Roadtrip 2013: First night, Island Björnön

On my vacation I went on a roadtrip. I thought I should share some pictures of it. It took a long time to get everything packed and "installed" so I left the apartment late (at night) and decided to sleep on a well knowned spot, the Island Björnön, just about 15 kilometers from my (nonmoving) home.

Here the day before leaving. I have removed the passenger seat and the backseat. Trying out if I can lay, straight. Yes I CAN! :) (using my belly muscles.. =) )..Excuse my dirty pants, my excuse is that I was doing rust protective treatment on my other car, the Toyota (that is supposed to replace the Kia later on).

Ahh. The Kia Pride parked.. This is were I slept first night. I arrived pretty late. And was waken by some other cars arriving in the middle of the night. Playing music (really loud). Burnout and so on.. However after THAT.. I slept good. This is the early morning the day after.

Check out my Crib! Bombastic. Luxury everywere you look, huh?

A little later the sun was shining plenty much and I picked out the solar panel to test if it was working. Yes it was! I have about 6 meters of cable to the solarpanel, so I can put the car in shadow and put the panel out in the sun. 

Here is my installation of solar regulator and a "switch panel". A small chipboard. Also showing that 0,44 amps is getting into the extra battery, charging!

I left the car "charging" and went for an early morning walk, love to explore! Often gives me good ideas to/inspiration. Listening to some podcast or some inspirational speaker (personal development). 

Here you can see the newly built beach, well actually there already was a beach here, but they have expanded it! Making it bigger. This is the main bathing site of the island Björnön early morning.

Okay, next on the trip was the town Karlskoga. More on that later (perhaps).

More cardboard curtain and strong magnets

On my holiday earlier this year I remembering sitting i my car in a town called Lysekil (Here in Sweden). I was having a hard time to find a nice spot for the night. So I went to the harbor and people (mostly trucks) were steering my down (while I was sitting in my car) (that just got me really irritated). They probably were wondering if I was a burglary or some homeless soul , drug-addict or whatever, just waiting for the dark to make my move. The problem was that it was very easy to look inside the car, and I felt like I had no privacy. Often outspoken kids were wondering if "is he sleeping in that car, mom?")
-Yes, he must be homeless

(Here in Sweden, if you are "homeless" you probably an drug-addict, or have menthal issues or something. And the mainstream view is that if you are a drug-addict, for example heroin you are also an criminal (the drugs cost a lot of money, and they do just about anything to get high)

However, I AM NOT AN DRUG ADDICT!... and I have a job and an apartment! Hey.. I am one of the good guys.. (at least I think that, hahah). Hey.. A am pretty normal..

(I felt this all the time during the vacation). Later that night I found a nice sleeping place by the sea (bathing place). There were a few other (big) RV:s there and a Renault Trafic from France (for example).. much better.. I slept nice and got a nice bath the day after before moving on..
However, I felt like I needed to do some adjustment..

Soo I am out to the garage again.. Here am doing a test for the front window. Using a cardboard. I first made a template out of newspaper. Se earlier post.

So this is how it looks. Stealth? Ehh.. No probably not.

Another view. I would have preferred black cardboard, but I cant find any cardboard of that color, and I don't want to paint it myself. So this will do!

Inside of the car, ohh very sexy!

I also tried a holding technique for the side-window. Taping washers to the window.. This washer have to be of some Ferro material (this washers is steel)

.. And then cardboard and a strong magnet holding it in place. It worked quite well!

Here another picture of the interior. I bought some fleece to have as a curtain, but would rather have Thermoreflekt (I think).

Those strong magnet is really strong. You have to be careful of your fingers. Here I have put two pieces in a little plastic bag and some paper around them. Works like a charm!

I also tried to winding down the window with the washers in place. It also worked! Yeay.

Ok, all for now, bye!

Make a bed in a Toyota Starlet?

What is the most easy way to make a bed in a Toyota Starlet EP91 (my "new" car)?

This is my testing..

Pretty flat, but with some bumps..

The box is to low.. 26cm in height (I think).

Trying some other box, a fridge container for example

Looking for the perfect box size: Max length: 60 cm, around 50 is best.
Height: 36-37 cm
Width: max 40 cm
I think Hammarplast Smartstore Robust 45 liters could be a good size (59 x 39 x 33 cm).

For me to remember...

width of box: ~35 cm

Max lenght: ~59-60cm

The wood-board can be moved around.

Here the wood is on top of the plastic boxes.

Me trying the "bedframe"

Me again, ..

I plan on using this for heat transfer to a isolated box containing PET bottles with water. Heat storage

Picture of bootarea and rib

Bed-size, the cardboard is about 62 cm wide. Total Length is about 190 cm. So I will try to find a suitable mattress, about 80 cm wide and about 190-200 cm in length.

Thinking about Car curtains

Perhaps cardboard curtain is not so beutiful after all...

The idea is to put up some nylonstring ( paracord ) and then use this curtain holders from Ikea. I Think I will use fleece as a curtain. It has pretty good insulation value.

I dont want to glue anything to the car. Everything has to be able to easily come off.

Picture from Ikeas website: http://www.ikea.com/se/sv/catalog/products/80212201/

Ikea RIKTIG  curtain hook

I added small paperclips to the headliner, and then attached some paracord string.

However the paracord, nylonstring is a bit elastic and stretches a bit too much.

Here I am trying out a small dust cloth as a curtain, but it hangs too much.

A closeup of the curtain holders and nylon string

Well, I not satisfied with this.. I have to rethink it!

Other sources:
Found this information about curtains to read: http://suanneonline.blogspot.se/p/windows-and-privacy-i-do-2-things-for.html

Testing ideas in the Toyota

Okay, so what is happening with the car? Not too much, but I have been trying out some things.

I had an idea to use the bootspace for a sofa. So I tryied that idea... using some wood boards to make a nice sitting area. Perhaps a reading site.. eh noo?

But NO, it was not such a good idea. My head hit the bootdoor...

I have also been planing for the bedarea. I removed the backseat, but left the backpart (sorryy..my englai is to bad).. Anyway look at the picture! (cant explain everything for ya.. huh?). Folding the seat makes it pretty flat. I tryed to find some boxes that were in the same height as the folded seat. More pictures of this later.

I also continued and made a template for the front windshield, using ordinary newspaper. So I can later do a cardboard or (when I find reflektix or thermoreflekt) to isolate myself a little more, and also for insulation of course. I do not recommend driving the car in this state..

Ok, all for know. will be back with more pictures trying out an curtainidea I had. Bye!