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Old 04-10-2010, 08:06 PM   #81
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Re: Bailey Bus Bunedoggle

Finally got some time today to get back to the bus. Today I wanted to get the hot water working. To accomplish this I needed to make a mount for the propane tanks and a mount for the water heater.

I managed to start the water heater mount and complete the propane mount. I’m really happy with how it came out. I wanted to make sure it was absolutely rock solid and high up enough that it wouldn’t be hit by road debris. I bought steel for this a few weeks ago. I didn’t have an actual plan but there was a few ideas floating around in my head.

The final mount has three supports to minimize material and mount points. The bottom is 3/4? plywood with circles cut out for the tanks. A threaded rod with a cross bar holds the tanks down.



Once the basic frame was done I climbed under the bus (about 30 times) to take measurements and weld the needed brackets onto the frame. My motorcycle lift came in handy holding the frame in place while I measured.



Some of the brackets are recycled from the bus seat brackets. Then I painted everything up. Metal got flat black and the plywood got some left over paint from the home theater. I clamped the tank frame to the bus frame and drilled through the bus frame. Let me say that bus frames are not fun to drill through! That’s some hard and thick metal.

Five grade 8 bolts hold the frame in place. Once it was installed it was difficult to take photos in the tight space. It turned out ROCK solid. I’m confident that this could hold about 10 times the weight of these propane tanks.

Attached Thumbnails
triple_1.jpg   triple_2.jpg   triple_3.jpg  

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Old 04-11-2010, 07:43 AM   #82
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Re: Bailey Bus Bunedoggle

OOOOHHH. Looks like I'll be getting some ideas from you BB!!
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Old 04-11-2010, 10:56 PM   #83
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Re: Bailey Bus Bunedoggle

nicely done!
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Old 04-14-2010, 12:14 PM   #84
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Re: Bailey Bus Bunedoggle

GREAT NEWS!!

I was kind of worried about getting my bus re-titled. Anyone who lives in Massachusetts will tell you that dealing with the Registry of Motor Vehicles can be challenging and daunting. I mentioned in another post that I had contacted the titling dept in Boston and I was told I needed a notarized written statement that I had converted my bus to an RV in order to get re-titled as an "Auto Home".

Well I wrote up a fancy statement that quoted the General Mass Law chapter and section about RVs (or Auto home's as Mass calls them) and I got it notarized and everything. I went to the RMV today and the woman was super nice and didn't even bat an eye at the whole process. She barely glanced at my notarized document (although she acknowledged it was necessary). She wrote up my title change and told me she'd put a rush on it and I'd have it in two weeks.

She also said I might be able to use the title receipt she gave me to register and insure it right away.

I'm very relieved that I'll have my title. I can't wait to get registered and insured!

For anyone interested, here's the fancy document I wrote up...

http://docs.google.com/View?id=dhjpqvnv_14dt7snjgs
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Old 04-14-2010, 03:39 PM   #85
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Re: Bailey Bus Bunedoggle

glad to hear!! I had to jump through so many loops that I can't remember. Half of them was from trial and error because SGI (Saskatchewan government insurance) would not tell me what was wrong!!
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Old 04-14-2010, 07:59 PM   #86
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Re: Bailey Bus Bunedoggle

BB.. I'm surprised you even had to write up that affadavit. The general manager at my work registered his Blue Bird transit bus about a year ago and didn't even take out the seats and he was able to get it registered and insured.

Maybe they changed the laws.
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Old 04-14-2010, 09:47 PM   #87
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Re: Bailey Bus Bunedoggle

Quote:
Originally Posted by BUSBOZO
BB.. I'm surprised you even had to write up that affadavit. The general manager at my work registered his Blue Bird transit bus about a year ago and didn't even take out the seats and he was able to get it registered and insured.
Maybe they changed the laws.
I have a friend in Mass that registered a Bluebird and had no problem. I think Bluebirds are a special case because Bluebird actually makes RVs (Wonderlodge). He told me he registered through triple A and he implied it was a wonderlodge.

My insurance company sent me packing when I tried to insure it as a bus. Even today I tried to get insurance through Progressive. Their website actually has a "non-professional bus conversion" category. I ended up having to call them when the transaction wouldn't go through on the site. I was transferred a few times then told that Progressive no longer "accepts that kind of liability"

So my search for insurance continues.
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Old 04-15-2010, 09:48 PM   #88
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Re: Bailey Bus Bunedoggle

Hot water and a new closet this week. Also I received my auto changeover propane regulator and my black and gray water tanks.

Here's the water heater:


A view of the bus from the front. The new closet is on the left.


And some detail of the closet.


This weekend I'll be making a bracket for the gray water tank and plumbing in the shower.
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water_heater_sm.jpg   whole_bus_inside_sm.jpg   closet_sm.jpg  
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Old 04-16-2010, 10:02 AM   #89
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Re: Bailey Bus Bunedoggle

Quote:
Originally Posted by Smitty
Where does the water heater vent? After looking at the tank (LP) mounts, I don't know that I wouldn't run a piece of flat iron strapping under them, welded to the tank mount frame, or secure a safety-chain through the handles so they could only drop an inch or two. The plywood will eventually rot, and it appears to be all that's standing between the tanks and the road (unless you'd just change it out periodically).

Smitty
There's a hole in the top of the water heater. It's a "flue" type so the heat just rises. I'm planning to put an elbow on the outlet and run it through the wall. Or maybe just straight down. I'm going to run some tests on heat build up.

As for under the propane, I think your right. I have some heavy wire mesh from the wheel chair lift ramp. I'll cut a piece of that and weld it to the bottom. The the plywood will just be keeping the tanks from sliding. Even with the mesh they could still slide out if the wood was rotted enough, but I should notice that while changing the tanks.
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Old 04-16-2010, 10:40 AM   #90
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Re: Bailey Bus Bunedoggle

I really am digging your progress. Your work looks good. I had thought about putting the water heater under the bus also, but I couldn't think of an easy way to keep it dry given the outside location and road spray driving on wet days. How do you plan to keep the water sensitive parts dry? (maybe I can do the same on the next bus )
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Old 04-16-2010, 12:16 PM   #91
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Re: Bailey Bus Bunedoggle

I like the wide angle shots. You must have a good lens on that camera. Keep up the good work.
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Old 04-16-2010, 01:26 PM   #92
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Re: Bailey Bus Bunedoggle

Quote:
Originally Posted by Pied Typer
Youre definatley going to need to vent it out the side of the bus (as it is a "flue" type, not a "direct vent" type), especially since the whole kit is so close to 40lbs of LPG.... Youre a brave brave man!
No braver than anyone whose run a propane grill, camp stove, or any other device with a fuel bottle next to an open flame.
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Old 04-16-2010, 01:30 PM   #93
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Re: Bailey Bus Bunedoggle

Quote:
Originally Posted by jkindt
I like the wide angle shots. You must have a good lens on that camera. Keep up the good work.
Two lenses technically. It's a $50 wide angle that threads to a Canon 18-55mm kit lens via the filter threads. Chromatic aberration is pretty terrible but you can't beat the price.
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Old 04-16-2010, 02:14 PM   #94
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Re: Bailey Bus Bunedoggle

OK, so back when I was looking into a black water tank (a real black water tank for an RV) a few people hear said they were using rectangular polyethylene tanks for black water. So I bought one of those to save $$.

Now I'm trying to figure out the best way to connect a 3" pipe to this tank and I'm finding it's not so straight forward.

I see two (maybe three) options:

1. Spin weld fittings. There are a number of places that sell polyethylene fitting meant to be "spin welded". This requires a special arbor to hold the fitting and a high speed router. (More on that here: http://www.spinwelding.com/page9.htm) These seem like the best solution. The fitting are cheap and the result is as strong as the original tank. However the tool is expensive and it requires a bit of technique to do it right and I don't have any practice pieces I can ruin to learn this method.

2. Slip bulkhead fittings (or bolt-on bulkhead fittings) These look pretty good but you have to have an access hole to get at the inside in order to put the "nut" on the fitting. This means I'd have an access hole to fill in afterward. Also the damn fitting are pricey. Almost as much as the tank itself.

3. I could possibly make my own metal, through-bolt bulkhead adapter using plate steel and pipe. This would be cheap and if I made the plate rectangle or square I could put it through it's own hole and I would have to make an extra hole. Drawbacks here include: relying on my weld to be water tight and crating a big square hole in the tank which I'm guessing would weaken it quite a bit.

Had I know about this before I may have paid the extra to get the tank from plastic-mart.com they put any fittings you want on the tank for free!

I can probably use the 1 1/4" outlet to drain the gray water, but I'd like to hear suggestions/experiences on the black water outlet.
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Old 04-16-2010, 07:08 PM   #95
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Re: Bailey Bus Bunedoggle

Quote:
Originally Posted by bunedoggle
Quote:
Originally Posted by jkindt
I like the wide angle shots. You must have a good lens on that camera. Keep up the good work.
Two lenses technically. It's a $50 wide angle that threads to a Canon 18-55mm kit lens via the filter threads. Chromatic aberration is pretty terrible but you can't beat the price.
I spent big $$ on a Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 lens for my Nikon setup, it is an amazing lens but it is too much just to take some pics for the message boards. I may have to pull it out for the interior shots though, especially when I get to working on the cabinets and such.
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Old 04-19-2010, 02:47 PM   #96
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Re: Bailey Bus Bunedoggle

More on the waste tanks...

For those interested Campers Inn (there's one near me and other locations) sells spin weldable fittings for polypropylene tanks. They have a 3" one for $8.

I decided not to go the spin weld route. After reading about the process I'm not confident I could make it water tight and I'd rather not ruin these tanks.

I found bulkhead fittings on Ebay for a decent price. I had seen many costing $40 or more. I got two on Ebay for $38. It still seemed expensive, but they came today and these buggers are HUGE an look pretty nice. So now I don't feel so back about the price.

I also bought two inspection ports made for a boat. I was thinking I could install these on the top of the tank to allow me to reach inside to manipulate the bulkhead fittings for installation. This will leave me with inspection ports should I ever need to "inspect" the inside of my waste tanks (*shutter).

I'm not 100% certain I'm going to try and use the inspection ports. I have another idea for filling the access hole with a toilet flange that will connect to the toilet. For the gray water, I might use the already integrated port to drain the tank. This port is only 1 1/4" or so. I'm concerned that may not be large enough.
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Old 04-19-2010, 02:50 PM   #97
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Re: Bailey Bus Bunedoggle

Quote:
Originally Posted by jkindt
I spent big $$ on a Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 lens for my Nikon setup, it is an amazing lens but it is too much just to take some pics for the message boards. I may have to pull it out for the interior shots though, especially when I get to working on the cabinets and such.
First of all, a picture is worth a thousand words, so good photos save on typing

Second, as everyone here on the Skoolie forum know, if there's no photo then it didn't really happen

I'm curious to see how the 11-16mm performs now.
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Old 04-23-2010, 10:59 PM   #98
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Re: Bailey Bus Bunedoggle

Did some bathroom work the other day.

Picked up this vanity at Lowes for $98 with the sink. I had already bought a PVC sink but I liked this one better and it provides more leg room. I cut the base to fit the wheel well.


The toilet came and I set it in place with the vanity installed. I think it's going to work well.
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Old 04-24-2010, 09:36 AM   #99
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Re: Bailey Bus Bunedoggle

Quote:
Originally Posted by Smitty
Looks good....though I'm always afraid of a sink that close, straining too hard, blacking-out & hitting my head as I fall
Smitty, I know you don't expect passengers, but I have wondered about using the impact foam from the kiddie seat backs to create padded cell walls around the potty, so any passengers using the facilities while on the road would be cushioned in the event of a maneuvering incident. Just thinking . . .

BBB - nice use of available space!
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Old 04-24-2010, 12:06 PM   #100
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Re: Bailey Bus Bunedoggle

Quote:
Originally Posted by Smitty
...though I'm always afraid of a sink that close...
It's called a convenient place to set your drink while you sit in the privacy of the "library" reading a book!
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