Big Bertha

[big_bertha]

The next weekend, we worked on painting the bathroom and "living room". We are flat broke by this point and are trying to use up things we have lying around, so we convinced ourselves that rustoleum could look like lacquer, and used a couple gallons of "light machine gray". I do not recommend rolling or brushing this stuff onto any surface that has to look good. It's just a sloppy, drippy, sticky paint, period. I would rattle-can it in a heartbeat if I had the opportunity.

Then we built the toe-kick for the other side of the kitchen. By now it felt like we were constantly working in the dark, we would run errands all day, show up at the bus and have an hour of daylight, and work until midnight. Sleep in until 9, arrive at 10 or 11am, sun sets at what seemed to be 3pm.

[claydbal]

glad to see yall back! thought yall froze.

[Tango]

Looks like pretty good progress to me!

[big_bertha]

This was around christmas, I had a couple weeks off so we took advantage and worked as much as we could. We sanded & repainted the bathroom and living room walls, assembled cabinets and mounted them to the toe-kicks, and worked on countertops.

The sofas are from here http://www.doityourselfrv.com/diy-rv...bed-madmumsie/ - Appropriated the idea and built with 2x4s and Ikea queen slat sets. They slide out to form a full mattress platform and are hinged to provide storage underneath!

It was really cold and we almost froze to death.

[big_bertha]

[big_bertha]

Okay. Whew. Where to start. Here's what you just saw:

-We did the countertop for the "oven" side of the kitchen.

-Converted a 12" base cabinet to a 5" base cabinet, which we plan to use to store flat things.

-Three coats of spar urethane on the countertops (which began as raw beech) after sanding up through 400. Finished with 0000 steel wool.

-Cut and mounted the "bunk wall" over half of the kids' bunks.

-Mounted trim boards on kids' bunks and "play bunk".

-Paneled the living room wall.

-Cut sink and faucet holes in countertop, mounted it to the cabinets, and caulked corner seams.

-Mounted sink & faucet.

-Attached kerfed plywood ceiling "underlayment" in preparation for tin.

-Installed tin ceiling tiles.

[big_bertha]

Here are the leftovers from previous post (exceeded the 50-pic max!)

[big_bertha]

The madness continues!

[big_bertha]

[big_bertha]

MORE MADNESS!


UH OH! This is one of about five leaks we've identified. My wife says I've gotten my first gray hairs!

We are almost certain it's coming in through the window panels we installed in the summertime... the dry... summertime... without caulk... because it was dry... and we weren't thinking about wetness










It's late and I just want to keep throwing pictures at you. Besides, they explain better than I could...

[big_bertha]

This is a lake of water in our bedroom, pooling due to the tilt of the bus on uneven ground, which entered through the e-door on the opposite side. Time for some new weatherstripping.








Hey this DIDN'T WORK.













THE WILD FIRST RIDE!


Drove it to Heiser for body and paint, made a pit stop at the in-laws and snapped a few pics in the sun







So we finished up what we could in our final days before she was scheduled for paint, and at this point I feel like we're over the hump. We hit rock bottom morale-wise about the time we started laying hardwood. Having her in the paint shop is such a nice break, and we needed it. When she's done being painted, the bathroom happens, and plumbing, and some final trim, and the odds & ends will never be complete. This bus (house) will probably be a work in progress for the rest of its useful life. But I will still do it, and I'll still believe in it, and I'll still love it. It has taken so much from me, and at the same time has given so much back. And we're still just barely scratching the surface. I really can't wait for what lay ahead.

[Tango]

Lookin' Great Guys! --- Keep up the good work and keep the pix coming.

[big_bertha]

These are photos from Heiser, emailed to me by our sales rep

"We sand. We sand again. We mask off things that won't be painted, we sand around them. We sand around each seam. We sand around every rivet. We sand some more. Then we do it again."

















We took some pics when we got a sneak peek on Friday. They're cleaning what's left of the botched roof spooge off the windows, doing some detailing, and we're picking her up tomorrow.

In other news, we found a potential place to live:





On some farm property that a sweet lady is renting to a few other like-minded liveaboards... seems too good to be true, but we'll find out tomorrow if Bertha can make the hairpin driveway entrance.

[EastCoastCB]

Guys, seriously- WOW, I'm very impressed. Please keep up the good work and continue to post those pics!
I'm also going with the "wall" behind the "cab".

[HolyBus]

Amazing! I want the butcher block counter top. Very nice. Love the tin ceiling too!

[PDBreske]

That is a nice paint job. Really looks fantastic.

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by PDBreske

That is a nice paint job. Really looks fantastic.

I think so too. Clearly a real painter did that

[nat_ster]

There is so much win in this thread.

Well thought out.

Well built

Wife helping build her home

Wife helping even while preggo

Great use of material

ect.

Thank you for taking the time to share it with us.

Nat

[aaronsb]

I gave heiser a call, and it sounds like they have a pretty reasonable price on painting a bus! I think I'll do the same thing when I can scare up some funds, your bus looks fantastic with the new paint.

[big_bertha]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

Guys, seriously- WOW, I'm very impressed. Please keep up the good work and continue to post those pics!
I'm also going with the "wall" behind the "cab".

Thanks! I am convinced that it really helps to keep in the warmth. On the coldest nights we had to staple masking film over the doorway to keep out the cold draft. Too much glass up front! And the folding door is very, very far from airtight.

Originally Posted by HolyBus

Amazing! I want the butcher block counter top. Very nice. Love the tin ceiling too!

Thanks, countertops were about $130/ea from Ikea. Cheap compared to corian or acrylic and much prettier than laminate. Just have to make your own backsplash.

Originally Posted by nat_ster

There is so much win in this thread.

Well thought out.

Well built

Wife helping build her home

Wife helping even while preggo

Great use of material

ect.

Thank you for taking the time to share it with us.

Nat

You're welcome!

Originally Posted by aaronsb

I gave heiser a call, and it sounds like they have a pretty reasonable price on painting a bus! I think I'll do the same thing when I can scare up some funds, your bus looks fantastic with the new paint.

Thanks! They quoted us $4,890 for sand, prep, recaulk EVERY body seam, primer, and solid grey. Custom designs/two tones/anything metallic or requiring a clear-coat would drive up price. Our grey is single stage. Tax came to $500.

Really reasonable if you ask me, even though it's twice as much as we paid for the bus itself, but I mean a quality auto paint job is in the same ballpark, and think about the surface area of the bus, and all those rivets, caulking, my god.

They also re-mounted my battery box, removed the broken latch and replaced the whole assembly, put on some new weatherstripping, painted the wheels, mirrors, bumpers, cleaned and detailed everything that wasn't painted like tires, rubber, hinges etc.

They really took care of us. Simon is great. And from what I hear, they've been around since the 30s and have quite a good rep.

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

I think so too. Clearly a real painter did that

Originally Posted by PDBreske

That is a nice paint job. Really looks fantastic.

Thanks for the kind words guys.