Keeping Warm

The big Carpenter bus came with a rather "rough" conversion. It was something used as a bit of a base camp from some river guides at a rafting company. Not the requirements for the highest levels of fit and finish. But, it did come with a wood stove in it. The door was rusted shut, and it had a lot of rust flaking off inside. But, being a few hundred pounds of steel, it had enough to slough off a few pounds. To the right is the stove in the old bus. It actually is a "certified" stove, complete with the appropriate data plates and information on the back.I utilized a dolly, a ramp, brute strength, and some innovative use of rope in some sort-of-block-and-tackle arrangements to get it OUT of the Carpenter and IN to the Bluebird that is still "home" while the slow process of building up the big bus takes place. After rust breakers, wd-40, more brute strength, a hammer, and a few well chosen 4 letter words, I took the old stove pipe from my older, inefficient stove of last winter (too hot, and too fast of a burn) and got it setup. Freeze warnings last night had me covering the tomato plants outside, and thinking of a stove inside. With just a few bits of wood in it, it burned for hours and hours with a cheerful glow. I think this could run overnight if I loaded it up before going to bed (I'll make sure to change out the batteries in my carbon monoxide detector before I do that, though - just in case). I guess I better split a bunch of wood from my piles of dry logs, and make sure that the ones for this little stove are short. The monster stove in the shop takes just about anything (it can handle 24 inch long logs) where this guy would do best with about 14 inchers.