the wild blue yonder

[atcc77]

[TheRainbowBoxer]

Wow! That is pretty impressive!

[Tango]

Excellent!!!

[syke]

Very nice addition. Way to think outside the box!

[TygerCub]

What kind of wood did you use to create the curved supports for your skylights? Is it just plywood cut to match the curvature of the bus? Or did you do something fancy like steaming the wood to get the curve?

[atcc77]

Originally Posted by TygerCub

What kind of wood did you use to create the curved supports for your skylights? Is it just plywood cut to match the curvature of the bus? Or did you do something fancy like steaming the wood to get the curve?

I used some 2x6 white oak I bought about 4yrs ago at a local sawmill for the purpose of steambending. At the time I was building teardrop trailers and was planning on doing a fancy woody trailer. My second trailer I built for a hot rodder down the street to pull with his 1925 studebaker. He entered it in the "WORLD OF WHEELS"and won best in class with it.
I had come up with a woody design for the third trailer, but life happened and we had another baby, making a 2 person camper useless to us, so I just stacked the white oak up in the corner for future use. Though I have been trying to think up something for the inside that is steambent, so far, any concepts have been just out of sight in my mind's eye...but they'll eventually come to light.
here are a couple of pics of that last teardrop

[TygerCub]

Very sweet!

[atcc77]

Been thinking about the interior, trying to come up with a plan. The layout is solid,and if I can master google sketchup I'll post it (might be awhile as my work has been 7 days a week lately ), my hang up is the materials. Has anyone ever used cork on the walls? How does it hold up to being in a bus?
Theres a good bit of rust on the floors also , so am thinking this could be an opportunity to cut it up to allow bays for tanks, generator, and storage. Still undecided about the windows though, would like to sheet metal them over where we don't need them, but it needs to be super cheap since the floors are going to cost us plenty. Oh well, its another day, we'll see what crosses our path.

Have a good day ALL

[atcc77]

Haven't had time for the Yonder this week, which has probably been a good thing. I've settled on a plan to build from back to front, top to bottom, running the wiring between the frame rails underneath in conduit.
Since my floors are rusty and I own a welder, I've been thinking of cutting out sections and welding in storage bays (like under the bed with has about 12" under it, would allow for at least 18" between bed and the bottom of the sheet metal.
Our bed will be all the way back (a full size), then the shower on the passenger side and the toilet on the drivers side, then the wheel wells. On top of the wheel wells we will put the fresh water tank, water heater, and storage cabinets. In front of the wheels, on the drivers side is the sink then fridge,then futon; on the passenger side is storage, then table with two benches, then navigator seat.

***MY QUESTION*** How big do my tanks need to be? We plan on 3 or 4 people at a time, (sometimes 5 or 6) and want the ability to stay parked for 4 days between dumps if possible, most of our camping will be in state and national parks, we also plan to take a month long trip next year.

I've also been trying to find a way to skin the windows (they are 28" tall x 25" wide) cheaply, they seem to be just alittle too big for using flashing.

[TygerCub]

Originally Posted by atcc77

I've also been trying to find a way to skin the windows (they are 28" tall x 25" wide) cheaply, they seem to be just alittle too big for using flashing.

When I return from my trip, I will skin the rear windows with some galvanized steel roofing from Lowes/Home Depot (they both sell the same thing)


I have 4 of the 12' long sheets. A single sheet isn't tall enough to fit the window, but if they are overlapped, they work just fine. I'll have to cut the top sheet to fit under the rain ledge, but think it will look good when finished. I can cover 5 windows at once using this method.

[atcc77]

I've been thinking of using the galvanized roofing for the windows as well, I guess great minds think alike , I just can't say I love it yet.
Had a thought of using flashing this morning, bending two pieces with a sheet metal brake (like siding guys use) so that they interlock, but I don't really like that too much either...

I found some cheap angle iron on craigslist this morning, it's 1 1/4" x 1 1/4" x 1/8" thick with holes every 2" or so, used for warehouse shelving, 7 1/2' long.
Paid $1. per piece, got forty of them. They should go a long way towards all the under bus supports and storage I want to make. Now if I can only find someone giving away sheet metal.....

[putterspitt]

the metal roofing can be bought before it is shaped into roofing...it would be flat and might be a better application for you..just my .02

[atcc77]

Where would I find it? Guessing my local steel supplier would have that.

[putterspitt]

find a supplier, and just tell them what you want, they just run it thru the machine, its pretty cool to watch

[atcc77]

SAY!!!! That is something to look into! There is a pretty big supplier in Atlanta, about 30 minutes away, I have checked on sheet metal and angle prices, but now think I didn't do enough homework before going. Hopefully I can squeeze another trip in soon .

Wondering now how much someone would charge to stamp something into a blank? What would look cool on an old Air Force bus?
Thanks for that info!

[chev49]

I bought metal roofing pieces that had not been formed with ridges yet, at the scrap yard. the irregulars where the manufacturer makes some kinda boo bo, just get scrapped around here. I dont think it is a good idea to buy the 26 ga stuff, as it is a bit too light... I used some on my bus that i am gonna replace in the next couple weeks. It was fine for small areas, but too wavy to large panel replacement. Normally i use 18 ga steel for windows, that works really good.

[lornaschinske]

We used galvanized sheet metal to skin our windows (we also kept and slightly modified the original frames). They are backed with foam house sheathing except for 3 which are backed with plywood (refrigerator vent, freezer vent and stove vent). No rippling or anything. the reason we reused the frames had to do with the size of the sheet metal. We got some that was just barely tall enough to fit the height of the opening IF we used the frame. It was the widest stuff we could find (24 1/2 " I think). We have a few ripples in the siding of the bus. We figured a few more ripples wouldn't hurt. So far the only ripples that we have noticed were from dinging the sheet metal while installing.

[atcc77]

I found some food service drums for sale on craigslist, the idea (for now) is to use the 55gal for potable,sitting high above a wheel well, and hooking two 30 gals together somehow to make 60 gal black and grey tanks. The two waste tanks will be under the bus, with only 1" peeking out from underneath.
Hopefully, I can figure out how to connect these tanks together and start hanging them this weekend.

[chev49]

Reminds me i have probably a dozen 55 gal ones, 4 30 gal ones, and 3 250 gal square ones on pallets i am gonna get rid of...

[lornaschinske]

Originally Posted by atcc77

... Hopefully, I can figure out how to connect these tanks together....

Manifold system?