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Old 01-24-2005, 12:32 AM   #1
Skoolie
 
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Location: Northeastern CO
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Demon's "The big ugly"

Well thats what I'm calling it..it is the uglyest(sp?) thing I've seen in awhile.

Specs (knowen so far)
1976 B-750
Apx: 35 foot counting the nose
Carpenter body
Trans code is L or 7 (automatic)..oddly I have both 7 and L writen down *frown*
Engine: guessing at 370 though
Tires are Toyo M605 10.00R20's on the back..all six tires are in almost new condition even.


Sooo many more questions..

1. Any reason I couldn't make black/grey water tanks from fiberglass?

2. Just how does one go about removing the rubber flooring? I wish to inspect the wood flooring (just in case)

3. On the 6v batt setup is there a way to hook-up two sets of chargers without one frying the other? (ie: one 120-6v charge and a chargeing line from the alt)

4. Has anyone thought of, or covered the undercarrage with fiberglass/tin?
This strikes me as a fast way to not only streamline the buss, but to protect the water tanks and such.

more to be added as I think of them, photos and schetches coming soon.

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Old 01-25-2005, 07:52 PM   #2
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People use fiberglass all the time for tanks. I cannot remember where I saw an article on how to build them wiht plywood coated with fibergalss. I don't have any first hand experience with it myself but I hear they work great.
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Old 01-25-2005, 07:57 PM   #3
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i like standard plastic 30 gallon drums. They fit neatly up under the bus. They only stick out past the body a few inches. After painting the drums the same color as the bus, they're barely noticable.

the best part is they can be had for $10.00 or less. Perhaps free. You can find food grade plastic for drinking water and such.

I like this method because it's cheap and simple.

fiberglass would be a good adventure however.
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Old 01-25-2005, 09:43 PM   #4
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the main reason I want to use fiberglass is so that I can build a sprayer inside it to help clean it out..think "lawn tractor" and you'll get some idea *S*

that and this way I can fit them to the bus rather than try and find ones that fit it..

(edit) oh and I am getting two 15 gallon barrles form the brewery supply store for free..going to paint them flat black and use them in the summer for a outdoors shower.
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Old 01-27-2005, 09:31 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lapeer20m
i like standard plastic 30 gallon drums. They fit neatly up under the bus. They only stick out past the body a few inches. After painting the drums the same color as the bus, they're barely noticable.

the best part is they can be had for $10.00 or less. Perhaps free. You can find food grade plastic for drinking water and such.

I like this method because it's cheap and simple.

fiberglass would be a good adventure however.
So, how did you fit those tanks under the bus?
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Old 01-28-2005, 04:27 PM   #6
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I got really fancy (that's a joke)............I used some heavy duty ratchet straps like the ones used to hold things onto flat bed semi-trailers. They cost about 15-20 dollars each. I used two for each drum. I just had a couple of these laying around, so that's what i used.

There are a lot of other alternatives. Using thin metal straps i think would be a much more permanent alternative. I just didn't have any laying around when I was doing the tanks. One problem i've discovered is that after about a year or so, the straps are very much weakened due to the affects of weather on the nylon material and need to be replaced.

The straps are rated for something crazy like 10,000 pounds breaking strength when new. A 30 gallon drum of water weighs under 300 pounds, so there's a pretty good safety factor!
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Old 01-28-2005, 04:43 PM   #7
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Hmm..the metel things not the best from what I have been told..you don't want rust and plastic together...he didn't explain and I didn't ask *shrug*
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Old 11-18-2006, 04:42 PM   #8
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well that site is about as dead as my working on the bus has been..course the bus IS 1200 miles from me at this time....

Current plans are to bring her out this spring/late winter
As she org came propane fired, and I like that idea...but someone started to convert her to gas since finding someone to work on propane has proven to be hard to impossible. She wasn't running right almost two years ago when we left, so i'm thinking finishing the conversion (needs a fuel pump and carb) would make since and be easier. Only other things that need to be done are wireing of the tail lights (non-working) and trying to remove.reduce the play in the steering wheel...its pretty nasty and if I were to drive that far in her as is it would take me days longer due to my arms killing me *S*

finish stripping out the inside (inner body panels/floor) and add insulation, as Colorado can be both cold as hell and hotter than said place all within a month of each other. So since fat boy here likes the cold better than the heat, AC is high up on the list. (besides I have a small(ish) woodstove so heat will be easy to work into it.

As one of the last oweners had very little in the way of brains and painted the outside with basic latex house paint, and the fact that Washington seems to grow a lot of mold outside..the bus is to say the least..well..ugly...and I have a feeling that if I try to powerwash it a lot (most?) of the paint will just come off. So because this area has some of the most uptight people a real paint job is up there as well....

As I'm considering liveing in her for two years or more while I do the auto tech schooling (spec in diesel tech) getting her able to handle both heat and cold means more than the little things like human confort. I can deal with about any level of liveing do to a mindset more suited to roughing it than most... (just don't take my computers away)..so a simple bed tossed in the back and a couple of chairs would be all I need besides a bathroom..and I have a shower/toilet stall in the buss now..not hooked up but one less thing I have to find later on.... still need a toilet though.... considering makeing things easy for now and doing a straight "trailer park" setup (no black or grey tanks) as I'm not planning on dry camping her any time soon.

more as I think about it..

EDIT: forgot about elect heaters, since I'll be paying for it why not use it?
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Old 12-26-2006, 07:42 PM   #9
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Due to family loss, my wifes kid sister passed away in Mount Vernon, Wa...we are now coinsidering moving back to the area...this brings a few problems with it, the basics being a place to live, a job...but the one I have to think about is two fold...anyone know of places one can work on a bus without having people throw a fit? When we lived there before I had the bus at my apt. for a total of a hour before the cops showed up to inquire about it and my plans *grin* needless to say a few days was more than the managers liked, but had to live with.... The storage (2nd part of the problem) can be delt with through several storage yards that I know of, the one its at now isn't real happy that my 6-8 months turned out to be a couple of years...but as long as they get the cash they deal with it. SO, all of those in the upper northwest, where do YOU store/work on your buses?
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Old 12-26-2006, 10:28 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Demonknight
Due to family loss, my wifes kid sister passed away in Mount Vernon, Wa...we are now coinsidering moving back to the area...this brings a few problems with it, the basics being a place to live, a job...but the one I have to think about is two fold...anyone know of places one can work on a bus without having people throw a fit? When we lived there before I had the bus at my apt. for a total of a hour before the cops showed up to inquire about it and my plans *grin* needless to say a few days was more than the managers liked, but had to live with.... The storage (2nd part of the problem) can be delt with through several storage yards that I know of, the one its at now isn't real happy that my 6-8 months turned out to be a couple of years...but as long as they get the cash they deal with it. SO, all of those in the upper northwest, where do YOU store/work on your buses?
Well, shoot; that's really bad news. Losses like that are hard on folks; I hope you and your wife are doing ok under the circumstances.

I'm 19 miles west of Mount Vernon, straight out Highway 20. I do know where there are storage yards but I'm not sure where you could also work on it. I think if you go east a bit out past Sedro Wooley (toward Hamilton) you might find some rural property where working on the bus wouldn't be a real hassle. Maybe even north or south on Highway 9 too. A lot of the farms are calling it quits and maybe you can find an old barn to rent pretty inexpensively.

I keep my buses next to my house but it's an usual circumstance since my business is located on the ground floor below me and we're in a mixed use (business and residential) zoning area. Besides, the buses sort of blend in with all the boats!
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Old 12-26-2006, 11:35 PM   #11
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yeah..shes out there now, guess her moms takeing it real hard.... So a move is looking more likely all the time...yeah the bus is currently in anacortes, but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't let me do much work on her where she sits. I wouldn't mind getting her liveable then moveing her to a rv park, but a paint job would have to be high on my list (like its not anyway) for them to even think about it.
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Old 12-26-2006, 11:57 PM   #12
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Sorry about your loss, we had a bad summer ,it gets better with time but that doesn't make it easy .
Try oven cleaner and a pressure washer to loosen up the latex paint without damaging the yeller paint, its probably baked on and just about impossible to duplicate in the real world, just scuff it up for good adhesion and paint it.
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Old 12-27-2006, 12:02 AM   #13
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Hmmm...hadn't thought about oven cleaner... I figure if I run it through a GOOD car wash (high pressure hose) it would probably take off a good part of it..someone did a really crappy job on it..and the years haven't helped it one bit.
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Old 12-27-2006, 08:40 AM   #14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Demonknight
yeah..shes out there now, guess her moms takeing it real hard.... So a move is looking more likely all the time...yeah the bus is currently in anacortes, but I'm pretty sure they wouldn't let me do much work on her where she sits. I wouldn't mind getting her liveable then moveing her to a rv park, but a paint job would have to be high on my list (like its not anyway) for them to even think about it.
Is it currently at the old drive-in storage facility on 20? I've seen several buses in there.

As the saying goes...where there's a will there's a way. I think there's still enough rural area around here to find a place, at a fairly reasonable rate, to work on the bus. It may take some hunting around but it's out there.
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Old 12-27-2006, 09:55 AM   #15
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Actually its at the anacortes automotive yard, just in town and near the bay...if you were to take 20 all the way into anacortes it would be on the right hand side just before the stop light on R ave.... you can't miss it..its big, its a nasty blue, and its ugly *LOL*
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Old 12-27-2006, 09:56 AM   #16
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Hmm, ok this is spam...what happens at 100 post?..anything?

whoo hoo..got the skoolie tag now
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Old 12-27-2006, 07:44 PM   #17
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Originally Posted by Demonknight
Hmm, ok this is spam...what happens at 100 post?..anything?

whoo hoo..got the skoolie tag now
Congrats!
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Old 02-13-2007, 11:32 AM   #18
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well things should begin to happen soon, we are moving back to washington state sometime in the middle of march and I will have roughly two weeks to paint the bus and get it "liveable" ... for us this simply means a bed(s) and a shower... I was thinking of useing a small house type water heater for now since the bus would be parked in a rv slot and hooked to shore power/water, we already have a shower stall that has a sink and toilet mount..now I just need to find a toilet to put there...

now to go dig around in the tutorial section a bit
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Old 02-13-2007, 06:17 PM   #19
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may I suggest a composting toilet? You can build one yourself cheap. It will smell less, need very infrequent emptying and be alot easier than a blackwater set up.
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Old 02-13-2007, 10:07 PM   #20
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Eric von Kleist made one for his bus, you can see some of the details somewhere in this album:
http://www.skoolie.net/gallery2/v/Sk...ift/?g2_page=1
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