Pugsly's FG rebuild thread

[pugslyyy]

FUEL CONTAMINATION

If you remember this photo from a few posts ago, you'll see all the rust that was potentially dropping into the fuel tank.

I resolved the issue by cleaning and then coating the inside of the filler tubes with POR-15


With no more sediment dropping into the tank, the next question is - how much junk is in the tanks? I have about 100 gallons of diesel in them right now, so draining is not practical. This is what the worst side of the filter boss looks like


The good news is that I can run the electric fuel pump in 'polishing' mode, which is what I am doing now. (The pump pulls fuel up through the filter and then returns it to the tank.) I'll check later on to see how much more sediment gets trapped.

On the way home from California, I ran the truck out of fuel. This may be a case where running the truck out of fuel completely will actually help me, since it will have sucked a lot of the gunk on the bottom of the tank into the filter system.

 

[pugslyyy]

When Doug took this truck to South America, he documented two failures of the Bigfoot camper. One was the fridge, which was replaced under warranty. The other failure was the screen door latch at day 112 of the trip.



I'm not sure what the original latch mount looked like, but it was obvious that Doug had done a field expedient repair and it was in need of a more permanent fix. HDPE makes a great construction material (Doug had used a small piece there previously). I took a small slice and cut it down on my table saw. I wanted a solid base plate for the screen door latch that would minimize stress on the plastic components. Another issue was that the slots in the plastic for mounting the striker were very narrow and there were no washers provided. I ground down two larger washers to fit the slots, much happier with the striker mounting now.



Any day you can create something out of raw stock and bolt it on to a vehicle is a good day, even if it is just resolving a little irritant like this. I'm particularly pleased with the way the base plate mechanically latches in to the aluminum channel - it is not dependent on the 2 sheet metal screws for retention.

 

[Overland Hadley]

Any day you can create something out of raw stock and bolt it on to a vehicle is a good day, even if it is just resolving a little irritant like this.

Yes indeed.

 

[pugslyyy]

Today I mounted an Alfa 2000mw 2W Waterproof Marine high power Long Range Outdoor 802.11 B, G, N, USB wireless network Wifi Adaptor with Integrated 12dBi Antenna. This way whenever I am in a campground, service station, truck stop, etc (or just close to one) I should have good wifi in the camper.


I went for a very simple mount - aluminum flagpole mount and stainless steel hose clamps. I'm using a piece of 4' 3/4" schedule 40 PVC as the 'flag pole' - don't need a lot of strength (I will only have it raised when parked) and this may be a case where it is better to have something that can bend not break.




The external wifi adapter hooks up to my laptop, and then I share the internet connection using the laptop's internal wifi adapter so that ipads, etc can also benefit. I don't have close neighbors (we are all in the woods on 3-5 acre lots) but look how many signals I detected with the new configuration


I also added in another red LED strip over the dinette. The camper already had a red 'night light' circuit of mostly floor level red LEDs so I added this on to the same switch.

 

[blackduck]

WIFI and camping does not compute on OZ
your lucky if the 2 cans joined by a piece of string for a phone stretch that far

 

[pugslyyy]

WIFI and camping does not compute on OZ
your lucky if the 2 cans joined by a piece of string for a phone stretch that far

Yeah when actually camping out back of beyond there is no internet of course, but for me I have quite a lot of road miles to do to get to those places. There's a good chance of picking up a connection at gas stations / truck stops / rest areas / etc.

 

[SkiFreak]

Free WiFi spots are not that common here either, which is another issue.
The best internet setup for us, in my opinion, is a good 3G/4G antenna and a plan with Telstra, as they have the best coverage. But obviously internet access with this setup is limited to locations where you have half decent mobile coverage.
Another option is satellite broadband, which gives you coverage pretty much everywhere, but that is definitely more expensive.

 

[pugslyyy]

Free WiFi spots are not that common here either, which is another issue.
The best internet setup for us, in my opinion, is a good 3G/4G antenna and a plan with Telstra, as they have the best coverage. But obviously internet access with this setup is limited to locations where you have half decent mobile coverage.
Another option is satellite broadband, which gives you coverage pretty much everywhere, but that is definitely more expensive.

Yes the wifi is but one arrow in the quiver. On those occasions when free relatively broadband internet is available I want to be able to take advantage of it. It's also useful for me when I have the truck parked at the house or at my shop. I also have a Samsung s3 that I can use as a hotspot with unlimited data that works pretty well when I can grab 3G/4G.

At this point I'm not inclined to drop the $$ for true satellite internet (both the hardware and the data costs) but that could change as I head out of North America - but that is still 2-3 years away.

I wish my location was such that I could get remote without a lot of road travel, but I'm not that lucky - used to be a lot easier when I lived on the (US) West Coast rather than East Coast.

 

[blackduck]

There is no internet or phone service in outback oz



AND THATS A GOOD THING

 

[alan]

There is no internet or phone service in outback oz

View attachment 170079

AND THATS A GOOD THING

X2

 

[SkiFreak]

Maybe they could mount a mobile tower or two on that little rock pictured behind ya truck...

 

[selfy]

Maybe they could mount a mobile tower or two on that little rock pictured behind ya truck...

not likely its a national park

 

[pugslyyy]

not likely its a national park

They would just have to disguise it as a pine tree, problem solved.

 

[SkiFreak]

not likely its a national park

My attempt at a bit of humour has obviously been missed...

 

[SkiFreak]

They would just have to disguise it as a pine tree, problem solved.

If only we had pine trees in the outback...