I notice my van seems to be a lot colder this winter, so far, than last winter. In particular, the floor of my van, which is pretty well insulated with a laminate flooring, foam underlayment, and PE film, is freezing cold, and I don't remember my feet being so freezing last year. Actually, I remember it being quite comfortable last year. What is going on?
Oh. Yeah. I forgot. My floor vent. I didn't have one last year. I put one in over the summer. So, this year, I do, and I'm in the habit of leaving it open. So freezing cold air from the ground is coming up and chilling my floor down, hard core.
I've been meaning to put in another vent from the cab, one that will take in warm air that has been solar heated by the windsheild and side windows. The cab is a lot warmer than the box, summer and winter. It's nice to be able too isolate the air in summer, but in winter I'd rather be letting solar-heated air from the cab come in to the van, than freezing cold air from the floor, at least during the day (I guess at night it doesn't matter).
I have a vent. I just need to find a place to put it.
UPDATE: I figured out a temporary solution that works well. I close the ceiling vent, and leave the floor vent open. Warm air comes up (when available) through the floor vent, but doesn't vent out the top. Cold air vents out the floor vent. It's not warm in here, but at least it's warmer than the outside ambient air, so that's an improvement.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Means, motive, and opportunity
The whole time I've been a vandweller, I've been often outraged by laws that make it a crime to be poor. Laws against living in vehicles. Laws against vagrancy. Laws against dropping your garbage in a public garbage can (I'm not kidding; there's a $500 fine and 6 month jail sentence for it in San Francsico). Laws against... being poor! It deeply offends my liberal sense of fairness to treat poor people like criminals, just for being poor. The old French saying goes well: "The law in its majestic equality forbids both rich and poor from sleeping under bridges".
Cops have been known to profile vandwellers, and single us out at least for suspicion, if not for abuse, just because we're living in vans, even though many if not most of us are totally peaceful and law-abiding. Homeowners can be just as suspicous and fearful as cops, and it took me a while to figure it all out.
Lately I'm starting to understand it though.
Tara the HoboStripper wrote a great essay some years ago (which I can't find right now) about the tremendous hassles she used to get from border guards in Canada and the USA, going back and forth from Alaska to the lower 48. The guards didn't want her in their country-- or hers (she's American). They searched her, they gave her a terrible time, they made her miserable. She eventually found the solution, though: simply tell the cops you're there for work. She was baffled at why the cops would give her a pass if she just told them she was a wage slave. She had a couple theories, ranging from sympathy (many cops are union workers and have solidarity), and beyond.
But I think it's a lot simpler. Think like a cop for a moment. To find your suspect for a crime, you are looking for someone with means, motive, and opportunity.
Poor vandwellers who are not wage slaves-- have motive. If you have a job, you have income, you do not have the motive for committing burglaries and such. But someone poor and unemployed-- or lacking a steady predictable paycheck-- needs MONEY. Where they gonna get it? Begging or stealing... two things that neither cops nor homenowners want anyone doing anywhere near their jurisdiction.
Being in a van gives you means and opportunity too. You can slink away, you have a place to hide stolen crap. So, if you're a cop, or a homeowner, or a border guard in Vancouver or wherever, what do you make of someone who lives in their van and does not have a job? Why are they entering your country, or your town, or your neighborhood? To steal from you, and then leave, never to be caught? I guess if you take it from their perspective, vandwellers can look pretty scary.
Tonight I got hassled by suburban cops for-- you will love this-- wearing a black jacket (it's cold out), and a backpack, then climbing into my box van, where they couldn't see me. At least that's what they told me. Backpacks are sinister things in suburbia? A black jacket makes you a criminal? Climbing into your vehicle is a suspicious thing to do? I guess so. Unfortunately, I didn't see the cops following me and watching, which is my mistake, I suppose. A car alarm had gone off a few blocks away. And some guy was walking around with a black jacket and a backpack. That's some really thin threads to hang a case on. So the cops came and banged on my truck, searched me, and then searched my truck-- looking for stolen stuff. I have receipts for practically every little bolt, screw, peice of wood, houseshold item, foodstuff, and part that is in my truck. So, nothing there for them.
They were polite about it, and I was nice to them, not only out of self-preservation and general respect, but also because, if there is anyone actually breaking into vehicles around where I was parked, I want them to catch the bastards. Since all my worldly possessions are in my truck, the only thing I fear more than cops, is car thieves and burglars. So, go get 'em; I hope the cops win that battle.
But the first thing the cop asked as he started crawling around my van with a flashlight, was: "What do you do for a living?". I told him. Then I wondered why he'd ask. And then, suddenly, I thought of HoboStripper's story, and I was enlightened. Means, motive, and opportunity-- according to the cop, I had all three.
I realize there is no way out of this. I'm also not as outraged anymore, either. This kind of crap is just a hazard of vandwelling; something to be understood, accepted, and managed.
Cops have been known to profile vandwellers, and single us out at least for suspicion, if not for abuse, just because we're living in vans, even though many if not most of us are totally peaceful and law-abiding. Homeowners can be just as suspicous and fearful as cops, and it took me a while to figure it all out.
Lately I'm starting to understand it though.
Tara the HoboStripper wrote a great essay some years ago (which I can't find right now) about the tremendous hassles she used to get from border guards in Canada and the USA, going back and forth from Alaska to the lower 48. The guards didn't want her in their country-- or hers (she's American). They searched her, they gave her a terrible time, they made her miserable. She eventually found the solution, though: simply tell the cops you're there for work. She was baffled at why the cops would give her a pass if she just told them she was a wage slave. She had a couple theories, ranging from sympathy (many cops are union workers and have solidarity), and beyond.
But I think it's a lot simpler. Think like a cop for a moment. To find your suspect for a crime, you are looking for someone with means, motive, and opportunity.
Poor vandwellers who are not wage slaves-- have motive. If you have a job, you have income, you do not have the motive for committing burglaries and such. But someone poor and unemployed-- or lacking a steady predictable paycheck-- needs MONEY. Where they gonna get it? Begging or stealing... two things that neither cops nor homenowners want anyone doing anywhere near their jurisdiction.
Being in a van gives you means and opportunity too. You can slink away, you have a place to hide stolen crap. So, if you're a cop, or a homeowner, or a border guard in Vancouver or wherever, what do you make of someone who lives in their van and does not have a job? Why are they entering your country, or your town, or your neighborhood? To steal from you, and then leave, never to be caught? I guess if you take it from their perspective, vandwellers can look pretty scary.
Tonight I got hassled by suburban cops for-- you will love this-- wearing a black jacket (it's cold out), and a backpack, then climbing into my box van, where they couldn't see me. At least that's what they told me. Backpacks are sinister things in suburbia? A black jacket makes you a criminal? Climbing into your vehicle is a suspicious thing to do? I guess so. Unfortunately, I didn't see the cops following me and watching, which is my mistake, I suppose. A car alarm had gone off a few blocks away. And some guy was walking around with a black jacket and a backpack. That's some really thin threads to hang a case on. So the cops came and banged on my truck, searched me, and then searched my truck-- looking for stolen stuff. I have receipts for practically every little bolt, screw, peice of wood, houseshold item, foodstuff, and part that is in my truck. So, nothing there for them.
They were polite about it, and I was nice to them, not only out of self-preservation and general respect, but also because, if there is anyone actually breaking into vehicles around where I was parked, I want them to catch the bastards. Since all my worldly possessions are in my truck, the only thing I fear more than cops, is car thieves and burglars. So, go get 'em; I hope the cops win that battle.
But the first thing the cop asked as he started crawling around my van with a flashlight, was: "What do you do for a living?". I told him. Then I wondered why he'd ask. And then, suddenly, I thought of HoboStripper's story, and I was enlightened. Means, motive, and opportunity-- according to the cop, I had all three.
I realize there is no way out of this. I'm also not as outraged anymore, either. This kind of crap is just a hazard of vandwelling; something to be understood, accepted, and managed.
Monday, November 30, 2009
The secret to Ford 7.3L diesel survival
I have finally figured out the secret to surviving with an old Ford 7.3L PowerStroke diesel, and not getting bankrupted.
1) Buy ordinary stuff (oil, basic stuff) from Kragen, or wherever it is cheap.
2) Buy Motorcraft stuff (filters, seals, non-engine-related parts) from a distributor, NOT from the dealer. I've found one locally whose prices are excellent.
3) Buy all diesel engine parts from International directly. This one is the key. The aftermarket Ford/Motorcraft places don't carry it. The dealer buys it from Ford, who buys it from International, and each adds an insane markup.
I am pretty sure now that the source of my leak was what Ford calls the "fuel filter vacuum indicator switch". It had failed, and started leaking.
It was $68 from the Ford dealer... and $24.50 from the International dealer.
Sweet! Now I know where I'm getting my parts in the future.
1) Buy ordinary stuff (oil, basic stuff) from Kragen, or wherever it is cheap.
2) Buy Motorcraft stuff (filters, seals, non-engine-related parts) from a distributor, NOT from the dealer. I've found one locally whose prices are excellent.
3) Buy all diesel engine parts from International directly. This one is the key. The aftermarket Ford/Motorcraft places don't carry it. The dealer buys it from Ford, who buys it from International, and each adds an insane markup.
I am pretty sure now that the source of my leak was what Ford calls the "fuel filter vacuum indicator switch". It had failed, and started leaking.
It was $68 from the Ford dealer... and $24.50 from the International dealer.
Sweet! Now I know where I'm getting my parts in the future.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
The dogs
When I'm in the city, the biggest threats I face are car burglars, car theives, and teenagers with cans of spraypaint.
When I'm in suburbia, the biggest threats I face are cops, and the NIMBY homeowners who call them.
When I'm in rural areas, the biggest threats I face are: dogs.
Dogs take violent exception to my being in their neighborhood. I park, and I can hear them immediately become completely unhinged.
Seems like, in rural areas, everyone has a dog, and everyone's dog does not like me being around.
When I'm in suburbia, the biggest threats I face are cops, and the NIMBY homeowners who call them.
When I'm in rural areas, the biggest threats I face are: dogs.
Dogs take violent exception to my being in their neighborhood. I park, and I can hear them immediately become completely unhinged.
Seems like, in rural areas, everyone has a dog, and everyone's dog does not like me being around.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
The "just a little dirty" theory of graffitti-avoidance
One of the more boring and annoying games that I have to play while living in a big white box truck, is "cat and mouse" with teenage chowderheads armed with illegally-obtained spray-paint cans.
It sucks.
But I've noticed something. When my van was clean, white, and new, it got tagged all the time. I got bored of scrubbing it completely each time, so I'd clean it enough that you could still tell there was grafitti there at one time, but it was mangled beyond recognition-- you couldn't actually read what it said. It was more like dirt and grime than actual grafitti.
And then, I stopped getting tagged so much. Now, this may be coincidence, because I also might have gotten better at finding spots to park where there weren't ass-clowns wandering around with spraypaint cans. But now I'm beginning to wonder.
I've been parking in the same places as I've done, places where I never got grafitti'ed. But I did get a spare can of Acetone recently and cleaned off the remaining "smudges" on the van, and cleaned it up much closer to white. Still dirty, but not looking like it had been recently cleaned of grafitti.
Once I did that, I started getting tagged again. In places where I never got tagged before! This could be coincidence: maybe crime is increasing, maybe the places I'm used to parking in aren't safe anymore, maybe the recent theft of a good deal of spraypaint from a hardware store somewhere has caused a sudden rise in grafitti.
So I cleaned up the most recent grafitti, hastily, and not completely. It looks dirty again, but you can't read what it said. And I'm parking in the same places again. And... I'm not getting tagged anymore. I basically am not cleaning their grafitti, I am ruining it, but leaving its remains there so people can see that someone tried and failed. Maybe that's a better deterrent?
Maybe a van that looks like the grafitti is not going to stay on it, is not an inviting target for teenage morons with spraypaint cans?
Whichever way it goes, for now I'm grafitti-free.
It sucks.
But I've noticed something. When my van was clean, white, and new, it got tagged all the time. I got bored of scrubbing it completely each time, so I'd clean it enough that you could still tell there was grafitti there at one time, but it was mangled beyond recognition-- you couldn't actually read what it said. It was more like dirt and grime than actual grafitti.
And then, I stopped getting tagged so much. Now, this may be coincidence, because I also might have gotten better at finding spots to park where there weren't ass-clowns wandering around with spraypaint cans. But now I'm beginning to wonder.
I've been parking in the same places as I've done, places where I never got grafitti'ed. But I did get a spare can of Acetone recently and cleaned off the remaining "smudges" on the van, and cleaned it up much closer to white. Still dirty, but not looking like it had been recently cleaned of grafitti.
Once I did that, I started getting tagged again. In places where I never got tagged before! This could be coincidence: maybe crime is increasing, maybe the places I'm used to parking in aren't safe anymore, maybe the recent theft of a good deal of spraypaint from a hardware store somewhere has caused a sudden rise in grafitti.
So I cleaned up the most recent grafitti, hastily, and not completely. It looks dirty again, but you can't read what it said. And I'm parking in the same places again. And... I'm not getting tagged anymore. I basically am not cleaning their grafitti, I am ruining it, but leaving its remains there so people can see that someone tried and failed. Maybe that's a better deterrent?
Maybe a van that looks like the grafitti is not going to stay on it, is not an inviting target for teenage morons with spraypaint cans?
Whichever way it goes, for now I'm grafitti-free.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
The edge of storedge
At the recommendation of several fellow vandwellers, I obtained last month a storage unit. Got a small cheap one that I could afford, only $20/mo. I was advised that I'll need a storage unit equal to roughly 4 times the size of my van, because I'll need to collect about 4 times the crap that I'll actually use. Well I couldn't afford that so I got what I could. It has been very useful so far; I'm in the middle of my ceilng, counter, and sink projects, and it is VERY nice to not have to be tripping all over the materials in my van. They're in storage until I finish the project, then they'll go in the van, obviously.
But the storage is already packed to the gills. In a way, maybe it's good to keep it small, to not encourage me to acquire stuff I don't need.
There's a plastic fuel tank there, waiting to go in. It's not urgent now that I discovered my galvanized fuel tank is not so bad off. I wasted a hundred bucks buying it though. That plastic tank might be waiting a few years, clogging up my storage, costing me hundreds of dollars! Maybe I shouldn't have rushed out and bought the first one I saw, and it isn't even the correct one for the vehicle. So part of the problem with storage is that it can be a cost that creeps up, and also covers-- or even encourages-- costly mistakes. Why am I paying to store something I don't need and shouldn't have bought in the first place?
Once I get this ceiling in, I'll be very happy. I'm moving stuff around, putting in a countertop and sink, more cabinets, putting in conduit and proper outlets/connectors for my electrical cables, etc. It's a big project, and it is all interconnected so it has to be done together.
But the storage is already packed to the gills. In a way, maybe it's good to keep it small, to not encourage me to acquire stuff I don't need.
There's a plastic fuel tank there, waiting to go in. It's not urgent now that I discovered my galvanized fuel tank is not so bad off. I wasted a hundred bucks buying it though. That plastic tank might be waiting a few years, clogging up my storage, costing me hundreds of dollars! Maybe I shouldn't have rushed out and bought the first one I saw, and it isn't even the correct one for the vehicle. So part of the problem with storage is that it can be a cost that creeps up, and also covers-- or even encourages-- costly mistakes. Why am I paying to store something I don't need and shouldn't have bought in the first place?
Once I get this ceiling in, I'll be very happy. I'm moving stuff around, putting in a countertop and sink, more cabinets, putting in conduit and proper outlets/connectors for my electrical cables, etc. It's a big project, and it is all interconnected so it has to be done together.
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Duh
Once again, I misread a series of instructions, and possibly caused damage (I hope not).
The Ford service manual gives no torque spec for the fuel pressure regulator assembly when reattaching it to the fuel bowl. Various instructions say only "be careful not to over-torque it", but don't say what torque exactly to use. There are two steel screws, holding a cast aluminum fuel pressure regulator housing onto a cast aluminum fuel bowl. Aluminum cracks and steel is harder, so care is warranted.
In my desperation to get the fuel bowl project complete, I pored over the manual and found a spec for "fuel pressure regulator"-- an insane 35 ft/lbs. Seems way too much for a little 8mm bolt and a tiny aluminum part, but, that's what it said. I could barely get it to that torque, it seemed WAY too tight.
Looking through the manual again today, I see that I made a grave error. What the manual cals the "fuel presuure regulator" is just ONE bolt, a very large one, that has a spring and a check ball in it-- apparently that does the actual fuel pressure regulating. It does NOT mean the whole assembly! So, I have a little overtorqued time bomb in my vehicle. I may have stripped the threads, or cracked the aluminum housing.
The Ford service manual gives no torque spec for the fuel pressure regulator assembly when reattaching it to the fuel bowl. Various instructions say only "be careful not to over-torque it", but don't say what torque exactly to use. There are two steel screws, holding a cast aluminum fuel pressure regulator housing onto a cast aluminum fuel bowl. Aluminum cracks and steel is harder, so care is warranted.
In my desperation to get the fuel bowl project complete, I pored over the manual and found a spec for "fuel pressure regulator"-- an insane 35 ft/lbs. Seems way too much for a little 8mm bolt and a tiny aluminum part, but, that's what it said. I could barely get it to that torque, it seemed WAY too tight.
Looking through the manual again today, I see that I made a grave error. What the manual cals the "fuel presuure regulator" is just ONE bolt, a very large one, that has a spring and a check ball in it-- apparently that does the actual fuel pressure regulating. It does NOT mean the whole assembly! So, I have a little overtorqued time bomb in my vehicle. I may have stripped the threads, or cracked the aluminum housing.
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