Saturday, December 28, 2013

Fortress Pistol Security

What do you say that we still desperately need,  inside the Crazy Over The Top Trailer project. YES .... You guessed it exactly a SAFE ... for a gun or whatever else like my favorite chocolate bars. It was on sale at Lowes only $59 so I figured one couldn't  go wrong with a little thing like that. It's already installed in its secret location, it was easy to program and opens great with the combo. Now I just need to drive behind a Brinks other truck until a bag falls out to fill the safe - not sure if I would be as nice as the Vegas cab driver, who returned a $300,000 cash packet left inside his cab -












Monday, December 16, 2013

The mock up of the insulated roof

Ok here it is, for those of you who like to do winter camping & not have Niagara falls CONDENSATION drip on your head

This set up works quite well with almost zero condensation.
the top diamond plate is of course the trailer roof.
the left side is a wood stud that runs under the metal stud "not shown"
I'm using R-19 Denim insulation - it really only expands to 3.5"
below i'm using 3/4" blue board mainly to compress the Denim - so there is no air space between metal roof.
the lowest layer is 1/4" paneling 







Tuesday, December 10, 2013

The Finished ceiling is coming

Since there is a slight air gap between the metal ceiling and the denim insulation - I decided to add another 3/4 " blue board to close up the gap. I also noticed some minor moisture formation and this will hopefully solve that problem. The 1/8" birch will be attached to 1 x 3" wood furring strips.











Monday, December 9, 2013

28 deg outside - 68 inside , NO HEATER REQUIRED

Thanks to the magic of the finished insulation & a few gallons of warm water, Its now 68 deg F inside while 28-31 deg outside. Other then my appliances tv, VCR & body heat - no gas or electric heater is present.



Don't try this in your RV .....
You will freeze to death !!....







Remember just add a little insulation to the floors, walls & ceiling




Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Freezing cold 34 = 59 inside without heat

The clock is still off by 1 hour , it's really 7:35 am and 34 outside, a little insulation still needs to be completed.






Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Another Cop story defies pure logic


Come on - what 64 year old guy in a mini rams, a younger guy in a 2 x larger infinity ? I hope he collects a bundle !!


Man accuses off-duty Concord cop of road rage

Updated 3:06 pm, Tuesday, December 3, 2013
(12-03) 15:04 PST ORINDA -- An Oakland man filed a federal civil rights lawsuit Tuesday against the city of Concord, saying an off-duty police officer deliberately rammed his Mini Cooper and broke his arm during a road rage incident.
The officer, though, told authorities that the Mini Cooper driver had been the aggressor.
Walther Weiland, 64, said Officer Kevin Mansourian cut him off Feb. 17 on westbound Highway 24 in Orinda as the lanes merged near the Caldecott Tunnel.
After Weiland tried to pull around Mansourian, the off-duty officer rammed his Infinitiinto Weiland's Mini Cooper, causing moderate damage, said the suit filed in U.S. District Court in Oakland.
Weiland alleged that when he got out of his car to exchange insurance information, Mansourian screamed, "What the f- are you doing? I'm an off-duty police officer!"
Weiland asked to see his police identification, but Mansourian refused and slammed him to the ground, holding him there until a California Highway Patrol officer arrived, the suit said.
Weiland suffered a broken arm and was never charged criminally in the incident, said his attorney Michael Haddad.
"Anytime someone breaks another person's arm in a road rage incident, there should be consequences," Haddad said. "We're concerned that just because he's an officer, that he might be getting away with this."
The suit, which seeks unspecified damages, names the city of Concord, Police Chief Guy Swanger and Mansourian. Swanger declined comment Tuesday, other than to say that Mansourian was currently on the force as a motorcycle officer.
City Attorney Mark Coon also would not discuss the case.
In a report written by a Contra Costa County sheriff's deputy, Mansourian said Weiland had been straddling lanes on the freeway and had intentionally rammed him several times.
Mansourian said Weiland had an "unsteady gait" as he exited the car, the report said. The officer said he took Weiland to the ground because he had reached into his front pants pocket.
Henry K. Lee is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: hlee@sfchronicle.comTwitter: @henryklee

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Do Cops have way to much free time on their hands ?


            This is 100% typical of what I have seen with the crack house across the street, cops went from 1,400 down to 950 officers now over 5 years, all are making $150,000 to $300,000  complaining of how overworked, underpaid  - short staffed they are, yet they have time to dream up this JUNK !! You just can't make this stuff up !!!

http://www.mercurynews.com/nation-world/ci_24614620/san-jose-cop-charged-issuing-phony-tickets-against


 San Jose cop charged with issuing phony tickets against lawsuit foe and his own lawyer


SAN JOSE -- After a veteran San Jose police officer got in a car accident five years ago, he sued the other driver, ultimately settling out of court. But perhaps not to his liking.
And he apparently couldn't let it go, say prosecutors who charged him with writing phony citations last month targeting the driver, and in a strange twist, the attorney he hired to handle his case.
George Chavez, 51, faces three felony counts of false personation exposing the victim to liability, and three felony counts of filing a false police report. The 23-year police veteran surrendered to authorities Tuesday night, and was freed after posting $60,000 bail.

( Gary Reyes )
Authorities say that on Oct. 28, Chavez used his police computer to look up a Texas man he sued in 2008 after a local car accident, as well as the attorney from the Sacramento-area he hired to file the corresponding civil suit.
He then purportedly used that data to write up one traffic ticket and two tickets for illegally parking in a handicapped zone, forging the signatures of the Texas man, the attorney and two other police officers on the citations.
"It's surprising and unfortunate because we put a lot of responsibility on police officers and give them a lot of power," deputy district attorney Daniel Rothbach said. "Besides using his police computer, he went even further, exposing the victims to liabilities and abusing the trust of other police officers."
The purported scheme unraveled when the officer whose signature appeared on the traffic ticket was notified after an administrative review of the citation, and alerted a supervisor. The motorist listed on the ticket was in Texas when the documented violation supposedly occurred. Further investigation turned up the phony parking tickets.
San Jose police officials expressed concern about the allegations against one of its officers.
"In these cases, we respect the criminal process and monitor the criminal proceedings, which will be followed by an administrative review," Sgt. Heather Randol, a police spokeswoman, said. "We hold our officers accountable."
Randol deferred additional questions to the District Attorney's Office.
The charges carry a penalty of up to six years and four months in prison. Chavez was placed on administrative leave from the police department. His next court date is Dec. 10.
Contact Robert Salonga at 408-920-5002. Follow him at Twitter.com/robertsalonga.

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Testing a new Endless Water Heater

           Always being one to willing experiment around, especially when it comes to a good friend. My friend Alfredo's 40 gallon water heater was out and he was getting tired of cold showers, so at first we tried to replace the thermo couple to his old heater, but it was of no avail, turns out the gas control valve was also kaput, along with some minor rust & leaks.

       Plan B was to install new 40 gallon tank but then Alfredo decided if the cost was not that much different,  then why not try out a tankless unit ? Now most folks know that it uses 50% less gas energy, but they don't know that the plumber has to rape you on the installation costs, because it requires more work the first time around. One hugh problem is that your old water heater uses a 1/2" gas line and the flex connector is only rated to 60,000 Btu - but your new heater requires up to 180,000 Btu. After you get home the plumber tells you he must install a new 3/4" gas line and at $600 to $1,200 depending on length to your gas meter your desire to turn green has you running to the bathroom overcome with the first wave of nausea. 

       Plan C since Alfredo is always willing to take a chance on my kookie advice. I suggested lets try getting the outdoor unit which is $300 cheaper then the indoor unit and let me make my special 4" dryer exhaust and I think we can have you in endless hot water ASAP. The only minor unknown problem being your 1/2" gas line, may only give you 3-4 GPM hot water, but if needed we could tap into your 3/4" gas line for the oven and go full power. So if you were still willing to only have 1 person at a time in the shower - my guess is NO PROBLEM. Oh and 2 more minor problems, I was not sure how the unit would work with the water softener & a recirculation pump.


Once installed, against all odds, against all codes & against all hope of working properly, we were actually very surprised at how well the thing cranks out the hot water. First we got lucky as the 1/2" line is only 25' from the meter - so it would easily pull 150,000 and did about 5-6 GPM of hot water.
The vent kit was very easy to make and slipped right into the old water heater vent. The recirculation pump appeared to work quite well also, so far so good. So now Alfredo has moved up to the 1% where he finally has endless hot water. Our installed cost was less then $1,000 and required about 8-10 hours labor including store shopping time, which is always considerable. Vs about $2,500+  if it was done 100% to code by a real licensed plumber with permits.








A small update below 
you can see my patron insisted that we install
the required hot & cold safety valve set for $125
Look at the bottom left water heater corner




The front vent shows this is an exterior vent unit.


The top vent is interior unit , which requires extra $100 vent kit
this unit for some reason costs $300 more





Saturday, November 2, 2013

Happy Halloween from Santa Cruz Beach in 2013 , our first mini trip


Here I am at stealth parked Lowe's overnight , its about 4 am morning - 
I needed to start from Lowe's because my street is too narrow / tight 
and has too may cars to get the trailer out before everyone goes to work


Checking the lights before starting



Did I promise they would be too BRIGHT ?



Well you cant miss my break & blinker lights



The crack of dawn on the beach



Here is the side view of the stealth solar panels



The large tool box still allowed me to turn 90 deg turns



Decorations are slowly coming



Here i'm testing the first lights



Another view of the lights


Dusk has arrived and its looking even better
can you see the rats are out ?



 View from the front


View to the Surfing museum
 All those that walked by
received a candy handout - 
just for walking down the sidewalk
Many were really surprised and happy
with the unexpected free candy.


Some of the surfers said they say the lights way
out in the bay & followed them home,
besides I was parked where they
normally climb into the water


So ends the first 70 mile mini trip for the almost completed trailer