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Old 10-10-2013, 08:04 AM   #61
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Re: Jacuzzi bus - a tribute

I was gonna go outside and pull all the masking and taping off and get ready to drive it to the hardware store for some supplies, buts its cold out so I figured while I wait for it to warm up I would upload a few newer pics.

Our first exterior paint test. It is hunter green rustoleum mixed with some glass black to get it a bit darker. The whole bus is painted I just don't have a pic of that yet.


I'm still amazed there is a hot tub in a bus in the driveway


Here is the plastic flashing with the LED lights I was talking about. We painted them blue with some rustoleum rattle cans.


I really like these overhead lights now. It's pink and looks awesome against the black ceiling when the lights are low and music is bumping!


Heres a shot of the frame we built. The open area to the right of the stairs is getting sealed up when I make the enclosure for the heater core. You can also see where we removed the windows and are going to put plexi glass in there. I think the total length is going to be too long for 1/8" plexi, so I am doing two seperate sheets for now.


A shot I took this morning, post last nights hot tub party. You can see the laminate in the bottom. You can see where it didn't fully seat in some places probably because we didn't prime it. We just laid the laminate on the clean OSB floors hoping for the best. That combined with a cold night leads to not the best installation.

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Old 10-10-2013, 10:29 AM   #62
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Re: Jacuzzi bus - a tribute

LOVE IT,
that floor will probably not stay with all the water from bodies and feet
.
.
so how much water was in it when you went to the store?...or getting ready for?

let me know when you get back
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Old 10-10-2013, 05:55 PM   #63
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Re: Jacuzzi bus - a tribute

Our first road test was great! It was the first time I had ever driven anything bigger than a pickup. It really wasn't difficult but then again I didn't hit any traffic. I was nervous initially, but that went away fast. Although I kind of nervous about bringing it on the highway tomorrow. I figure I'll try to time the drive for a low traffic time.

We brought it to Ace Hardware to pick up some stuff. The employees there loved it. We then went to a small bar to have lunch. The waitress comes up to us halfway through and says "Did you guys drive a bus here?" I laughed and said "No, we drove a hot tub bus here." She was beyond excited so I drove the bus up in front of the bar (I parked off in the back) and the whole group of 8-10 people that were in there came out, had a look, and took some pictures.

Last stop was the lumber yard to pick up some last bit of wood.

Got back and I finished the enclosure for the heater core and finished putting a rubber lining around the decking of the tub. We also bought the plexi and will install the window tomorrow morning. The terminal posts on the 8D battery are larger than what I have in there now, so I need to pick up some adapters or something. I would like to get that done tomorrow as well as putting an inverter in and wiring all that, but I don't know if we will. We might just have to rely on the generator the whole time for Saturday.

Assuming they actually let me into the tailgate area at the college and that no one complains about the noise from the generator, I'm going to get some good videos. I have a Contour sports helmet camera that I am gonna mount in the back looking to the front and set on a time lapse of one picture every 10 seconds.

And yes, water was splashing everywhere as I was driving . We had the tub emptied pretty far too. I don't have a cover for the tub so I may just have to suck it up for saturday until I can think of something
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Old 10-10-2013, 06:43 PM   #64
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Re: Jacuzzi bus - a tribute

It sounds awesome!

It sounds like you already have too much to do and too little time, but if you find a way to secure a tarp over the jacuzzi while driving it will help contain some of the water. As an alternative, having people in the jacuzzi while driving significantly reduces the amount of water that sloshes out.

Eventually I learned the value of storage tanks that hold about half the total volume of jacuzzi water.
Plastic 55 gallon drums are cheap. But I certainly understand time constraints.
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Old 10-10-2013, 07:27 PM   #65
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Re: Jacuzzi bus - a tribute

Lapeer I already saw your advice on the 55 gallon drums on another thread

I have two sitting in the driveway. I dont have the time to plumb them into the system so I just cut a whole in the top of each big enough for a submersible sump pump, thats what I am going to use to move the water back and forth for now.

Have you ever had any suspension or handling issues with that much weight not supported by an axle?

By the way, we started a facebook page and have a lot more photos up there if anyone is interested. facebook.com/hottubbus or search "Das Boos"
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Old 10-10-2013, 09:05 PM   #66
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Re: Jacuzzi bus - a tribute

Nope. I had as many as 4 drums all the way in the back of the bus, plus a back porch with a vmax motorcycle on it and a jacuzzi half full of water. Never a problem.

I hope that when I offer advice that it doesn't come across the wrong way. I realize that just because I did things a certain way doesn't mean that doing it a different way is somehow wrong or incorrect.

Sump pump is a great idea. They move a lot of water in a very short period of time.

One more thing....

My preferred method for making sure I had enough hot water was to try to heat the jacuzzi up by driving around with it half full, then pump that hot water into the holding tanks. Then I'd fill the jacuzzi half full of cold water. Although the storage water cools off a bit, it tends to stay warm for quite a while. It can be tough to have all of the water exactly the right temperature at exactly the correct time.

It's ok to overheat the jacuzzi water while driving knowing you will be cooling it down with storage water from the drums. I don't know if there is a formula, but 115 or 120 degrees is ok if your going to pump 110 gallons of cooler water in the jacuzzi after you park. Your engine makes the most heat while driving, and its free heat. Unlike when parked. An idling engine makes a lot less heat and "wastes" fuel. (It's not really wasted fuel if it attracts bikinis)

One more word of advice....it's always easier to attract multitudes of women if you bring at least one with you!
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Old 10-11-2013, 05:54 AM   #67
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Re: Jacuzzi bus - a tribute

I assume your genie is loud, how about strapping it on top of roof? then a simple 4 wall box (open top) would probably make it very quiet at ground level, plus no fumes in bus?

just an idea
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Old 10-11-2013, 06:27 AM   #68
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Re: Jacuzzi bus - a tribute

I like the roof idea for the genny. We are eventually going to put a deck up top for storage and that would work great up there. I may build a box for it for tomorrow and just drill a bunch of holes in it for it vents, I don't know how much that dampen the sound though.

I'm looking around for a 3k inverter now, hoping to be able to put the 8D battery in today, wire up the inverter, and run a quick line all the way to back with a GFCI outlet to power the pump and heater hoping to minimize genny usage. It may be a pipe dream right now because I have less than 12 hours before I have to drive the bus an hour or so to stage it closer to the tailgate action tomorrow. We are showing up at the tailgate at 5:30am, so the closer I get today means the more sleep I get.
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Old 10-11-2013, 08:21 AM   #69
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Re: Jacuzzi bus - a tribute

take the "box" and staple old carpet on the inside of the 4 sides, make sure it's a foot away and atleast a foot taller and the sound has to go up, which is 10 ft away from your ears...let us know how it works....don't forget it's up there and rip it off
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Old 10-11-2013, 10:16 AM   #70
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Re: Jacuzzi bus - a tribute

just picked up a 3k continous 6k peak power inverter from harbor freight with a 20% off coupon.

The final projects we are hoping to get done today is to get the 8D battery in, inverter wired, run a plug all the way to rear of the bus for the hot tub, and hang the plexi glass windows.

Then its time to drive it off to the staging point and then to the tailgate in the early morning hours.
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Old 10-11-2013, 10:59 AM   #71
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Re: Jacuzzi bus - a tribute

Good luck! And remember-6am is too early to start saying "well its got to be noon somewheres."
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Old 10-11-2013, 04:43 PM   #72
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Re: Jacuzzi bus - a tribute

installed the 8D battery.

wired up the inverter. attached the pump and heater to the inverter and we overloaded it. individually the pump and heater were both overloading it. It is a 3k continous 6k max while my generator is a 3k continous 4k max that runs both of them just fine.

We used about 4 feet of 8 gauge wire to go from the inverter to the battery. I'm guessing the problem is that the inverter cant draw enough power through the 8 gauge. I will have to pick up some zero gauge and try that. Its a bummer because I was hoping to not have to run the genny the entire time in the tailgate lot.

At least it will run our LED lights and a space heater or two.
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Old 10-11-2013, 07:47 PM   #73
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Re: Jacuzzi bus - a tribute

Good luck tomorrow!

Here is some electrical math to ponder...

According to this link: you need at a minimum 00 gauge cable, possibly 000.

http://www.powerstream.com/Wire_Size.htm

3000 watts at 80% efficiency equals about 250 amps @13.6 volts.

By comparison, a 100 amp alternator makes less than 1,400 watts at max engine rpm.

It is difficult to run high power devices with a 12 volt alternator.

I ended up taking steps to reduce power consumption in my buses and purchasing a Honda eu2000 ultra quiet and fuel efficient generator.

In the beginning, when I was still using high power jacuzzi pumps, I did stumble on a trick to get 220 volts using two separate 110 volt extension cords and regular outlets. But it sounds like your jacuzzi is only 110 volts?
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Old 10-12-2013, 04:55 AM   #74
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Re: Jacuzzi bus - a tribute

Yup,no where even close on wire size
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Old 10-15-2013, 10:34 AM   #75
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Re: Jacuzzi bus - a tribute

Weekend was a blast. At one point we had 8 people in the tub! Sorry I don't have any crazy pictures or the time lapse video I promised, they ended up not allowing us into the main tailgate area. Long story short, the head of parking said it was too much of a liability to let the hot tub party bus into the field where thousands of drunk college kids were partying. We got into a bit of an argument because he let a flat bed with a giant hammock on it in, apparently we have different views on what is safe. Maybe next year

We got put in a different lot where most of the families and alumni were. It was still fun and people still loved the bus. Some people even wanted to rent it out. Lapeer, you were spot on that driving around with people in the tub reduces spillage. I drove the bus about an hour from the college to a house party with two of our friends in the tub. One of them fell alseep the instant we left the college and woke up an hour away when we arrived, hows that for a hot tub time machine


I want to rewire the inverter and build a second tier of decking. The second tier of decking is going to go up and over the 55 gallon drums, completely hiding them (removable top to allow access) and providing a place for people to sit and just dip their feet in the tub. I am probably going to go with 000 gauge wire to be safe, ill check with the salespeople because electrical isn't my strong point. I'm hoping to do both before I take the bus to a company event this weekend.

Next project will be the plate heat exchanger. I wish I would have done it before I built the frame around the tub, now we have to work around the entire frame to plumb it in.

edit- yeah the pump and heater are both 110v
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Old 10-26-2013, 10:28 PM   #76
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Re: Jacuzzi bus - a tribute

Where are these photos we were promised? Lol
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Old 10-27-2013, 08:57 AM   #77
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Re: Jacuzzi bus - a tribute

I got some great ones last night. I just have to find my cell phone first. I've got it narrowed down to somewhere in the 1800 sq ft house...
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