Delores: my 1973 Gillig build

[RyanM]

New skins for the window slots

[Skoolydoo]

Just wondering what gauge metal you got? Did you have it pre cut?
Thanks for the info

[RyanM]

Originally Posted by Skoolydoo

Just wondering what gauge metal you got? Did you have it pre cut?
Thanks for the info

Its 20g galvanized steel. I have a buddy whose got a fabrication shop. He ordered the steel for me and sheared all but one sheet for me. I'm afraid I won't be any help when it comes to cost for raw material and having it pre cut, he gave it to me at cost and didn't charge me to shear it.

[Skoolydoo]

Thanks, I have a friend that works in a metal shop,and they always give me good deals
And the shearing is free, I think he does it on his lunch hour, cause all the time I get hey
Bring me a burger or Taco..

[Tango]

Nice score! If it is galvanized, don't forget to etch it thoroughly before painting. Good news is there are some pretty god "self-etching" primers these day that make it a lot easier.

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by Tango

Nice score! If it is galvanized, don't forget to etch it thoroughly before painting. Good news is there are some pretty god "self-etching" primers these day that make it a lot easier.

yep. I'd just ospho it.

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by Skoolydoo

Thanks, I have a friend that works in a metal shop,and they always give me good deals
And the shearing is free, I think he does it on his lunch hour, cause all the time I get hey
Bring me a burger or Taco..

Same here. I still have lots of connections down at the steel shop where I used to work.

[RyanM]

Getting this rubber flooring off the plywood is a pain, but it looks like I'll be able to reuse a lot of the wood. Only deterioration I've found was around the passenger side front wheel well. The rest seems solid!

[sammy]

So you don't have a metal floor under the wood huh? Does that seem like a problem at all? I guess not, since obviously this bus is older than most conversions on here, and it seems in pretty good shape. Are you replacing all that wood? And if so, what kind of wood are you going to use? I'm assuming it's exposed to anything coming up from the road?

Do you happen to know if this was a common construction technique for Gilligs? Are Crowns this way too? I'm so curious.

[FreedomPanda]

Sammy, I have a 1973 Gillig that I'm in the process of converting, and it also didn't have a floor underneath the wood. I had to build one from scratch, and it holds about 2" of insulation now. It was a pain.

[sammy]

FreedomPanda - did you build a steel floor, or just rebuild a new wood floor? Seems like if the old floor lasted 40 years, then it's not a bad technique? But what would the downsides be to a wooden floor without the steel under it? You could still put 2" of insulation on it, and then your finished floor on top of that, correct?

[Tango]

Best be marine grade plywood if it is to last more than a year or two.

[EastCoastCB]

stuff like this







https://www.marine-plywood.us/mahogany_okoume.htm

http://plywood.boatbuildercentral.com/help.php

[sammy]

Originally Posted by Tango

Best be marine grade plywood if it is to last more than a year or two.

I'm assuming that's what Gillig would have put in?

[mrblah]

Out of curiosity, is marine plywood fireproof?

I was familiar with fireproof plywoods but less with marine grade ones.

[FreedomPanda]

Oh! I was going to share what my cost was for the 20g steel for my bus...I spent $275, which included the cutting.

[sammy]

Originally Posted by RyanM

Getting this rubber flooring off the plywood is a pain, but it looks like I'll be able to reuse a lot of the wood. Only deterioration I've found was around the passenger side front wheel well. The rest seems solid!

What was the best technique for getting the rubber flooring off?

[Tango]

Years ago I borrowed a neighbors shingle spade and it worked like a champ. As the name implies, they are made for removing roofing shingles but it was great at getting under the old rubber. Note...mine was not glued down that heavily.

[EastCoastCB]

Mine wasn't even glued down really at all. It was super easy to get out.

[RyanM]

Originally Posted by sammy

What was the best technique for getting the rubber flooring off?

I went to Lowe's and bought a floor scraper. It's a long handled tool with a sharp, replaceable blade on the end. It's time consuming, but productive. The rubber in Delores is stuck pretty good; makes me wish I knew what they'd used to make it stick in the first place!