I'm 6'4"... and I want to live in a bus.

[josephkentcraig]

My wife (SJ) and I are planning on doing a bus conversion.
No kids, yet. SJ is 5'2" and I am 6'4".

I been looking around at different buses. Outside found, "Hank bought a bus", those look great.

I really like the dog nose look. (We would love to do something like this!)

AND then the rest of the way, have a grid on it for sorta a porch.
With solar power on top, aswell.

I'm open to suggestions. Thank you so much, in advance!

[cadillackid]

keep the wrangler!!! Love the jeep!.. sounds like a roof raise is i nthe cards for you at 6'4!!

bring it on, get a bus and rock on!
-Christopher

[Tango]

Welcome! And I'll second "Keep the Jeep!"

At 6'-4" you only have so many options...
1. Get used to a crick in your neck
2. Wear a hard hat
3. Raise the roof

That final option really is not as difficult as it sounds. Lots of build threads here doing the same. Best of luck. Go for it.

[josephkentcraig]

Originally Posted by Tango

Welcome! And I'll second "Keep the Jeep!"

At 6'-4" you only have so many options...
1. Get used to a crick in your neck
2. Wear a hard hat
3. Raise the roof

That final option really is not as difficult as it sounds. Lots of build threads here doing the same. Best of luck. Go for it.

With a roof raise, how will that mess with the structural support of the roof? We are planning on camping and using the roof as a "porch". Think it would still be manageable?

[Tango]

Properly executed, you can actually strengthen the roof. I raised my old 40' Blue Bird 19" using factory replacement bows cut to fit combined with 1-1/2" (as I recall) square steel tube that was welded and riveted in place.

[BusFiend]

Originally Posted by Tango

Properly executed, you can actually strengthen the roof. I raised my old 40' Blue Bird 19" using factory replacement bows cut to fit combined with 1-1/2" (as I recall) square steel tube that was welded and riveted in place.

Hey, Tango. This is the first I've read of this method. Did you go to Blu Bird directly for the replacement bows? Do you have a build thread for this? Thanks!

[Tango]

No build thread on that one. It was nearly twenty years ago.

As for the ribs...yes. I bought several factory made ribs from BB and cut them to the 19" lengths I needed. The ribs are U-shaped (actually called "hat channels") and I inserted the square tube inside both the upper and lower remaining channels with as much overlap as possible. From the floor to where the roof curve begins. Tack welded them all in place then slid the 19" repair sections I had made over the square tube to fill in the gap. I then drilled and riveted it all together on three sides using 1/4" steel rivets and finally came back and completed the welding.

Since you are extending the length (think more leverage), you need to add to the ribs tensile strength to compensate. I got the basic strategy from talking to a retired Blue Bird engineer who lived just down the road when I lived in Douglasville, Georgia. Like all the BB engineers, he hated the idea of anyone screwing around with their design, but he finally took a little interest and was actually huge help on several fronts.

BTW...my X and I did all the cutting, raising and tacking in one day. The rest took another weekend and the exterior sheetmetal about a week including a huge RV window.

Read up here. There are quite a few roof raisings either going on or completed in the build threads with any number of different approaches employed.

Best of luck...go for it. If WE can do it...YOU can do it.

[New2Skool]

Hi,
I am 6'4" as well and I have removed everything on the interior.
Bare metal floor and exposed ribs roof.
From the floor to the roof my International 3800 is 6'2" tall.
Northern Minnesota climate requires 2-4" of insulation on the floor and roof cutting down the height even further.
So, I have to do a roof raise and suggest you do the same.

You have done your research and I know how tough a raise sound but, once I got to bare metal. It doesn't look nearly as tough.

So far, everyone that has done a roof raise has used 1.25" square tubing since it fits perfectly in the hat channel / ribs.

I opted for standard 1" tubing so I could weld the tubes on the inside and outside edge of the ribs rather than only the outside edges. Throw in a few nut and bolt supports and the entire extended rib sections will be very solid.
I also purchased 14g sheets of steel to mount to the rib extensions and it will match the width and surface level of the original ribs.

Just my ideas, hope it works out well for you.
DLJIII

[REDD]

Originally Posted by Tango

Welcome! And I'll second "Keep the Jeep!"

At 6'-4" you only have so many options...
1. Get used to a crick in your neck
2. Wear a hard hat
3. Raise the roof

That final option really is not as difficult as it sounds. Lots of build threads here doing the same. Best of luck. Go for it.

...oooor, 4. you could have 3 inches removed from your Fibia, Tibia, and Femur and that would make you 5 foot 10 inches, voila! A little more pain, and learning to walk again might slow the rest of your build down.

6"-3" here, I'm goin' with number 1, mines a toy hauler/camper.

[Piersg]

I'm 6'4" and I'm building an RV/camper for weekend use and not permanent living, so that factored into my decisions. I bought a Thomas pusher with the high roof, gutted it, and decided NOT to raise the roof. I also did not insulate the floor, just replaced the plywood. I can stand up straight in the center of the bus, and I have about a whole 1/2 inch of headroom to spare!

If I were going to use the bus on a full time basis I would have raised the roof and insulated the floor.

[BuSmith]

We live in a 6'1" International and my hair bushes the roof. I don't find it uncomfortable but space would be nice, so I'm sure you could do it if you had a bus at 6'4". That said, the bus we just bought to convert is 6'4" inside. There are a few out there I've seen at that height and a few taller so if you do a little looking you could probably avoid a raise. Or embrace the fun.

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