Just cheking in.

Last time I wrote on the blog it was to tell  about my children and the busted engine of our bus conversion.In the mean time we have been living on board the bus and it is so comfortable. Every thing is working out except for the ceramic tiles we laid on the floor they are cracking under my weight and instead of going on a diet I decided to replace them with something els I have not decided with what yet.We found out that to repair the engine is going to cost us R40,000.00.So we have been working very hard to save the money to have the engine repaired.In the meantime we are parked up at famely with electricety and water hookups that we are very grade full for.
more profit from our sweets business we have decided to intodues different flavours of fudge that Anita is making in the kitchen using the gas stove we put in when we build the bus the granite tops in the kitchen is all so working wonderfully for  putting boiling hot fudge pots on with out damiching the counter tops. We worked at the Outdoor Expo at Kyalami last weekend and it went very well.

A NEW OR A REBUILD ENGINE FOR OUR BUS.

We finely came to a decision on the busted bus engine.

After taking our time to consider all the pros and cons about the rite way to get our bus engine fixed. We finely decided to let a engineering company in Randfontein the town that are parked up  the  sins the bus engine got busted, rebuild the entire engine. We first thought that we could swap the Mercedes Bens360 engine for a newer ADE 366 engine.But considering that the ADE366 engine is a 5.9liter engine and our bus engine is a 8.9liter engine there would be a significant drop in engine power with the smaller engine and that there will be no advantageous like better fuel consumption with the Ade366 engine we decided not to go that way.
After talking to a few Diesel Mechanics we were told that the OM360 engine is a heavy duty truck engine and that if rebuild the rite way, it would probably last for another thirty years or so.
We decided on a total rebuild, we also found out that a brand new om360 engine would set us back R120,000,00 or in other words $12000.00 without shipping it from Germany to South Africa.
A friend of mine who owns a Funfair recommended to us the engineering company that they use for all their repairs in  town. We contacted the company and the next day the owner came out to the bus to have a look at the bus engine and within a week we had a quotation on the rebuild of our engine. They also agreed to come take the engine out of the bus where we are parked and to after the rebuild come put the new engine back in without us moving the bus to town.
So next week they will  come and take the engine out and then it would  not be to long and the bus will be running again. The rebuild will cost us R 46000,00 or $4600,00.

                                                This is the photos of the om360 engine.

                         The starter motor got damaged when the con rod game thru the engine block.

Some times,Life just happens.

So much has happened since my last post.I tend to shy away from the personal stuff that happens to my family and concentrate more on the positive and fun stuff. But in our lives as in any body else's life's, life just happens and there is not much one can do about it except to pray and try to be positive.

My children is most important in my life and if one of them falls and hurt themselves I feel their pain and if one of them is sad I can feel the sadness deep in my soul.
Many is the times that one of them is dong something they should not or is in a difficult situation and I would get the feeling that something is not right and I would pray for them.While my son went to university for four years I did my fair share of praying, some times I would wake up at night and he was on my mind and I just new that he needs a prayer .Now that he is working and finished with his degree I pick up tit bits of his life while he was away studying and know why.Now he is working for a firm in Pretoria and he is doing very well and I am so proud of him.
Last week we realized that some thing was not all well with our middle daughter.Aluschka complained that the left side of her face was feeling numb.I looked on the Internet for what could be causing this and came to the conclusion that it mite be her wisdom teeth that are coming out that could be putting pressure on a facial nerve.We took her to a Doctor the next day.The Doctor diagnose Bells Palsy.This sickness is caused by a virus in the brain of the person.The virus causes the facial nerves that run to the face,to swell up in the brain and that is what is causing the paralysis on the left side of her face.The Doctor prescribe medicine that she took the whole of last week.
This week Monday Aluschka returned to the Doctor and he said that there is some improvement. She gained some of the feeling in her face and all the taste that she lost.
So there is still so much to be thankful for and I will still be praying for my kids.Some times I think that is all we as parents are their for, to pray for our children and of course to love them no mater what.

Living in the bus.

While I planed the layout of the bus I tried to imagine sitting at the table working on the laptop and the children walking around.I tried to work out how much space we needed in the bathroom, sitting on the toilet or washing my face in the basin. My thoughts where that if I could do all of this comfortably, the rest of the team would be very comfortable in doing that.It sounds stupid now but that is what I did sitting in the bus for hours, ones I brought the bus home.
Now that we live in the bus full time I am very happy with the layout as it is now.As I am writing this post Anita is preparing our dinner in the kitchen the children are watch TV in the lounge and I am writing at the dining table, while it is raining hard outside.
I have been working on planing the solar system we need to install in the bus. So far it seams that we will need 400w solar panels a 40A solar charge controller and 4 Trojan 105t deep cycle batteries to hold the charge from the solar panels.To convert the 12v power from the battery bank to 220v electricity we need 300w inverter.
The appliances we want to work from the solar system is the freezer with a danfoss compressor using only 2.5A per hour full time then ther is the washing machine at 330w twice a week and the TV at 100w every day for a couple of hours, all the lights in the bus are led lights that draw all most no current at all.To charge the laptops,camera and cell phones we have a 150w inverter to do the job.

Karla started Home schooling this year.

Our youngest daughter Karla started grade one in Home school year this week.I decided to get her a school uniform and she look so nice indeed.Her in South Africa most schools children wear uniforms to school.Karla love doing her school work and it is only a pleasure helping her with her schooling.

Bus engine busted.

Well it is time for me to tell about the very first time we all travelled together in our bus conversion.I took the bus out a few times. I took the bus to the cabinet builder so the inside could be build and I took it to be way-ed and for the road test but I was mostly alone.And all went just fine.
After we finished the bus at the end of November, we started to pack all the stuff we wanted to take with us. This task alone took us a few days to do.We took care to pack what we really needed and not to pack unnecessary stuff.The rest of the goods that came out of the house we took to a store we signed a long lease on.It is amazing how the monthly rent get less the further you go out of town. The most expensive quote we got was R750 in town so we just kept on looking for cheaper storage facilities. The store room we decided on is on a farm, 15km out of the town of Randfontein for R450 per month with enough space to move the bus close to the store room if we need to.
We left the house late afternoon on the 29 of November 2012. The plan was to drive to Klerksdorp 150km from Randfontein and to sleep at the Casino fore the night. After a quick stop at the Diesel depot to fill the diesel tank of the bus we set of in the sunset to follow our dream.All went well and I was impressed at how quiet the bus is while we were traveling, it is possible for me to listen to Anita and Karla talking sitting at the dining table playing cards.
It was maybe a feeling or a faint noise that made me focus more on the sound that the engine made, at first I thot it was my mind playing games on me, but as I focused more on the noise a sick feeling settled in my gut and then I heard the unmistakable noise of a loud knocking noise from the engine.I pulled over to the side of the road and looked to Anita and could see the worried look on her face.As I made my way to the back of the bus to where the engine bay is I realised that we had big problems.
I was under the impression that the noise I heard was a bearing knock, but it was a loos piston arm that came loos and it was only a mater of time before the con-rod snapped and hit a hole thru the engine block.But of course I did not know that at the time.It was only later after I phoned my good friend Gert Lowe a diesel mack and tried to limp back to the house that the con rode snapped and hit a three inch hole in the engine block.
So we where stranded at the side of the road with the Land Rover hitched to the back.