Our new bus (as yet unnamed) project!

[brokedown]

The floor is up! Including the stairs. I'm leaving the driver's pedestal alone as it is a raised platform that was clearly recently rebuilt. THe worst of the rust is one of the steps, which needs more than just Ospho.

Speaking of Ospho, I rolled around underneath the bus today with a spray bottle and dispensed a half gallon of justice on various rusty bits. Fortunately the structural areas are just orange tinted but I won't act surprised that some of the thinner stuff is rougher than I'd like. Among other things, it appears I will need to replace the floor and bottom frame of the under carriage storage. Fortunately I will have a bunch of sheet metal from the ceiling so it shouldn't be too expensive overall.

Cut my day a bit short though. I had someone coming to pick up the metal scrap from my floor removal and figured I'd give them my mid-ship heaters while they were here. The process of looping the coolant lines resulted in a pretty thorough antifreeze bath. After a good shower to clean that glycol off I'm done working on the bus for the day.

This week I won't do much more. We are going to an event in Georgia (Jessup Skoolie Swarm) and the Wanderlounge needs a bit of attention, mostly cleaning inside and out.

[brokedown]

Just a quick update so you don't think I haven't been doing anything...

Floor is officially gone, the plywood is all burned, and the rubber is all off to the dump. I've added a couple coats of white paint to the roof (made a video with more details, will post when it's live). Looped the coolant line for the cabin and dashboard heat so I can keep working inside. Yesterday I tapped my front air tank so i can run air tools, will be hitting those rivets inside soon.

I've mostly convinced Hillary that we should use stained+poly'd sanded plywood for our floor instead of putting in vinyl or something else. That's gonna save us a small pile of cash. Still working on alternatives for the ceiling, the slats we used in the Wanderlounge look awesome but were way too much work and money to do a second time. I'm interested in opinions from people who have done different ceilings!

Today I was researching diesel air heaters for a friend and discovered a seller on Ebay that was selling them for substantially less than Amazon. I got another 5kw unit with muffler, digital control unit, and remote control for $110 shipped. The unit I have in the Wanderlounge was nearly twice that amount and didn't include the muffler or the remote. We're leaving for another event Thursday and spending the rest of our time cleaning/organizing the Wanderlounge so other than a few videos going up I'm not going to get any more done on this new bus.

Anyway, here's my first video from the Jessup The Road Skoolie Swarm, and interview and quick tour of Rickey's Covered Wagon bus.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNocSBs-GnM

[brokedown]

Painted the roof last weekend, finally got the video uploaded. Of course I used Rustoleum white paint and you can see my results right afterwards!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPzWkNzyBZU

[EastCoastCB]

Good no-nonsense skoolie stuff is so hard to come by. Thanks for making this!
Your tan lines are fading away, Josh!

[brokedown]

Got my diesel air heater the other day. I've already got one in the TC2000 so it was a no brainer on this new bus. Made a video unboxing and discussing the pros and cons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK1K...ature=youtu.be

[tugboater]

Originally Posted by brokedown

Got my diesel air heater the other day. I've already got one in the TC2000 so it was a no brainer on this new bus. Made a video unboxing and discussing the pros and cons.

Informative, thank you! I was planning to go with a Webasto or Espar, having some experience with both on boats...but all this talk and information on the Chinese versions has me sold. You make it hard to argue against the 80% $$ savings.

We are also heating with a wood stove. The diesel heat is a great alternative to use while running down the road or when in a place that people frown on wood smoke. It's awesome that your heater review is done with palm trees swaying in the background...when are you going to come to AK for your AC review?

[brokedown]

Originally Posted by tugboater

Informative, thank you! I was planning to go with a Webasto or Espar, having some experience with both on boats...but all this talk and information on the Chinese versions has me sold. You make it hard to argue against the 80% $$ savings.

We are also heating with a wood stove. The diesel heat is a great alternative to use while running down the road or when in a place that people frown on wood smoke. It's awesome that your heater review is done with palm trees swaying in the background...when are you going to come to AK for your AC review?

Like PWN_Steve says, I try to be where the weather matches my clothes! But don't let the palm trees fool you, we were solidly in the 40s with highs in the 50s last weekend. That's pretty cold for Florida! Previously in our travels we've been down to single digits and we suffered trying to make it work with a Buddy heater, the diesel heater gives us the ability to stay warm no matter where we happen to be. Earlier this year we had consistent temps below freezing for a solid week in Missouri and the diesel heater had no problems keeping is warm and cozy.

If I had both a diesel heater and a wood stove I'd end up using the wood stove for romantic evenings rather than for heat. Like a Showtime Magic Oven, you just set it and forget it.

[brokedown]

Today I discovered... my bus had a child check safety system! I guess when I was pulling things apart I somehow engaged the system. Turning the bus off would start the horn honking after about 20 seconds. A few minutes of digging around later, I found the module in the electrical panel and unplugged it. Problem solved! Also, that removes a source of power drain while the bus is off, bonus!

We got some surprise rain overnight, which fortunately doesn't seem to have bothered the paint I applied yesterday. The roof and area above the glass all around is done. While we were at it we also repainted the "eyelashes" above the flashers and the grab handles at the top of the windshield. Looking good so far!

Floor continues to be a big job. I hoped to have it repaired, treated, and painted by now... but I'm still pulling up random fasteners and bits of wood stuck in glue!

[brokedown]

Couple photos of the white paint!

[brokedown]

Thanksgiving update!

I have been working on the floor, looks like I will need a second gallon of Ospho. Got it swept and scrubbed and did one spray on application but there is still a good amount of orange. Since nobody local carries it, I've got an Amazon order to be delivered next Tuesday. That's way too long to sit idle so I have started on ceiling rivets.

These ceiling panels are all different widths! On my tc2000 they were all the same. Pulled one out so far and both the roof and the yellow fiberglass crap inside look great.

[o1marc]

Originally Posted by brokedown

Thanksgiving update!

I have been working on the floor, looks like I will need a second gallon of Ospho. Got it swept and scrubbed and did one spray on application but there is still a good amount of orange. Since nobody local carries it, I've got an Amazon order to be delivered next Tuesday. That's way too long to sit idle so I have started on ceiling rivets.

These ceiling panels are all different widths! On my tc2000 they were all the same. Pulled one out so far and both the roof and the yellow fiberglass crap inside look great.

Attachment 39643Attachment 39644Attachment 39645

Every box store carries it, just by a different name. HD has Prep&Etch.

[gs1949]

And I got Ospho from Ace Hardware for the same price as Amazon. Ace had it in stock at the one I shop at and I took it with me when I left. This was in a small town of less than 3000 population. We're in the rain belt so maybe Ospho is a big seller here.

Also, with my TC2000 the ceiling panels were not all the same width. They were all the same width as the window they were associated with, but there are 4 different widths of windows, so there were 4 different widths of ceiling panels. My TC2000 is RE. Perhaps that made the difference.

[brokedown]

I picked up some Prep&Etch and applied liberally while waiting for my gallon of Ospho to arrive. I can attest, they are not the same product. The P&E left a filmy layer, kind of a sludge. I'm going to wash the floor again before working on the next steps.

In the last few days I've gotten the rest of the ceiling metal down and got the air conditioners back up. That was a tough job to do solo, I used a pair of ratchet straps and a lot of patience to get them done.. but they're up off the floor!

I had to source some 1/4 inch rivets to put them back in their original mounts which ended up being an order online and pick up at home depot deal. Went to change the tip on my rivet gun and discovered I've been using the 1/4 inch tip for my 3/16 rivets this whole time. I'll just go ahead and leave that one in.

Bagging up all the old insulation, I can get about 1 bag in each trash pickup day. They won't take bags next to the can here. Overall the stuff was in good condition, there is no evidence of moisture at all above the windows!

Below the windows is a different story of course. The worst of the rust is in the stairwell. i've got some ideas on how to rectify it using ceiling metal and angle iron. I don't have a bender so we'll see how well I can form sheet metal with a dead blow mallet!

I learned all about child check systems that make the driver check the bus for kids when turning it off. of course it was right after disabling the button at the back that stops the alarm. The system I have starts blaring the horn and the only way to stop it was to turn the bus back on. After a little research I worked out that I could just disconnect the control module in the electrical panel, which also was the source of some parasitic drain. bus has been holding it's charge and starting without any drama since then.

A few photos to follow from my phone.

[brokedown]

Couple photos!

I'm sure I did the prep and etch wrong, I just poured it in rather than reading the label... Anyway minor setback correcting it.

[banman]

You can probably fashion a sheet-metal-brake using your rear bumper, angle iron, and vise-grips.
A little crude but NOT as crude as just beating the metal with a mallet...
google home made brakes if you need visuals to guide you.

[brokedown]

Not a ton of progress lately... but here's a teaser of what I'm working on this weekend.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJGpsL_XYQI

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by brokedown

Not a ton of progress lately... but here's a teaser of what I'm working on this weekend.

Uh, did you mean to post an Evanescence video?

[brokedown]

Yes it's just a hint

[JDSquared]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

Uh, did you mean to post an Evanescence video?

https://youtu.be/pkcJEvMcnEg

Maybe this one would have giving the hint away better?

[Native]

Originally Posted by JDSquared

https://youtu.be/pkcJEvMcnEg

Maybe this one would have giving the hint away better?

Nirvana - Lithium ... I love the song or at least how they do it. I never did catch all of the lyrics while listening to it over the years. I just now looked up the lyrics ... and I was right in that they do not make a whole lot of sense to me.