I was up late on night thinking about my time in the Marines and had a song draft penned in a few minutes.

Not a really good song writter but I have done a dozen songs or so of things that have happen in my life, or things I have seen. This song lyrics are no different, I was thinking of all Marines in this song so don’t read into it.

I am going to set up a table full of fun gifts for a Craft Fair at my local American Legion Hall this Saturday. I have been creating, making and building a ton of fun gifts and wanted to capture in photos some of the items that will be for sale during the event.

Much of my crafts are things I believe would be good gifts for men and have a more rustic and man cave feel. The goal of course is to have 5 or 6 of the same items, display one in a basket and show the customer how they can make a nice gift with a few items placed into a basket or metal pail.

One of my favorite items is the Wrench and Key hooks.

Here was my flier I posted on line:

My wooden robots can be decorated with paint, stamps, matchbook covers, etc. Or given as is, with the natural wood look is a nice display piece as well.

LEGO earrings are a fun low cost item that I have always done for any of my craft shows.

The most expensive items will be the hand painted bottles turned into lamps.

I have also made a bunch of bottle cap coasters using an epoxy pour.

If you like neon signs and have an afternoon this place is a must see! With over 350 signs and a very cool display of some 50s, 60s and 70s memorabilia you can definitely spend hours looking at it all.

A Williams pinball machine, a Seeburg juke box, a sign printer, and just about every old neon sign that graced the skyline in Tucson.

I took a LOT of photos but will be sharing my favorites here… I hope you enjoy.

After several months of putting the galley back together, adding a few creature comforts and putting the solar system on the teardrop, we final got to go out for the weekend and go camping for the Easter weekend!

We stayed on camp site #2 off of the Madera Canyon near the small creek and waterfall. We saw cows on the open range, deer, small mice and tons of other humans as the campsites were completely full. I am glad we came out early on Saturday

Nice firepit with views of Green Valley at night. The temperature was nice and a bit of a breeze at night made the morning air a bit cold, but it was not bad at all.

I tried out our crock pot to cook some chili, ran the water in the galley sink and made sure that the solar / electrical system was working well and charging.

Our friend came out to see our camp site on his motorcycle, there was two other campers in conversion vans near us and were nice to talk with about the area and other camp sites.

I used a glass jam jar and a strip of white LEDs that run off of 12V DC and wired it into the galley area… way brighter than the two small bulbs that where original.

I finished up the curtains. It was an easy project, but to be able to keep the morning sun to a low roar in the spring will allow us that extra 1/2 hour we will need to sleep in.

The foldable shelves I saw on someone’s post on line and I thought … I can build those!

The most expensive thing was going to be the hinges, but I am a pack rat…. I got those in my extra junk box!

I think these photos came out better for the curtains and shelf.

A few more pictures of the inside of the camper:

New items I have been working on in the teardrop camper.

Penny Counter

I have finished the epoxy pour and let it cure over night, this afternoon I cleaned it up and shaved the resin where it has dripped or pushed into the bowl area.

It is level and will be nice to clean quickly by the sink.

Other counter area

Mode Pog (Sealing glue) the map on the rest of the regular counter. It will dry by tomorrow I hope, as I want to get the faucet installed and run the hoses.

Solar Electronics

It is really nice to have the metal box for storage in the front of the trailer. i have found an access hole and a rubber grommet to run the solar array wires through and crewed in the solar controller box on the tom of the lid so no water can get to it.

I will run all the wires next time I work on the project and verify I can charge a battery with the panel mounted.

I am using a sun saver 6 morning star 6amp charge, 10 amp draw for loads and is 12 Volt battery charge algorithm. These are used in the oil and gas fields and are very easy to use and will be very reliable.

Curtain rods with holders

My glow in the dark curtain rod holders are put in. i need to finish sewing my curtains but wanted to make sure of the exact length before cutting them.

I put them on each door.

Reflectors

When I was visiting my mom, we went to True Valley hardware store and bought some reflectors. I know I could have bought them for cheap on line but I wanted to give them business while I was there and to my surprise they had the big red round ones I was looking for.

I drilled a very small screw and used the adhesive backing but wanted a screw to hold the on as well.

I will be adding a few more reflectors but need the others to be yellow.

Reading Lamp fixed

It was interesting that the only lights that did not work were the reading lamps that are adjustable for each person under the shelf by the front of the camper.

Like the ones on airplanes they move around and will be nice when reading before bed.

The issue was that the power wire was not hooked up at all. So I wired a fuse in-line and will hook it directly to the battery so that will be the only light on the inside that can be turned all any time. As, I’m putting a kill switch on the battery, so when I am not using the camper it will turn off the power to everything.

More work on the Scad-A-Bout putting in a dog bowl sink that will be used to wash hands, silver ware, dishes, etc. Not for drinking water, but in an emergency you could because I plan on using clean drinking water for the supply.

I also replaced the hinges for the left door with some heavy duty chrome door hinges.

I also took some measurements on the inside window to make some curtains. I made the curtain rod holders for a 10mm wood rod , on my 3D printer (link here https://www.tinkercad.com/things/1kNPvbI5BZ5 ).

https://www.tinkercad.com/embed/1kNPvbI5BZ5?editbtn=1

I also got my back hatch locking, but will need to strengthen the screw holes with toothpicks and wood glue. I am also going to put a pad lock on the hatch to prevent a break in using a pry bar. This is only if we need to leave it in a camp site for the day while we take the truck into town or site seeing it won’t be so tempting to pop the back hatch and grab my teardrop chow and hooch!

This makes it so the rods then turning the handle guide the ends into the side wall metal holes. The are 3D printed plastic, so not to be relied on for major security.

I started the penny top counter after painting the surface black and then sealing the wood so the epoxy doesn’t drain out of a small hole somewhere.

Started on the tear out of the galley.

Getting some ideas for a sink and rearranged the drawers.

Big one on bottom. two small above going to make a door for the side cupboard.