Gregory enjoys tea while overlooking Nevada City

In the early evening we rolled into Nevada City, a place I’ve never been. I was blown away. Wow, this town is awesome! It’s in the heart of gold country and is probably one of the most well preserved towns of its era. An evening tea party proved successful, with lots of good people showing their faces and sipping tea.

The workspace

My friend Gregory invited me to come visit his folks place and fix a king pin that needed replacing. I figured I’d do my front brake pads too, which were getting pretty thin, as well as my radius arm bushings and a tie rod. But, as we got deeper into things, it became apparent that I needed new calipers and rotors too. We spent three days working on the bus – even repacking the front bearings. King pins are a pain, and even though we were going to replace both, we could only get the bad one out. I think I will try to replace the other one soon. This all came about because I wanted to get my alignment done in the Bay. I’d had some steering issues, and a pull to one side (before I switched the front wheels).

I also installed a transmission temperature sensor. This is great. I installed it inline where the transmission sends hot fluid to the radiator. I go the gauge and the sensor (they’re attached to each other via a wire) from a mechanic who was going out of business for a couple bucks, already had a brass tee, and bought $10 in fitting. And BAM – a $12 transmission temp sensor. Score!

Tea party in Nevada City

I stopped in Nevada City to see a couple friends and fix a few things on Edna, but ended up falling in love with the place. My friend Suzette lives on a goat/food farm, which was a great place to relax for an evening and snuggle with baby goats. The rivers are excellent, I hear. When can I go back?

A BIG ol’ thanks to Gregory and his family for all their help and a place to work on the bus.

With the wheel, calipers, rotor, bearings, and king pin removed

Cleaned up wheel bearings

Gregory show how to hand pack bearings

Finished bearings

New rotors, calipers, king pin, tie rod

Transmission inline temp sensor

Transmission temp sensor in the dash

Tea at Lake Merritt in Oakland

It had been way too long since Edna and I had spent much time in the Bay Area. Other than one day at Occupy Oakland, it had been over a year, and even then it was a short visit. So many friends live in the Bay that in order to see as many as we could we jumped around from place to place: Santa Rosa to Sebastopol to San Francisco to Palo Alto to Oakland to Berkeley.

Tea party with Ithaka peeps and friends on Stanford campus

I’ve been spending a lot of time in farther Northern CA working on Edna and feeling in the groove of community in the Arcata/Eureka area. There’s plenty of places for us to park there, farms to dig, people to sip tea with, work to be done, shop spaces, etc. It was hard to find a reason to leave. But, I do have to say that it was a great move. Ever since passing through the Redwood Curtain out into the rest of the country, things have been more exciting.

The kitchen staff enjoy tea

One highlight was spending time with the folks from Ithaka, a community house in Palo Alto. Most of these folks are Stanford students who live in a amazing community setting – cooking and eating together, living in close (but not too close) quarters. We hosted two tea parties in one day in Palo Alto: one on University Ave, and the other on Campus at an open mic (where even the kitchen staff at the cafe joined in) . Bobby and Jan are my heroes from Ithaka, but many other there were super fun. I was interviewed for a radio show and for a documentary project. A big thanks to all the folks there!

I got a call from my dear friend Case as I was getting ready to leave Ithaka asking if I wanted to be on West Coast Live, a nationally syndicated, live broadcast, live audience, radio show he produces with half-a-million listeners. Stoked on life, I drove to a small birthday party/tea gathering in the same neighborhood as where the radio show would be aired the next morning.

Tea at the lake

As I waited in the green room and prepared to be on the air, I imagined I was about to just be sitting in the bus talking to regular tea-sipping guests. On stage, I was comfortable, and the host Sedge was great. I poured him and his piano player Mike tea as we talked about the tea bus and life. I had absolutely no idea what he was planning on asking me, so I didn’t have any way to be prepared. I think that having a live audience actually helped me remain calm because it made me forget that half-a-million listeners were out there. I’ll get a link on this page to stream the audio when I have one…

I announced a tea party at Lake Merritt on the air for the next day. I figured that since many of West Coast Live’s listeners were Bay Area people, I may have a bunch of people coming. In actuality, not a single person who heard me on the air came. Weird! I guess I wasn’t that interesting… Either way, the people who did end up coming were stoked! It was a total success of a tea party (especially compared to last time I served at Lake Merritt). My dear friend Geraldine from Germany, whom I met while serving tea in 2006 on Hollywood Blvd. ended up there, as well as a girl I knew from college (who happened to be joggin by), some people from a tea party at the lake two days earlier, and many, many randoms…

It was a good trip to the Bay. I know, I didn’t get to see all of you! But that just means I’ll have to come back soon. I already want to go back…­

Ahh, the joys of a sink.

The fresh water tank has been sitting not hooked up in the back right side of the bus for over a year. Same with the grey-water tank mounted underneath. With so many systems (fresh and grey water, coolant, diesel/biodiesel, WVO, starting battery electrical, solar/house battery electrical) that are reliant on or effect each other, plus all the wood- and metal-work designs, it is no wonder that some of Edna’s systems come together bit by bit. As the benches come together, so does the frame for holding down the fresh water tank since it is also part of the benches. As I look into mounting the WVO tanks I built this summer (blog entry to come when finished), I realize I need to finish things with the grey-water tank as it is situated where it will be hard to access much once the WVO tanks are in.

So, with many systems and wood-/metal-work coming together, and with the desire to for myself and my guests to be as comfortable as we can be this winter, I decided to get the water system together.

A failed stainless-steel-counter-on-the-side-of-the-bus plan led me to the metal scrap yard in Arcata where I traded in that heavy piece of stainless, for a much thinner and lighter one in the form of a sink. I still had to pay $7 even though it probably weighed 4 or 6 times less. Either way, I knew I was going to have to modify the sink to fit one of that size in the bus. It’s a standard size single-basin sink (approx. 16 X 18 inch basin). Including the two-inch flange around the edges (four inches where the faucet mounts) it was 22 by 24 inches. The space I had to work with was only 20 by 24 inches. So, I took to the sink with my angle grinder with a cutting head.

I took off an inch from all sides except on the faucet side. On this side I merely bent the edge upward at a 90 degree angle (using clamps, angle iron, a table, a hammer, and a rubber mallet). Where I took off metal, it was where it slightly arched upward. Taking this off created a sink that looked and functioned almost exactly like an under-mount sink. The only difference was the edge that was bent up.

Because of the designated space, I decided to mount the sink sideways with the faucet on the woodstove side. This is what allowed me to fit such a big basin sink. Where the edge that was bent upwards butted up to the insulated panel that separated the sink from the woodstove, I put a piece of nicely bent copper. This covered the back of the insulated panel, as well as the bent up piece of the sink. I will probably seal this seam at some point too. This will keep any water from getting onto the insulated panel, or under the sink.

I have been piecing together a slew of miscellaneous plumbing parts over the past couple years, only vaguely knowing what I needed. As things came closer, and my sink was put in, I began to have more concrete ideas of what I needed. On my way south after Rootstalk Festival, I stopped in Eugene at Bring, a second-use building supply store. Even though their prices may seem a little high, they did have almost everything I was sure I’d need, as well as many things I thought only just might need.

Although the process wasn’t this simple, or as straight forward, here’s how the system is plumbed, how my thought pattern was, and how it all went putting it together:

42 gallon water tank with access panel, new fill, and metal frame holding it down.

With wood on top where insulated cold storage will be.

The freshwater tank is situated in the right rear of the bus. This is to help balance out the heavier left side of the bus, which is my kitchen, woodstove, storage, cabinets, and soon-to-be closet. It is inside the bus so that it wont freeze as easily in cold weather. To secure it, I screwed a piece of wood into the floor in front of it so it can’t go forward. On one side there is the wall. On the other side are metal supports for the storage/bench system. To hold it down, I built a frame out of 3/4 inch steel square tubing that was left over from my second iteration of a bed. In place, and on top of a wool blanket, I tacked the metal together. I finished welding it outside the bus. This metal frame bolts to the larger more robust frame of the storage/bench system. On this small frame I also cut plywood to make a platform. This will be the future home of my fully insulated cold storage. The constant (and usually cool) temperature of the water tank will help me keep foods like potatoes, eggs, teas, and home-canned goods for longer and help keep space in my fridge open.

Where the plumbing exits the fresh water tank

Unfortunately my tank was plumbed with 3/8” bungs for all the drain/vent/supply lines, and a 1.25” for the fill. Because of where the fill was located, I decided to buy a kit that allowed me to relocate my fill. It came with a 1.5” through hull fitting for the fill, and an access panel that allowed you to install the fitting. The salvaged marine fill flange that mounts on the outside of the bus was also made for 1.5” hose. The only problem here was that most RV supply places only carry up to 1.25” hose, as that is a standard. So I had to specially order 1.5” marine potable water hose. Silly. For the 3/8” bungs, I had to make due with some fittings to adapt from 3/8” to ½”, which all of my lines are.

Marine water fill

To fill the tank, one must use a hose, which can be ran to rear of the bus. The fill flange needs a special tool that marine fill flanges use, so no one can put anything in my water tank unless they have that tool. Here you can fill it with any pressurized hose. For the times I am filling from mountain streams (like at Mt. Shasta), I have a special 12v water pump that I will attach to a hose with a pre-filter. One can also fill the water through the access panel on the top of the tank, under the bench inside the bus. This is useful if I have to fill from 5-gallon carboys and such.

All of the lines are PEX (a leftover gift from a friend’s project). I sprang for a PEX cinch tool (which uses the stainless cinching hose clamps). It was about the same as a crimp tool (which uses the copper rings), but seemed a little more versatile (it can do any size of PEX, whereas the crimp tool can only do one, unless you want to buy a more expensive kit). I do have to say that I love it. One cannot measure the satisfaction of squeezing the tool on a cinch ring until it’s so tight that the tool releases to let you know you’re done. This stuff installs fast and easy. The only concern I have is that it is water sitting in plastic (but so is my fresh water tank). Perhaps the water filter (see below) will help clear not only the water of chemicals, but my mind too.

Water tank drain/outside utility spigot

Exposed PEX in the wheel well from the drain

The drain for the water tank had to run out the side or bottom of the bus. With a failed attempt to drill through the side of the bus (due to some unknown internal metal supports in the wall), I ran the drain into the wheel well, and then across 6 inches to the side of the bus, where a spigot is mounted. It is one of the protected spigots that you have to have a water key to turn on. I carry one of these water keys, just as every nomad should. This is great because it not only acts as a drain to my tank, which I may need every once and a while, it also acts as an outside faucet for washing hands, tools, boots, etc. Perfect! AND, no one can mess with it or drain it unless they have a water key (don’t tell my secrets, okay?). The only concern I have here is that there is 6 inches of PEX exposed in the wheel well, which may burst due to freezing in a cold snap, which would immediately empty the contents of my 42 gallon tank onto the ground. I plan on insulating the short section and in long cold periods to just leave the drain dripping a bit.

Foot pump (bottom white), water filter (left white), electric pump (top black)

Where the plumbing exits the tank it travels first through a mesh filter to help protect the pumps and plumbing up ahead. Then it makes its way through an on/off valve, which allows me to turn on and off the water coming from the tank if necessary for repairs or such. From here it runs to the sink cabinet where it changes from PEX to clear reinforced tubing rated for drinking water (from a marine supply store). This is because the first pump that the water goes through is a foot pump (Whale Gusher MK III – Xmas present from my mother) and it cannot accept PEX line – or at least I think it would break the plastic hose barbs that are integral to the unit. The foot pump was installed for if my house/solar battery bank was low, or more importantly, for stealthy sink usage while parked in neighborhoods. It also works awesome to keep water usage low. It is amazing how much less water you use when you have complete control over your water flow.

Kick switch (left) is an old "brights" headlight switch from the bus. Foot pump on right.

The line goes from the foot pump directly to the 12v water pump (MODEL??? – acquired for $20 new at a garage sale by a friend). This pump is wired to my solar battery bank. It has it’s own breaker in my breaker box, which also acts as an on/off switch. However – closer to the pump, close to the foot pump lever, in the middle of the sink cabinet by the floor – there is a on/off button which can be activated by kicking it. The switch was originally a bright headlight foot switch from my bus. Because this switch is originally made for the headlights, it ran through a relay to provide enough power to the headlights. It is this that makes me wonder if I should wire it this way to the pump, which draws XXX amps when it’s on. If the switch burns out, I can easily replace it with any late 70s to late 80s or early 90s dimmer switch for a few bucks at an auto wrecking yard.

Coming out of electric pump, water splits and runs to hot H2O tank (running right) and to cold water side. Brass knob runs to water filter.

Out of the electric pump the line turns back to PEX. From here it splits two ways – one heads off in the direction of the coolant-heated hot water tank (which is not hooked up yet, and not addressed in this entry), and the other heads off to power the cold water side of the system. It splits again here – one side heading to an on/off switch that controls whether or not I want water to run to my water filter, and the other to an on/off switch that heads directly into the cold water side of the faucet. The water filter is an Aquasana (cost: $125 locally or $100 online). Usually the under-mount kit for this filter starts at $55. I rigged mine up super cheaply by dismantling the over-mount kit that came with the filter and buying a separate filtered-water-dispensing-faucet and other parts at a salvage store. Supposedly this filter is the finest for the price (both for the initial unit, as well as replacement cartridges – which are $50). Want to support the tea bus? Buy us a new filter every year!

Clear water line leads into foot pump. Electric kick switch above.

Here’s where the benefit of the foot pump and the kick switch for the electric pump come in. While operating the sink one can leave the sink handle in the on position, turning the sink on and off with just your feet. This allows of easier control of water conservation. It will also be helpful when the hot water is hooked up, as one will be able to keep the temperature perfect without readjusting the sink handle every time the water is turned on. One downside is that the foot pump is not powerful enough to run the water filter very effectively.

Whole view of under sink compartment (side view - looking towards front of bus). Notice inline vent on upper left.

The sink drains immediately into a 90-degree elbow. I did this because I wanted to have as much space beneath the sink as possible for storage. Unfortunately they don’t make a 90 degree elbow for such a thing in the length I wanted, so I had to rig it together a couple times before I got it right. From the elbow, the drain goes back to the wall where it becomes a p-trap, that ends in a Tee. One end of the Tee goes upward to an inline vent. The p-trap’s main function is to keep stinking fumes from the drain plumbing from coming back up the drain. It does so by leaving some water in the sideways ‘S’ shaped pipe. In most houses there is a vent pipe that runs in the wall to allow air into the pipe after the p-trap. In places where there is no wall to run it in or no other practical place to run a vent pipe, people install an inline vent. This one-way vent allows air in, but not out. THIS PIECE OF PLUMBING IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT IN A MOBILE APPLICATION. This is because we store our water in a tank under the bus. This tank can get nasty and stink, especially if exposed to heat and/or sunlight (which mine gets a little of both). If your p-trap isn’t leaving water in the pipe because you don’t have an inline vent, you WILL get stinky fumes coming up your drain.

On the other end of the tee that the drain and inline vent run into, the 1.5” drain line runs down through a hole in the floor, right into a 90-degree double hose barb, where it then runs straight across (slightly angled down) to a barbed fitting at the top of the grey water tank. The current drain for the tank is just a hose spigot, which I will attach a easy-connect attachment for a short length of garden hose to drain the tank with. As of now it takes over half an hour to drain the whole tank. There is a 1.5” NPT bung as well, which I will eventually plumb for a larger, faster, and easier drain – I have to wait until the WVO tanks are mounted before I can route the drain properly. I plan on keeping as much physical food and other matter from going down the drain, but we’ll see.

Bedframe welded to create a frame for the grey water tank

Cut aluminum ceiling panel to protect the plastic grey water tank.

The grey-water tank is mounted under the center of the bus. I welded and painted a giant bracket out of used steel bed frame (angle iron), which creates a sort of bed for the water tank. Under the cross members of the bus I screwed wood to help cushion the top of the tank, as well as lower it a little over an inch to help it clear some parts of the underbody frame and brackets. In four places (one for each corner) I drilled through the wood and into the frame, placing all-thread through it with a lock nut and washer on top. The all thread comes straight down the whole height of the tank and through some short sections of steel square tubing that I welded to the side of my bed frame. Both the longer distance the all-thread goes through the wood/frame and the double contact point on the square tubing, allows for less shifting of the tank, and less stress on single points along the all-thread.

To help protect the tank, I took a single piece of the old aluminum sheet metal from my ceiling and cut it to the shape/size of the bottom and front of the tank. I bent this single piece to fit the tank (using a table, some scrap angle iron, clamps, and a mallet). I painted it and drilled a few holes in it to make sure water could drain if it got in between the tank and shield.

For a vent, I plumbed 1/2″ PEX from the top of the tank and ran it over to my wheel well, where I put in a 90 degree elbow and another short length of PEX upwards to the peak of the wheel well. This allows for the vent to be as high as possible to keep it from having water splash out of it while driving if the tank is full-ish.

Because the grey-water tank will only be filled with organic matter and biodegradable soap, it should be safe for anything from watering plants to dumping almost anywhere (which can be illegal some places, however). If needed, I plan on using bacteria/enzyme-based treatment to help with odors and/or to break down any matter that happens to make it down the drain.

In actuality, the installation was hard, crazy, and when I was finished, there were several leaks. I had to replace some of my thrown together parts with some new hardware store parts. Now, it seems to work fine, but I’ve only used it for a couple months. A leak in the water filter line fixed itself (weird how that works).

There are a few upgrades I will have to do. One: because the fresh water tank outlet is plumbed on the right side of the tank, when parked on a city street (which is always slanted towards the curb), I always have 5 gallons or more of water I cannot access when the tank is low. I plan on plumbing both the outlet and drain to the same bung on the left (passenger) side of the. This will also allow me to put in a shut off valve so I can open the drain on freezing nights so it wont freeze.

Two: Plumb the larger drain on the grey water tank.

I do have to say that having running water on board is AWESOME! It really makes the space feel much more complete. It’s easier to do things like washing hand and dishes. I no longer have to hang up a water bag on my side mirror and do those things outside, which in the winter is great – no more washing up in the rain and cold. However, as I was serving tea at Arts Alive in Eureka a couple days ago a thought came back to me – that I would love to still wash dishes outside sometimes in order to keep a connection to where I am, to switch it up a bit and talk to people who are outside. When I started serving tea it was off of the tailgate of a pickup truck on Hollywood Blvd with chairs and a rug. I truly appreciate having that connection with the surroundings and people just as much as I appreciate having an enclosed living room that one can step out of the surrounding world and be transported into a cozy nook.

I just wanted to apologize for the blog issues (lack of formatting/menus/pictures/etc). I am on the path to getting it all fixed. No photos back on here yet, but the blog is navigable. I should have it all up and done within a couple weeks.

Thanks!
Guisepi

They project video taken along their journeys as part of their show. They’re not extremely exciting, but I though they were worth archiving here. Here’s a couple samples:

After the three-legged dog:

The first 1 minute of this vid has some great old school shots of Edna’s interior and exterior.

The first fire!

WARNING: This entry may be boring except for those of you nerdy enough to be curious about my experiences obtaining, installing, and using my Little Cod wood stove (made by Navigator Stove Works on Orcas Island, WA).

Just in time for cold weather! I’ve been storing and hauling this beautiful little woodstove for over a year. Finally the time has come. I light it, and within 5 minutes I’m pulling off layers of clothes.

Right after I got the stove and accessories - equipment test!

When I first moved to Orcas Island in summer of 2010, I had heard about a guy named Andrew who makes world-renowned super-small marine wood stoves. I contacted him regarding a work-trade, and he invited me over to his place. Over the next couple months I worked here and there for him cutting, splitting, hauling and stacking firewood, as well as a couple other miscellaneous jobs. I got to know his family, dog and property.

When it came time to figure out our exact work-trade, it became apparent that one of his stoves that a friend of mine traded from him five years prior might actually be cheaper for me. It had sat unused in his barn and had taken on it’s own wabi sabi appearance in the form of rust and bird poop.

Instead, I used the time I worked for Andrew towards all the accessories that the stove needed (several pieces of single wall and insulated stainless pipe, a damper, a drop-in denatured alcohol burner, a stove pipe cap, a transition piece from single- to double-wall pipe, and an angled pipe support).

Bulding the platform for wood stove and closet. Note: coolant-/electricity-powered water heater (orange) and solar fridge (grey)

A couple weeks ago I rebuilt a platform I had made for the stove and a closet behind my driver’s seat. Underneath it will be a housed a wood storage bin that doubles as table on wheels – the top of which will be a cutting board that also fits on my sink. Also under the platform is a coolant- and/or electricity-powered marine water heater (soon to be plumbed).

Two months ago in Coos Bay, my friend Ric gave me some leftover zinc from a counter-top, which was plenty to make a barrier for around the wood stove. His friend, Terry, who has helped me with several metal projects, helped shear and break all the zinc so that it could fit some ceiling tiles (recommended by Andrew) for insulating the barrier. The barrier (from stove to wall) is: 1” between the stove and the barrier, the zinc, the ceiling panel, and a ½” air gap. Spacers made from scrap copper pipe hold this 1/2” gap. The stove is bolted through its feet, one of these panels, with a gap, and into the plywood platform. This panel, however, is a piece of stainless from the old back doors of Homegrown Market on Orcas Island.

Ceiling tile/zinc heat barrier panels. Thanks Ric and Terry!

Hole in the roof! I was scared until I realized I couldn't change it even if I wanted to.

On the sink side of the woodstove, instead of a gap behind the panel, it is open to under the sink, and above sink level I made a piece of copper sheeting that finished of the backside. It’s decked out with brass hardware and looks pretty snazzy.

The scariest part of the installation was cutting a hole in the ceiling. As Andrew suggested, I held one of the pieces of stovepipe vertical and up to the ceiling and marked out the hole. This helped a lot since a perfect circle for a vertical pipe isn’t a perfect circle on the angled and curved ceiling.

Wood frame and angled bracket to stabilize the double-wall stove pipe as it passed through the roof.

Between the ceiling supports and around the new hole, I build a wood frame to help hold the pipe in place and provide a place to attach the angled stovepipe holder. I had to modify this bracket slightly by bending the edges to make up for the curve of the ceiling. Somehow my calculations ended up a little off and my stovepipe is slightly angled outwards. Oh well. Maybe I’ll fix it someday.

One of the biggest headaches of the process was trying to get the transition piece (from single- to double-wall pipe) to fit in the single-wall pipe. They both had the same diameter and I asked myself if they were even supposed to fit together. I found out that you can crimp pipe like this, so I had it done at the hardware store. It still wouldn’t fit. I had to force it in, which in turn forced the single wall pipe to come apart at the seem. To fix this, I screwed the seam together less than a foot below where the two pieces connected. This kept the seam from coming apart. Once the two pieces were connected, I screwed the seam of the pipe at the top and through the transition piece.

It was here that I also installed the damper. Four-inch dampers are so cute. The screw at the top of the pipe also helps keep the damper in place when in the closed position.

One modification I made to the stove was in the hinges. Originally the stove came with some really cool copper pins for the door hinges. However, these pins seemed too small in diameter to make the door swing nicely and close snugly. In Coos Bay, at Ric’s shop, and with his guidance, I drilled a hole big enough for a ¼” rod in the base casting of the stove directly below the hinges. I took a ¼” brass rod, cut it to length and threaded the ends (with a die). With some finagling, I got the rod through the hole and into the hinges. I capped the top and bottom with some pretty brass acorn nuts. Then I filled the hole I drilled with high temperature cement. The hinge works great, and the accidental benefit of this system is that if you push down on the brass rod it kind of locks the door in place, which is great for keeping it closed for driving and such.

With the two foot extension and cap on. Yes, it's slightly crooked.

The stovepipe configuration I installed consists of two feet of single wall, two feet of double wall, which goes through the ceiling and ends right around the height of my roof rack. Then there’s a two-foot extension that can be added at anytime (except while driving, obviously). The stove needs at least four feet of pipe, and preferably more for good draft.

The manual for this stove calls for five initial fires, starting small and working up to larger ones. Once I finished the install I started this process with my two-foot extension stovepipe on. These small fires worked great until my third fire when I had a few friends in the bus and it was super windy. I had taken the two-foot extension off, and when a huge gust of wind came a giant puff of smoke came from the stove. Cough, cough. However, when it hasn’t been windy, the stove has worked great without the extension.

Building the first fire.

I planned on taking off the extension and cap while driving and putting on some kind of cover that sealed on the top of the stovepipe. I had ideas, such as an upside down bucket with a seal and pins to hold it on. Nothing seemed perfect. Instead, I started driving with just the regular stove cap on and the damper closed. No ash has been coming out of the stove and no moisture has come down either, even when driving 60 MPH in dumping rain. I did leave the cap on and damper open one day and quiet a bit of ash blew in while driving. I also bought a four-inch stainless/rubber expandable plug to plug the pipe when I’m not using the stove much (still have to test this). EDIT: Rubber/stainless plug works great, but I haven’t found a need for it yet, except on long hauls, in extreme weather, and when trying to be more incognito (see photos at bottom of post).

Smoke and sparks from the chimney cap. No, there is no flame coming out. It is just lit up by the fire four feet below and accentuated by my slow shutter speed.

From all this, I decided that when I am using the stove a lot, I can drive with the damper shut and regular cap on. I can burn the stove without the extension, unless it’s windy and then I’ll add it. If I’m not using the stove a lot, or will be driving a bunch I will put the four-inch plug in. The extension and cap store nicely in the truck box mounted on my roof. Yay!! I still have to test how the stove works with the extension versus without.

When I first started burning the stove full blast I had problems keeping the fire within reasonable temperatures. I would crank it to 500 degrees and then damper it down and close the flue (like I had been doing since I was a kid). The temps would continue to rise up to over 850 F. This is definitely over-firing the stove. The stove was also burning wood extremely fast. It would be too hot to want to add more wood, and by the time it cooled down enough to want to add wood, the fire would be all but out. I continued having these problems, and even found other people having these issue on the forum for Navigator Stoves. Some people posted ways to make the stove more airtight, and thus more controllable with the flue and damper. In response, Andrew said that because the stove isn’t airtight, and complies with emission standards, it cannot be dampered down like a regular wood stove. And the methods that users were using to create a more airtight stove would actually make it burn less clean (below 250 degrees creates more emissions and creosote).

Yet, when I was pushing my door closed when dampering it down, I found that closing that gap would help keep the fire temps down. Perhaps I should add a piece wood stove gasket material around the door, or seal the little gap below the door as others suggest?

Wood ceiling panels replaced. Notice the partial old Ford headlight rim used as trim at the ceiling.

I realized after a while that much of my problem came from the wood I was burning, which was all scrap from the shop. All of the wood I was putting in was small (2×2 or smaller). Once I started using larger wood (2x4s) my fires responded much better to my attempts to control temps using air control methods. Still, it’s not as good as I’d like. I may still try to seal the door better, or fill the gap below the door. The balance for me is to be able to control the temps without having the fire burning too hot (over 55o degrees F – over-fire) or too cool (under 250 degrees F – creosote buildup and more emissions).

With a stove this small, it’s kind of a bummer, but I’ll never be able to burn it all of the way through the night, as it needs stoking too often. It looks like once it is dialed, my fires will only burn up to 3-4 hours – which is much better than the under-an-hour burn times I was experiencing with smaller wood.
One of the other experiences I’ve been having is that the stove heats the upper half of my bus nicely since it sits at least a foot and a half off the floor. Yet, since it’s tucked back in there so snugly, the floor area by my benches is still kind of cold. Solution: I hope to create a vent at the rear of the stove that connects to a duct under my sink, with a fan that sucks warm air from the stove and pushes it through a vent by the floor by the benches. This fan will also suck air in the same ducting through a small radiator I have that can be powered by coolant (which is heated by my engine or Webasto – a diesel-powered coolant heater that I have). More on this to come.

Sewing my thermal curtains should help with retaining heat as well.

Making tea and drying pumpkin seeds on the new stove.

Many people have asked about burning my woodstove while parked on the street. I have mostly been burning it on private property, but the few times I’ve burned it in public I’ve had no problems. I’ve lit it before I went to sleep on a few public, but not well traveled, streets. I’ve also burned it while parked at a couple parks. So far no one has cared. I suspect that there are “open flame” laws that prohibit this, but have yet to get hassled. I am curious though.

All in all, I am so stoked on being warm, just in time for winter. It works great! And it is a fun conversation piece when people come in for tea. People keep commenting on how cozy and nice the bus is getting, and I’m sure the woodstove is a huge part of this.

Whew, that was a slew of words in one sitting. I hope this was interesting to at least one or two of you. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me. For more information on Navigator Stoves, please visit their website or their forum.

Coming soon: running water!

Rubber/stainless plug for driving/rain

Rubber/stainless plug installed

The drop-in denatured alcohol burner. Allows you to cook w/o heating your living space.

Making tea on the wood stove with the drop-in burner.

Arts Alive has become such a part of our experience when we’re in Northern California. I’m stoked to be a part of this community.

Watch the vid. It’s raw. Music by Elephant Revival.

See the TYS Media page here.

Free Tea at Occupy Oakland for the General Strike

Bridget and I rolled around the block looking for a place to park Edna Lu and serve tea at Oscar Grant Plaza – the heart of Occupy Oakland. Only one side of the plaza is open to the street and there’s no parking on the whole stretch. Dismayed, we parked a block away trying to figure things out. Several friends showed up and hopped on the bus. We circled again and a fellow who seemed to know the scene at the Plaza jumped on the bus to help us find a place to park and serve.

The night we showed up

We pulled around to the back where there was vehicle access directly onto the plaza. In a split second decision, we decided that even though there weren’t any other vehicles on the plaza, we would take our chance and serve tea for a few hours. It was 9 pm.

Immediately after pulling up we were welcomed by all sorts of folks, and as the tea serving went on people expressed their hopes of us staying at Occupy. I was hesitant to have my whole house in an illegal encampment in front of City Hall as it was, let alone if I were to spend the night there and continue to serve tea.

Some late night tea sippers

However, as the night went on and we served more tea, I realized how important it was to be a part of this movement. The evening was windy and the people needed warmth. We were bringing in important resources like tea, electricity for charging phones, and water. And beyond all this, we were creating a mini community within the encampment where people could relax and feel comfortable, and even escape momentarily from the craziness.

As the night got late, and it seemed the tea would never stop, Bridget and I closed down. As I lay awake, trying to sleep, feeling eager for the next day and slightly uneasy about sleeping there, I was startled by movement and voices at the back of the bus. “Come here! Put your hands behind your back! What is that – your stash?” This was an undercover cop hassling a crackhead. “Hollywood, I need backup!” he stammered into his walkie talkie, “I’m over here behind the white bus.” He pushed the crackhead up against the back of my bus, just one foot from my head peeking from the curtains. Oh, great I thought, now the cops are going to come to the bus.  The cop was a plain-clothed black man with inner-city swag and lingo, and as his backup never showed up, he slick-talked the crackhead, making arrangements with him to not blow his cover or else he’d arrest him. This resulted in an understanding between the two where the crackhead was now in the cop’s pocket. The cop could use this to his advantage by getting some information from the man. I wanted to lean out the window and thank the cop for rousting the crackhead, but realized this might not be the best thing to do for many reasons. And also, the crackhead has just as many, if not more, reasons to be at a protest about economic inequality.

Lots of people showed up

We awoke the next morning and started to prepare for tea serving. I started chatting with some folks who were there to make free coffee for everyone, but had been shut down by the fire department for having an open flame in the park. I figured that since I didn’t want to get shut down, I might as well keep some of my curtains and my big side door closed and make hot water for these folks. For a couple hours we blasted the stove and made dozens of gallons of hot water for the coffee peeps.

It just so happened that the day we showed up for Occupy Oakland was a big day for the movement. It was the General Strike and march to the port to shut it down. As the day picked up, we switched from making water for coffee to making water for tea. We opened the doors and put out chairs and a rug. People came in swarms. We had a line for much of the day and it got hectic.

Bridget and 82-year-old woman who felt at home

The people who came to Occupy Oakland were black, white, yellow, and brown; old and young; ex-military and Buddhist monks. It was incredible. An 82-year-old Colombian woman came said she lived alone and had no family, but when she came to the protest she felt the warmth of people’s faces and felt like she was at home with her family.

One of the pleasant surprises was a black fellow with the inner city vibe named Gibran. He came aboard all excited about herbs and teas. It ends up he’s super into herb blending and making tea for people. In fact, he had been at Occupy Oakland on Sept 25th serving free herbal brews when the encampment was raided and his pump top thermos was taken by the cops. I gave him an even larger pump top and he set to making some of his own blends to serve to people…

View of Oscar Grant Plaza from atop of Edna

As the day became the evening, and the evening became the night, it seemed like we ought to leave. Something was stirring in the air. As we were nearly packed up, a friend came by to tell us that police were gathering at one end of the plaza. We drove through the plaza and out the back and I felt relieved to get my home out of there. Yet, I also felt like we were leaving our new-found family and their struggle. Many people wanted us to stay… to stay for a while – as long as needed. It was a hard thing for me. I really do want to be as free as possible so that I can choose to seize opportunities like this as they arise. Yet, other opportunities were calling. We pulled out 25 hours after we arrived, but it seemed like another time in another world.

Note on the Occupy Movement: The Free Tea Party is not a political project. As a project we support nonviolent movements aimed at creating a better world. I would love for the tea bus to show up at a Tea Party rally – the counterpart of the Occupy Movement – as the tea bus operates to create community with any and everyone. I, Guisepi, as a human being, have my own personal opinions and personally support the Occupy Movement as a protest to economic inequality, corporate influence in government, wall street money-grubbing, and irresponsible government spending (mostly in the military realm).

Tea-blender and server, Gibran

Some kids enjoy a tea party at Kids Safety Zone, which was set up right in front of Edna

Two new Lightfoot Deputies take the Lightfoot Vow and prepare to deliver letters (see sustainablepost.org)