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Old 06-10-2019, 01:02 PM   #441
Bus Crazy
 
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Join Date: May 2010
Location: Farmington Hills, Mi (Detroit area)
Posts: 1,968
Year: 2000
Coachwork: Eldorado Aerotech 24'
Chassis: Ford E-450 Cutaway Bus
Engine: 7.3L Powerstroke
Rated Cap: 19
Quote:
Originally Posted by KalamariSafari View Post
Great read. Created an account to say thanks for sharing your build in detail. We came up with a very similar floorplan, and it's nice to see it in action.

How are the golf cart batteries holding up to your demands?

Our two house batteries are holding up nicely but I have to admit we don't stress them much. At our family camp we run the lights a bit and sometimes the vent fan or the furnace but it's rare to see less than 60% charge when we get home. I give them a full charge at least once a month when it's parked over the winter and keep the water topped off. They're 6 years old now and I expect a few years more out of them.

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Old 03-30-2020, 09:47 AM   #442
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Join Date: Dec 2019
Location: Upstate NY
Posts: 85
Year: 2001
Coachwork: Girardian Handicapped Commercial
Chassis: E-450
Engine: Ford 7.3L
Rated Cap: 9,000
Quote:
Originally Posted by roach711 View Post
It's been 4 months since I posted any Roachie related stuff so I'd better put something up before we scroll off into oblivion. Winter's been kicking our butts this year so nothing useful has been done, but I did get all my receipts together and now know how much this project has cost us. It's interesting to note that originally we had thought we could do the total conversion for about half what we ended up spending. What fools these mortals be. But I'd do it again in a heartbeat.
What a informative list. Thank you!!! I'll be starting mine soon. I'm guessing I'll be using this thread as my number 1 resource!
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Old 08-24-2020, 03:34 PM   #443
Bus Crazy
 
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Join Date: May 2010
Location: Farmington Hills, Mi (Detroit area)
Posts: 1,968
Year: 2000
Coachwork: Eldorado Aerotech 24'
Chassis: Ford E-450 Cutaway Bus
Engine: 7.3L Powerstroke
Rated Cap: 19
Battery drawer rebuild

After our latest camping trip I noticed our frame mounted battery box had dropped down a bit and a quick look under the bus revealed a badly rusted frame mounting strut. After pulling the batteries I removed the battery tray and found that the drawer slides and brackets were also in bad shape. Out came the angle grinder to grind off the rusted bracket bolts and after pulling the drawer, brackets and the fiberglass housing I attacked what was left of the welded-in mounting strut. After an hour or so of grinding the old strut was gone and I had rust, dirt and grindings in my eyes, ears, pockets and even in my underwear. Such fun!

In the fullness of time new mounting strut was bolted in place and it was time to move on to the brackets and slides. I checked with three bus parts suppliers and none of them had replacement brackets/slides available so I ordered ordered two new 500lb. Knape & Vogt drawer slides and went off in search of someone who could bend me some 12 ga steel for new brackets. Several shops could bend lighter gauge steel but finding someone to bend the heavy gauge stuff proved to be a problem. In the end I bought some angle iron from the Homely Despot, ordered my 12ga sheet steel online and bolted the two together to make new brackets.

The finished brackets are all undercoated and ready to go. Not bad for a woodworker. Of course the new parts went back in easy as pie and should be good for another 20 years.

So now the job is done and I’m backing the bus into it’s parking spot. I press the brake pedal and it drops to the floor. A brake line had ruptured. The adventure continues!
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20200808_155601.jpg   20200820_221453.jpg   20200820_221843.jpg   20200824_161342.jpg   20200821_171023.jpg  

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Old 11-19-2020, 08:35 AM   #444
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Nov 2020
Location: Ontario Canada
Posts: 18
Year: 2006
Coachwork: Champion
Chassis: E450 Accessible
Engine: Ford 6.0L diesel
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Originally Posted by roach711 View Post
If memory serves we had 16' 6" from the driver's seat back to the rear wall, 7' 6" wide and about 6' 8" tall inside with everything stripped out. The bed takes up 6' of that length. We originally wanted a 21' bus but I couldn't fit in the shower and any decent amount of storage so we went to the 24 footer.

Gizmo would be the odds on favorite in this match. Calvin is a clawless wonder and has a hard time getting out of his own way these days. If he saw Gizmo up on your gazebo I'm sure he'd be horrified and say "Oh HELL no!

Im on page 13 of this build but will be working with the smaller floor plan hoping to get most of the stuff you did into that 3ft less space... I believe our F450 is 13.5ft from the smaller pass side to the rear wall and the same width and height.

Only 10 more pages to go, but i have already decided this is going to take WAY WAY longer then I anticipated LOL
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Old 11-19-2020, 09:55 AM   #445
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Join Date: Nov 2020
Location: Ontario Canada
Posts: 18
Year: 2006
Coachwork: Champion
Chassis: E450 Accessible
Engine: Ford 6.0L diesel
And I've finally finished the thread, what an inspiring and great final product you have. You have mentioned grounding out on tree roots, one thing I would like to do it Tow and Launch a pair of sea doos with the bus. Have you looked at lifting the bus at all to gain more ground clearance or is this a problematic idea at best?

Im sure I will have more questions and be returning back to this build during mind..thank you so much for posting this in such great detail.


Cheers
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Old 12-19-2020, 05:40 PM   #446
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Join Date: Dec 2020
Location: N.E. Texas
Posts: 93
Year: 2008
Coachwork: Aerotech
Chassis: E-450
Engine: 6.8/415 Ford
Just finished the thread. Awesome thread, well done project and great job.
Thank you!
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Old 02-16-2021, 02:12 PM   #447
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Feb 2021
Location: Texas panhandle
Posts: 39
Year: 2000
Coachwork: Diamond Shuttle bus
Chassis: 2000 Ford E450
Engine: 7.3 liter Power Stroke diesel
Rated Cap: 14050
re: Roach motel

I have really enjoyed reading your post, but I did not see where your propane tanks are stored or positioned. I am looking at a similar build and that is a concern.
Thanks
Don in Texas
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Old 02-16-2021, 06:15 PM   #448
Bus Crazy
 
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Join Date: May 2010
Location: Farmington Hills, Mi (Detroit area)
Posts: 1,968
Year: 2000
Coachwork: Eldorado Aerotech 24'
Chassis: Ford E-450 Cutaway Bus
Engine: 7.3L Powerstroke
Rated Cap: 19
Hey Don,

I have two 20lb tanks under the bed in a sealed and vented plywood box (it's the box on the left). I originally had rubber straps holding the front panel onto the box but a few years back installed studs and wing nuts to clamp the panel to the box. The vent is 1 1/4" pvc pipe that goes through the floor in case of a propane leak. The box interior is sealed with some good quality caulk and the front panel has high density weatherstrip seals.
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Old 02-16-2021, 06:52 PM   #449
Bus Crazy
 
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Join Date: Oct 2017
Posts: 1,222
Year: 1999
Coachwork: BlueBird
Chassis: TC1000 HandyBus
Engine: 5.9L 24V-L6 Cummins ISB
Rated Cap: 26 foot
Last I heard it was illegal to have a tank of compressed gas inside your vehicle. Never stopped me when I had access to food-grade nitrous 30 years ago.


But even with the vent, if the head gets knocked off, the windows will likely blow out. And worse with propane.


Be safe! Aloha!
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Old 09-07-2021, 11:38 AM   #450
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Join Date: Aug 2021
Posts: 1
Chassis: Ford E-450
Engine: 6.0 Powerstroke
Roachie!!
Thank you. For all of this insight, your time and the ideas we are stealing from your hard work.
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Old 09-07-2021, 09:37 PM   #451
Bus Crazy
 
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Join Date: May 2010
Location: Farmington Hills, Mi (Detroit area)
Posts: 1,968
Year: 2000
Coachwork: Eldorado Aerotech 24'
Chassis: Ford E-450 Cutaway Bus
Engine: 7.3L Powerstroke
Rated Cap: 19
Quote:
Originally Posted by AT-AT View Post
Roachie!!
Thank you. For all of this insight, your time and the ideas we are stealing from your hard work.

Thanks AT-AT, I'm happy to have passed along the ideas I mostly swiped from others here on Skoolie!
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