Okie All American

[dentarthurdent]

Well, I was holding out until we'd come up with a name for the bus, but it's taking a while, so I thought I'd start my conversion thread anyway...

I bought a BlueBird All American RE bus back in November. With the holiday season and weather, I have not started any work on the bus yet, but I've spent a huge amount of time working on design. I started a blog to track my activity for family and friends, but I'll also post here.

My design is based on the fact that we have five kids... In addition to needing five bunks, I want the toilet, shower, and bathroom sink to all be independently usable. This has proven to be a challenge, and I am not completely satisfied with my "shower room" yet, but keep that in mind when you look at my drawings..

Also, I am planning to raise the roof 18" in order to allow for raised floor in places and the stacking of three bunks. I will remove all the windows and skin over, putting RV windows where needed. I want to raise the rear bedroom floor 16" in order to get the floor up onto the first level of the engine box, thus allowing the bed to slide further back. This also allows for fresh water tanks and a house battery compartment to be placed under that floor in front of the engine compartment. I have the floor in the bathroom section and in the salon area raised 9" to eliminate wheel bumps, also allowing plumbing, wiring, etc to be placed there.

Anyway, I am drawing my design using Google SketchUp based on measurements I took from the bus. I'll start posting the drawings in the next message. Thanks to everyone here for the amazing variety of information you provide. I am posting designs here to gather your input and constructive criticism, so please tell me what you think, where I am making mistakes, and what I could do better.

thx alot - Tony

[dentarthurdent]

Here's a perspective top view to start out:


and a plan view of the same:


A elevation view of the left half of the bus:


and the right half:


Next, I'll post renderings of specific areas...

[dentarthurdent]

Starting at the front and working back...

Driver's area (I like cup holders!):


Dinette and couch in the salon area:



Galley area:



Bunks:



Bathroom area:



And the back bedroom:



Please point out any Bad Ideas here... I will work on plumbing and wiring plans soon.

[dentarthurdent]

ShortBus:
I am fortunate to have relatives and friends with expertise who can help with parts of the build. It will be a lot of work but a good whole family project. I learned SketchUp from watching youtube tutorials but it probably helps that I used to do 3D graphics and CAD work. I wish I'd had SketchUp then - it's much easier to work in.

BigTex:
I am planning to raise the roof 18". The bunks are 30"x75" and have a little over 24" between them. It's a little tight but not much different than one of the bunk beds the kids sleep in now.

[Roasting8]

Dentarthurdent,

I'm really impressed with your drawing. You have a real good design and the time you took on your drawing, is going to pay off big. Imagine, few mistakes.

I like the idea of the house batteries under the bed, but I'm wondering about venting?

[dentarthurdent]

Thanks for the compliments. I like to take my time and think things through - I make way too many mistakes when building things off the cuff. This is a way for me to build and rebuild a few times without screwing anything up...

Regarding the batteries, I would like to add access ports and vents through the outside walls for the battery area. I am also considering using AGM batteries to reduce the need for venting and maintenance.

[behappystupi]

That's going to be a very nice bus.

I especially like the elevated bed. Most people have storage underneath theirs but you have even more

[Roasting8]

Originally Posted by dentarthurdent

Thanks for the compliments. I like to take my time and think things through - I make way too many mistakes when building things off the cuff. This is a way for me to build and rebuild a few times without screwing anything up...

Regarding the batteries, I would like to add access ports and vents through the outside walls for the battery area. I am also considering using AGM batteries to reduce the need for venting and maintenance.

I was also thinking of putting my batteries inside, but I was always worrying about gassing. The last thing I would want is for an explosion in the bus. Maybe I'm just a worry wort, but I remember my old VW having the battery under the back seat, inside the passenger compartment. Heck, I used to smoke, light fireworks, and all other dangerous activities in that car, it never did blow up on me. As I get older, I get wiser (not any smarter, just wiser )

I guess the best way to go is AGM batteries, but boy, are they expensive.


Robert

[lapeer20m]

although i know better, i've put my house batteries inside all of my buses right next to my inverter and never had any problems.

[dentarthurdent]

Even if I use AGM batteries, I intend to seal the battery compartment from the interior of the bus. The only access to it would be through a door outside. It would also be vented outside.

[KC10Chief]

Nice! Those plans are cool! I'm going to check out that program. I have a couple of suggestions that you might want to think about. In my bus, I'm putting the couch on the passenger side instead of behind the driver. I figure that most people will want to ride on the couch going down the road. That way, you'll be able to at least look over and see who you're talking to instead of having them sitting behind you. Of course, if there's 7 people in your family, somebody's bound to be sitting in the dinette. I do like the fact that you're making enough bunks for all the kids. My experience with the dinette bed is that they are a real PITA to set up and tear down all the time. Plus, you can put the kids to bed in the back, and stay up up front and watch TV or whatever. Also, instead of raising the entire floor in the back, why not just raise the bed? You could have some little steps at the foot of the bed. Of course, if you DID raise the floor, you would definitely want to use that space somehow. Make the floor a series of hatches that you could lift to access the storage underneath, but still strong enough to stand on. I've found in RV's, storage is what you need. I'm not going to waste one square inch of space in my bus. Any nook or cranny will be turned into storage of some sort. My bunks are going to be 30" by 78". I'm only going to have two though. We only have two kids. But my wife and I are both 6'1" and there's some other tall people in the family. I hate being jammed up against the wall on either end. That's a travel trailer for ya. Also, we should get together and discuss and compare buses sometime! My bus brain is jam packed full of all sorts of ideas! You're only about 15 miles away from me. I have the bus in my driveway this weekend for a little work on the floor and maybe start some framing. It has a full tank of gas, so I can travel!

[dentarthurdent]

Matt:
You have some good points there about which side to put the couch on. But in my case, it works out well to leave it like it is for the reasons you cite. That way, the kids can talk to my wife better while I focus on driving...

I want to raise the whole bedroom both for the storage (externally accessible) and because we have a 9 month old boy that will be toddling around when the bus is ready to use. having the bed that high would be dangerous I think. Not to mention me falling out of it half asleep in the middle of the night! My wife pointed out last night that the toddler is another good reason to move the stairwell outside.

I hope to get in some seat removal time this weekend but it will have to be around lots of work on the house. I have many honey-do's that await my attention after traveling for Christmas, etc. We should get together sometime though - especially if you are shipping out. I'd like to also say thanks for your service - I had a friend that worked in the back on AWACs and it's a demanding job.

[KC10Chief]

Thanks! For your stairwell on the outside, you could install steps that slide out of the current stair well area. Electrically even. Then just cover it up so it's flat inside the bus. I'd really like to have a co-pilot's seat there, but I just don't see a practical way to do it on my bus. I'd do that to my bus, but I'd need to raise the roof. Not a job I want to take on. It sounds like you're planning to build your bus pretty nice. I'm hoping to do the same. I want it to look like a modern 5th wheel on the inside at least. Only I'll build it better, stronger and with better quality parts. Also, that's a good point you had about the bed and the toddler. We have a 15 month old daughter. If you're going to make the storage accessible from the outside, I'd suggest making it accessible from the inside as well! A lot of travel trailers and 5th wheels are set up like that and I think it's a good feature. Also, for your bunks, Big Lots has some good deals on mattresses that would be perfect for bunk mattresses. They're 36" wide, but they're foam. It would be easy to trim them down. They're $50 each. They have regular, twin size pillow top mattresses for $100 each. I'm planning to use two of those to have a king size bed in my bus. My wife and I have a king size at home. Definitely need one in the bus too. Also, something you may or may not have realized, but it's darn near impossible to get anything bigger than a full size mattress inside a bus! Neither of the doors in my bus are big enough. That's why I'm going with two twins. If for some reason down the road I needed to remove them, it could be done down the hallway and through the front door. They make stuff out there for attaching two twin mattresses so you can't feel the crack in the middle. Just something to think about! Oh, I won't be shipping out anytime soon. I'm guessing July or August at the earliest.

[dentarthurdent]

You make a good point about the mattress size there. I hadn't thought about that specifically, but I was planning to take the Sleep Number queen bed from our bedroom in the house to put in the bus (and get a new one for the house). It comes apart into smaller pieces to move, so will fit through the bus door.

Today, was able to remove 10 of the 24 seats. Once I figured out a system, it wasn't too hard - just time consuming. I figure I can finish the rest in about 2-3 hours work. It sure feels good to finally get started on the demolition!

[Elliot Naess]

...building things off the cuff...

There's an other way?

Oh, WOW, I guess there is!

I came up with one question, and then I saw that it had already been brought up. In the elevation drawings, the kids' bunks look awful short. The two bunks in the left half look even shorter than the three in the right. Just my wobbly old eyeballs squinting at the screen, mind you. But you might want to check, so the computer doesn't outsmart you.

And myself, I would not make any bed less than 80" (Queen length) -- unless there is a space at one end of the beds that can be easily expanded into in the future. Again, that's just me.

And then the main "me": Make sure you raise the roof enough. Seriously.

[dentarthurdent]

Elliot:

Thanks for the comments. In the drawings, the stack with 2 bunks actually has a few more inches of headspace than the triple stack. But the more I think about the bunk heights, insulation, floors, etc, the more I think I should raise the roof a little more.

Maybe I should go up 20"... you ever make it out to Oklahoma on your famous roof raising tours? Actually I have a professional welder friend who says raising roofs is easy and volunteered to help out so I feel pretty confident about it. I think all the body work will be done in his shop - he's been very generous with his offers to help.

As for making the bunks longer.. I might be able to compress things a few inches here and there. I am not happy yet with the shower room (thinking of making the whole room the shower). I'll play with squeezing out a few more inches - even though all but one of the kids are small so far, I guess they will be growing....

- Tony

[Elliot Naess]

There has not been a "Roof Raising Tour" yet, and will not be this year. Not enough days in a typical year!

Not only will the kids grow alarmingly fast, but there is always the chance that you'll take adult friends along on a trip.

Yes, raising the roof is reasonably easy, and since you have to do all the same work for any lift, a few extra inches is practically free. I wish I had gone a bit higher with Millicent, for more headroom around the upper bunks. (Fresh pictures are up on The Millicent Chronicles.)

[KC10Chief]

I have a welder myself. I've never taken classes, but I've become pretty good at it! I love to weld for some reason. It's fun. If you ever need help with welding something, I do it for skoolie owners free of charge! I could help with the roof raise and make quick work of it! I'm right down the road!

One of my neighbors was throwing out a pretty decent looking king size mattress about a month ago. I decided to hang onto it for my bus. It was a real bear to get in there. I fought it for at least half an hour trying to get it in the front door. Then, I decided that I didn't want it. I'd have to leave it inside the bus the whole time I'm building inside there. Plus, it had some questionable looking stains and my wife was creeped out about a used mattress. So, I took it up to goodwill. The Goodwill guy and I fought it for about 15 minutes trying to get it out of the bus. We finally got it out the back door by folding it in half and ramming it out. I can only imagine the horror if I ever had to remove it after my conversion was done! Not good. Nothing bigger than a twin mattress is going in my bus.

[dentarthurdent]

I've now removed 24 of the 28 seats. The kids want one more ride before I take the last seats out...

I've been very curious about the subflooring since I first got the bus, so I went ahead and took up some tonight. There's no visible rust underneath the bus, but the plywood was wet and there is surface rust on the metal floor underneath it. So I am glad I pulled it up to look.

Getting the linoleum/rubber floor off the plywood was ridiculously difficult, so I got out the circular saw, set it to the depth of the floor minus a little, and cut some manageable size pieces. Once I did that, I was able to pry them up with a crowbar. The floor was nailed down with twisted shank nails that don't like to come out. But at least I found a system for getting it out reasonably.

[dentarthurdent]

ShortBus:
It's alot of work but I'd hate to try fitting quarters for 7 people into a shorty... I plan to clean up the rust, fill/patch the holes, and then treat it all with some sort of inhibitor - not sure which one yet.