The Bucket List

[o1marc]

Originally Posted by brokedown

Fan looks good, but I need to keep use of my hatch.... Maybe it could be modified to hinge the fan out if the way?

I just ordered 2 26" pieces of Lexan off Ebay, cheaper than ordering a full 4x8 sheet at $150 and having to drive 100 miles round trip to avoid a $160 shipping charge. I only ordered one fan. After seeing another current thread that utilized ladder to access the roof from the hatch has me thinking the same as you, have some egress from the roof. I've tried to picture what you want myself, haven't figured out how the have the Lexan mounted fan, yet still be able to open the hatch and have it seal properly.
There is certainly room to mount a 14" fan/vent in the factory hatch cover.

[brokedown]

I have some stealthy fold away steps on my short bus that work pretty well but with the recent rash of people's buses getting stuff stolen from their roofs I think not having external roof access is my plan.

[o1marc]

Originally Posted by brokedown

I have some stealthy fold away steps on my short bus that work pretty well but with the recent rash of people's buses getting stuff stolen from their roofs I think not having external roof access is my plan.

The ladder is not as important as the egress. If you're going to modify that hatch, figure a way to secure it. I'm not thinking I will need egress from the roof in a hurry, but would like access to a deck if there is one.

[o1marc]

Originally Posted by o1marc

That's why I was ticked I didn't have my phone on me. I kew a pic was the only way to prove my story. It's like that all the time here, next time I go in I'll snap a shot. Court house is 2.5 miles from the house.

So I'm in the courthouse on another matter today and decide to swing into the tag office to get a pic. I walk through the door at 9:30am on a Wed. and again theres no one in there but the 4 ladies behind their windows. I stop to snap pic and from behind one window I hear " picture of no lines?", I said "exactly, my buddies just don't believe me without pics. Stayed and chatted a few minutes and no one else came in before I left. I love my small town vibe.

[brokedown]

Did you get any numbers? :ducks:

[o1marc]

My Lexan and Maxxfan arrived today. Would have been nice if they included the mounting instructions, mounting hardware and electrical connectors as described. Cut the hole and dropped the fan it. Should work nicely over the old 24" opening with the 26" Lexan.

[o1marc]

Did you miss me? The site "human verification" wasn't working and I couldn't log in because I didn't remember the PW the site gave me and I didn't change it to one I could remember. So i tried to change my PW which couldn't be done without "human verification", so I've been down for 6 days. I can't even open links from the site when not logged in. I still can't get into my email on my Mac, but can on my phone, but can't get the pics into my downloads from the email.

Anyways. I finished the install on the Maxxfan and Lexan skylight. I got lucky and was able to utilize the existing wires for the hatch alarm to power the fan as it is constant with the key on. I sand around the edge, shot a coat of primer, then a coat of Tropicool around the perimeter. et the assembly down and drilled the holes. I had already attached the Maxxfan to the lean with butyl tape and screws. I then used butyl tape on the Lexan, positioning it and screwing in down. I went to hook the 2 wires, one black, one white, to the black and white wires for the hatch, nothing. Took me awhile to figure swapping the wires worked, black goes to white and white goes to black. Ready to prime the floor tomorrow. Pics to follow when I can access them. Or if someone can tell me how to transfer pics from my cell to the site.

[o1marc]

Pics of the fan install.

[Ninjakitty]

If you download Tapatalk and log into the forum through that app you can upload directly from your phone.

Fan looks good.

[o1marc]

Looked out the window and saw one of my cats checking my work top to bottom. Don't know how how got up there unless he jumped up from the cement wall there. Surprised he was interested in going up there.

[brokedown]

One of my cats like to jump up on the roof of my buses. She started with the short bus, using the hood as a step to the roof. Then she figured out she could jump from bus to bus once she was on the roof.

First time i saw her up there she was so proud of herself and started rolling around and rolled right off the damn thing. Cats make the best mistakes.

[o1marc]

I walked out and he decided to come down, walked to the curve of the edge to check it out and just started to slide off and jumped.

[o1marc]

Figured i'd go out to the bus in this torrential rain we're getting to see if I can find the leaks. They were quite obvious with this much rain. The 2nd and 4th window on the passenger side were tripping pretty well. Glad that's out of the way. I had left the vent cover open about 3-4" and no rain came in or leaked from the 50 screw holes.

[o1marc]

Finally got the whole back end removed. After looking at the construction I will remove the center bar and raise it as high as it will go and then elongate the tops of each door to give me more head room entering the garage. I decided not to use the 33 inch door and am back in the hunt for a 37 inch door for the left.

[o1marc]

Making slow but steady progress. Finally got the right rear corner finished what you want. Look at the bus body as a puzzle and the first pieces of the puzzle are the rear corner pieces and then everything else gets attached to them. So now let's try and put the first piece in last, not a fun job for one person, but I was able to manage it finally. I went ahead and powder coated the corners olive drab has that will be the color of the back end. I may pull the glass out of the doors and powder coat them too, that way I have a ma
tching strong base coat. On to the next corner. Still searching for a second door.

[o1marc]

OpGot the left rear corner installed finally and completed. Had to cut short the corner of rub rail and reweld it. Have a fab shop bending me up the upper and lower door frame pieces, then I can mount the door, and start searching for another one.

[o1marc]

Solar design info for later use.

https://www.explorist.life/diy-campervan-solar/

[Willie_McCoy]

Originally Posted by o1marc

Solar design info for later use.

https://www.explorist.life/diy-campervan-solar/

Good article, just saved that too, Thanks!

[o1marc]

Stopped by HD to pick up a pocket door frame to see if there will be any issues installing it and how tall of a door I'll be able to squeeze in there. Started taking measurements and realized a couple of issues. One is the split between the 3rd and 4th window from the rear is only 7'6" and no the 8' I wanted. At 7'6" is where the roof hatch/vent skylight start, so I can't really start the wall in the middle of that. The bikes are right at 7'OAL. If I notch the top of the pocket door top rail and slide it up over the frame rib I should be able to make a 30" door work right at 6' tall

[o1marc]

I kept telling myself that making the top and bottom door frames pieces would take 20-30 minutes on a manual 8' brake. Every fab shop I went to said they couldn't do the 2 pieces each with one piece. I had some 14g sheared and ready to bend and the manual brake wouldn't bend it at all. So I went and got some 18g and was able to bend up both pieces out of single pieces in about 1/2hr.
I was hoping to have them bent on the hydraulic brake that could bend 14g like it was aluminum foil. As it turns out, with all the bends in it, the 18g will be plenty strong enough for the job. I also mounted the lighting into the door. NOW I NEED A SECOND DOOR.
The lower door frame piece is screwed down temporarily, it will get welded to the floor pan as well as welding up each corner of the door frame.