First cold

Looks like this is the first really cold night of the year. Will be interesting to see how the TruckFridge deals with it. I have no idea how R134a refrigerators deal with temperatures that are at or below the temperature they're supposed to be cooling to.

Today it was really cold in here, and I've done such a good job insulating for summertime, that it didn't warm up in here at all when it got warm and sunny outside. Oops. I briefly thought about cutting a hole in the wall from the cab to the box, and putting in a vent, to let the solar-heated greenhouse air from the cab in here. There are windows on three sides of that cab, and it gets much warmer than outside temperatures in there. If I could vent that air in here, it'd be nice and toasty. But I'd have to figure a way to do it so that I could seal it off completely in the summer. Shouldn't be too hard, but I have to think about it some more.

In the meantime, I'm closing my roof vent and one of my two floor vents to try to keep it warm in here. Let's see how well all my insulation works in wintertime.

My batteries are very very happy now with the new TruckFridge. On even a mostly-overcast day, nearing the winter solstice, and up here in the north latitudes, I've got enough sunlight to keep get my batteries up to 14.3V by mid-afternoon! And it's great fun to be able to buy ANY kind of food without having to worry if it needs refrigeration. The upside is that I'm eating a LOT better, since I can buy more fish and meat and cheeses and things that need refrigeration. The downside is that I'm spending a lot more on groceris too, like almost twice as much. So I guess I have to work on that. It might work out OK if I can stop going to restaurants almost completely, and I've been able to cut back a lot on that now with the fridge.

I did a bit of work that made me some money. Between all the odd jobs I'm doing now, I'm ALMOST at my break-even point. It is encouraging.

I flushed out my brake fluid a few weeks ago; that was easy. Also found a new/old fuel leak. It's from the fuel regulator where the brand-new return hose comes in from the right head! Same place it was last time! Or maybe it's from something else and I just never fixed it the first time. There doesn't seem to be anything coming from my fuel pump, but I have the part in case I need to R/R it. I've become resigned to the fact that leaks are just a fact of life. I'll fix 'em when I fix 'em, as best I can. It's like shoveling sand against the tide, an impossible task.

It sure is great to get away for the long weekend though. I don't plan to do any maintenance or home imporovement, or any work for money, but I do plan to do a lot of work on other creative projects and personal organizing that needs to get done.