The Camel Conversion Project

[jazty]

And one of these:


This is my favourite piece of gear for grinding, wire brushing, spray painting, etc. I don't think it provides the same eye protection as proper safety glasses/goggles for large debris coming at your face, but it's great otherwise. Especially for working overhead. Ever pick your nose after a long wire brushing or grinding exercise? (I know you have!) No more black/brown boogers, which means your lungs are staying properly pink.

[aaronsb]

Make sure you select the correct filtration. Silica particles vs. isocyanites for example.

Originally Posted by jazty

And one of these:


This is my favourite piece of gear for grinding, wire brushing, spray painting, etc. I don't think it provides the same eye protection as proper safety glasses/goggles for large debris coming at your face, but it's great otherwise. Especially for working overhead. Ever pick your nose after a long wire brushing or grinding exercise? (I know you have!) No more black/brown boogers, which means your lungs are staying properly pink.

[PDBreske]

Originally Posted by aaronsb

I am concerned about the backspacing you have from your burner to the rear wall, as well as the head room from the burner to under the cabinet. I can see in the photo with the metal backsplash that it's already been discolored by heat.

Googling some random website about minimum clearances (http://www.nachi.org/forum/f18/minimum-clearance-30109/) and from my own experience building kitchens, 30" of vertical clearance between range surface and ventilation hood is the minimum. I would hope that radiative heating from an open flame would never exceed 212 degrees F, but based on the coloration of your sheet metal, I imagine it might get hotter than that.

No criticism here, just observations. Please be safe.

Aaron

The cooktop is installed per the clearance minimums in the installation instructions and the stainless backlash isn't discolored because when the picture was taken, I had yet to even turn on the cooktop; the colors are just reflections of the surrounding environment. You are correct that the overhead clearance is a bit low, but when I did eventually turn on the burner and boil some water, the heat was mostly absorbed by the metal pot and the underside of the upper cabinet only got warm. I'm still thinking I might add a reflective layer to the bottom of the cabinet, but for now I'll keep an eye on it. There simply isn't enough room for a range hood (I tried), but I may install a fan/filter in the side wall to suck out heat and odors.

[PDBreske]

Originally Posted by aaronsb

Make sure you select the correct filtration. Silica particles vs. isocyanites for example.

Awesome.

[Laurel]

Wow! I am so glad you are able to type and get back into it. I am praying for your full recovery.
Are you planning on continuing with the bus?

[PDBreske]

Originally Posted by Laurel

Wow! I am so glad you are able to type and get back into it. I am praying for your full recovery.
Are you planning on continuing with the bus?

Not only am I planning on finishing, I've also decided to change the layout to accommodate my girlfriend who will be joining me onboard. She refuses to sleep in the "coffin" that is the current design, so I'll need to expand the living area and reduce the garage. This also means I won't be able to carry the Jeep, so it looks like I'll be towing it after all. It's a shame because I was really looking forward to seeing it inside the back half of the bus. Stupid girls. ;)

[rkentzel]

You need to install one of these

http://www.campingworld.com/category/pr ... ectors/152

[ol trunt]

" Stupid girls. ;)" You keep that up and one fine day when you are looking for a little warm shoulder all you are going to get is cold tongue

[PDBreske]

No new work to report, but I wanted to check in and let everyone know that I'm not giving up on this project. As I said before, I'm changing the interior to accommodate an extra full-time passenger, so the bedroom and garage will be changed and necessitate abandonment of the drive-in garage space.

Where the bed is now will be opened up and the back wall pushed all the way to the door jamb of the rear door. The rear door will open into the garage/storage and there will be plenty of space in there with the tall ceilings and about 48 square feet of floorspace.

The "new" bedroom will have twin-size bunk beds on the passenger side and a wardrobe/entertainment center on the driver side. We'll sit on the lower bunk to watch TV across the room.

I'm going to leave a little open space aft of the wardrobe to possibly install a door and toilet room that occupies space in the garage. Having the toilet there would be good for two reasons: It's as far to the rear as possible to isolate ... uh ... odors, and if I wanted to install a flush toilet it's over a section of floor with nothing underneath, so I could mount a black tank right under the toilet. If I wanted to install a composting toilet, I would have easy access to a hatch from the garage area so I could swap out the composting tank/bucket without ever having to carry it through the living area. Or I could just throw a porta-potty in there and be done with it.

When my fingers are working again, I'll be able to model all this in SketchUp (much easier when you can control a 3-button mouse) and I'll share those renders here.

Speaking of fingers, I met with an orthopedic surgeon last week and he's going to start working on my locked or stiff joints so I can regain a decent standard of living again. My right elbow is going to be the first surgery, then the left. Fingers after that. The elbows are the most important because right now I can't even scratch an itch on my face or brush my own teeth. With at least one elbow working I should be able to do almost everything that I now need help with.

I spent a few hours today catching up on most of the threads I've missed and now I'm all pumped up to get back to work. I'm going to try to heal extra quick so I can get to it before next winter.

[EastCoastCB]

Thats what I've been planning on. Putting a closet/garage at the rear door area. I'm gonna keep our bikes and tools back there. Well, probably.
Gotta get building soon.
I feel you on the mobility/elbows stuff. I have psoriatic arthritis. Sometimes I can't even open my beer.
Its basically psoriasis but its in my joints. That stuff is no fun at all.
I wish I'd been building more stuff when I was 17, good looking and invincible!

[gizmoq]

Originally Posted by PDBreske

Not only am I planning on finishing, I've also decided to change the layout to accommodate my girlfriend who will be joining me onboard. She refuses to sleep in the "coffin" that is the current design, so I'll need to expand the living area and reduce the garage. This also means I won't be able to carry the Jeep, so it looks like I'll be towing it after all. It's a shame because I was really looking forward to seeing it inside the back half of the bus. Stupid girls. ;)

Glad to see you're back and I too will include you in my prayers for your speedy recovery.

I haven't done much to my bus, but just to make you jealous, I put up my diamond plate garage walls, cut the diamond plate vinyl flooring, installed my ramp system and the internal see-saw trailer. Played around with loading different cars inside, but this is the one that counts.

Good luck with your new design, I was really looking forward to seeing the jeep in there, but the GF is more important (that's why I haven't made much progress - mine needs at least a 4-star RV, too.)

[PDBreske]

Originally Posted by gizmoq

Glad to see you're back and I too will include you in my prayers for your speedy recovery.

I haven't done much to my bus, but just to make you jealous, I put up my diamond plate garage walls, cut the diamond plate vinyl flooring, installed my ramp system and the internal see-saw trailer. Played around with loading different cars inside, but this is the one that counts.
(snip)
Good luck with your new design, I was really looking forward to seeing the jeep in there, but the GF is more important (that's why I haven't made much progress - mine needs at least a 4-star RV, too.)

I saw this picture on your thread. That's a sweet ride and I love the way you're carrying it. Good deal!

And thanks!

[PDBreske]

Busied myself today by remodeling the virtual bus with Sketchup. Here's what I came up with:

This is the passenger side with new bunk beds and the new toilet room. I thought of making the toilet room smaller, but the small space behind the toilet inside the (now smaller) garage would be pretty useless. This way, there is enough room to turn around between a swing-in door and the commode.




On the driver side, I've added a new wardrobe opposite the bunk beds, with room (hopefully) for a flat-screen TV under the hanging clothes. Also added another work desk for my girlfriend. The garage has its own door, and I might add the RV window I already have to the wall between the garage and bedroom. It has an emergency escape window, so we'd be able to get out through the back door via the garage.

The toilet can be anything I decide to put there; a composting toilet or a flush toilet. There is enough room under the floor there that I can mount a dedicated black water tank for a flush toilet.

The wheel box on this side presents a toe hazard when going to the toilet in the middle of the night (or anytime, really), so I will have to think of a solution for that. Maybe a raised floor in the bedroom and toilet room. I still have a LOT of headroom, so a four-inch raise is no big deal.

[claydbal]

good to see you studying the situation Homey! its a good start after what you went through.

you know the drill, we want pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[PDBreske]

Originally Posted by claydbal

good to see you studying the situation Homey! its a good start after what you went through.

you know the drill, we want pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think tomorrow I'll try to make a video of the interior showing the damage from the explosion. It's surprising how little damage was done considering the severity of my own injuries. The firefighters who responded to the accident did more damage than the fire. 😩

[claydbal]

Originally Posted by PDBreske

I think tomorrow I'll try to make a video of the interior showing the damage from the explosion. It's surprising how little damage was done considering the severity of my own injuries. The firefighters who responded to the accident did more damage than the fire. 😩

im picturing natster in a fire suit, wielding his hammer and chisel. lol

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by claydbal

im picturing natster in a fire suit, wielding his hammer and chisel. lol

You almost made me spit up my coffee!

[bansil]

PD glad to hear you coming along on the recovery road, did you get any new cool parts? Like maybe SS rod ends for joints....would be a bitch at airports, but very cool bar story [wink]

You planning any wheeling trips for the summer/fall?

IM me your snail mail, I want to send you something for the camel project


Eta...you need to change your buses capacity now

[claydbal]

Originally Posted by bansil

PD glad to hear you coming along on the recovery road, did you get any new cool parts? Like maybe SS rod ends for joints....would be a bitch at airports, but very cool bar story [wink]

You planning any wheeling trips for the summer/fall?

IM me your snail mail, I want to send you something for the camel project


Eta...you need to change your buses capacity now

i got some ss joints, and homeless people bones. ya gonna send me something?

[PDBreske]

Originally Posted by bansil

PD glad to hear you coming along on the recovery road, did you get any new cool parts? Like maybe SS rod ends for joints....would be a bitch at airports, but very cool bar story [wink]

You planning any wheeling trips for the summer/fall?

IM me your snail mail, I want to send you something for the camel project


Eta...you need to change your buses capacity now

When I started having problems with my fingers, I totally told the doctors they could cut off my hands if in return they would give me some cool bionic replacements. That would be so cool!

Not going anywhere until I feel safe behind the wheel, which could be a long time. I can barely shift out of Park, much less change or fix a flat tire.

Until the single-sleeper bed is removed, the capacity is still 1.

PM sent. Thanks in advance!