Skoolie Conversions - a great group! - Page 6

EastCoastCB · 12-29-2014, 05:10 AM

Thanks for the update, I LOVE your Gillig. Its so cool to see something different.

LuckyChow · 12-29-2014, 09:07 PM

Thanks EastCoastCB! Although the lighting is bad, here's a bit more.

And here's my Ikea kitchen cabinets.

ol trunt · 12-29-2014, 09:21 PM

Beautiful!

headinthetrees · 12-30-2014, 12:27 AM

yes, you did a great job with the kitchen. Would love to know some more details about the build, like what all is going on in that equipment cabinet.

EastCoastCB · 12-30-2014, 03:00 AM

Absolutely BEAUTIFUL!

browncrown · 12-30-2014, 09:51 AM

Fabulous work!!! Well done!

go00nascar · 12-30-2014, 07:26 PM

great design. like the stainless steel in the kitchen

LuckyChow · 12-30-2014, 08:46 PM

Thanks everyone! Glad to hear approvals on my little kitchen. Sometimes I think about all the thousands of people that rode in my little project back when it was in transit service in Daytona. Do you think they would believe it to see it now? The transit buses are often overlooked when it comes to conversions, but they're not bad with a little lipstick.

Headinthetrees, you asked about the equipment cabinet. If you look back in the build, you can see photos. It contains 2 4-D Lifeline absorbed mat batteries for the house system in the bottom. Above that are the two breaker boxes (one for incoming power and the 2nd for inverter circuits). Above that is a 24V battery charger and on the opposite wall, a 3000 watt Prosine inverter/charger. There is also a marine type breaker panel for 24V circuits in the door as well as the inverter control panel. At the top of the compartment are two quiet fans that are thermostically controlled for heat removal from the compartment. I could have installed only one, had I known how little heat I have in there. But at the time, I didn't know.

As far as the kitchen, everything you see there came from Ikea. I use a portable induction cooktop if I want to fry anything. The microwave does double duty as it is a convection/microwave. By not having a built in cooktop, it gives me more counter space in an already small kitchen. I cooked a spaghetti dinner for 9 at Halloween.

headinthetrees · 12-30-2014, 09:01 PM

Ya I can see how not having the cooktop in the way is a great spacesaver. There are lots of times when its simply not needed for cooking, or only for the very last phase of cooking, allowing more room for doing all your prepwork. Also you can bring extra burners if you knew you were going to be cooking for a lot of people.

The fans look really nice as a pair, and redundancy is always nice because eventually ones gonna go out on you.

I thought I had read through your whole thread but I must have missed the part on the electrical setup, I'll have to go back and check it out.

LuckyChow · 12-30-2014, 09:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by headinthetrees

Ya I can see how not having the cooktop in the way is a great spacesaver. There are lots of times when its simply not needed for cooking, or only for the very last phase of cooking, allowing more room for doing all your prepwork. Also you can bring extra burners if you knew you were going to be cooking for a lot of people.

The fans look really nice as a pair, and redundancy is always nice because eventually ones gonna go out on you.

I thought I had read through your whole thread but I must have missed the part on the electrical setup, I'll have to go back and check it out.

True. Some people just use an electric skillet and/or griddle.

Those fans were made for audio-visual cabinets and were designed to be extra quiet. I think they were around $75 each. You can't hear them when they're running.

EastCoastCB · 12-30-2014, 09:25 PM

Daytona huh? Are you a local here in the Sunshine State?
I'm not too far from Daytone. Apopka area.

LuckyChow · 12-30-2014, 09:32 PM

I'm actually in Atlanta.

headinthetrees · 12-31-2014, 09:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bansil

Glamour Camping is when you "leave your home and take your other home to the woods on vacation" and laugh at the people "roughing it" as you microwave pop corn and grab a cold beverage out of the fridge........or maybe it's the peach vanilla ice cream you share with your neighbors

They say "this isn't camping"

I smile and say "yes it is, Glamour Camping...Glamping"...people smile and laugh...good times it's what it's about

make since?

The first time I went glamping was with some older friends when I was in my early 20s. We were going snowmobiling and staying up in the mountains. My buddy told me to bring all my best sleeping gear because it was below zero at night and they were "roughing it." So I load up my zero degree mummy bag, tons of blankets, and a small heater and planned to sleep in my truck bed (with topper.) I roll up and they've got a 40 ft diesel pusher with matching a enclosed trailer.

Turns out roughing it meant getting out on the roof a few times a day to shovel the snow off the satellite and the slide outs. The mummy bag didn't see much use as I slept on one of the fold-out heated and vibrating couches.

LuckyChow · 04-26-2015, 10:23 PM

I think it's update time. I'm getting close to finishing (if there is ever such a thing). Since everyone loves pictures, I'm just going to throw up a bunch of photos. Hope you enjoy them.

This is in the back bedroom, looking toward the front. The "things" on the wall take the place of chest of drawers. They fold open and provide a place for underwear, socks, t-shirts, etc. They are great for a space saving design. From Ikea.

I hope you enjoyed my update. It's spring and I hope to be camping on the lake soon. I just changed the rear tires from the ones that came on it when I picked it up. They were 7 years old. One of them had already started bulging on the sidewall and I didn't know it, since it was on the inside dual.

I also had my transmission computer reprogrammed to activate 6th gear. My bus has an Allison B-400 transmission. Most transit systems lock out 6th gear since the buses are usually stopping a lot and don't need much road speed. This lowered my final drive rpm even more, so I'm hoping for better fuel mileage. I'm not sure where this puts my top speed, since it would already run over 70 before the programming. I don't drive over 65 anyway, so it's not important. But, the increase in fuel mileage is! Happy Camping!