Tuesday 3 May 2011

4 days, doing what?

Were did all that time go? I took the weekend off (to go camping, didnt camp) but seem to have spent all that time building, just one arm of a sofa!....did I mention that Im big on comfort?...  Sofa's are vital for a contented life, in my humble opinion, comfy bed and comfy sofa makes Annie a happy girl, Archie approves too! I hate how normally caravans etc have square backed narrow sofa cushions, they may be easy to fit and take up less space, but you then have a lifetime of squirming about tryng to get comfy when you should be relaxing happily on holiday.... not for me, I own one very comfy sofa and I plan on taking it with me!  Im even planning cutting a big section of fabric out of the back to cover the arms with, but I've never tried upholstery proper, and haven't the foggiest how to make a bendy bit wood, cover in fabric then fit to van securely....could just paint the arms, they will generally have cushions on them anyway....we shall see how maliable the mdf is when it gets here...


I tried using 3mm ply on the curvy bits, which took most of a day, faffing about, then gave up.... bendy mdf is required!  (used cardboard to show how it should look)....But now I'd really like to have wee cubby holes in the arms (for art stuff, paint brushes/pencils etc)... I kinda know how I could achieve this but suspect it will take another 4 days of trial and error! Luckily I aquired a dozen sheets of ply (freebie) a few months ago, so trial and error is allowed!...  The sofa base is easily transferable to another (probably narrower) van, the arms are seperate units, these will need adjusted if refitted in another van, I may leave the cubby holes until then. 

Patience is a virtue apparently but the human mind just wants things finished!

The Ice machine is now sitting pointlessly in Adrians garage, ready to be stripped down to compoents... Im not sure what I'll get from it, but hopefully a gas locker, at least....

Solar water heater - I mentioned this previously, still trying to work out how and if it will work.... I calculated (roughly) that 25m of 40mm diameter pipework will hold 11 litres of water (enough for my purposes) now I just need to find a formula to establish how much area (on roof) 25m of curled up pipework will take up, preferably without actually buying the pipe (£50)...



This shows what I have in mind, except without the fancy plastic fittings, Im planning a sheet of wire mesh and fit the pipework to this with cable ties... Im begining to think its not worth the effort, but getting something for nothing really appeals to me.... even if the sun raises the water temperature a few degrees, it could still then be put through a gas powered water heater but cost me less gas than without it...lord alone knows how long it would take to pay for itself (Im not working that out!) But I reackon, in summer (especially in Europe) I could get a free hot-ish shower every day?

Enough rambling... I have stuff to do.... promised Archie a decent walk today...he's been this bored all weekend....



Costs - I really can't be bothered thinking about it...its my birthday today, so I don't have to do boring stuff!... bought brake discs/pads etc for around £180...couple of sheets of 3mm ply..... and not much else...

Away for a sunny walk by the river... :)

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