Build Thread For Haulin' Oats (and goats)

[Tango]

For it's thickness, Reflectix is actually pretty darned effective. And yes...more layers = more R factor. I used it on the out facing surfaces of all my interior body panels combined with two coats of HyTech beads in latex paint at 25%. Since I don't have a lot of room to stuff thick sheets, it was a reasonable alternative.

[USMCRockinRV]

I have it along my windows
Then 3/4" foam board
Then paneling
Then Aromatic Cedar Planks

You can see where the cedar isn't finished and the paneling is covering the foam board and bubble foil.
At the paneling there is NO heat transfer to the touch

[Tango]

Mmmmmmmm...and it SMELLS so good too!

[The-Breeze]

I found Reflectix at HD. Some stores stock it and others will ship to store free.

There is single white & double reflective available. I'm wondering if they could be interchangeable since the double has an R rating of 3.7 to 21 and the singles rating is 3.0 to 7.5.

The rating increases based on the application and since using on windows is not one of the applications referred, I wonder if we would only be looking at a difference of .7 between the two when placed over windows.

[onenationundergoat]

I got a 4'x25' roll at Lowes for $50. Although I seem to remember it saying an R-value of 1 to 3.

[onenationundergoat]

Today the DMV inspector came by. She stepped in, glanced at what we had, asked for the title, asked if we had receipts (but didn't even look at them), and gave us a piece of paper approving the retitle to a house car! We just have to take it to the DMV and get our new title and tags. Woohoo!

We don't even have any plumbing hooked up, tanks installed, or electricity other than a battery sitting on the floor hooked up to a 1100 watt inverter.

Today my dad helped us wire the thermostat controller to the chest freezer, so we'll see how much of a difference in power consumption it makes.

[Better Tomorrows]

It's so fun to see the look of others......they think we are geniuses or we are totally mad.....hahahahahah.....Egore, come here, where are you.

[onenationundergoat]

She was pretty impressed.

[milkmania]

Originally Posted by onenationundergoat

She was pretty impressed.

she secretly wished she had the nads to take on the task, and open the door to freedom.

but instead, trudges through life working for "the man"

[The-Breeze]

Were all the kiddos in the bus when she came through?????? I could just see her face, a goat grazing in the bed and dogs driving & navigating.

[onenationundergoat]

Originally Posted by The-Breeze

Were all the kiddos in the bus when she came through?????? I could just see her face, a goat grazing in the bed and dogs driving & navigating.

The cats were in there but she didn't see them because they were in the cage. I'm not sure if having a goat in there would hurt or help the cause!

We installed the wiring yesterday. Most of our camping is boondocking and we have no desire for 30amp or more hookups. So we took two extension cords and six power strips (two for each room), ran three strips on one cord in each direction by chopping up the cords and wiring them together. So from the rear of the bus it goes: generator, 25 feet of extension cord (so we could plug up to a regular outlet for shore power if we wanted), power strip wired into cord, more cord, another strip wired in, more cord, then the last strip plugged in to the end. That one uses a 50 foot cord total. Running in the other direction, from the inverter in the front, it's the same setup but with a 25 ft cord.

The AC and the washer/dryer will be plugged directly into the generator. We don't have any other massive power drain appliances that would be too much for the extension cord setup.

[onenationundergoat]

Since the last time I posted it's been kinda slow. The veggie oil system isn't going so well... Two of the three tanks we got are made out of steel and I didn't know it would cause polymerization. One 100 gallon aluminum tank is still good though, and we can potentially use the Vormax filter, coolant lines, and switch from the system we bought that ended up being a steel tank with 2 inches of tar polymerized in the bottom. Talk about a nightmare. $700 in and we can only use the $150 tank and the odds and ends. We're 50/50 on going veggie now since it would require at least another $400 or so to finish it.

The high density polyeurethane tanks (used jet ski gas tanks) for the grey and black water were almost unusable once we realized nothing short of a $70 per oz tube of industrial glue will adhere to it. How would we seal the pipes and fittings? Turns out there are grommets made especially for this application. Cut a 3.5" hole, insert grommet, squeeze in 3' pipe, and voila! A waterproof fitting. So now we have a way to connect our plumbing and tanks. There will be two 18 gallon tanks for grey and two 15 gallon tanks for black.

Now we have to figure out how to attach the tanks to the bottom of the bus. We were thinking of 1/8"x1" steel straps, but I'm a bit concerned about rust, and also not sure how to make it a snug enough fit that the vibration won't wear holes in the tanks. Trying to keep the price around $50-$70 or so total for four tanks.

In the meantime between the last progress and now, we've been sanding! And sanding! And sanding! And priming! And sanding! And washing! And taping! And masking paper-ing! And waiting! And waiting! And waiting! (For the weather to allow painting.)

FINALLY this evening we were able to put the first part of the paint job on. Using white acrylic enamel automotive paint with hardener and slow reducer, I painted all the roof seams and the middle part of the roof. Then it got dark and dark means bugs and dew. So around 6:30 in the morning we'll start painting again and hopefully have the whole bus done by lunch! My dad has an airplane hangar, and as you can see from my original picture post the bus fits inside with an inch or two of clearance. We've been pulling her in the hangar at night to keep the dew off, and painting outside. Which requires a lot of WAITING for no dew, low humidity, no rain, not too hot, not in the sun, not windy weather! Oh, the top is white and the bottom will be pale green. I'm excited!

More pictures tomorrow.

[onenationundergoat]

Oh and our title FINALLY came back and we are officially a HOUSE CAR!!! One wonderful fellow NC skoolie gave us a tip on someone to call at Nationwide for insurance. We'll be calling Monday, but if that fails we're looking at getting the registration in South Dakota. Hopefully Nationwide will help us because I'm not looking forward to paying $350 a year for SD's by-weight registration fee. Eek!

[onenationundergoat]

Last night we started painting the roof, and finished it between 8 and 12 today.







We used acrylic enamel with hardener and slow reducer at a ratio of 16(paint):2(slow reducer):1(hardener). One gallon covered the roof down to the drip rails in one heavy coat with few runs, and about 16 oz of paint left over. It covered the yellow and black easily, so I think the two gallons of green will be more than sufficient for two lighter coats on the rest. Any leftover paint will be mixed together (green and white) and applied to the screen frames.

[onenationundergoat]

Here's a bonus picture of the sanding and scraping. The clearcoat was 75% peeled off when we got the bus, and a stiff wind would take off even more, so we had to scrape all of it off with a razorblade. Most of it came off in giant strips, but the small areas were a pain in the ash. We probably put in about 40 hours of sanding, peeling, scraping, and priming before the taping.


Now for the screens. We took the metal supports that were removed from the back of the pegboard from the walls and welded them together to make frames. This pictures shows the supports on the left, and on the right is the corner shear press that I used to punch 90 degree chunks out of them at the right length.


Then Dan used the band saw to cut them at the notch.


A crash course in the sandblasting cabinet, and Dan removed the paint from the ends of the pieces to prepare them for welding.


My dad made a frame for holding the pieces at the right position while welding. A few zaps with the mig welder and a quick cleanup with the grinder, and we have a screen frame!


Every window except the emergency exits has a frame. We'll be attaching screen to the back with adhesive (caulk or liquid nails or something thick) and then putting more adhesive to seal the frame+screen to the window on the outside, then putting screws into the vertical pieces between the windows. The purpose of the screens is firstly to keep the cats inside, secondly to provide airflow, and thirdly to keep bugs out. If it does the first two then we'll be happy, and theoretically it'll keep bugs out too.

[Tango]

I'm with you guys. A bus without window screens is just wrong! Gotta be able to open up into the fresh air...WITHOUT providing food for insects.

[onenationundergoat]

More painting pictures! Finally finished it all today. We were shooting for a twenty foot paint job, but it turned out to be about an 8 foot paint job! Maybe 15 or so drips/runs on the entire thing, which is pretty good considering a first time spray painter and a massive project with a million rivets! (If I do say so myself.)



















The bumpers and wheel wells will be painted later. For now, I AM HAPPY!!!!

[EastCoastCB]

That's a nice lookin paint job!

[Tango]

Outstanding!...and..minty fresh! Love the color.

[onenationundergoat]

The white roof made an instant difference in inside temp. Even with all the windows closed up on a 95 degree day it wasn't totally unbearable. Uncomfortable, but not dangerously hot. with the screens in and the windows open I think we won't even *need* to run the AC on any but the hottest of days.