Cubey’s Adventures in Living

I went out to the local flea market where a regular seller has a booth (whom I have bought stuff from several times in the past). His prices are above thrift store/yard sale prices but then again he carries good quality stuff. Anyhow, he had an old Coleman folding camping oven for sale for quite a long time. I inspected the oven and it’s pretty good for it’s age aside from some bending to the metal of the burner section and burning of the paint from normal use on the bottom. He had it marked $15 so I asked him what’s the least he’d take and he said $10, so I got it. One way you KNOW it’s really old, check out the photo of the inside of the door. *LOL*

I also picked up a used(?) in the box “Innovage Robotic LED Reading Light II” for $0.53 from a thrift store. Sure. it uses AG13 button cells but the ones in it still work. AG13s can be gotten pretty cheap, assuming they last a good while in the light. If the one ones last in it even a few hours, the light was worth paying $0.53 for.

Last week I came across a “Welbilt Portable Laundromat” for $20 at a thrift store. Plugged it up and it seemed to work so I figured I’d take a chance on it. Seems to work perfectly. They go for $80-$100 on ebay easy. It washes but doesn’t spin dry and heat dries but is only 120v/1560W so it doesn’t work very well vs a normal dryer. Since it doesn’t spin dry in the wash cycle everything comes out soaking wet and requires hard ringing out of excess water. Even if you do this, the dryer isn’t enough to dry even a few articles of clothing without having to run for 2 or more ours which seems like a waste of the motor’s life so I plan to mainly use it for washing. Its quite large and I’m not even sure I will keep it due to that but I’ll think on it a few months before I decide to sell it or not. I certainly won’t be out any money if I do sell it however.

I was bored the other day and decided I had put off installing the Olympian heater I recently purchased on eBay long enough. So I went out, removed the bits of wood from the Coleman heater installation, and cut down a new piece of hardboard, sanded it a bit around the edges, cut a hole for the LP hose to come through, painted it to match the wall, mounted the hardboard and then the heater. All that was left was to hook up the LP hose to the heater and test it for leaks. All is well. Now I have a nice catalytic heater wall mounted and ready for use.

I was out and about today not really looking for yard sales per say but on the way back toward I stopped by one and found a used Coleman 800w (1600w peak) inverter in the case with battery clamps for $10. They let me take it to the van to try it out (far out of their sight..) but of course upon testing it and finding it working, I went back and paid for it.

It seems they let water get into the case and the screws rusted badly and mucked up the inside if the inverter and my have dissolved the glue around the transformers but it still works. I cleaned it out carefully with a dry q-tip as best I could and changed out the 3 fuses located inside. I don’t think I’ll need an 800w inverter very often but its good to have on hand anyway for the price.

I typically hate bidding on auctions since I end up losing most of the time it seems like. That or I forget about the item so I don’t bid. I managed to remember to watch and bit on an Olympian 3100 heater on ebay and won it for the modest price of $60 shipped (including insurance). Not bad at all! The last one on ebay went for $122 plus shipping. Now I have a propane heater I can safely run overnight when I’m sleeping as this one has an low oxygen cut-off sensor unlike the Coleman one I already have. I will keep the Coleman one as an extra to use for that extra bit of heat I may need but I won’t leave it going overnight. The Coleman one is designed to run from 1lb bottles (but can run from a 20lb with an adapter hose) so I can use it in the tent if I so desire due to it being so portable.

I decided to try setting up the tent in the back yard today. Took me over an hour due to not being able to get it raised in the center. The instructions states it requires 2 people for assembly. A cardboard box placed inside of the tent raised the center enough that I was able to assemble it by myself. Thats what took up half of the hour, fighting with it unsuccessfully until I stuck the box in there. Only thing I didn’t assemble on it was the fly cover (for rain protection) and the stakes in the ground since I knew it was about to come back down anyway. The floor of it is pretty thin and cheap but thats nothing a tarp placed on the ground under the tent first cant fix. Maybe I’ll line the inside with a tarp as well to protect the floor.

Only real problem with it that I have found is the carrying bag. They must have literally vacuumed out the air from it to fit it into a cardboard box, and then they stuffed the cardboard box into the carrying case so there is no way you can ever put the tent back into that carrying case and be able to zip it shut. I will use the tent case for clothing or something else and get a large, used piece of luggage from a thrift store to store the tent in.

Last week I was out at Target just browsing to see if they had any good deals and I happened across several tents on clearance including an Eddie Bauer 14×10x7 2 Room Cabin Tent for $97.xx, originally priced $195.99 (Still full price online). I thought about it and realized I will need the extra space in addition to my 17 foot 1967 Shasta travel trailer. I have a spayed, indoor Jack Russell terrier who will be traveling with me. They are very hyper dogs that need room to move around. I figure this tent will be a great way for her to play and run without having to drag me around behind her on a leash. Of course I will remain inside with her so she doesn’t just tear her way out.

I figure it will be nice to have the extra space to spend daytime (or nightime!) in if I wish instead of the trailer. The tent will be for places I’m staying at longer term and that would allow a tent to be set up (most RVs won’t). I think it’ll be worth the cost and space it’ll take up in the van for what it will provide me with in extra enclosed, weatherproof space.

Also, I purchased a Coleman Hot Water On-Demand portable water heater on eBay a few days ago (it just arrived, I haven’t even cracked open the box yet!) with all the accessories except the $20~ish carrying case. It states for outdoor use only. The tent should be outdoor enough for it, being a huge 10×14x7 tent made for excellent airflow. The burner is completely enclosed in the unit so there are no external flames to worry about. Besides, it’s a 10×14x7 tent. It would have to be used in a very stupid fashion or function improperly to ever start a fire. Placed on a table it will be nice and safe to use in the tent.

Update: The water heater is actually the one branded as the Oster Hot Water on Demand Pet Washer although the box says Coleman Technology on it and is the same thing as the Coleman one except its blue instead of green and has all the accessories except the carry bag, unlike the Coleman one which sold all the accessories separately. For some reason Coleman’s site no longer offers it for sale. Maybe it was too good of a product. Often companies will sell too nice of a product and decide not to sell it anymore, perhaps due to selling the product to another company so the other company and keep it off the shelves.