It seems unlikely that I haven’t posted anything on the site for over a month now, it’s been such a busy time on working on the fire engine, buying even more bits and pieces and building things, some of the bits have been on Twitter… Here come an update on the works over December.

Most of December in Suffolk has been cold, many days have started with frost and some with snow, when it has been milder it has usually been raining so much of the work has been inside the fire engine or inside the workshop.

One job that I have spent some time on is converting the original rear facing fireman’s seats into a pair of seats to go opposite the rock and roll bed to complete a 4 seat dining area, the seats also need to fold away when the bed is needed. To do this I needed to find a large section of 12mm ply to act as a back board support for the mini project, this came from the original partition wall, it’s good structural ply and happens to be painted in the same colour as the rest of the truck. The three seats where trimmed down to two and an elaborate folding leg contraption was devised and attached to support the seats when in the seating position. A little bit more fettling and the seats where fitted, they work well and fold away very neatly.

As it was so cold outside I though about insulation, this turned out to be a time consuming task, loads of aluminium bubble foil insulation installed, then covered with another layer of synthetic vehicle insulation, rather like a 2 inch rockwell but designed for automotive insulation, all fixed to the roof with contact adhesive and hope. I had originally though of covering the ceiling with hardboard but that didn’t look good, it felt like being inside a cardboard box so ply wood was the answer. Looking at the structure within the roof I knew that it was not going to be a simple job to cut a few large sheets and fit it. The main structure of the roof is basically level, the problem is there are so many additions to the inside of the roof, roller shutter mechanisms, runners and supports, the chances of a long run of ply wood are very slim. In the end I have opted for a sort of jigsaw approach, adding larger sections where possible and then filling the gaps and spaces, bridging sheets and voids with other sections of ply or machines timber to get a completely covered and insulated roof lining, this will now be an on going part of the project, the roof is lined with the larger sections, so are the rear walls but the smaller more fiddly parts can be done any time, no rush for that, there is more to do.

Yet another small job has been to add the seat belts, on the face of it an 8 bolt job, oh no! I had bought a 3.5m seatbelt for each side at the front, they eventually fitted ok and are long enough and secure enough. I couldn’t find much information about the belts a truck of this type would have had new, they appeared to have adjustable belts but not inertia reel  belts. One major issue was the passenger seat, there was nowhere to secure the belt buckle so I had to fabricate and weld a plate onto the seat base, straight forward enough and I even managed to use some of the thicker steel plate that I removed from the rear of the fire engine.

During a brief spell of cloudy weather I fitted the new old stock Britax Fog Light, it’s a period fog light, just need to run the cable for that to the front and find a 24v bulb for it, the fire engine came from Isabe with about 30 bulbs, so should be one there somewhere.

On a cold bright day with snow all over the place I decided it was a good idea to make my way onto the roof to put the blue beacons and siren back together, it turned out to be a simple job and Isabe had labelled all of the connections with some coloured tape and supplied all of the original screws and washers. The Martin horn was connected in the same way and then IT ALL WORKS, the siren is SO loud, I love it. This was clearly the wrong time to do this work, I was quite excited about it and forgot about the cold, then my fingers became so cold and painful I could hardly move them, back to the workshop for a warm up.

Another job I had been waiting to do was to remove the vinyl covering the original signwritting, this actually came off quite easily and it’s great to have the original wording on the doors, only a small amount of paint came off and I will fix that when the weather warms up.

Watch the video of the progress here….

A couple of weeks ago the new custom rock and roll bed arrived for the fire engine conversion.

Before I could move it into place I needed to finish the work on the floor, fitting a few extra sections of 12mm plywood with the help of some Sikaflex 221. This finishes the centre section of the floor, there are some areas that need finishing at each side but as they will both have different functions I need to finish those in a different way.

I have installed some bubble insulation on the rear walls, here I used non-adhesive insulation, it works quite well and is easy to push into the more tricky voids, some is stuck on with aluminium insulation tape. Most of the areas have two if not three layers of this stuff, should keep the temperature up or down depending on the outside temperate, will also reduce the general ‘rumble’ of the metal panels.

The rear walls, new partition and sides to the kitchen are 9mm ply, spent some time measuring and cutting the sheets to fit the angles of the bodywork, this proved to be quite easy and then became much harder. Cutting with the circular saw, finishing and varnishing the ply is straight forward, cutting and fitting around the numerous bits and bobs of roller shutters, metalwork and straps is something else, this will surely be a longer job that I though, more on that in the next video.

With all of the major messy work in the fire engine complete I cleaned it up, swept out the dust and accumulated other crap from the grinder, saw, drill and sander then washed it all.

Time had come to get the new rock and roll bed into the back, it’s quite heavy and reasonably awkward to move, not to mention that it had to be moved inside while in the ‘flat’ position. We decided to take the upholstery panel off, that was a great idea, with some cardboard and blankets on the floor the bed frame was soon inside, a few screws replaced and the bed in there. The seating position is perfect, just the right height, same as the front seats, and the view out of the panoramic front window is great..

Watch the progress here….

This last weekend was spent with a roll of self adhesive insulation, heater and worklight to insulate the many voids in the roof of the rear section, not a spectator activity really, just repetitive measuring, cutting and sticking, a few clips of that in the next instalment…

Now for more painting, cutting and fixing plywood here and there, probably a bit more cleaning too.

Although it’s been referred to as a Fire Truck I think it’s time to use the English description for it, it’s Fire Engine, so there we are, a new name.

Last week I got hold of the plywood for the floor and other dividing walls, spent some time measuring, cutting and sanding the boards to fit the forward section of the living area.

The original floor in this area was mostly made from 12mm plywood anyway, no sign of a metal sub floor, the smaller area to the rear where the partition wall once stood was only 5mm checker plate, so it all had to be levelled and insulated.

I chose the aluminium bubble insulation for the job, seems to offer some good insulation for the minimal thickness. I used some aluminium tape to secure the edges, a good staple gun to fix it in place and some careful trimming to make it fit. The smaller area was raised a little with some off cuts of 9mm ply and secured with Sikaflex EBT+, solid but slightly flexible.The same treatment to the wheel arch to make an insulated secure base for fix the furniture to.

Once it was all fixed I gave it a light sand and a cost of Ronseal exterior varnish for a real watertight seal.

Watch the progress here….

Spent the last two days finishing the strip out of the fire truck in preparation of for the conversion into a camper.

Last week I cut most of the metalwork out from the rear section, this week I have cleaned up all of the exposed metalwork, welded a few joins here and there are generally prepared things to accept the timber and insulation.

Under the front passenger seat was a box on rails unit, previously used for some fireman kit or other, probably just sandwiches I would think, this has now been relocated to the rear of the truck, just under the bed and opening onto the ‘camping side’ of the truck. ‘Camping Side’, well yes, if you have a continental style camper the door to use for camping is on the right hand side of the vehicle, so is the awning, this makes it easier to park up and face the same way as everyone else on the camp sites, not much of a problem but if space is tight you might find yourself facing ‘awning to awning’ with someone and that is not always good.

The floor at the rear had all kinds of corrosion from machinery, glue and other sealants on it so I cleaned it with a wire brush attached to an angle grinder and then removed any residue with some synthetic thinners (don’t use the two at the same time (health and safety tip)), then some warm soapy water to finish off, all nice and clean now.

One of the big jobs was to cut the bumper irons that supported the pump off, this was quite straight forwards if a little time consuming. First the two sections of bumper had to be removed, then all of the lighting and tow eye U bolts, this eventually revealed enough space for the 9″ grinder to do it’s work. Before cutting I cleaned the area with some degreaser and washed it down, this meant it was wet, so no sparks causing issues there. With the irons cut down to size and a little cleanup they bumper was sprayed black, now it needs to go back together. As the bumper was off I decided to look at the motor, it’s 3.7L, 19000kms and looks almost new.

The main bed frame has also been installed, it’s just a little longer than a UK double bed but the same width, about 35cm of the bed of the truck to allow for storage. Now I need to cut and prepare the plywood bed base with integral insulation and fix it to the frame, this completes the main bed build.

Next is lining out the rear with insulation and plywood, installing the 12v lights and 240v sockets, waiting for the arrival of the Rock ‘n’ Roll bed and the construction of the kitchen.

Day Two – the day started with the fire truck containing two rows of seats, a partition wall and a thin checker plate covered plywood floor. Much drilling, cutting and grinding revealed the amount of space that there really is inside. A lot of the aluminium is scrap but there will be a good deal of it reused here and there to build the camping interior.

Watch the progress here…

Work started last weekend on the fire truck, after much discussion it was decided that the pump needed to be removed for the MOT. Quite simple to remove, a few bolts and a couple of hoses, then the throttle cable that joins the main linkage, then remove the extra ‘bumper’ for the pump. This all leaves two large box sections that need to be removed with a grinder.

Inside the rear of the truck I have removed all of the screws, bolts and other fixings to then take out the racks, mounts and other metalwork that was once used to support the equipment. The floor is now free from any screws or bolts, just some steel uprights to remove and rework.

Take a look…

I have just been over to Germany to collect something new, writing this in Hook Van Holland waiting for a ferry…

Having a look at the videos I have on my YouTube channel and found that this one has just clocked up over 125,000 views. I posted it in late 2009 and the viewing has been pretty consistent since then.

The original Description Text read “This little film shows the making of a wind turbine that is based around a WindBlue DC-540 PMA. The turbine was made in two days using some great tools and with a clear plan in mind. It is currently mounted on a 4m mast with three guy wires. Output is connected to the battery bank via a diode. Charge control is handled by a Xantrex controller and dump load. Maximum unloaded voltage is 68v, not measured the current yet. This is not a WindBlue endorsed video, I am simply a customer who ordered the DC-540 from their web site and had it shipped to the UK.”

I have had numerous emails from viewers and many responses direct to the YouTube page and it made me wonder why the people who respond even bother. Looking at the responses it seems that I have got it ALL wrong, there are so many suggestions on how to make it better, faster, bigger, more efficient etc. The fact the I made the turbine with an off the shelf alternator from the US and some scrap I found lying around AND when it was on a turbine mast in my garden it ACTUALLY PRODUCED POWER seemed to have passed everyone by. While I can appreciate that some degree of optimisation is a good idea it is not worth getting to technical about it to the point where you actually don’t make anything, sure refinements are a good idea but you can only take so much power out of the wind before a stall, consider everything but MAKE SOMETHING!

There have been a number of responses from viewers who like the approach and to them I thank you for your interest, you are the people who will probably get something out of the film, perhaps they have all made under performing, inadequately sourced, poorly constructed wind turbines, but al least they may have had a go at making one and learned a lot along the way.

The real problem for me is when the experts wade in, I find this along the way with all of my projects and interests, the fetishisation of the items, the construction methods, the components used, the tools etc is all pointless, the fact that I made the item and got it working is enough for me, it does what I wanted it to do. After almost 6 years the exact same turbine is still on a mast, producing enough of an output and combined with a couple of other doubtless under performing poorly designed turbines with dodgy unoptimised blades to run an electricity meter in reverse while connected to an inefficient grid tie inverter, but it does the job and the bills are lower as a result of it.