Sunday, March 27, 2016

Food Cart Project Part XLI: I Think I Might Be Finished...

This weekend, like last weekend, was devoted to finishing the plumbing and taking care of the last of the miscellaneous tasks I've been putting off for way too long now... And dare I say it, I may just have knocked them all out. The most important of these was the plumbing. I got the gray water tank installed, and then trimmed, fit and glued up all of the ABS under the sinks:


I also trimmed up some zinc flashing and attached it around the exhaust hood vent opening. Not the best fabrication job, obviously, as you can see from the buckling at the front, but it's a bit more finished than a big gaping hole in the ceiling...


I also installed a piece of plywood over the hole in the wall that the esophageal tubing comes through. This I might have to re-do, for a tighter fit around the tubing itself, but like the vent hood, it's a bit more finished than the gaping hole that existed before:


Lastly, I reworked the steps to the back door a bit. The top now extends to the jamb, with enough clearance below for draining the gray water tank. I'm also considering painting them...


The big move is scheduled for next Sunday. I'll have most of next weekend to make whatever other tweaks I might think of, but like I said, I think this thing is mostly done, with respect to the build-out. This project is about to become a job... Stay tuned!

Sunday, March 20, 2016

Food Cart Project Part XL: Odds & Ends

So it's getting down to the last few bits & pieces before the cart gets moved to its new home at Piedmont Station. This weekend was about plumbing (as will be next weekend), among other random tasks. As you can see here, I've installed the esophageal tubing. This is the tubing that leads from the hose door to the fresh water tank:


I also installed the grommet on the gray water tank, which will accept the ABS pipe that drains the sinks...


I got the first of that ABS manifold glued up as well:


The last of the awning lock hardware has been installed:


And, since I know I won't be serving out of the side window for the forseeable future, I put up some more shelving over it. If you squint, you can see that I installed a length of 2x4, painted white, with a bracket to support the middle of the shelf. At this point, I have a pretty good amount of storage in this thing...


Needless to say, things are moving right along. I'll post up some more photos once the plumbing is finished, and of course after that, I'll document the move. Stay tuned!

Sunday, March 13, 2016

Food Cart Project Part XXXIX: Electrical and Grey Water

A handful of very significant things have happened over the past few weeks. First, the electrical work was done. I contracted West Side Electric to do this work, and their guy banged it out in just six hours. I went with a 100 amp panel, with plenty of circuits:


Naturally, there are outlets throughout the cart. Here's a "quad" which will accommodate the lights:


Here's another quad for the rice cooker, and incidentals like charging the phone or running a fan when it gets hot out:


Here are some outlets for the induction burners and deep fryers:


I also installed the grey water tank. I mounted it to the floor joists using steel strapping. The tank itself is 52 gallons...


It's fitted with a coupling, a knife valve and a cap which has a hose attachment. I'll need to pick up a pump at the hardware store, but otherwise, my grey water set-up is in place:


The outflow plumbing, once installed, will connect to the grey water tank through this hole in the floor:


The most important thing that's happened recently, though, is that I found a space for the cart, and signed a lease. I'll be at the Piedmont Station cart pod on NE Killingsworth and 7th. A very big milestone, obviously. So, things are getting pretty close to finished with respect to construction, and I'm not far from being operational. Stay tuned!