Good day. Zero dollars. Installed some 1/2″ plywood strips along the inner van steal as “wall joists.” I’ll install 1/4″ plywood panels into that, and will have a thermal break there, in that the screws through the 1/4″ panels won’t touch the steal. I actually got some wool insulation installed today.
I’m proceeding carefully because I want to rough in the electrical before I go too far with insulation. I’m going to spray-foam some of the harder to reach areas, and I definitely need to rough in electrical in those areas before the spray-foam goes in.
Spent most of yesterday planning electrical stuff, and ordered a bunch of cables and such yesterday. I’m planning on using 12 AWG stranded copper cables for most everything, and 16 AWG wire for even small stuff (like my LED’s). I got some 4/0 AWG cable to connect my two Li batteries together, and to connect them to the inverter. I got a hammer-based crimper tool for the heavy gauge stuff. I also got some 6 AWG wire to run between the batteries and the 12v fuse box, and a 70 A breaker from Blue Sea for that same line. My inverter (3000W, Renogy) calls for a 360 A fuse. That’s fucking sobering. I’m being very careful with the electrical. I fear the big zap.
Went ahead and threw in a bunch of heavy-duty drawer slides yesterday too. Spent like 750 on amazon on electrical and the drawer slides. The stranded heavy-gauge wire is expensive. Getting close to the end of spending here. I’ll need a few more slides, especially small ones for the galley and the garage space.
I’m exhausted. Tomorrow I have a dentist appointment in the morning, and I have to take the van to a MB dealership in the early afternoon, to get the brakes worked on. So I’ll get some physical rest.
Having the dealership work on the brakes is gonna cost me 1000$. It’s going on a credit card, and it’s gonna ride for a while. I’m paying minimums on everything until the first paycheck from the new job is in my account. Need some cash on hand for transition periods. I’ve only got 1600$ saved up right now, but that’s a few months of van payments, at least. As soon as those next-job paychecks start rolling in, all the high-interest credit gets paid down aggressively.
Yesterday was marked by pervasive sadness. I took like an hour and just wandered some back roads in my van in the evening. I decided I do have to exercise and meditate everyday still. Self-care is necessary. And now it’s time to rest.
