Bonnie Blue

[kazetsukai]

Originally Posted by JDSquared

I'm still torn and undecided. I've always been transient and I've always had minimal possessions. But this cedar trunk I got when I was eighteen. 1983 or 1984. Five dollars at a neighbor's yard sale.

Can't make that into a bench seat somewhere? It would go largely if not entirely unmodified.

[JDSquared]

Originally Posted by kazetsukai

Can't make that into a bench seat somewhere? It would go largely if not entirely unmodified.

Not really. My seating is over my wheels. I've tried looking at moving the kitchen forward and the seating back but I don't like the layout.

I took one of the brass corners off yesterday. There are screws under that so I don't think there's a lot of biscuits or anything to tear up. So I think finding new purpose for the pieces might be a good option.

[JDSquared]

Once she accepted her fate she came apart real quick. No glue no biscuits. Just screws and nails

[kazetsukai]

Some nice looking cabinet doors and small table spaces you've got there...

[JDSquared]

Originally Posted by kazetsukai

Some nice looking cabinet doors and small table spaces you've got there...

You might be right about cabinet doors. I planned on using the lid as a table so that would carry the cedar theme through the open area.

I've been watching all these videos this year of people building cabinet doors with pocket screws and dado cuts. I was looking forward to trying that.

But I'm much happier cutting and rounding these edges, and slapping some country style hinges on them.

Thanks for the idea.

[JDSquared]

Ceiling came out nice. Think I'll continue this into the hallway.

[JDSquared]

Other half of the ceiling. Three of the original lights back in the ceiling. Two over the bed and the third over the dressing area.

Started the headboard too. Will have three pull down drawers, one for access to the water inlet.

Starting to look nice

[banman]

Originally Posted by JDSquared

Once she accepted her fate she came apart real quick. No glue no biscuits. Just screws and nailsAttachment 42690Attachment 42691

Repurposing the item (or it's pieces) is a great way to remember it...

I like the Risk board painted on the table too...

[farok]

Originally Posted by JDSquared

Ceiling came out nice. Think I'll continue this into the hallway.

Looks good! How are you attaching to the roof? I'll likely do something like this as well.

Chris

[JDSquared]

Originally Posted by banman

Repurposing the item (or it's pieces) is a great way to remember it...



I like the Risk board painted on the table too...

Glad somebody caught the coloring and knew what it was. Tried to wood burn it but didn't come out great. Acrylic paint fixes just about anything.

[JDSquared]

Originally Posted by farok

Looks good! How are you attaching to the roof? I'll likely do something like this as well.



Chris

I nailed 1x4 to the ribs with teks and used some I think cabinet screws with heads on them for the plywood. Just a few on there to hold it up. I want to chalk a line and keep them straight. And make sure I have enough matching screws throughout.

[JDSquared]

Went a little too heavy rolling on the second coat lol.

I used Henry's solar flex on the roof. About two and a half gallons. There's an older thread here I saw as I was researching. He did a lot of searching and decided on the solar flex. After I think three years he came back and was still happy about the choice. Let's see if I agree in three years.


I think I'm still going to add fabric tape at the seams and over the rivets, then do a third coat. My roof barely had a coat of white on it, it was really thin. So it can't hurt. And there's no reason to store half a bucket of paint for three or four years.

[JDSquared]

Also added some exterior lighting over the doors. I had set aside some really bright spotlights. Then grabbed these for about $4 each. There's a reason they were only $4. Crap. But I think I want to get rid of the eyebrows and everything anyway. These look okay over the doors.
They are bolted through not screwed, so I'm going to have to scrape off the lettering now , then tighten them back down before finishing my bedroom. Which is basically finished.

[kazetsukai]

Originally Posted by JDSquared

Also added some exterior lighting over the doors.

I've wanted to do this... front door, rear. I considered an awning that I wanted lighting underneath of too, but never got around to it.



Exterior lighting I imagine presents some challenges.

[JDSquared]

Originally Posted by kazetsukai

Exterior lighting I imagine presents some challenges.

No more challenge than any other hole in the bus I think. I hope lol! There's actually a little lip over the rear door there, but not sure how much water would get diverted.

Didn't think about it till now, but I plan on taking off those eyebrows over the old flashers, I could add something like it over these.

The front light is right on the curve of the roof, so water should roll right down onto the wire and into the hole if it's not plugged well. I will be monitoring that for a while.

I meant to drive over there after dark and see how they look, and forgot. Now I'm settled in.

[JDSquared]

Thinking out loud...
Last time I did this here was Feb 8th. I've done a lot of work since then! Most of it decent.

I like my design. Closets look good, I like the look of the plywood, but I should have sanded everything down before putting it in place. There's places around the wheel well I could not attach with pocket holes. Trying to avoid exposed screws unless I am going to use exposed screws throughout, not just here and there. So I am calling that a mistake, and wondering still how to correct it. Probably countersink (there's maybe 4 spots) and putty.

I like the thin plywood on the ceiling. Had a scrap piece I put in the hallway and it looks good as well. Need a new piece to cut and fit a little better. That's an area with exposed screws for the seams, and I think it will look good.

Need to decide on the front ceiling. Still think I will use 1x4 or T&G. If I use the plywood, I would bring the siding look down to the pantry and other wall (which will be hidden by the fridge though anyway).

Need to buy a washer/dryer and don't want to spend $900. Also don't want to hang my clothes to dry. I had an apt for a while with a washer and no dryer. Socks were constantly hanging on my kitchen chairs. I hated it.

Need to buy a mini split but don't want to spend the $500.

Grateful to be working, Should have expenses for April covered early next week. But expecting every day to wake up sick. Appliance money is equal to being out of work for a month, in case it happens. But I want to get the AC in place before designing around it.

Need to fix one section of Romex. I ran two runs in one PVC, about a 6 foot section. I need to get another piece of PVC and run them separate. That should have happened on the other side but I ran all one run, outlet to outlet. Which is fine, but I wanted the washer on it's own breaker. But it's run to another outlet that's really there in case I need it, and the TV, which is never on. So the 20Amp should cover it all fine. I thought I had 100 foot of Romex but I guess it was 50. I got another 50ft roll and had just enough.

Need to order 2 more clearance lights. Got a pack of five amber/five red. Needed 7 amber. Need to order grommets. And locktite. And gasket material. I have all my clearance lights, and the new exterior lights, wire nutted or crimped together with no heat shrink. There were I think three grommets missing (and none on the new lights) and three that were leaking. The LED clearance lights I got had no gaskets. One of the old lights was repaired weird with some brown material I don't know what it is. The plan, anyway, is to take them all out before paint and sand repair bondo those areas (and the removed flasher areas too), and then use the gaskets and grommets and heat shrink et al. I thought about taking them down while painting instead of masking them. But I need to insulate and close those areas up long before that point. I guess it's exterior work next on the list.

Moved my back up camera. It's wireless so I still have an extra wire run to the back for future security camera. I hooked it up underneath, ited in to the buzzer and drilled a hole in the bumper. But the signal was bad. So I moved it above the rear door, tuck in this same area (It needs it's own grommet now too) where the ext lights and the clearance lights are. Much better signal now. I have another wire run back there but I need to pull it for the water pump. The original wire I ran for that was short. I pulled it and used it for the fan.

Speaking of fan, the one in front keeps blowing a fuse. I figured out why yesterday, I had an exposed connector hitting the ceiling and shorting out. I wrapped it with tape but today while on the roof fixing the skylight I noticed it stopped, and sure enough the fuse was blown. So I don't know why. My light monitor stopped working too but I forgot to fix that today. It's just sitting up above the driver seat so I think it's a similar grounding problem.

I shouldn't have a fuse block sitting there on my closet floor. But this week I installed the fans, and installed my light switches (most of them) and one of my USB chargers. Took the extra battery from my van and brought it out to the bus. Blew a few fuses moving things around, and a couple with that fan (I'm out of fuses now), but everything is more settled now, and I know it's working, so I can disconnect it for the time being. I am grounding a lot (ok all so far) of these things to chassis, and some people disagree but my van was run that way since 1990 with no problems so I am not worried.

Switches aren't actually installed either, they are hooked up to power but the wires are just hanging in place. I know where they're going so I can drill some holes in the wall for the switches, but still need to design how I am hiding the wires from the ceiling.
Same with the walls and the trim around the windows too. I am still glad i didn't run framing all over the place, I am running it where I need it. But that means cutting out these strips of insulation as I go along. I ran insulation an inch thicker on the bus walls under the windows. So none of my plywood walls touch the window frames, and I have these pass throughs behind them, which is good as I move wires and such. But I can't figure out yet how I am trimming it all out. But I will. Later.

Next step (after the exterior stuff I already mentioned) is bringing my inverter from the van (I think its 1500 watt) and testing the electrical outlets. I don't have all the outlets in though, just the boxes in place. I didn't buy GFCI outlets either because I'm an idiot sometimes. They are on my shopping list too. I could have bought GFCI breakers lol, but I didn't do that either. I think that was the plan in my head, and then forgot. I got a 100 amp service box, but I am maybe redesigning the electrical as I still figure all this out. Not worth typing out yet without some drawings so that's a future post.

Then it's back under the bus. I typed earlier tonight I think I am running threaded rod down through my chair rail (where the seats were originally bolted) and under the bus to build boxes with (angle iron running from the rods to the chassis. Does that make sense?) and sheet metal bottoms. Want to get that all done before figuring out my walls and my flooring.

It's been five months already. I wanted to do this in a year but I was comfortable taking two. I guess that puts me exactly on schedule!

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by JDSquared

It's been five months already.

Damn, that just slapped me in the face with how long my floor took. You've made really enormous progress on your bus in the meantime.

I'm going with exposed fasteners everywhere because I don't mind them and they're simpler and stronger than any alternatives. My plan is to build the interior with cheap screws, then paint everything, then pull the cheap screws one by one and replace them with nice brass screws, with decorative washers or something like that.

[JDSquared]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

Damn, that just slapped me in the face with how long my floor took. You've made really enormous progress on your bus in the meantime.

I'm going with exposed fasteners everywhere because I don't mind them and they're simpler and stronger than any alternatives. My plan is to build the interior with cheap screws, then paint everything, then pull the cheap screws one by one and replace them with nice brass screws, with decorative washers or something like that.

I didn't have to deal with your floor. Or that back corner, so I got kind of lucky. Framing houses I used to wonder how you could get away with building one with no nails whatsoever. Dovetails would have helped, if I ever bothered to learn how to cut them! I've got a few boards now that fit perfectly into place (without road vibrations yet) and I'm just bothered when I get one spot that needs an exposed screw. But I'll live lol.

[kazetsukai]

Originally Posted by JDSquared

Need to buy a mini split but don't want to spend the $500.

Not all splits are equal. If you want to power off solar for any period of time, you'll want to spend double that for an especially efficient unit. It will save you money compared to the battery bank needed for the cheaper alternative...



But the only folks that want to do that are usually nuts like me.
At the very least know your SEER and EER ratings.

Originally Posted by JDSquared

Grateful to be working, Should have expenses for April covered early next week. But expecting every day to wake up sick. Appliance money is equal to being out of work for a month, in case it happens. But I want to get the AC in place before designing around it.

I am bracing for the possibility myself...

Originally Posted by JDSquared

The LED clearance lights I got had no gaskets.

For stuff like this, I use duct seal:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Gardner-...-110/100212441


Or butyl tape.

[JDSquared]

Originally Posted by kazetsukai

Not all splits are equal. If you want to power off solar for any period of time, you'll want to spend double that for an especially efficient unit. It will save you money compared to the battery bank needed for the cheaper alternative...



But the only folks that want to do that are usually nuts like me.
At the very least know your SEER and EER ratings.



I am bracing for the possibility myself...


For stuff like this, I use duct seal:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Gardner-...-110/100212441


Or butyl tape.

I was thinking about the butyl tape. Ordered a bunch of grommets online but no gasket material yet.

And I really don't expect to run ac off solar. Just if I'm plugged in somewhere.