in our corner where we have truck parking.
Still a problem with dust. What we need is some rain. I got back my other Honda genset today and went to the electrical store and got the required plugs and receptacles and made myself a parallel kit for the Honda's.


so they are running right now. Very sweet, have the ac unit running, and starting a load of wash. The wife will have no problem now with power as there is almost 50 amps in total feeding the trailer.
Wondering too, if my fuel consumption will go up by much. Do you run one genset at full bore or two at idle?????????

I need to figure how to mount the units too, I would like them side by side on the pin, thinking that may be a little too much weight, 300 pounds in total. Maybe leave the one on the pin and mount one on the rear of the trailer off the hitch assembly????????

One consideration is when the units are mounted on the pin box, the weight goes directly to the truck, does not add any stress to the trailer frame.

Dusty

The yard here sure is dusty, no rain the last couple of weeks and when trucks come into the yard the dust really kicks up. I decided to move the trailer indoors this afternoon and here she is.

But I gotta take it back outside tomorrow as I will need the room. Got a few calls today and fleets are getting busy again, so a fair amount of work is coming my way this week and next. So far so good.

Post more later.

Ready for work

Well the last few days have been busy, got all the equipment and tools moved in and I spent the weekend hooking up the compressor and installing welding plugs, power washer and water lines, general cleaning and organizing. My rear door entrance was full of gravel so most of today was spent cleaning it all up.

I moved the trailer down this afternoon. Have it parked in the yard for the week now as we are taking off this coming weekend to see a old buddy of mine in Woodstock. This should be fun. I quit smoking and drinking over a week ago and that is going real well, but next weekend I will be drinking with my buddy as I have not seen him in ten plus years. I'm okay with that.
I finally got the pics out of one of the cameras from last month's camping stuff. Here is our site at Rockwood which is just around the corner from our seasonal campground. Real nice site, in a valley too, no wind and just the right amount of shade. We had a good time, took the dogs swimming and a general do nothing for three days kinda relaxing. My brother inlaw and his son came with us too. Good to have a drinking partner.

Well here is the homestead at the new shop, out in the yard with the trucks. No hydro or water, so running the genny and trucking my water again, kinda like boondocking, but services just nearby. Will stay here for the week. I do have a spot in the shop for Jan Feb and March, no sense being out in the cold.

And there is the shop, another one. I can barely get together the energy and desire to do this again. But here I am, narrow and long, I rent out 40 feet of the shop at the front to my buddy. That will help with the rent, and I have parking outside to rent out as well. The rent and property taxes are enough, 4000.00 per month total. Plus the heat and hydro, at least I am a middle unit and have business on both sides of me which should help abit with keeping warm?????????

Early September

And i am sitting on my duff waiting for the keys to my new shop. The shop deal up north fizzled and thats okay. When it's ready I will go, so for the time being its back to the grind starting hopefully today or tomorrow.

The new shop is right in the heart of trucking in Milton, a very good location with lots of trucks driving by. Shop is a proper truck shop with lots of yard space, easy for guys to pull in and turn around.

Once I get the keys I will move my fiver down there. We likely are not coming back to our seasonal campsite next year. After the last month of being off work and doing some travelling, it was real nice to get away from our campground and meet other people and families. We are thinking that next year, we will spend the weekdays at our business and then weekends travelling and camping at campgrounds within a couple hours distance. I got online and was surprised just how many campgrounds there are.

I am going to sell the boat either this fall or next spring. After a bunch of bullshit with it, at the last campground we went too, it just is not worth it all to get in a couple of hours boating time. I wanted to tow the boat behind the fiver, but we are too long, and although i would chance it, it really is not a optimim thing to do. I broke the toungue on the trailer going over a very bad speed bump a little too fast. That happened at the campground on the day that we were leaving, so I had to jerry rig up the busted metal enough so that it can be towed behind the trailer. After buying all the hitch stuff, none of it fit, so we had to make double trips back to our campground, one trip for the fiver and one for the boat. Also a wheel seal on the boat trailer, one stop light busted, tore up a prop too. plus pay 10.00 per day to have the boat at the dock in the that campground. Where I already pay to be a seasonal visitor on the lake and conservation area.

The kid is too busy for boating now anyhow, most of the time it is just me going out. He wants to hang with his buddies and girlfriends. Thats okay.

Never did go up north, found a really nice private campsite, but I checked the weather and it was calling for rain and shit weather for the whole week.

It was good to have some time off, but I am now ready to get back at it. Will post some pics this coming weekend once we get the keys.

Interesting

Just got a email back from the shop up north. I can get the shop on a rent to own basis, which I like, if it does not work out in a year, I can leave without having to worry about the property shop?????? If it does work out, I would own it after say 5 years???? more to ponder??

Pondering

Been sitting on my deck having a few beers the last coupla days pondering the future. I am waiting on two emails, one to finalize my new shop and another from a guy in Kapuskasing that has a shop for sale.

I have wanted to move north for some years now, and this shop came up a couple of months back, but I thought, no I am not ready to go yet. This week, I started to think about just exactly what I am doing down here in the big city. It's been a battle this year trying to make any money in my shop for myself. The economy is going to get worse and therefore likely my situation will be worse. Would it be better in Northern Ontario, well I certainly would not have to make the money that I have to make here in the city. I could just work on my own and at my own pace. My overhead would be next to zilch. Park my fiver on the 4 acres of property, just outside Kap population 9500. Wife could get a Wally World job. I could concentrate on getting the business established and getting my name out. Can also hook up with the fleets that I work for all ready, as they transport through the area. Last winter I had 3 trucks towed down from that general area to my shop in the city at a cost of 3 grand plus per unit. No one in the area that does the line of work I am in. They would welcome having a guy like me in the area. Lots of moose hits, and of course bad weather accidents.

As I mentioned the economy is not getting any better. Our phones are real quiet even though I am shut down right now. It's like I am not missing anything. My buddy is here in the campground and is looking for work as a driver. I phoned around today to contacts that I have, and no one is hiring. So we got into the Job Bank on the net and browsed what's available, not much, and what is available for driver jobs was sub 17 bucks per hour. 1990 I made 15.50 per hour driving a roll off truck, 20 years later, its the same rate plus minus a buck or so, tell me whats wrong with that.

Shunt drivers, 9.75 to 14.25 in the city. Wow.

So for the most part, today I have a few things on my mind that are possibly life changing. The wife wants to go north, so I have that in my favor, the 14 year old, is hesitant as he has a ton of friends at school and such. My two grandkids are here in the city and I and the wife will miss them, as it is 12 hour drive to visit.

The other thing that I thought today, is seeing how I have a month off, I should load the camper and head north to see the general area around the shop. As I will be heading up that way anyhow, just not as far. Gotta wait for the email first though.

Stay tuned

Bill sent me the pics and here they are. Pretty cool. Truck handles the weight no problem. We installed the deck and a underneath storage area for the ramps, a winch arm assembly, cut the frame and move back the fifth wheel. Bill did the design work and we worked closely with him to ensure the end result would be perfect due to the tight tolerances getting everything to fit nicely.

ha

well I moved the whole shop today into a 53 foot dry van, just about got everthing in there. And not going into the new shop till Sept 1. So I seem to have gotten the whole month of August off, oops. How the hell could I guy my age get the dates all screwed up and end up having to spend the hottest month of the year on my boat and up north camping. Well i will just have to put up with it I suppose, post more later

Moving

Well we are moving the shop this coming week. Found a fair sized unit that we can work out of and is the spot where over 4 years ago I said to myself, this is where I should be. Right in the heart of trucking in our town, lots of yard space too. About another grand per month for the rent, but drive in traffic will increase. The unit that we are in now, has been flooded out the last week due to all the rain.

I am thinking that this coming winter, I will be able to section off 40 feet in the new shop and put my fiver indoors for the winter months. Maybe even build a deck and throw down some green indoor outdoor carpeting and call it a campsite for the winter months. Add a bbq and a picnic table and all should be good.

We are building my buddies truck to haul a Smart car. Today we loaded the car on the deck we built and it does look smart. I should have pics later today.

Birdie

We got birds in the shop and they have babies about a few months ago and they are trying to flew the nest. But one on Friday kept landing on the shop floor. Here is Derek putting the birdie back into its nest, about a half dozen times in total. Little usafe on a ladder on a forklift, but the trying to help the little fella to get going.

Been hot this week, and sure was nice to get back to the campground after working all day and going for a swim in the pool. Lifesaver, I usually don't get down to the pool all that much.


Buddy of mine boat a 1990 Doral 20 foot bowrider with inboard outboard, got it cheap as it sank. When they were pulling it up out of the water, they cracked the both on both sides approx midship. We repaired it this last week and it was a nice change from working on heavy equipment. I was hoping to get out on my boat yesterday but Thursday night I started tearing out the carpeting in the kitchen.

The kitchen has carpeting and linoliem, and I was hoping that when they made the trailer that the linoliem was across the whole kitchen floor. Once I got the carpet out, I found out that the linoliem was about a foot short. Now I have to replace the floor.

The wife wanted a wood floor, and was at Home Depot and found peel and stick planks, she phoned me and I told her to pick up a box and bring them home so that I can ascertain if they are going to work.

The floor looks great and I took my time doing it so as to not have to use alot of trimwork. It is a fully floating floor. It took about 4 hours to install and maybe a hour or so to remove the old carpet. I went right to the entrance door and thinking maybe of going into the living room with it. Thinking in the winter time it would be better to have the carpet, help keep the floor warm. I really like the floor and I hate carpet, with dogs and kids and a couple of felines thrown in for good measure, you can imagine what our carpet was like in the kitchen, it being a high traffic area. Seems every trailer we have I end up doing this and if I ever order a new fiver, I will option the wood floor in place of carpeting.

I levelled off the trailer this morning. Last year when our last trailer burned down, I pulled it out and we were without a home for about a week. I had the owner of the campground bring me a load of gravel to cover my trailer spot. After spreading it out, I backed and parked our new trailer on top. It's a nice clean look, having the gravel under the trailer, but the trailer needs to be levelled every month or so. I wish it was a concrete pad, when I finally buy my own land, concrete pad it the first thing to do.

I am on my own this coming week in the shop as Derek has a week's holidays. It's supposed to be off and on rain for the next four days and Wedesnday is a civic holidy too. I got my nephew up for a few days and hopefully me, my son and he can get out on the boat. Hopefully there is not much going on and I can leave early everyday. I am not taking any holiday time this year, so I gotta get when the getting is good.

Been working on getting more tools to keep in the trailer. I bought a Snap On toolbox last year and it fits nicely in the basement storage. I open the cargo door and it is sitting right there. I bought a Makita cordless drill and it came with all the bits and two batteries, and really comes in handy around the campsite. I had to cut holes in my new floor yesterday to fit the heat vents and needed a jigsaw so I picked one up at the local hardware store along with a bunch of hardware items, like screws nails etc. Always handy to have around. I have a shop full of equipment and tools but all geared towards heavy equipment repair. Plus I don't like trying to remember what I need to bring home, I always forget.

I also picked up some dark brown silicone to seal around the new floor. Wow, what a good idea, cleaned up and hid all my mistakes ha. Good little trick.

My neighbour got his new to him trailer onto his lot, and the deck is up and levelled. It required about ten of us to move into place. Will get some pics maybe today and post em. His site looks nice.


Here is a shot of the floor at the entrance door, there are my two retards. They want to come in the trailer cause I am in here. I have been taking them down to the lake lately from swimming. So everytime they are in the truck they think they are going for a swim. Me and the kids boyfriend took the dogs down by the water and I told him, hold onto them as they will fly through your window to get out of the truck. As we got closer to the lake, I asked if he had a good handle on them, he said yes. He is a big guy, my size and only 24, so strong, he could'nt hold em, out the window they went. He could not believe how strong they were.

Here they are on the bed now, they don't want to be outside with me being inside. We go through alot of comforters, as you can see a new one the wife picked up today at Wallyworld. the animals are a constant concern but we love them.

One might think that having a onboard washer dryer is a good thing. Well, the brother in law is over doing his three loads of laundry today and if it's not him it's the daughter doing her's on the weekend. Maybe I should advertise a little wash and fold service here in the campground, might be hard to get that pass the other half. ha.