Rolling Motel Room

[pipopak]

Originally Posted by wtd

Thanks, now if someone would drop me a tip on how to clean the darned fans that doesn't require Q-tips

Tom

A vacuum cleaner with a round brush attachment. Gone in 60 sec.!

[wtd]

Thanks - I'll give it a whirl.

[Diesel Dan]

So, does that heater heat up the whole bus? Or do you have to close off the front half of the bus and just heat half the space to stay warm?

[wtd]

Originally Posted by Diesel Dan

So, does that heater heat up the whole bus? Or do you have to close off the front half of the bus and just heat half the space to stay warm?

The whole bus for part of the evening and then just the back half at night - I leave it on low all the time and rather than turn it up I just smallen up the space.
It keeps it about 35-38 degrees warmer than outside on the 'heated' side, this morning was 40 outside and 76 on the heated side of the curtain and 52 on the unheated side when I dashed out to the galley to get some coffee going.So the has just enough leakage to let some heat into the front to keep it somewhat warm.

Also I made another 'thermal curtiain' across the back window -

Just an old bedsheet I had laying around and the the liner is the fuzzy stuff you find in a cheap box spring. It's plenty thick and insulates pretty good. Just sew the fuzzy stuff to the bedsheet, add some snaps across the top, put the other side of the snaps in the wall. Puts another layer between you and outside and stops the drafts I had with just the curtains up.

Easy to put up and take down, Folds up pretty small. I stick it behind the big chair outta the way.


I had heavy curtains up with blinds but swapped out the blinds (don't get me started on blinds in a bus )for roller shades

I got the $4 a piece vinyl ones from Walmart, got 12 yards of duck cloth in the fabric department, came home and took the vinyl off, cut off a 28" long piece off the bolt for each window - the duck cloth comes 36" wide, which gave me the length -sewed rod pockets across one end, the 28" way, attached the duck cloth to the rollers, stuck the rods in the pockets at the bottom and stuck 'em up. You can see thay make a pretty good seal the bottom, they do on the sides as well and stops the drafts I used to have with the blinds.

Kept an eye on the temperatures for the next little while and those two things added about 8 degrees to the inside temp's at night. I like the shades better than blinds, when you're driving and want to keep the window open, just put it all the way up and no string or plastic rod to deal with. Easier to clean too - just take them off the rollers and throw them in with the regular laundry.
Oh, one more thing - for those that cringed about using fabric off of old box springs - they stay pretty clean during their life, since they're under the mattress and the top cover of the box springs, but a trip to the laundromat cleans they right up. Wash 'em by themselves and throw in whatever chemicals you like to kill whatever scares ya'.

Tom

[browncrown]

Put roller shades up in mine too...much better than blinds. Really like the work on your thermal shades.

[wtd]

Originally Posted by browncrown

Put roller shades up in mine too...much better than blinds. Really like the work on your thermal shades.

Thanks, BC - never saw anyone else use roller shades, maybe it's the Kern County air, huh?

Tom

[JA Savage]

"smallen up the space"???!?? LOVE IT!!!!

[wtd]

Combination of southern herritage and latin in college -figure I can just 'roll my own'

Plus it has a twisted relational, palindromic effect, no?

[en] large || small [en]

[browncrown]

Originally Posted by wtd

Thanks, BC - never saw anyone else use roller shades, maybe it's the Kern County air, huh?

Tom

We have the worst air in the nation here in the valley, so yup, that must have been the cause

[dburt]

Yes, I like your bus alot- and it seems sometimes that less is more! I have tortured my allready challenged mind to figure out the big motorhome look for my bus (when I find it someday) on a dime budget. And then I find this thread and the open space, money saving approach seems to work very well. I can put away those grandiose dreams of a poor man's Prevost and just be simple and happy. I still struggle with the dream of those 'Rolling Homes' of the '70's with the cedar shingles and stained glass windows and fancy tile work, but I guess it just doesn't really matter all that much anymore. Comfort and saving money is more important now.

[JA Savage]

HA!!!! Love your Lingo! BTW, my hubby noticed in an earlier post somewhere that you are a Travis McGee fan? We were just wondering if you'd got around to building your RollsRoyce pickup yet?? Is that coming up on your "to-do" list???

[wtd]

No, no 'Miss Agnes' on the list

But I live aboard my own version of the Busted Flush and I have faithfully, lo these many years, followed Mr. McGee's retirement plan - take your retirement as you go, whenever you can get it and in whatever size chunks you can grab ... life's short. Currently in a retirement phase ...

Tom

[Stuff]

that's it! im requesting a video tour! lol

[thommassey]

Originally Posted by pipopak

Very interesting!. I have been planning my own for like a year, with partitions and all, but I like more your "open" approach, so I guess I will head back to the drawing board and see what I will came up with

Ditto...

[wtd]

Just an exterior shot, took this a couple of days ago after I got back from 'Tank Day' festivities over at the airport, empty some, fill some at the RV park there followed by a grocery run.


Pretty much just as it rolled outta North Carolina a few decades ago, the white paint is still the factory paint job, the brown stripes are mine.
The only holes I added (can you add a hole?) were the two RV baggage doors, the 6"x6" hole below the door and a 4"x6" RV style access hatch that you can't see really in this picture, just behind the front wheelwell.
The access door behind the front wheelwell is for the propane lift switch, in the forward 'baggage' compartment carries the system stuff - water pump, etc, the aft compartment hold the generator fuel tank, hoses and junk and the hole below the door is an entrance 'step' for when I don't have the boarding ladder up and is an access point for checking/adding oil in the 5kW generator that sits behind it.
Pretty plain, but I liked the way it looked when I bought it, so tried to keep it that way.


Tom

[browncrown]

Nice picture of your bus!