Scott and Giulia's 1994 International Thomas Vista - DT408

[scloughcarroll]

Here Goes! First, to be honest, I am about a little over 1 year into our complete gut and rebuild of our Thomas Vista. Currently, we have completed a ton of things, and I will detail them in this build to bring us up to our current point. From the beginning, I meant to keep a journal, but as many people can probably relate just the process of planning and building our bus was enough to keep me busy!

But after completing many jobs, and gaining a ton of knowledge I feel I can share my own unique build, and hopefully help, or offer inspiration, whether how to, or how not to! To someone else, as so many of you wonderful builders here have helped me.

We bought this bus from Richie Bro's Auction in BC. It was close to home and checked a bunch of boxes, we won it for $1600 taxes in and I picked it up that day. (Picture of the bus after purchase attached.) I drove it a hundred some odd KM that day to get it home in 30 plus degree's, man was that a ride! Could not get over 90KM on the highway, so cruised on looking eye to eye with the semi's, felt great! All in all, she drove great on the way home, and it was not until I started hitting hills I noticed a small issue.

The first issue, I was getting no reading on my coolant temp, the display is stock and common to having connection issues, I needed it home so risked it.

My transmission gauge was working, and when I started hitting good-sized hills I noticed the rise in temp immediately, I had to be careful not to attempt hills to quickly, and give it time to cool off without removing on the way back down the other side.

Regardless the temp would drop again, so I assumed the truck was doing its job somewhat and controlling temp, I kept it slow and on some hills actually pulled off halfway and idled to let the temp drop, I knew I did not want to overheat the transmission.

I completed the ride home with no other problems, she ran beautifully and to this day I have never had an issue with startup or running! (I have been working on her and maintenance obs, but thats for another day!)

Attached are some shots of her when I picked it up, and interior before we started the gut.

[scloughcarroll]

[scloughcarroll]

We started pulling it apart ASAP, Pictures Attached. We Planned (and as you will see completed) a gut of the entire interior to the metal on all sides. I wanted to know what was hiding under the exterior of it and I am very glad we did.

A little side info, we are planning on living full time in this bus for the foreseeable future (hopefully 10 years, I am building it to last in driveable condition for touring at least 10 years and then to be parked as a tiny home. Looking at using shipping containers and prefab rafters to create a shelter over it with extra living space on either side after building out the containers...... but that's another idea of mine for the future.)

Ok so the strip, things to come out in order

1) storage racking over the seats, this was all screws, pretty easy.

2) stop sign came off. (yeah I drove it home full school bus style with markings and sign...... got a good deal on the ferry as well... I was going to cover the markings with tape but it was hot, I was tired, and had the aformentioned ferry to catch, had to hit the highway!)

3)started on the seats.... rusted bolts were hell yes (Not as bad as the ceiling) I used a combo of
-Lotta WD40 and Deep Creep seafoam
-Compressor with impact
-for the bitchy ones I did it with the help of Giulia on the inside and me under with some wrenches and sockets (this all depending on the plascment of the bolts and buts, some were in awful tight spots, enough trying you get em)

and I ground some off with the angle grinder, got rid off all the seats at the dump because I had no room, and the recycle place would only take them with everything stripped from the frame... I have a bus to build!)

Along with the seats, I pulled the rear heater, I chopped it off behind the driver side heater and used some galv fittings to connect the two hoses (all I had at the time, I know not good I later fixed this)

I also started pulling all the little side bits of metal tat cover wires, and various sections

Then we hit the floor, attacked it with the mini crowbar guys, a real crowbar, hammers whatever we had to strip the linoleum, Pulled as many screws as we could out of it (we got most) then used the crowbars to rip up the floor.

Honestly, it was gross under, but the floor came up easily, a few hours of hard work and it was done, a big trip to the dump getting rid of all that crap.

so there we had the floor gone to metal and we met our rust for the first time, Honestly? Pretty damn good.

The worst section was around the wheel wells in the rear it was through the floor, needed a patch and the front from drivers area in, I also revealed a good crack upfront from the doghouse, about 4 inches into the metal under the driver's feet. (Damn vistas engine placement really punches through all the front shocks travel and it causes a big bump if you hit something to fast.

We got this section of the tear out, from seats to floor done over 3 days of hard work and a day of planning it I believe, (this was a year ago, and the whole build is turning into a blur, I should have recorded this before! We spent the first-2 days removing seats and heater, and assorted interior crap, and the third on the floor and general dicking around.

[scloughcarroll]

A lot of screws, that's what this was screws in the wall panels, screws in the ceiling A LOT of screws.

I hit all the screws in the walls with the drill, tried to be as nice as possible. I used Roberston and Philips heads depending on how messed up they got and some of those speed out things, found them useless because of rust etc. The ones I couldn't get off I drilled our for a while, then I used an angle grinder on the rest of em that I couldn't get.

Honestly, it took forever, probably a whole day, and I had started removing some already during te strip, I filled a big container with screws and bolts.

After all that I found the siding was actually built into the frame of the window, kind of pressed between the two... I could only get up 3 sides of the wall panels...

Sooo I cut them all off as straight and high as I could with angle grinder.... it sucked and produced many sharp little edges sticking out of the windows under the sill..... I hammered these down to make it safe and continued my rip out to deal with that later. (I eventually used a Fein tool that had a flush cut blade attachment and vibrated and a high rate of speed to cut them flush to the window, then angle ground/sanded out what was left to flush so it was now safe)


I pulled all the insulation out and bagged it, SO GROSS

Then me and a friend started removing the ceiling, again it was a game off pull as many as you can, a little bit of drilling out then I said **** it and grabbed a big hammer, and a hammer crowbar and started bashing the bolts that wouldnt come out then hammering the bits back into the frame. I would get a little gap and smash the crowbar in hopefully breaking the screw or levering it up and out. Honestly? It was a good way to get the stubborn ones if you don't care about saving the ceiling We ripped that crap out, the front was especially bad, and took longer, we saved the front and rear bulkhead for later use, but didn't end up using them.

Ceiling insulation came out, way worse than the walls LOL so itchy and man it was over 30 degrees in that thing.

This process took a couple of days to complete, and a trip to the dump she was getting lighter by the day!

We're rushing because we wanted to get the ceiling sealed before the rain came and it was September, windows also needed to be resealed and rearranged.

We hit the rust on the inside with wire brushes on the angle grinder and I got rid of as much rust as I possibly could. In the front where it was bad I used rust converter I had that converted it to a hard grey surface. Ran out of that and ended up using another converter on the remaining floor that just killed off the rust and went black, but did not add a layer of paint like hard grey.

After this, we painted the inside floor with Rustoleum Galv Primer, and then Rustoleum paint came out well! Looked a lot cleaner inside.

Then I got outside, cleaning with the angle grinder and wire brush head all the old caulk and rust and crap from the roof, I removed some decals and cleaned it all up, scrubbed it with TSP and then sanded the crap out of the whole roof, yeah it took a long time and got yellow paint dust everywhere..... I was luckily in an old lot with nothing but sand.

After that, another dose of TSP and water to clean it all off and I took it through a car wash and power washed the whole thing..... Now that I'm thinking about this I did the sanding of the outside and the wire brushing of the interior at the same time before I painted the interior floor, I also cleaned the interior floor with TSP before I painted.

Then I caulked all seams and area's I thought needed extra protection on the roof with Polyurethane Caulk.

Then we pulled every window...... **** my life

This took an 18-20 hour day to pull and clean the old caulk off them holy crap maybe longer I was dieing at the end and so was Giulia. We needed to pull the windows, paint the roof and floor and between the windows in 3 days...... it was a blur of constant work.

After the windows came out we scraped and used rubbing alcohol, all sorts of cleaners on them and sprayed them down and left to dry.

Then we hit the window sills with the angle grinder and wire brush

We taped the bus and got started painting, we did Elastomeric Roof coating on the roof (White Knight brand from Canadian Tire.) Rolled it on the roof in thick coats, and brushed the edges. We did three coats on the roof of this.

Between all the windows and on the inside sills we used Rustoleum again, we met the two at the gutter above the windows and it worked great. Used little rollers and brushed for the rust paint.

It honestly came out looking great! and 1 year into it even after spending a lot of time working on the roof of the deck, skylight, fan, roof rack and solar array it has held up great, and the best part? no leaks at all with all the sealing I worked hard on that.

After it was done the drying, we get the windows back into it installed new screws and sealed them in with more polyurethane caulk (I use that stuff for everything, its polyurethane and butyl tape that I use to bed and seal everything on the bus.

Boom Looking fresh and clean! I also sprayed mould killer on the walls in various spots that smelt foul, cleaned those up real nice and sealed leaks around lights, holes for wiring and antennae etc.

This process dealt with all the leaks that had come with the bus, EXCEPT the windshield, it leaks in 2 spots, I still need to tackle this one.


Heres the pics of this process

[Drew Bru]

Hey, congrats your bus is looking GREAT! You've got all the hard grunt work done (this seems to be where a lot of people throw in the towel), now it's time for the fun stuff....building out the living space. What are your plans? What does the finished project look like in your imagination?
Looking good, so far

[scloughcarroll]

Thanks so much Drew! I have to say your build was an inspiration for me as I have been working on mine, thanks for all your posts on here!

This stage I'm at describing was around last September, So we are a long ways in now! I actually just started framing out my walls now and am getting ready to install my electrical and plumbing! I'll share pics of our Design ASAP along with more build shots

[scloughcarroll]

Ok so this was about the time we started designing our interior, we did this SO many times....... different layouts galore! I will attach a pic of our final layout set-up (This has changed again now but it's just where I placed outlets etc to bring down wiring costs and simplify my runs)

I had big plans for the roof, and wanted that done ASAP to seal it for rain and get the bolts through so I started with the Roof top Deck I intended to place over the rear.

I wanted a Deck, Roof Rack, and Large Solar Array.

I borrowed the roof rack idea from another schoolie build, I can find the link but he used Klee Clamps, and trex decking to build a massive deck over his entire build.

I went with the Kee Clamps (See images) to attach the outer supports to the sides of the bus, and ended up using treated wood, 4x4's for supports and standard decking for the top.

Loved the Kee clamps, I got them at a place in Vancouver, and then got steel tubing cut to size from Metal Mart, I used steel tubing to make my roof rack as well and another type of Kee Klamp.

The Deck supports went through the main supports on the rear of the bus, and also have wood supports under it to the roof.

The Roof rack will have 5 cross pieces from metal on them and used Kee clamps to attach, and another type of Klee Clamp to attach the cross beams, making them fully movable on the rack. I hope to have this for storage for kayaks, boards, and those rooftop storage containers.


The deck and roof rack were terrifying to instal LOL so many holes, so much caulk and measuring and drilling but we got it done! and it worked out very well, I am personally happy with it

Next, I got galv sheet metal, can't remember the gauge I want to say 16? had it cut to size, and I ripped out our escape hatches as they did nothing but leak. I tried to find marine hatches, but they cost an arm and a leg so I went with a Fantastic Fan and Skylight instead.

Sealed up the hatches with Butyl tape, and caulk and self-tapping screws on the roof and get them laid in. Then in the next few days, I installed one of the Fantastic Fans (The one that does not run in reverse, Cheaper) and a regular RV Skylight.

I positioned the skylight over the shower, to give me extra headroom (I am 6'2 and lucky the Vista is a slightly taller roof than standard Even after building out the floor and ceiling I can stand in the majority of the centre of the bus.

Boom that was the majority of the roof.

Now at this point, I ran into condensation..... it was winter and things got interesting.

So I used 1" EPS foam to do the ceiling, scoring and curving it into position throughout the roof to deal with that.

Found the rooftop deck actually eliminated condensation from the rear.... maybe it held in enough heat and normalized the temp changes? not sure.


Next, I tackled those rusted up area's around the wheel wells. I got plate steel and had it bent to the appox angle of the wheel wells at a local shop.

I installed it with lots of caulk and expanding foam and self-tapping screws.

First, we sealed all the screw holes in the floor, I used caulk and those drywall screw holder things and caulked them all over.

Next came subfloor and joists. I used 2x3's for joists, and 1.5" Durafoam EPS to insulate. On top of this went 7/16's OSB, I know it a little thinner than what most use but it was very cheap, I compensated by placing my joists at tighter intervals throughout and using A TON of screws. I also did a lot of support under my water Tank.

Oh yeah, the tanks! I picked these up and some point in here, found them at a plastic supplier. I went with a 115 Gallon fresh, and 55-gallon grey tank... I know weird right? here is the explanation. I wanted the fresh inside under the bed to prevent freezing, I needed it big because we want to be able to go for about 2 weeks between fill-ups. Now for grey, the biggest tank I could fit was a 55 based on the dimensions from this supplier, so I went with that planning to mount it under the bus. I figure I can eventually add another if needed, or just empty more often. No black tank here as we will use a composting toilet. I figured the smaller grey is good as it will warn us as we have used about half a tank of water and keep us from going crazy.

The end result was great, the good surface to screw into and very firm, no flexing of the flooring panels or creaking etc

Oh also at some point I finished tearing out the front bulkhead and rear panels and getting rid of the insulation, that was Gross! So the interior was totally stripped.

Getting tough to remember all the little things we did on this thing!

Next, I'll go into the hanging of the grey tank, ceiling furring strips, interior studs etc but thats all for now!

Pictures attached

[scloughcarroll]

Also here is one of the layouts we completed, this is close to the final with a few more changes still coming as we build. I have a whole PDF of appliances and wiring etc if anyone is interested

[o1marc]

Check with your insurance before adding a deck, many will not insure you with one.

[scloughcarroll]

01 marc, oops too late here! that baby is definitely installed.

The saving grace is here in BC we just have ICBC, and they are very lax with these conversions..... so long as I can get it past the Vehicle inspection (Which is performed by a third party and receives very little oversight so entirely up to the inspector...) and it has 3 of 5 items as described they will insure it. We don't suffer from the same scrutiny that private insurance companies seem to give.

Having said that I am hoping it won't be an issue, I have tried calling ICBC and the local inspector, both were unhelpful and the inspector seemed mainly interested in seatbelts, operating lights etc. I have seen a few buses that are insured as commercial vehicles here in BC with similar racks, albeit made from all steel but the same kind of side supports.

I checked the laws we have here and am well under my max height, and I made the supports extend out from the bus only a few inches, well under the distance my mirrors travel out from the bus. which I am hoping is going to be ok, and to the best of my knowledge is... only one way to find out now haha

Unfortunately, I have to have a bed installed, some kitchen plumbing, grey plumbing etc before I can change my title, so am working towards that right now, and I needed the roof completed so I could seal everything up nicely.

I guess worst case..... I could remove the deck if need be, and reinstall it after the fact.... hope I don't need too but hell if its gotta be done I will do it.

I'm leaving out the wood fireplace and associated chimney until after I am certified and insured though, figured I have enough weird stuff on this baby already

[Drew Bru]

That's coming together nice. I like the layout, but next to the shower is the wheel well....do you plan on walking over the wheel well to get to the bedroom? It looks like it's well planned out. We did the same, I even created a 3D rendering in CAD with a few different layouts. It helped flesh out the design concept, but things changed once we started buying fixtures (tub, especially) and putting things into place. Don't be surprised if this happens with you as well......a few inches here and there can really make or break your plans! Honestly, that was the most surprisingly pleasant aspect of the build....the way things just "came together" in an organic kinda way and worked out perfectly.

I'd leave room for extra greywater capacity. We've got 100gal fresh and 67gal grey, and the grey is the limiting factor.....we need to move the bus to dump and fill a couple/few days sooner because of it. We may add an auxiliary tank ourselves, so I'd recommend keeping space in case you need to do so too. IMO you were smart to keep your windows instead of skinning over them. It makes for easy cooling down on hot days and it makes the space feel more open and larger than it is. Using the fans and windows together will bring the temp down, and having some kind of shade on the windows will help keep it cool in the summer. During the cooler months, the windows will help warm the bus due to the solar gain (we gain around 20degF above ambient temps) and the stove will take the chill off. Is that a woodstove you're planning? I like the location of it near the living area. Ours is closer to the back bedroom and, while it's great for the mornings when we're lounging in bed, I sorta wish it was closer to the couch for the rest of the day when we're lounging in the living room!

[scloughcarroll]

Thanks so much! Its a definite work in progress on the layout, it has changed many times haha.

Your right on the shower, we have to go over the wheel well to enter the bedroom, it was a compromise to place the shower in the centre of the bus to make sure I could stand up fully inside of it (6'2 guy) we wanted to keep the front as open as possible, and with the shower in the middle this is what we came up with.

Totally agree on changes haha its evolving constantly! so many layouts made, and still changing to this day lol I started framing recently with the stuff that cant move to allow the design to fluctuate a little as we build-out.

I'm gonna get ahead of myself here but can't help because it's so cool, attached is a shot of our framing we just did which gives a good feel for the space around the shower

I did end up skinning 4 windows total, (Next Post) leaving us with around 18 left. I totally agree with you it makes it feel much larger inside, and the breeze from the windows is key to cool it all down, we are planning on doing AC and generator (just to power AC) but are struggling with this right now, more on that later.

Totally agree with you on greywater too, its the limiting factor for us right now, I have room for another tank but am just working on installing to 60" storage boxes (one for batteries and another for storage) and also need to get a propane tank and generator mounted under the bus so after I place all of those I am going to look at installing a second grey tank either same size 55 gal to being us to 110Gal or maybe a but smaller, possibly dedicating it to the shower, so one tank for shower and one for sinks or vice versa.

Your right on the stove as well, it's going to be a cubic mini grizzly, located smack dab in the middle of our living area. I do worry it may not provide enough heat to the sleeping area, but am going to further insulate the rear wall between garage, and maybe under the bed a bit, and could always use a fan to circulate heat I guess, always a compromise right!

[scloughcarroll]

Ok so next after the subfloor I furred out the ceiling braces, I used the same OSB I used on the floor 7/16 and made it fit the curves with bending and cuts, I screwed it all into the metal supports and planned to attach my tongue and groove ceiling panels to this.

In I insulated with one layer of 1" EPS and then another layer of 1.5" EPS Durofoam to bring it flush with my furring strips, then taped over all seams on both layers with aluminum tape.

In total, I have 2.5" of insulation in all the walls and roof, and 1.5" on the floor. That combined with the elastomeric roof coating has made a huge change in the temperature inside the bus, stays much warmer in winter and much cooler in the summer now!

Next step was cutting holes for my shower and other grey plumbing in the floor of the bus, all delivery lines are inside to avoid freezing.

Then I hung my grey tank. I built a frame with steel angle to go around, and used 4 1/2 inch threaded rods through the buses angle supports on the other side, supporting with more angle on top. I got it in position with a floor jack and installed it all with lock tight etc.

All intake fitting were plastic welded in place at the shop ad i roughed in my grey plumbing.... that was interesting travelling over the frame and I am still working on some tough bits where I go from the hard plastic tubing to pex to get over some tight spots and back to hard plastic.

Where the greywater enters the tank I have a valve so I can shut it off and prevent water from running back along the drains if we were going down a big hill etc so I can close this as we drive.

Next, I dealt with the driver's side heater, I still have my main defrost and heater in the front dash that I left in place for while driving. I pulled the heater and moved the lines through into the engine bay, where I shortened and made a connection with a brass fitting to complete the coolant loop.

At this time I also had the thermostat replaced, and in doing this found coolant leaks caused by old tubing giving way at the connections. I pulled a bunch of tubing and replaced it with fresh stuff.

I then cut off the stupid leftover metal from cutting off the walls, this was irritating and was done with Fein tool, flush cut blade, grinder and metal sander.

Now I wanted to get my walls furred and install studs between all side joists for attaching siding and to make solid attachments for cabinets and assorted interior stuff. I used 2x4 to go between the buses structural supports, furred out the supports with custom-sized wood I ripped on the table saw, and made it all flush all along.

A little later I added Noico 80Ml soundproofing to all the walls and then insulated it out to flush with the furring with the aforementioned 2.5" of insulation.

I am also planning on adding the noise insulation to the front driver's floor over the engine and transmission to reduce engine noise as well as noise deadening the engine doghouse.

The sound deadener doesn't eliminate sound, but takes it down a lot and reduced the nasty rattles and reverb caused by the metal, with that, the insulation, flooring etc it's much quieter and less rattly when running.

At this point I covered some windows, I had already moved broken windows to positions around my kitchen area, I wanted to cover them but was struggling with how to make it watertight without a TON of work on the exterior. I ended up leaving the windows installed, as they were watertight. Getting a custom cut sheet metal (one large to cover 3 windows on the one side and another to cover 1 window on the far side. I used plywood on the outside in the widows to bring them flush with the exterior of the bus, then put the sheet metal over the windows, caulked it and screwed it in between the windows. It doesn't rattle, protects the windows I'm covering on the inside from damage and is watertight... yay!

I insulated these windows on the inside and made framing around them to attach my walls, and backsplash etc

The next big task was solar panels on the roof, I had already planned my system (I'll get into that another time) so I ordered my panels 8x Renolgy 100watt and got a bunch of aluminium angle. I formed these into 2 large 4-panel arrays with an aluminium angle frame and bolted it all together.

I copied this guys design for tilting arrays, but made them one panel bigger
https://www.buslifeadventure.com/ind...t-solar-panels

Then I used 3 heavy duty hinges on each backside, and 2 gas struts on the sides with a latch up front and attached these to the roof in the front of the bus.

I used 2x4 supports I had placed between the ceiling supports previously to provide good anchorage on the inside and bolted everything down with caulk, locktite etc.

The end result was 2 solar arrays, each that could angle up to about 35 degrees pointing to either side of the bus, and when folded down lay 2-3 inched off the roof. seems good!

I will be putting some kind of wind reflector in front to make sure I don't get to much updraft while driving going under and pushing up on the panels.


Well, we're getting closer to the current day! This job of the solar panels was completed a few months ago. Still more to go!

Realizing I am missing a lot of pictures here, So I will go to the bus and take images of all the completed projects mentioned that I am missing for you guys

[Drew Bru]

Originally Posted by scloughcarroll

Totally agree with you on greywater too, its the limiting factor for us right now, I have room for another tank but am just working on installing to 60" storage boxes (one for batteries and another for storage) and also need to get a propane tank and generator mounted under the bus so after I place all of those I am going to look at installing a second grey tank either same size 55 gal to being us to 110Gal or maybe a but smaller, possibly dedicating it to the shower, so one tank for shower and one for sinks or vice versa.

You're right on the stove as well, it's going to be a cubic mini grizzly, located smack dab in the middle of our living area. I do worry it may not provide enough heat to the sleeping area, but am going to further insulate the rear wall between garage, and maybe under the bed a bit, and could always use a fan to circulate heat I guess, always a compromise right!

I hear ya on the compromises, it goes with the territory. We're likewise considering a dedicated grey tank for the shower and to plumb our Nature's Head into, then using the original one for the bulk of our water usage, which is kitchen sink. Our biggest issue with the Cubic Grizzly isn't the heat that it puts out, but the limited burn time. It needs to be fed every 20-40 minutes, so our idea of it keeping us warm through the night was just a fantasy. It does great during the daytime when we can tend it though. At night we just pile on the blankets and in the morning we run the Mr. Heater propane heater to take the chill off, then light the stove to get warm and cozy.

Are you planning on living full time or is this a camper/weekender or what?

[scloughcarroll]

Ok so I'm moving through this fast, and I think its important to mention this is all from memory and pulling together shots, so much happened in this time.

Getting to this point from tear out probably took 9 months, lots went wrong in between and tons of challenges I have not mentioned (everyone knows this lol)

I'm going to take a bunch more shots to put on here to try to get everyone a better idea of how I did everything, if any wants more info on how I did something or why just let me know! I can get wayyyyyy more detailed then I am right now, just trying to get all the stages out of my head and on this thread!

[scloughcarroll]

forgot to add your quote! This is in reply to Drew

Hmm that's a good thing to know, I did not think of the burn time on the stove, definitly makes it tough to stoke it for a night! You seem to have a good idea with the two heaters, I may definitely use that.

Are you plumbing your fluid container into the other grey right? We are planning on using a natures head as well so thats also a great idea.

We are hoping to have it as a full time live-in yeah, hopefully for the next 5 years or so so comfort and ease of use it definitly key

[Drew Bru]

We LOVE the Nature's Head, but emptying the pee jug every other day is kind of a pain. We're not plumbing it right now, but if we add another grey tank we will.
We've found that living full time we're not missing anything that we had in our bungalow that was 10x size....it's very comfortable.

[o1marc]

I have more fresh watter holding than gray water. My theory being I will run into a lot more places I can dump gray, than I can fill fresh.

[Drew Bru]

Originally Posted by o1marc

I have more fresh watter holding than gray water. My theory being I will run into a lot more places I can dump gray, than I can fill fresh.

Sounds good in theory, but when you've dumped your gray water and only have 2-3 days of fresh water left it's a bit of a drag.

[PNW_Steve]

Originally Posted by Drew Bru

We LOVE the Nature's Head, but emptying the pee jug every other day is kind of a pain. We're not plumbing it right now, but if we add another grey tank we will.
We've found that living full time we're not missing anything that we had in our bungalow that was 10x size....it's very comfortable.

In my fifth wheel trailer I plumbed the urine into a removable five gallon tank in one of the outside storage bays. Worked out OK. It could become a handful if I let it get too full but better than having to empty it every other day.