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Monday, October 22, 2012

I'm bobin' and I'm weavin'


We found out yesterday that the guy we hired to finish the well and fence hasn’t completed the job. What was supposed to take just two more weeks to finish isn’t finished at all, and it’s been almost a year. Lucky for us, we only paid him for the work that he completed. Still, we’re stuck with no source for water, which we learned the last time we were down there, is not fun.

Another thing that’s becoming clear, is that I won’t have time to finish the Tiny Casita until I return. Not a big deal really, the only deadline I have is self-imposed and purely for the satisfaction of a completed job. For now, it’s best I concentrate on getting the land, with the RV that’s already there, ready so that when we're there it will be comfortable and enjoyable for the whole family.

So... with just a couple weeks until I’m set to drive our Astro Van, filled with supplies, down to Mexico, we find ourselves scrambling for a new way to get water. We can arrange to have a water truck come to our lot and fill the large 275 tank which I'm bring down in the van. But how to get the water from the large tank into the small tank inside the RV? I started to build a tower when I realized that water weighs 8.34 lbs. per gallon. That's 2,293.5 pounds! It will likely take more than a hastily built tower to support the 275 gal tank. My thought now is to use another 12-volt pump, to pump water from the tank, sitting firmly on the ground, to the holding tank in the RV. I bought a pump from Harbor Freight with a 25' lift. Theoretically, getting the water just 4' up and into the RV should be a piece of cake. I’ll be experimenting with this plan later this week. Stay tuned.

















We’re also learning (the hard way) that managing construction on our land in Mexico, from our house in Colorado just isn’t working. With that in mind, we decided that we'll hold off on any thing else, that I can’t handle myself, until we’re down there for an extended stay.



Tuesday, October 16, 2012

The good, the bad and the gnarly!

With just a few hours of work left to do, we've come to the sad conclusion that we may have to sell the Tiny Casita.

Before I started this project I made sure I had a way to get the Tiny Casita from our house here in Colorado, to our land in Sayulita Mexico. I found a guy on U-Ship.com that agreed to tow the Tiny Casita down to our land for a reasonable fee ($2,000). Well, I found out a few weeks ago that he backed out of the deal. Over the last few weeks I wasn't able to find an economical solution. The next offer to ship was way out of a sensible range. For more than $5k we can make a solid dent in a real house made of block.

We considered towing it down with our Astro Van but, as the mighty Astro is fine for local trips, it's not powerful enough to tow for 2000 miles journey. Trip scheduled for Nov. 10th. Yikes! Running out of time.

If anyone has suggestions on how to get her down there, please let me know.


Monday, October 8, 2012

Mad dash to the finish line!

I made some serious progress on the interior last week. Still need to finish the ceiling in living room and finish the bathroom. The whole thing will get coated with Thompsons waterproof sealer. My goal is to have the interior finished by next week.