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Old 10-01-2019, 07:16 PM   #81
Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 218
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: MVP ER
Engine: Cat 3126b 210 HP 605 ftlbs
Painting time

Finally got around to start painting. Had the material laying around for a couple of years. Had the professional "wife" tapper/masker help out. She was definitely good at masking and taping... I finally got the hang of it after a window or two.
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Old 10-01-2019, 07:41 PM   #82
Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 218
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: MVP ER
Engine: Cat 3126b 210 HP 605 ftlbs
two + year old unopened epoxy primer, forgot the mixer at home.. tried to mix it by hand... two stirring sticks rubbed back and forth squished the globs to create some sheer... luckily we found a small drill mixer to finally get a uniformed part B.. one gallon part B to one gallon part A... That "covered" the bus walls minus most of the roof. It was our first time painting using a sprayer....It was windy as heck in the morning and we were going to use a pressure pot and a conventional spray gun... but the neighbor came over and said that was not a great idea as we would most likely have overspray over the whole block...he paints dump trucks occasionally. we ended up using a HF gravity feed HVLP gun... took some time as it did not have that wide of spray pattern... after some time got it figured out....we mixed a couple of batches of the epoxy to help with pot life...
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Old 10-01-2019, 08:13 PM   #83
Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 218
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: MVP ER
Engine: Cat 3126b 210 HP 605 ftlbs
some pics of us painting the bus, I had to hand off the spraying on about 1/4 of the bus to give my arms a break...some times it was easier to use a ladder to reach some areas that needed a little touch up.
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Old 10-01-2019, 08:21 PM   #84
Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 218
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: MVP ER
Engine: Cat 3126b 210 HP 605 ftlbs
weather was not cooperating with us, at least we got the primer on... being this late in the year... going to wait until spring for the final coat of one stage black. I did manage to paint the roof with rustoleum farm & tractor implement white with hardener. sprayed that on also. I sprayed while on the roof and left the "side" for the lift.
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Old 10-13-2019, 07:10 PM   #85
Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 218
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: MVP ER
Engine: Cat 3126b 210 HP 605 ftlbs
A little off-roading adventure for Rock my Souls winter resting home.
A little hairy driving up, as my roadway was washed out earlier this year with a 1000 year storm. But great view from the top. Can not wait to start camping in it on the land.
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Old 10-13-2019, 07:27 PM   #86
Bus Nut
 
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Join Date: Jan 2019
Posts: 375
Year: 2003
Chassis: Chevy cut-away 6-window shortie
Engine: 6.0L Gasser
Beautiful country! Nice progress on the bus too!
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My build thread: https://www.skoolie.net/forums/f27/fi...ild-25804.html
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Old 09-08-2020, 09:59 AM   #87
Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 218
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: MVP ER
Engine: Cat 3126b 210 HP 605 ftlbs
Finally getting around to the interior of the bus. Got a great deal on some maple plywood. Using 1/2'' for the exterior walls, 3/4 for the walls, cabinets, benches, ect. and a couple of 1'' for the bed and bunks. Think I got a little more than I needed for the bus. . Trying to decide what type of bead board to install for the ceiling white or wood.
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Old 03-14-2021, 05:10 PM   #88
Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 218
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: MVP ER
Engine: Cat 3126b 210 HP 605 ftlbs
It has been a while since I last posted. here is us trying the white bead board from one of the big box store. We put up a couple of sheets, but they seemed really filmy and i doubt they would have held up over the years. I really need a storage shed for all this material. We tried intially to bend the sheet to the curve of bus, but the sheet broke. We installed 12'' wide plywood to take up some of the curve. I think it gives a better transition to the roof line, making the roof seem higher.
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Old 03-14-2021, 05:58 PM   #89
Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 218
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: MVP ER
Engine: Cat 3126b 210 HP 605 ftlbs
Did some work on the back bed area. We staring to build for a queen size bed. Water tank 100 gallons is going to go underneath the bed. Surrounded by addition insulation and we will add some heating pads underneath the tank to allow for some cold weather camping. We went with the birch bead board, as we think it looks better and will hold up better.
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Old 03-14-2021, 06:32 PM   #90
Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 218
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: MVP ER
Engine: Cat 3126b 210 HP 605 ftlbs
Next steps are to install the roof hatches. We will install two roof hatches for boats Lewmar size 70 medium profile to replace the leaking emergency hatches, as we will still need access to the future roof deck and sealing them with acrylic will not work for us. We have 4- 365w solar panels for the roof Mission solar part # mse365sq9. This will be going to a midnight classic 150 to charge 4- AMG 6v duracells golf cart batteries as the house bank. We may add another 2 batteries for around 540AH total. Most likely we will just make one big deck platform for the roof. We previously installed a 4x4 pvc junction box on the roof as a pass through. There is some 6-2 tinned marine wire to connect to the solar combiner box; 2 18-3 shielded control wire; two 12 awg leads; and 2 rg-8 coax cable for TV or satellite; 2 14 gauge speaker wires; so that box is pretty full. This winter I passed my general and extra ham test, so a 40ft or so collapsible or take part mast will have to be fabricated to the future roof deck for an antenna or two. I am thinking some 4'' Al conduit and some guy wires to the corners of the deck may work for the antenna mast. The bus is currently snowed in at our camp and will be like another month or so before we can start working on it again.
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Old 07-05-2021, 07:54 PM   #91
Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 218
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: MVP ER
Engine: Cat 3126b 210 HP 605 ftlbs
Wash out for most of the weekend, So I decided to add some LMR-400 coax cables and a couple of control cables and 12v feeds for future roof antennas for some ham radios. Used some GAF 100mph tape, it held the cables nicely in place to the spray foam. Hoping to get a roof rack done this summer, as I want to get the solar panels installed. Will have to figure how to add some type of push up antenna mast, thinking 45-50ft in the center and maybe a couple of 20-30 ft off the front and back corners
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Old 07-05-2021, 08:22 PM   #92
Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 218
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: MVP ER
Engine: Cat 3126b 210 HP 605 ftlbs
Finally a nice day to get the other roof hatch done. I used some PVC trim board to make a contoured frame to fit the curvature of the roof to the roof. I think it worked out OK. I used a 1x2 azek trim board and the side rails were easy, but the front and back had the curvature to deal with. I basically made some shims with the center of the hatch flush with the roof. Wish I had a band saw, but a jig saw and a block of wood helped.



I have the old roof hatches if anybody is in need of them, they are in decent shape. I would prefer pickup as I do not have the time to package and ship.
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Old 12-03-2021, 07:15 AM   #93
Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 218
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: MVP ER
Engine: Cat 3126b 210 HP 605 ftlbs
Changed jobs and took some time off so I had the opportunity to get some stuff done. One thing that was bugging me was the fan clutch was shot on the bus so the fan ran all the time. I found the needed parts on ebay a new hub was inexpensive <$100 and a new fan was also less than <100 dealership wanted around $600 for the fan. The fan clutch was expensive but I still picked one up for less than retail You have to shop around. You can see the original fan hub lost some of its bearings so no telling how long it would have lasted.
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Old 12-03-2021, 03:23 PM   #94
Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 218
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: MVP ER
Engine: Cat 3126b 210 HP 605 ftlbs
What do you think maybe a new tire size for the bus?
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Old 07-01-2023, 08:12 PM   #95
Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 218
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: MVP ER
Engine: Cat 3126b 210 HP 605 ftlbs
finally got the frame welded up for the solar panel deck. Was supposed to be completed by april but weather and the welders schedule conflicted. Got the first coat of POR15 top coat on.
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Old 07-05-2023, 07:21 AM   #96
Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 218
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: MVP ER
Engine: Cat 3126b 210 HP 605 ftlbs
Minisplit condensers install. Luckily they sent a a third grill assemble due to a scratch during shipping worked out well for the condensers. Wish they lined up a little better with the channel rails though. Will help direct the outflow better with some sheet metal in the future. They do work very well. took around less than 10 mins to cool the bus down. The front unit cools easily to about 1/2 way down the bus and the rear cools the other half perfectly. We might be able to install some fans to circulate and use only unit. I am running both units off a single 20 amp outlet going to the bus.
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Old 07-11-2023, 07:42 PM   #97
Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 218
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: MVP ER
Engine: Cat 3126b 210 HP 605 ftlbs
Finally got the second coat of por 15 on the rails for the solar panel deck. The expanded metal grating should go down this week. Then I will spray everything with some more paint
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Old 07-11-2023, 08:02 PM   #98
Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 218
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: MVP ER
Engine: Cat 3126b 210 HP 605 ftlbs
Finally got around to hooking up majority of the electrical stuff in the control closet. almost the final product. Waiting on a filter grill and a return register.
In the closet is a midnite classic 150 solar charge controller, a magnum energy ms2812 inverter/charger, the ac and dc breaker panel, transfer switch, fuse blocks and other control units for the lights, water tanks, ect. I always complain about engineers who make stuff hard to work on, but in this case I am that engineer Once the roof decking is down i will put the solar panels up 4x 365w units. The magnum energy inverter is pretty neat, it has a shunt to monitor the input and out from the house batteries and an auto genator start function to recharge the batteries if they get too low or if the bus get too hot or too cold..
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Old 07-12-2023, 09:38 AM   #99
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ism minerals View Post
Finally got the second coat of por 15 on the rails for the solar panel deck. The expanded metal grating should go down this week. Then I will spray everything with some more paint
Just found your build thread today. Great dedication on your part to keep it going with moving, changing jobs, etc.

How did you affix on the roof rack? Did you have to undo some interior work to bolt it on?
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Old 07-12-2023, 11:43 AM   #100
Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jul 2015
Location: New Hampshire
Posts: 218
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: MVP ER
Engine: Cat 3126b 210 HP 605 ftlbs
Quote:
Originally Posted by Just View Post
Just found your build thread today. Great dedication on your part to keep it going with moving, changing jobs, etc.

How did you affix on the roof rack? Did you have to undo some interior work to bolt it on?



Thank you, yea its been a looong time coming and the end is near. Now we have a toddler, so this needs to be completed so she can enjoy our camp and we can spend much more time up there.



the roof rack is affixed using rivet nuts through/ near the hat channels on the sides of the bus and directly in the middle of the roof. the uprights are welded to 1/4'' plate and 5/16 rivet nut into the hat/skin. the 2x2 box steel 0.085 wall thickness was used. in the center of the roof is another 1/4'' plate riveted nut to the roof on/near the hat channels and sealed with adhesive before tightening down. each bolt was never seized before being put in to avoid any water leaking in through the treads. It is very solid when your up there. some other angle iron is welded across the top to stiffen up the flattened expanded metal. overall it seems very strong.
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