Progress

Not Legal to Drive

Ok, at this point, I'm completely weary.  2 weeks until Burning Man and it's not done.  The worst part is that I don't have an operating permit from the CA DMV to legally drive it.  The truck has full registration and plates since June, but for a personal use vehicle over 10,000 lb gross vehicle weight, you need a "CA" number and Operating Permit.   The fine is $2500 and they can impound your vehicle, if caught.  It's stupid and only $35, but to find out about this now is very stressful.  Well maybe the DMV will come through in time.  I plan to hit the road anyway and say "the check and application is in the mail".  Plus I put a fancy "NOT FOR HIRE" sticker on the side which basically indicates to the weigh stations that it is a personal vehicle.

Today I was lucky to have the help of Alex and James and we lowered the front frame and drilled a massive amount of holes.  Basically the front upper and side panels are fully drilled and done.  No additional work there, except I need to buy some shorter hardware.  On Friday night I managed to get the tail a bit more detailed.  Missing are the huge rudder and some propellers.  The propellers are optional at this point, since I never had them in any of the early designs I submitted to Burning Man.  I didn't take pictures, but today I also managed to frame in the door and weld in the lower support.  All the wire in the nice welder is used up, so I had to use the not so good one.  It makes a huge difference in the weld quality, but I don't have time to wait until a welding supply store opens on Monday.  And here are some pics from the last few days:

Two weekends left

No details to share, but pictures are worth a thousand words.  I am stepping it up a notch.  Gonna have to work nights from now till the end of the month.

Work Saturday

So this was the weekend to hang plywood!  Instead it was the weekend to weld some framework, finish the smokestack (which looks amazing... sorry no finished pictures to share yet), and see what 5" portholes look like on the plywood.  Unfortunately, the cab-over framework had some strange alignment problems and the left side which fit perfectly last week didn't fit today.  So that slowed everything down.  Anyway, 9 hours later and we had accomplished a lot and enjoyed some burgers and a lot of beers and Coca cola.