Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
 
Old 01-21-2014, 06:03 PM   #341
Bus Nut
 
PDBreske's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Ocala, FL
Posts: 635
Year: 1995
Coachwork: Bookmobile body by Farber
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: Navistar DT466/Alison MT643
Rated Cap: 1
Re: The Camel Conversion Project

Work has been slow for the past few months, but I caught up with all the other threads that I’ve neglected and it gave me a boost of enthusiasm. For the past couple days I’ve been working on the fresh water plumbing and shower drain. When I used a hole saw to cut the hole for the drain pipe, I had to be careful to not hit one of the lateral i-beams that are spaced about ten inches apart.

I screwed into the floor to find the underlying i-beams and thought I had found the ones on either side of where I wanted to put the drain hole. After cutting through the 2x4 bottom plate of the shower wall, I thought, “Let me check again ... just in case.” Sure enough, there was another i-beam under the floor. Apparently, there are two beams right next to each other here. Since I hadn’t yet cut through the flooring, I could simply move forward a few inches and cut. This does add a complication: I’ll have to adjust the location of the gray water tank under the floor. Not a big deal, but it’s an annoyance.


Something for you to envy: My floor construction. The disk (1) is the plastic (maybe fiberglass ... whatever it is, it’s very tough) sheet that covers the entire underside of my bus. It protects the layer of foam insulation from road debris and dirt. The insulation (2) is sprayed in between the i-beams that support the floor. It’s between 1½ and 2 inches thick. The floor itself (3) is a layer of ¾” marine-grade plywood topped with ¼” plywood.


Here’s a shot showing the i-beam under the floor. Close call.


Once the drain plumbing is mounted through this hole, I’ll foam around it to keep out the elements and hold everything in place.

I needed to at least test the fresh water plumbing for leaks before I finish the shower, so I connected the garden hose and applied pressure. Immediately found one connection that I failed to cement and it sprayed a bit of water before I shut off the pressure. Fixed that and then found two small leaks elsewhere, including the NPT fitting at the inlet connection. Fixed all of this and re-applied water pressure. Good to go. Wired the water pump and it works, too. Until I get the rest of the plumbing installed, I’m only able to recirculate the water in the tanks, but at least I know everything works. Now I can finish the shower and once that’s done, the side walls will support a lot of other stuff including the wardrobe over the water tank platform.

Oh, and I installed a third LED ceiling light. Lots of light in there now.

PDBreske is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-22-2014, 09:11 AM   #342
Bus Nut
 
PDBreske's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Ocala, FL
Posts: 635
Year: 1995
Coachwork: Bookmobile body by Farber
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: Navistar DT466/Alison MT643
Rated Cap: 1
Re: The Camel Conversion Project

For those who may be curious about the LED ceiling lights I’ve installed (three of ‘em), this is what they look like under the acrylic diffuser:


This is the brand and model, available at Home Depot for less than $30 each. My local store has only this model, but they also come in a 3000K color temperature version and one with a black aluminum housing.


The first one I bought was defective. It would get really hot (not typical of LED lights) and flicker randomly. I returned it and got a replacement as well as a second, and then bought a third with a Xmas gift card to complete my ceiling lighting. I love the color (very close to daylight-balanced) and they put out a lot of light in a smooth pattern all over the room. The best part is they only draw 10W each. I will eventually install pull cords in each housing so I can shut them off individually and use only the light I need, but still have the ability to turn off all three as I walk out the door using the wall switch near the entrance.
PDBreske is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-23-2014, 09:33 AM   #343
Skoolie
 
Locutus's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2010
Posts: 227
Year: 1990
Coachwork: Crown
Chassis: Super Coach II, 36 Ft. RE
Engine: Cat 3208T, MT643
Re: The Camel Conversion Project

Ha!
PD, those are the same LED lights I'm putting in my laundry room and a closet in my house. Four in the laundry room, one in the closet. (I'm remodeling my basement...maybe when I finish that, SWMBO will let me work on the bus finally.)
__________________
Locutus
(Latin) loquor loqui locutus dep. [to speak (in conversation); to tell , say, declare, talk of].

Children drink kOOlaid, adults drink T.E.A.


Gallery: https://www.skoolie.net/gallery/v/Skooli ... +Coach+II/
Locutus is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 01-23-2014, 09:38 AM   #344
Bus Nut
 
PDBreske's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Ocala, FL
Posts: 635
Year: 1995
Coachwork: Bookmobile body by Farber
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: Navistar DT466/Alison MT643
Rated Cap: 1
Re: The Camel Conversion Project

Quote:
Originally Posted by Locutus
Ha!
PD, those are the same LED lights I'm putting in my laundry room and a closet in my house. Four in the laundry room, one in the closet. (I’m remodeling my basement...maybe when I finish that, SWMBO will let me work on the bus finally.)
Nice, aren’t they?
PDBreske is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-07-2014, 01:52 PM   #345
Bus Nut
 
PDBreske's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Ocala, FL
Posts: 635
Year: 1995
Coachwork: Bookmobile body by Farber
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: Navistar DT466/Alison MT643
Rated Cap: 1
Re: The Camel Conversion Project

For anyone thinking of using one or more chest freezers as refrigerators (using a remote thermostat controller), you might be interested in this dual-zone freezer I saw the other day. It has a deep freeze and a “soft freeze” section with separate controls for each. The smaller, warmer side can be set between 21-50°F—perfect for use as a refrigerator! My only complaint was the warmer section is so small, but I guess the manufacturer doesn’t really intend for it to be used to store lots of daily-use food items. It’s a HiSense FC-33DT1HA, 9.0 cu. ft., $399.



PDBreske is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-08-2014, 12:03 PM   #346
Skoolie
 
kenny76's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Savannah Ga
Posts: 120
Year: 1992
Coachwork: Blue Bird
Chassis: TC2000
Engine: Cummins 5.9
Rated Cap: 72
Re: The Camel Conversion Project

On those led lights are the 110v or 12v? I am also curious as to why you got rid of your generator if your original plan was to be able to be in a remote locale for long periods. Wouldnt a generator make your seemingly all electric setup work better? I dont think that you will likely run very much 110 items off of batteries through the converter for long. My only experience is with inverters we use in our police cars to run printers and computers. Those items do not have high wattage draws and the dual battery system can run them for about an hour before the voltage is too low to operate and the vehicle must be restarted. In the fifth wheel my family lived in for a year we had 12v lights that ran off the coach battery as well as the heater and fridge controls. Our coach battery would last 24 hours as long as the heat was not running and we did not run the water pump much. I am by no means trying to belittle, rather I have been in great aww over what you have done so far and you seem to know what you are doing for sure. I am merely trying to use knowledge from your practical application to apply to my own build plans. One last thing about the dry ice, dry ice is actually carbon dioxide. Carbon Dioxide and confined space can and has equaled death. You should be fine as long as that freezer is 100% air tight. Look for a Carbon Dioxide detector. A local McDonalds had a woman die in a bathroom when their soda fountain machine had a rupure in the CO2 feed line.
__________________
Not all those who wander are lost.
kenny76 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-10-2014, 10:20 PM   #347
Bus Nut
 
PDBreske's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Ocala, FL
Posts: 635
Year: 1995
Coachwork: Bookmobile body by Farber
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: Navistar DT466/Alison MT643
Rated Cap: 1
Re: The Camel Conversion Project

The ceiling lights are 110V, drawing 10 watts each. Each will eventually have a pull chain installed so I can use only the one(s) I need at any given time. I’ll still be able to switch the whole circuit off via the rocker switch at the door.

I got rid of the generator because that thing was WAY too much generator for anyone building an efficient motorhome conversion. I could start every electrical draw I will ever have at one time and not need half of what that beast was capable of giving. Plus it was needlessly heavy and loud. (Watch the video I posted to hear just how loud it was.)

I suspect that the police car inverter/battery system wasn’t really intended for long-term use without restarting. (Why should taxpayers foot the bill for a system that will run your computer and printer all day when you can just start the engine to recharge?) A set of four deep cycle batteries will easily power for a full day a few low-draw items and occasional use of high-draw appliances. I also intend to have a few solar panels on the roof to recharge throughout the day. If I can avoid buying even a small generator, I will do just that.

I don’t know which post you stopped at, but I’ve decided to use two chest freezers for freezing and refrigeration instead of the dry ice solution. I suppose either of these would also support a dry ice block if the power died completely, so I still have that option. On the other hand, the CO2 may be a problem with the propane catalytic heater I plan to use, so I will still probably invest in a three-way gas/propane/CO2 detector. (I think I saw one at Lowes the other day.)
PDBreske is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-11-2014, 11:45 AM   #348
Bus Nut
 
PDBreske's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Ocala, FL
Posts: 635
Year: 1995
Coachwork: Bookmobile body by Farber
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: Navistar DT466/Alison MT643
Rated Cap: 1
Re: The Camel Conversion Project

Small update; doing some shower work.

Checking shower opening to make sure all the sides are flush and parallel:


The strings just touched with no tension at all. I also tried this with the strings reversed and they did the same thing. My luck never seems to run out.


Got the control hardware installed:


View from inside the wall (since I forgot to take a picture before I put up the wall and installed the escutcheon plate):
PDBreske is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-24-2014, 01:27 PM   #349
Bus Nut
 
PDBreske's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Ocala, FL
Posts: 635
Year: 1995
Coachwork: Bookmobile body by Farber
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: Navistar DT466/Alison MT643
Rated Cap: 1
Re: The Camel Conversion Project

My side entrance door hinge was pretty badly worn when I got the vehicle and I decided that it was only going to get worse. It was already binding at the extreme limits of its travel and the bottom left corner of the door wasn’t even closing all the way. It’s a full-length aluminum piano hinge, but because this was a public bookmobile, I suppose there had been a lot of open and close events over its history and they had taken their toll.

This was what it looked like recently. Where you can see the exposed hinge pin is how far down the door was out of alignment:


The previous owner tried to fix it by installing a few washers between the bottom two hinge joints to lift the door closer to its original position, but even this was only a band-aid solution and wasn’t doing much to fix the problem:


I removed the rain gutter over the door so I could completely remove the hinge pin. After removing the door, I ground and filed the hinges on the door and jam to square their respective surfaces. Using 120 stainless steel washers (six at each of 20 joints on the hinge) carefully placed at each joint as I hammered the hinge pin back into position, I ended up with what I think will be a permanent fix. I think as long as I keep it oiled with good lubricant, the surfaces should wear evenly, and certainly slower than when this was seeing dozens or hundreds of opening events per day.
PDBreske is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-24-2014, 05:48 PM   #350
Bus Geek
 
Tango's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Houston, Texas
Posts: 8,462
Year: 1946
Coachwork: Chevrolet/Wayne
Chassis: 1- 1/2 ton
Engine: Cummins 4BT
Rated Cap: 15
Re: The Camel Conversion Project

Sweet fix!
Tango is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-24-2014, 10:38 PM   #351
Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Posts: 124
Year: 1999
Coachwork: ElDorado
Chassis: Chevy P30
Engine: 7.4 liter 454 Chevy
Rated Cap: 24
Re: The Camel Conversion Project

Saw that hole in te floor and flashed back to the times I was on the train in the rest room. Big Sign saying - DO NOT FLUSH THE TOILET IN THE STATION..
I wondered why until I flushed it and saw it dropped the load of doom onto the tracks. No wonder some guys I know hated to work on trains.. Must have coated the train cars under carriage..


Quote:
Originally Posted by PDBreske
Work has been slow for the past few months, but I caught up with all the other threads that I’ve neglected and it gave me a boost of enthusiasm. For the past couple days I’ve been working on the fresh water plumbing and shower drain. When I used a hole saw to cut the hole for the drain pipe, I had to be careful to not hit one of the lateral i-beams that are spaced about ten inches apart.

I screwed into the floor to find the underlying i-beams and thought I had found the ones on either side of where I wanted to put the drain hole. After cutting through the 2x4 bottom plate of the shower wall, I thought, “Let me check again ... just in case.” Sure enough, there was another i-beam under the floor. Apparently, there are two beams right next to each other here. Since I hadn’t yet cut through the flooring, I could simply move forward a few inches and cut. This does add a complication: I’ll have to adjust the location of the gray water tank under the floor. Not a big deal, but it’s an annoyance.


Something for you to envy: My floor construction. The disk (1) is the plastic (maybe fiberglass ... whatever it is, it’s very tough) sheet that covers the entire underside of my bus. It protects the layer of foam insulation from road debris and dirt. The insulation (2) is sprayed in between the i-beams that support the floor. It’s between 1½ and 2 inches thick. The floor itself (3) is a layer of ¾” marine-grade plywood topped with ¼” plywood.


Here’s a shot showing the i-beam under the floor. Close call.


Once the drain plumbing is mounted through this hole, I’ll foam around it to keep out the elements and hold everything in place.

I needed to at least test the fresh water plumbing for leaks before I finish the shower, so I connected the garden hose and applied pressure. Immediately found one connection that I failed to cement and it sprayed a bit of water before I shut off the pressure. Fixed that and then found two small leaks elsewhere, including the NPT fitting at the inlet connection. Fixed all of this and re-applied water pressure. Good to go. Wired the water pump and it works, too. Until I get the rest of the plumbing installed, I’m only able to recirculate the water in the tanks, but at least I know everything works. Now I can finish the shower and once that’s done, the side walls will support a lot of other stuff including the wardrobe over the water tank platform.

Oh, and I installed a third LED ceiling light. Lots of light in there now.
Bullwhacker007 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-25-2014, 02:04 PM   #352
Bus Nut
 
PDBreske's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Ocala, FL
Posts: 635
Year: 1995
Coachwork: Bookmobile body by Farber
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: Navistar DT466/Alison MT643
Rated Cap: 1
Re: The Camel Conversion Project

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bullwhacker007
Saw that hole in te floor and flashed back to the times I was on the train in the rest room. Big Sign saying - DO NOT FLUSH THE TOILET IN THE STATION..
I wondered why until I flushed it and saw it dropped the load of doom onto the tracks. No wonder some guys I know hated to work on trains.. Must have coated the train cars under carriage..
Well, that hole is now filled with several adapters and couplings to get the 2” Schedule 40 PVC down to 1½” drain tubing suitable for the Hepvo waterless P-trap eliminator. Unfortunately, the whole bundle sticks down below the floor so far that my waste tank will need to be mounted a couple inches lower than I anticipated, but I’ll deal with it.

Happily, the rest of the water supply plumbing is done. I need only connect the flexible tubing to the hot water heater (arrived yesterday) and sink faucet, once that’s installed.

New Ariston GL4S water heater. This is the newest version with the temp control on the front instead of inside the front cover:


Connections all solvent-welded and ready for flexible connections:


The horizontal line on the wall is the level of the counter top (38”, but I may decide to raise it to 39” after I see the exact clearances involved) and will allow a 10” deep sink (arriving today) without contacting any of the under-sink plumbing parts.


The switch/outlet above the counter controls one outlet on the connection below the sink. I can turn on or off the water heater from here and use electricity to heat water only when I need to.


The purpose of the 38” counter height is twofold. I like a nice, tall counter. I’m not taller than average, but I don’t like reaching down to wash my hands. Two, I need four inches of clearance for the propane cooktop that will be installed in the counter over the freezer to the right of the sink. (The freezer will slide in and out of the space under the counter on wheels or heavy-duty drawer slides and you can see the left edge of it in the first picture above.)
PDBreske is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-25-2014, 05:02 PM   #353
Bus Nut
 
PDBreske's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Ocala, FL
Posts: 635
Year: 1995
Coachwork: Bookmobile body by Farber
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: Navistar DT466/Alison MT643
Rated Cap: 1
Re: The Camel Conversion Project

Me, too. I'm trying desperately to avoid the kind of mess that was in here when I bought the vehicle.
PDBreske is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-26-2014, 09:58 PM   #354
Bus Nut
 
PDBreske's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Ocala, FL
Posts: 635
Year: 1995
Coachwork: Bookmobile body by Farber
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: Navistar DT466/Alison MT643
Rated Cap: 1
Re: The Camel Conversion Project

I connected all the lines and a spare faucet and turned on the water pump ... I have hot and cold running water! Yay!

Well, I should say I had hot and cold running water. That was just a leak test and since it went well (no drips), I disconnected everything so I can work on finishing the wall between the shower and kitchen.

I was surprised at the output from the little 12V water pump. I was worried that my showers would be like standing under a rain gutter in a drizzle, but it turns out to be more like a garden hose. Sweet.
PDBreske is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-27-2014, 02:31 PM   #355
Bus Nut
 
eyedeal.ink's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Kelso, WA
Posts: 253
Year: 1989
Coachwork: Carpenter
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: DT360
Rated Cap: 72
Re: The Camel Conversion Project

Congrats man, that's always a good milestone haven't tested my pump yet but that sounds encouraging, I'm a little worried about water pressure myself.
__________________
"That's,. like,.. your opinion, man...." - the Dude.
eyedeal.ink is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-27-2014, 03:50 PM   #356
Bus Nut
 
PDBreske's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Ocala, FL
Posts: 635
Year: 1995
Coachwork: Bookmobile body by Farber
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: Navistar DT466/Alison MT643
Rated Cap: 1
Re: The Camel Conversion Project

Quote:
Originally Posted by eyedeal.ink
Congrats man, that's always a good milestone haven't tested my pump yet but that sounds encouraging, I'm a little worried about water pressure myself.
You should be good to go. I started with my system shutoff valves in the wrong configuration (the water was partially recirculating back to the tanks) so it seemed to take forever for the water heater to fill up. Once I closed the fill valve, the shower head spout suddenly came to life and shot water all over the shower stall (and, for the first time, not all over me).
PDBreske is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-27-2014, 03:59 PM   #357
Bus Nut
 
PDBreske's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Ocala, FL
Posts: 635
Year: 1995
Coachwork: Bookmobile body by Farber
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: Navistar DT466/Alison MT643
Rated Cap: 1
Re: The Camel Conversion Project

Working tonight, so I only had time for a little work in the bus.

I cut down some scrap ¾” plywood (aren’t those scraps the best?) and made some panels to finish the walls above the shower stall parts. There is a gap on the left edge of the back trim panel because the ceiling goes up slightly in that area. All will be concealed with caulk and/or some kind of moulding.


Since the shower panels have a flange to attach to the wall studs, I used the table saw to cut a rabbet for clearance:
PDBreske is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-27-2014, 04:13 PM   #358
Bus Nut
 
PDBreske's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Ocala, FL
Posts: 635
Year: 1995
Coachwork: Bookmobile body by Farber
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: Navistar DT466/Alison MT643
Rated Cap: 1
Re: The Camel Conversion Project

Quote:
Originally Posted by nat_ster
Really nice work.

Your doing great on your own, but I will add this here in case you can use the info.
Quote:
Originally Posted by PDBreske
All will be concealed with caulk and/or some kind of molding.
Home depo sells a PVC trim for out doors, and wet environments in about 10 different shapes and sizes.

I have been using it for around 5 years in showers with good results.

I use stainless pin nails to secure it onto the wall, with good kitchen and bath silicone behind.

Nat
Good to know! I’ll check it out. Thanks.
PDBreske is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-03-2014, 07:12 PM   #359
Bus Nut
 
PDBreske's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Ocala, FL
Posts: 635
Year: 1995
Coachwork: Bookmobile body by Farber
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: Navistar DT466/Alison MT643
Rated Cap: 1
Re: The Camel Conversion Project

I made a follow-up video on my plumbing. If you’ve been following this thread, I don’t think there is anything new in the video, but some people prefer video to stills. Enjoy!

RV Plumbing tour, Part 2 on YouTube
PDBreske is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-03-2014, 08:55 PM   #360
Almost There
 
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Hattiesbur, MS
Posts: 74
Year: 1998
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: All American RE
Engine: 8.3 Cummins
Rated Cap: 72
Re: The Camel Conversion Project

very clean shower install. like the video a lot.
LandLubber is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Good News Bus Conversion Project Bus Project Skoolie Conversion Projects 276 02-23-2019 07:50 PM
Jeremy's conversion project swaflyer Skoolie Conversion Projects 40 05-19-2014 06:04 PM
1991 Thomas RE Conversion project tfdfyrman Classifieds | Buy, Sell, Swap 3 10-03-2010 07:04 PM
RyanS's Bus Conversion Project RyanS Skoolie Conversion Projects 11 07-07-2010 08:00 PM
3rd bus, first conversion project Homeskooled Skoolie Conversion Projects 4 11-11-2009 08:43 PM

» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 07:19 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.