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.