Diesel Dan's Skoolie

[Accordion]

Dan, I listened to your music on the Soundclick site. Very cool. I see that you are a David Byrne fan. Fa fa fa fa... I loved Green Onions.
I have done some jam band stuff as well. I have many CDs of my music.
Here is a link to a you tube video. There are a few there that are bootleg (I didn't know I was being filmed).

Click on this one, and you will see other ones that I have posted. We would have a blast doing some recordings together.

Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/user/rudyaccordi ... br6A1wkbIw

You may have to copy and paste. I don't know if it will be an automatic link when I post it to skoolies.

[Diesel Dan]

Originally Posted by Accordion

...Here is a link to a you tube video. There are a few there that are bootleg (I didn't know I was being filmed)...

Aw man, I was totally groovin' on that accordian jam! I'm sure you've heard of the band Beausoleil, and possibly the offshoot band Coteau. Coteau was a sort of Cajun jam band formed by Michael Doucet. There is a great tune they did called: "Balfa et Grand Bois" that starts off as a cajun tune, then meanders into jam band land, then returns triumphantly to a rockin' cajun reel (I'm not sure if "reel" is the proper term). Anyway, your accordian jam reminded me a lot of that tune. Love it!

[thommassey]

Originally Posted by Diesel Dan

Next steps on the Magic Bus will be finishing the overhead cabinets in the living area and also the wall unit that will go behind the sink. Once that is all done, the bus will have all it's basic interior structure complete. All that remains after that is trim, a few odds and ends, plumbing and WVO conversion. Although really, I don't think I'll ever run out of things to build into this bus.

WVO?

[Diesel Dan]

Originally Posted by thommassey

WVO?

WVO = Waste Vegetable Oil

[thommassey]

Originally Posted by Diesel Dan

WVO = Waste Vegetable Oil

Duh... I knew that.

[Accordion]

I just got through re-reading your entire thread once again. What a beautiful machine you have created. Those front steps are magnificent. I am inspired to beautify mine now.

By the way, you have the most desirable diesel engine there is. I have the precursor to the CAT 3208.It is the 1160 V-8. It is 38 years old and still working well. I guess that it is a good motor.

If I ever get to Austin, I will look you up. We will have a great time playing music.

[Diesel Dan]

Thanks Rudy! But yeah, about those stairs... actually I kinda screwed that up. Before I stained them I had put a bath towel down on them to protect them while I was tromping in and out of the bus doing some work, and that night it rained and the towel somehow got wet and then the stairs got moldy. So I sanded it as best I could and then stained and polyurethaned. Well... apparently my sanding wasn't good enough because the finish got all screwed up where the mold was. Also, the steps were kinda slick with the poly on there. So finally my solution was to coat them with pickup truck bedliner. Here is what it looks like now:



I still like it, but it doesn't have the same visual appeal as the stained wood.

For the past couple of weeks I've been working on the upper cabinets in the living area. I have them built, trimmed and stained - but have not yet put on the polyurethane. I also haven't made the doors yet. I'm going to use some old painted kitchen cabinet doors I got for free off craigslist or freecycle (don't remember which now). These doors will need to be cut to size and I will paint them maroon (actually the color is Behr Cranberry) to match the curtains. My wife and I are currently using the bus as our bedroom while my parents are visiting and staying in our bedroom in the house. You will see in the next post we have the front couch folded out into a bed, but as we discovered last night, it's really too small for two people to sleep comfortably. That's not to say it isn't good for anything . Okay, I know, too much information . Anyway, actual sleeping happens in the bunk room. Here's what the living room looks like now:

[Diesel Dan]

So here is a better look at the upper cabinets with the stain and trim:







With the glare from the camera flash you can really see the wood filler I used to hide the screw heads, especially on the driver side lower mounting strip. It's not so obvious in normal lighting and I still like it better than seeing the holes and screw heads.

[Diesel Dan]

Here is a view of the decorative trim I used around the toaster over and over-sink cabinet. The over-sink cabinet will stay open (no door) and I will put a backing on it to hide the hole I made for the wiring. I'll probably make some other decorative touch to cover the large gap over the toaster oven, or I might make a small shelf there. Not sure yet. Here's the pics:





I had fun with all the trim work. I haven't driven that many nails in a long time!

[Accordion]

Your bus is very good looking. Everything you do to it has a lot of flair.

[Diesel Dan]

Thanks again Rudy. Your bus is actually one of my favorites on this site. I especially like your little office area. I'm really jealous of that, but although it works for you as a single guy, there's no way I could spare the space for something like that with my family crammed into my 3/4 length bus. Maybe when the kids have grown and I reconfigure for just me and my wife I can have a little office. Neat.

[Bullwhacker007]

Is your toaster oven insulated?
Mine is not and found out the hard way when a fork dropped down behind it after I just bought it and reached there.
You could hear the skin sizzle where my arm touched it.
There were allot of four letter works being spouted for awhile after that.
All it took was about one second for a bad 2nd degree burn on my arms underside.
The ovens skin was as hot as the 450 setting on the heat inside..
You need air space around it and nothing touching or your bus could burn up.

[Diesel Dan]

Originally Posted by Bullwhacker007

Is your toaster oven insulated? ... You need air space around it and nothing touching or your bus could burn up.

Thanks for that tip! I'm not sure if it's insulated or not. I suspect it is, or at least has an insulating air space between the walls. I am planning to leave some air space around it, but now I will keep a close eye on it and monitor the temperature in that cabinet while it is operating. If necessary I suppose I could line the cabinet with sheet metal.

This morning my wife and I took advantage of having my parents around to watch the kids and we had a wonderful breakfast date in the bus.

[browncrown]

Dan, really nice work all around the inside. The cabinets turned out great and the whole interior looks comfy. Glad you and your wife got toe enjoy a nice breakfast and had a chance to enjoy the results of all the hard work.

[Tango]

Hey Dan --- nice work & a great looking unit! And the conversation here further reinforces the basic idea behind what this site is all about...making it all work best for you, the builder/owner. As Sinatra would say..."I did it my way".

[Diesel Dan]

The bus saw some action a few days ago when I had family visiting. I took the folks out for the day in the bus to tour the hill country west of Austin. We stopped by a winery, stopped by a park to let the kids run around, had lunch in Blanco in a cafe across from the historic courthouse, and then drove out across the "Devil's Backbone", a scenic road leading from Blanco to Wimberley where we checked out a cool Banzai tree exhibit, then more scenic driving back to Austin. A good time was had by all, and my passengers reported that the way the bus rides is "a lot better than I would have thought". I guess I have enough weight in there to keep it from getting too bouncy. Here's some pics:







More in the next post...

[Diesel Dan]

More pics:

[dirtygoat]

Bus is looking great... I like the pics with people visiting...

[Accordion]

It is always cool to have passengers along for a ride. In a couple weeks, I have to drive a pickup truck from California to Missouri all by myself. (boo hoo) I am a little concerned being that it is the winter season.

[bansil]

Lol...I don't even have a bus yet and the "family" is already talkingabout using it to get mamaw and pawpa to the next reunion in like june ....I can't wait...its going to be a long but quick spring