16 September, 2008: The systems (generator, LP gas, water) need access hatches. We've been looking at luggage doors, but I saw these on an emergency vehicle today and think they look promising. The manufacturer of these vehicles is Wolf Coach. Has me thinking we should look at suppliers of work trucks and other emergency vehicles for these parts. Funny, my… Read More
15 September, 2008: I just parked the truck in Salem, where the body work will be done. Phil Crosscup is managing this phase, and work is starting today! Read More
13 September, 2008: For obvious reasons I have not mentioned this here, but the truck arrived without any keys to any of the locks. This means my truck has been sitting unsecured on the road for the past few weeks. Luckily there's nothing of value in the truck, but it's still had me a bit uncomfortable at night. After receiving… Read More
30 July, 2009: Hey everybody. After 1 missed breakfast, and one late breakfast this past week I feel I owe you all a short explanation. Oh, and this has something to do with the dearth of posts in the past few weeks. We're been working on the next steps for the truck. Don't worry, we're not going anywhere. But we… Read More
13 September, 2008: The Utilimaster supply is great. On their website in addition to very helpful service manuals, they have a PDF of virtually every part of the truck. I replaced a bunch of rubber that was rotten and fixed the piston that holds the hood open so that it wont keep falling on my head. Read More
11 September, 2008: I've hinted at this before, when covering grease conversions, but I'm faced with two conflicting goals: I'd love to do as many energy-smart things as I can on the truck I've got to keep the costs very low Today I spent some time on the electrical design. The low emission route would be to use the sun… Read More
11 September, 2008: Greg Vaughn of Vaughn Plumbing helped me install the gas system. I think he did a great job, and once I track down the right regulator, we're ready to pop a fryer, and possibly another appliance in there. Read More
10 September, 2008: Awning (click link for movie) John and Jinhee have been working overtime to realize our ambitions for the truck in very short timeframe we're working against. John and I met up yesterday and after having doubts about our ability to pull off the transforming awning design, I'm really excited about the latest take. Read More
3 November, 2008: Today's menu before we ran out/ low. It was a good, if short, day. Again, we doubled our traffic. We also showed up at the latest hour yet (12:20pm first service) and left earlier than ever (1:45pm). I'd love to say this is because we ran out of everything, but really we just needed to get down… Read More
10 September, 2008: A friend turned me on to Henny Penny fryers. They make normal fryers, but specialize in "pressure fryers." These were developed primarily for fried chicken, and supposedly they do wonders for that. But they have other qualities that caught my interest: 30% lower fuel consumption 10-20% less grease on food More moisture and flavor retained in the… Read More
10 September, 2008: You've found yourself stuck in the trap: you've got some sort of little project, and you find you're spending more time driving back and forth to Home Depot than working. Well, I'm sure some of you have a level of experience and planning that allows you to get it right the first time, I don't. So I… Read More
8 September, 2008: I've been talking to John and Jinhee (Single Speed Design) about awning designs. I've long loved the way simple tents look (see above), and we're looking at these as possible references. Tetsuya Ohara, who leads up technical fabric and materials at Patagonia is kindly offering us advice. Tetsuya used to work for a sail maker, which is another source… Read More
5 September, 2008: ... but if I don't write it down I'll forget everything. And I know this will be useful to others someday. I was always skeptical when people said things like "you're going to have to deal with licensing" as though it was a huge hurdle. I was wrong. Here's a summary of the city and state licensing… Read More
9 November, 2008: Not exactly Clover-related, but while in NYC today I took a few minutes to meet with Sasha Petraske. We've been doing these "thermodynamics of mixology" lessons once a month. I'm going to help him with a chapter of a book he's writing. Read More
4 September, 2008: I've been having trouble with parking this week. Last week the truck was getting the ventilation installed. Next week the body work will take place. This week I'm babysitting. So I decided to pull into the Home Depot parking lot this morning and install the LP gas tank. I figured I had everything I needed (generator, etc.) and could… Read More