Project Transformation

[gusbus]

Ultimately I think this statement below would sum up most all of our intentions on this site. We all had a vision of what our motorhomes should look like and a skoolie was the ultimate "blank canvas". For all of us to come here, read, watch and listen to each other; take what we can use and leave the rest on the page is a true gift of technology. I love the inspiring idea's; even the ones I can't use. I am still able to learn something from them.

Originally Posted by bansil

This is what's great about this site,you can build how you invision using it

[Stu & Filo. T]

Originally Posted by gusbus

Ultimately I think this statement below would sum up most all of our intentions on this site. We all had a vision of what our motorhomes should look like and a skoolie was the ultimate "blank canvas". For all of us to come here, read, watch and listen to each other; take what we can use and leave the rest on the page is a true gift of technology. I love the inspiring idea's; even the ones I can't use. I am still able to learn something from them.

Wishing there was a thumbs up icon

[opus]

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[bamper]

If I were to convert a bus into a living space up here in the great frozen north I'd do the exact same thing as what you're doing with the room inside the bus. Great idea to keep out the cold without spending too much on making everything too perfect and fitting into all those damn corners these things seem to have.

Keep the updates coming and good luck ! !

[bansil]

Originally Posted by allwthrrider

Wishing there was a thumbs up icon

now you have one, save it to your desk top and then upload it to your photobucket account

[inkblots84]

Originally Posted by gusbus

Ultimately I think this statement below would sum up most all of our intentions on this site. We all had a vision of what our motorhomes should look like and a skoolie was the ultimate "blank canvas". For all of us to come here, read, watch and listen to each other; take what we can use and leave the rest on the page is a true gift of technology. I love the inspiring idea's; even the ones I can't use. I am still able to learn something from them.

Truth!!

I love what's happening in your bus, it already seems like it'll be really comfy!

[Stu & Filo. T]

Originally Posted by opus

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I don't have the time or the energy

[gusbus]

allwthrrider has an eye for dots and such I'd say. It is cool beans tho.

[gusbus]

I had a minor setback with the bus that cost little money to fix but resulted in the bus being 80 miles away for 3 weeks with no way to go after it. I took the bus to Watford City, ND to have the underside of the floor sprayed with foam insulation which went well. Upon going back after it it had a flat dual. I took it to a tire shop and they wouldn't,t fix it as it had a sidewall crack. I told them to put a new tire on and they didn't have one; they had to order it. That was just before the thanksgiving holiday. I was home for a week and then back to work for a week. Today I'm trying to find a ride over after it again

[gusbus]

I did, finally, end up getting a ride over after the bus only to find it to cold to get it started. It was-20 degree's; we tried a couple of times and, jumping it with another diesel, it woud barely turn over. I just opted to wait until a warmer day and save the starter. Cold weather is so extremely hard on mechanicals of every kind. It was'nt worth it.

Play it forward a few days to yesterday. Yesterday it had warmed to 30 above; I took a couple hours off work, found another ride over, started the bus without jumping it and drove it back to the yard where I've been working on it. I'll be around this weekend; so will be finishing up the insulation.

Follwing are a couple pics of the spray foam under the bus. There really isn't much to see but it definately makes a difference.
Driving backto the yard the other day was a 70 mile trip. At 20-30 degrees above zero, traveling at a steady 60 mph, I had to turn the heaters off and actually ended up taking my coat off. That is with only half the walls insulated.
In the 1st pic you can see the frame rails and you can also see that the cross members supporting the floor are completely covered in foam.
The second pic was taken in the middle. You can see the drive shaft in the pic.
The third pic was taken of the opposite side as the first one; same angle.

Tomorrow I plan on putting a window in the other side and starting the insulation process on that side. It is, however, below 0 again though; so we'll see how it goes.

[Tango]

Very cool...or...warm. Either way it must make a HUGE difference.

[gusbus]

OK,
Today I'm headed home for the holiday's and won't be back to work until January 6. I'm taking the bus home and doing some work on it on my time off. The trip is 450 miles. This will give me some idea what kind of mileage it will get. I have a friend that gave me a pile of 4" pine flooring. As much as there is it will justify the trip home. I'm going to put up pine flooring everywhere until I run out or get the bus done; one or the other.
It's -8 here this morning so the bus will need some coaxing to get `er going but it has a record of starting if you can recreate the right conditions. The pics that follow kind of sum up where I'm at with it. It needs sheeting now.
One thing I forgot to mention is that when I had foam sprayed under the bus the guy sprayed the wheel wells too; I forgot to tell him not to. Not sure how that will work going forward and adding weight but right now there is a good 5-6" of clearance between the wheels and the insulation.

[Stu & Filo. T]

Originally Posted by gusbus

One thing I forgot to mention is that when I had foam sprayed under the bus the guy sprayed the wheel wells too; I forgot to tell him not to. Not sure how that will work going forward and adding weight but right now there is a good 5-6" of clearance between the wheels and the insulation.

Thats ok the tires will wear out just what they need

[RedBone]

SAFE TRAVELS!!! and Happy Holidays

Talk about bringing a hobby along to kill some time

If you don't mind- how much did it cost to get the under side spray foamed and how thick?

In my planning/thinking the foam underneath would need some kind of protection from road wear. I started to look into roll-on or spray-on bed liners (diy of course) for this purpose. I guess we'll all find out when you get back- safely of course.

[gusbus]

I made it home last night about 9:30; the trip was uneventful and the bus ran out good. I stopped at my brothers place, about 100 miles into the trip, and we changed all three fuel filters. It had not been done for years and I'm sure and it needed it. We also replaced the primer pump on the fuel pump as it wasn't working. My brother is a diesel mechanic so this was all just routine stuff for him, besides, he has a nice shop on his farm.

The insulation under the bus is around 4" thick. However, I doubt the insulation in the wheel wells is more than 2". The cost to have someone else do it was $600.00. I couldn't buy the materials, myself, to do it for less than that price. This spray foam has a coating on it like the spray foam roof materials you see. I suppose you could spend the extra money to give it more protection but I don't forsee driving it enough to justify the extra protection.
As far as MPG; I can only speculate as to that because I've not filled up yet again. I've got a 1/4 tank left after the trip but have no solid numbers as to the tank size yet. I'm assuming it's around the 10 mpg ranger or so; I'll know for sure once I fill on the way back to work in a couple weeks.

Originally Posted by RedBone

SAFE TRAVELS!!! and Happy Holidays

Talk about bringing a hobby along to kill some time

If you don't mind- how much did it cost to get the under side spray foamed and how thick?

In my planning/thinking the foam underneath would need some kind of protection from road wear. I started to look into roll-on or spray-on bed liners (diy of course) for this purpose. I guess we'll all find out when you get back- safely of course.

[gusbus]

Been working on the inside walls of the bus while at home. I've still got 3 days and hope to get a couple partitions up and get oak flooring down.
I found enough solid oak flooring from an old house to do the floor for $100.00
The 1X4" used tougue and groove flooring on the walls came from my next door neighbor and friend. He's been cheering me on every morning over coffee since I've been home.
My wife was extremely sick over the Christmas holiday so needed some tending to. I lost a couple days work over that.
Following are a few pics. of the inside with the tounge & groove on the walls.

[bansil]

[JakeC]

That is some awesome progress!! Love it! Sounds like you are scoring some really good deals, too.

[Accordion]

The wood on the walls looks great.

[RedBone]

Starting to look like home in there!!! Looks great, and oak..... so nice!