Hiya Skoolies! me and my bus have been gleaning for a while - thanks for so many informative tips y'all!
So she is a Crown commuter with a flat nose. I'm 'shamed to say I can't tell you the chassis/engine details just yet (gonna post that soon tho).
Mainly, she runs just fine. She's registered as an RV and the seats are out. She's got plywood floors with that nasty rubber mat (appears to be glued down). Generally, I plan to leave as many windows as possible and put in as few walls as possible (walls for captains cabin and facilities only). I want to add as little infrastructure weight as possible so I'm trying to think of out-of-the-box ideas for uber-lightweight materials...
I'm looking to move interior work forward so I can drive her to wet places this winter. There is not much in the way of rust inside the cabin except where there are a couple of cracked windows and the dash. The cargo hold though is totally a rust bucket. My top priority is weather-proofing the cabin.
This is how I'm thinking to weatherproof the interior cabin.. please weigh in!
1. Double-check interior for ceiling/seam leaks. Seal leaks (scrub clean, sand lightly?, brush off, make sure it's dry) on interior. Sikaflex(sp?) the marine product for boats looks like a good choice for sealant (opinions?). Should I seal outside and inside if I a seam is leaking or...?
2. Insulate ceiling; I like the foam insulation w/ moisture barrier glued directly to ceiling following the curve; The Skoolie I saw here using this method glued carpet over the insulation; to reduce weight I thought bamboo matting (like the kind for sunbathing).
3. Fix cracked windows; replace w/ safety glass or plexiglas; there are GREAT instrux here for getting windows out and re-glazing/re-weather-stripping - thanks again! I feel like I know exactly what I need to do
4. Check all the window weather stripping and replace as needed. After reading a bit about leaks here, I'm thinking that the cause of the cargo bay rust (inside the cargo bay but not in the cabin) might be window weatherstripping - any other ideas on the rust in cargo bay would be appreciated
5. Clean up floors/walls. Scrape out the rubber mat. Scrub the walls (do folks still use tsp for this kind of thing?). Clean up, dry out & sand (if needed) the floor.
6. (Hopefully by now I'll have a solid floor plan so I can...) Lay my galley floor. I have tongue-in-groove bamboo meant to be glued in; have to figure out the rest of floor coverings; probably not carpet as I have allergies - any non-carpet suggestions beyond linoleum or wood?
7. Frame half walls along one long side of the bus from floor to bottom of windows (per my infant floor plan). I thought to use 2 x 2s for framing and pad insulation. FYI I'm going to put my 'power center' on the other long side of the bus so this half-wall won't have to handle any wiring or plumbing later; that's my reason for doing this wall first...
Question: What about a moisture barrier film on the metal walls before I frame half-walls and put in insulation? Does anyone do this? Obviously I'm concerned about staying dry... (and not moldy on account of those allergies). Any feedback will be greatly appreciated.
What do y'all think of half-walls being faced with that dense foam folks use for mechanic mats? It's pretty tough, flexible, and it turns out you can spray paint it any color - cool! I was thinking to staple a layer of pasture fencing to the 2 x 2 frame to hold in the insulation and provide some rigidity for the foam. Then glue & staple the painted foam pads to the wood frame (through the fence wire). I thought to close the top with a nice long redwood board to make a narrow window sill/shelf. Whaddaya think?
Thanks in advance for feedback. I've already found this forum invaluable! It's so encouraging to know I'm not on my own and GREAT to (finally) be working on the old gal...