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Old 02-24-2014, 08:56 PM   #1
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The Land Lubber

Me and my wife purchased a 1998 Bluebird All American RE. It has an 8.3 cummins. We intend to live in the bus upon completion. We own a house now, but would like to shed the house payment for a year or two. So far we have taken out the seats. Pulled up the rotten wood. Ground off all the screw heads. Wire wheeled the steel deck. Treat the deck with Ospho. Painted the steel deck with bus kote. Painted the walls with bus kote. I have posted on here before, but I can't post pictures b/c of size. I'm not real slick on a computer I have a blog with photos. wilsonsonthebus.blogspot.com

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Old 02-24-2014, 09:02 PM   #2
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Re: The Land Lubber

we also removed the rear heater. I re ran the heater core hoses under the bus. I used 2x 20 ft of 1 1/2" gray conduit to run the 1" radiator hose through. I felt this would be a good source to hand the hose under the bus. The conduit is cheap and the straps prove to be a easy way to hang them securely.
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Old 02-24-2014, 10:01 PM   #3
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Re: The Land Lubber

http://s1151.photobucket.com/user/robwi ... slideshow/
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Old 02-25-2014, 06:39 AM   #4
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Re: The Land Lubber

Thanks man.
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Old 02-25-2014, 05:54 PM   #5
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Re: The Land Lubber

Looks like a "healthy" bus - Ninety-Eight Point Six!
Keep up the good work.
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Old 02-25-2014, 06:22 PM   #6
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Re: The Land Lubber

Haha good one.
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Old 02-25-2014, 07:33 PM   #7
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Re: The Land Lubber

Cool. 8.3, AWESOME!

Why does the picture link say "we got duped"?
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Old 02-25-2014, 08:47 PM   #8
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Re: The Land Lubber

just a joke. the picture is at the place we bought it from, so I was implying that we were overcharged. I feel that way anytime I buy anything, but we are having so much fun, it's more than worth it.
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Old 02-25-2014, 09:43 PM   #9
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Re: The Land Lubber

I like your conduit for the coolant hose, gonna do the same,.... and welcome to the community, beautiful bus.
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Old 03-03-2014, 08:10 PM   #10
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Re: The Land Lubber

Put down the new floorboards this weekend. Went well. We used 3/4 subfloor wood (with tongue and groove ends, 8x4) on top of 1/2 sheet insulation (8x4 as well). We cut out the wheel humps square since we will be building boxes over them anyway. We used liquid nail adhesive to attach the insulation. We predrilled the wood and countersunk self tapping fasteners (2 3/4"). We ran the wood to where there isn't a center seam. Instead there is a seam every 4 feet (tongue and groove seams). We also got insulation on one wall. Very productive weekend, can't wait to chalk out our floor plan! will post pics soon.
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Old 03-03-2014, 10:33 PM   #11
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Re: The Land Lubber

patience please. still figuring out the picture thing. sorry guys.
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Old 03-03-2014, 10:36 PM   #12
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Re: The Land Lubber

http://s1151.photobucket.com/user/robwi ... slideshow/
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Old 03-04-2014, 06:36 PM   #13
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Re: The Land Lubber

can any of you guys tell me what kind of primer to put on my roof before I bus kote (hytech) it? I also would like to know what kind of paint I can mix the hytech paint additives into to. It cost just over $60 bucks to have it shipped to my house. Thanks in advance.
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Old 03-05-2014, 11:37 AM   #14
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Re: The Land Lubber

Hey LL --- are you going to work over existing paint or bare metal? Best bet is to talk to an automotive paint shop, because getting the primer coat right is very important.

As for the HyTech beads, my understanding is that they can be mixed with any type of paint. The example I saw here in Houston that sold me on the stuff was in cheapo latex but it was on the interior of a metal roof building. If you are mixing your own, you'll need a paint that will be appropriate for automotive rooftop conditions. And HyTech does sell a ready mix formulated for that application. It is even called "Bus Coat" as I recall. Combines an elastomeric waterproofing formula with their magic NASA beads. Everyone I have talked to that has used it has been more than happy with it's performance. They also sell a clear coat to top it off with that will extend the life and make it MUCH easier to keep clean.

I will be applying my own mix on most of my inner surfaces but will be using the Bus Coat & clear on my roof...if I can ever get this #@%! project that far along.
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Old 03-05-2014, 09:23 PM   #15
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Re: The Land Lubber

I have just under 5 gallons of Bus Kote (hytech). My roof is chalking, so I know I have to prime it. I may just order the primer form hytech as well, I just wanted to save myself the shipping. All this automotive stuff is scary to me. I'll start researching automotive paints. I really need the roof paint job to turn out good. I am also hoping it will fix these small leaks I have. Thanks for the advice Nat.
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Old 03-05-2014, 09:55 PM   #16
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Re: The Land Lubber

Our paint was very chalky when we got our bus, after a bunch of research I ran across a thread here where an expert vehicle resident (Accordion) said he used TSP to clean before painting. There was some debate about it and the consensus was that it worked very well to clean old paint. I went to home depot and found it in the paint section. Some painters call it "sugar soap", it is a dry powder you mix with water and it looks like sugar. We mixed some up and put it in spray bottles, it worked great to remove the chalkiness and removed all the oil and grease that had accumulated over the years... even cleaned the paint nearest the exhaust. It is a bit strange to work with as it a non-sudsing soap, so you just spray it on and scrub but it doesn't form bubbles, then rinse it off and all the dirt and garbage goes away with it. I would say before you do anything paint related you should make sure to start with the cleanest surface you can manage. Good luck!!
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Old 03-06-2014, 10:33 AM   #17
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Re: The Land Lubber

thanks man. We will investigate the sugar soap. I'm gonna get some sanding disks for our 4in grinders and hit the entire roof to smooth where the clear coat is chipping and give the chalky areas some texture as well. Maybe we won't have to worry about priming it if we rough up the finish and give it some texture.
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Old 03-14-2014, 09:46 AM   #18
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Re: The Land Lubber

We had some rain come through, so we thought we would use this to help us wash the ol'Bird. We discovered that the roof isn't leaking, but instead the windows were, pretty much every one of them. Upon closer inspection we found that most of the old caulk from '98 was cracked or non existent.
We scraped most of the old caulk out, and ran new beads. It feels so good knowing that my new floorboards are safer than they were. In hind sight I may have done these projects backwards, but forward is our direction.
So we did not paint roof, but we are. We are going to paint the entire bus for that matter, so any advice is welcome. We plan to roll it and brush it.
Sealing the windows took about 8 hours. that was stripping and re sealing.
you know how I am with the pix.
go check out our previously mentioned blog, it's got some pics of the new caulk job.
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Old 03-20-2014, 10:24 PM   #19
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Re: The Land Lubber

We still have some leaky windows. I really thought we did decent job of caulking the windows, but there still seems to be some water on the chair rail. It is definitely less, but I want no leaks. We are gonna pull the driver's seat and do some restoration under it. It will be raining, so we are gonna pull off the tarps, and watch. Have you guys had any experience with eliminating leaks or tracking them down? I really don't think it's the roof, but we are gonna paint with buskote as soon as the weather allows.
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Old 03-21-2014, 10:59 PM   #20
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Re: The Land Lubber

We didn't prime, roof paint looked to be in good condition so we just sanded it really well with a medium grit sandpaper, hosed it off and let it bake dry in the sun. We mixed our beads with elastomeric paint and it turned out like cake batter, two decently thick coats. We'll see how it holds up but most of ours will be covered by the time we do an insulated roof rack.
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