Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
 
Old 02-26-2022, 09:18 PM   #141
Bus Nut
 
Join Date: Feb 2022
Location: Midwest
Posts: 267
You have some interesting ideas in this build, but I'm going to recommend that you drop one - the self-washing system. 50 gallons of low pressure water is not going to do anything for you. On a 35-40 foot bus, that's a little over half a gallon per foot, per side, top to bottom, not counting the roof or the rear. This will barely be enough to get the bus wet, much less wash anything off. Rather than waste the valuable on-board space for this system plus water storage, just use a car wash like you would with your car. Many of them have a tall stall that your bus may fit under, and there are commercial car washes near truck stops whose entire business is washing huge vehicles.

While salt plus water causes rust, it doesn't cause it instantly on a protected vehicle. Paint will protect it, as will the various products designed to prevent rust underneath. You'll be fine to park on the salt flats for a couple of weeks, or park at the beach near an ocean, then hit a car wash when you're done. It's unlikely you'll be washing the entire bus more than twice a year so the cost will be marginal.

I'd also like to mention that your plans include a disturbingly large amount of steel reinforcement being added. You'll want to make sure that when it's all said and done that you are under the bus's GVWR, or Gross Vehicle Weight Rating. This is the most you can weigh and be legal with everything on the bus, including you, any passengers, water in tanks, ect. Being overweight can get you ticketed, and if you're in an accident the insurance can deny the claim.

Veloc is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-02-2022, 11:25 AM   #142
Bus Nut
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: San Jose, CA
Posts: 273
Year: 1981
Coachwork: Coachwork?
Chassis: International
Engine: CAT 3208 Marine Diesel
I was thinking of being able to use a hose bandit at rest areas that have a spigot for the self wash system, which are common even in the west. Other than that I can use my onboard power washer from municipal water as car washes aren't everywhere. The idea is to have the option to use a public faucet afterwards and have the system rinse off everywhere I can't easily spray, like on the roof. I'm setting myself up to time-shift my water demands to the point where just a few hours with a water connection I can do all my laundry, wash my dishes, flush my evaporative cooler and wash the bus, and store all the resulting wastewater.

The positive pressure respirator is working great, as well as this pneumatic vacuum cleaner found at https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07114XSYC/. Instead of using the included non-woven bag, I used a cotton and nylon pool skimmer sock (similar to these : https://smile.amazon.com/Outus-Skimm...dp/B07SV2F5TL/).

I am going to test out this adhesive and report back. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Loctite-...esive-1390595/

I just called DAP's technical department and they said both products have similar adhesion properties to foamboard and no cured PSI ratings, and recommended another: https://www.homedepot.com/p/DAP-Poly...8810/205030317, costing nearly $100 for a case of 12. They said there are no trowel-grade adhesives that will work with foamboard as they are vinyl-based and evaporative cure. I will do some more tests as soon as I can get a tube of the polyurethane.

At this point I just want to start sleeping in my skoolie and thinking that I should just go for large contact area, believing contact area to be the most important variable.

All this discovery and testing will benefit my future customers, as they are faced between this method and professionally sprayed polyurethane if they want all-closed-cell, max r-value insulation.
Inner Love is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-07-2022, 12:00 PM   #143
Bus Nut
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: San Jose, CA
Posts: 273
Year: 1981
Coachwork: Coachwork?
Chassis: International
Engine: CAT 3208 Marine Diesel
I just bought a hot blade decal remover in a bid to remove the high spots of the ceiling tar adhesive. I am not removing the tar, just shaving down the thick portions and removing bubbles so my rigid foamboard is level to the ceiling. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CVJFDH8/

I'm going to stick 3M double sided foam pads between the skeleton and the sheet metal after the inner paintwork has dried. Then assess if I still need skin reinforcement for the maximum flex on the center row of squares. If not enough, then plastic shims and silicone. If I was doing all spray foam I wouldn't need to do all this, as cured closed cell polyurethane is plenty strong.

I am on track to spend $1200 in materials just insulating my bus, With nearly all of the materials bought so prices locked in. Tiger foam doesn't even sell a 200 board feet version of their slow-rise, closed cell spray foam kit, and even if they did their new version can't be shipped to California, as typical. I really hope by the time I am insulating customer buses, there will be a 2-part handheld system using small cans. In an alternate timeline, I could get it all professionally sprayed, and the quote is now over $2500 with the devaluating dollar factored in.
Inner Love is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-08-2022, 01:23 AM   #144
Bus Nut
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: San Jose, CA
Posts: 273
Year: 1981
Coachwork: Coachwork?
Chassis: International
Engine: CAT 3208 Marine Diesel
Today I bought a medium-barrel air impact hammer from Harbor Freight, along with a 4” shank set for it. This will allow me to remove all the old epoxy adhesive that was used to glue the wall sheet metal to the seat rails. https://www.harborfreight.com/air-to...mer-61244.html

I chatted with my cousin Neil tonight about many things and he had an idea to turn a old motorcycle helmet into a supplied air monkey hood. I was looking at buying one of these: https://megadepot.com/product/allegr...-no-flow-valve.
Inner Love is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-09-2022, 01:25 AM   #145
Bus Nut
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: San Jose, CA
Posts: 273
Year: 1981
Coachwork: Coachwork?
Chassis: International
Engine: CAT 3208 Marine Diesel
I’m 3/4 through removing the rubber cement from the seat rail, and the method I used is to deburr the screw holes (using these Harbor Freight deburring bits https://www.harborfreight.com/counte...-pc-61629.html which I’ve worn out one already after less then 100 holes in galvanized steel at high RPM. You could also use a steep step bit for deburring), then use my heat gun slightly ahead of my hot blade decal remover to easily remove it. When I tried using the air hammer to remove the rubber cement, I dented up the seat rail badly, and tore a hole in one spot.

I did use the air hammer to quickly punch out rivets, removing the backs of the rivets I drilled out when I removed the window trim. Another tool that would have been useful to have in the beginning even for just breaking rusted screw shafts out of the rusted floor.

Does a magnetic oil pan heater (like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Kats-Magnetic.../dp/B08B817WF9) get hot enough to soften tar? I’m thinking of buying one to flatten the tar bubbles in the walls, by sticking it to the tar coated steel wall. I would protect it from coming in contact with the tar by wrapping it in aluminum foil.
Inner Love is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-09-2022, 04:59 PM   #146
Bus Nut
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: San Jose, CA
Posts: 273
Year: 1981
Coachwork: Coachwork?
Chassis: International
Engine: CAT 3208 Marine Diesel
https://www.amazon.com/Bbounder-Link...dp/B0868DVRL7/

These are the overhead lights I am using while working on IL. I plan to buy a second and third set when I work on customers buses, using medium duty hook magnets for mounting.
Inner Love is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-10-2022, 11:45 AM   #147
Bus Nut
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: San Jose, CA
Posts: 273
Year: 1981
Coachwork: Coachwork?
Chassis: International
Engine: CAT 3208 Marine Diesel
Post

Attached is the design me and Shay came up with for the underbelly superstructure. This is far easier to fabricate with all 90 degree angles, no tensioned tabs clamped to the frame rails, easy alignment and final welding. This design gives more road protected, enclosed space between the frame rails, for long term storage and permanently installed utilities. Since I'm not going off-track with my skoolie (thus needing no structural protection from rocks and bottoming out), I could simply make a open top box channel out of 2" rigid foam and glue it up to enclose the driveshaft, and insulate the space.
Attached Thumbnails
v.2.0 Skoolie Belly Support Structure, With Driveshaft - L-R Cross Section.png  
Inner Love is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-12-2022, 01:00 AM   #148
Bus Nut
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: San Jose, CA
Posts: 273
Year: 1981
Coachwork: Coachwork?
Chassis: International
Engine: CAT 3208 Marine Diesel
So I bought a tube of Loctite Polyurethane construction adhesive, and tested it out in 3 ways. Small dab, 3" bead, and large dab to reflective foil and foam (straight to Styrofoam without R-tech's printed foil). I'm going to try to separate them in a week's time, by that time inner Zinc paintwork should be dried and be ready for sticking up these boards.

I bought 5 Pc. Stone Rotary Grinding Bits With 1/4 In. Shank from Harbor Freight (found at https://www.harborfreight.com/5-piec...set-94992.html), along with (found at https://www.harborfreight.com/set-of...oks-65528.html), as well as 30 mesh industrial sand from Home Depot (for sandblasting, never saw this before at my local HD and it's $6 for 50 pounds, much cheaper than I expected).

There are a lot of bubbles in the bitumen-like material on the inner walls, creating high spots. Since I don't want to scrape off the bubbles and expose more virgin zinc, I bought a stainless steel seam roller (found at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08696ZRKF/) to flatten the tar down after softening it with heat gun. I'm going to speed the tar heating up with my indoor radiant heater (this one: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08ZY3FSR4/)

Attached is a diagram representing my future underbelly support structure.

I'm going to need to store the bus in less than 10 days, so any advice to lessen the trial-and-error learning curve is greatly appreciated.
Attached Thumbnails
v.2.1 Skoolie Belly Support Structure, With Driveshaft - L-R Cross Section.png  
Inner Love is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-13-2022, 03:13 PM   #149
Bus Nut
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: San Jose, CA
Posts: 273
Year: 1981
Coachwork: Coachwork?
Chassis: International
Engine: CAT 3208 Marine Diesel
Last night I found the cleanest and fastest way to deburr screw holes in close quarters. Using the gray spherical stone in the 5 piece rotary grinding kit mentioned in an earlier post, and my small cordless drill.

On a sidenote, I nearly broke the mechanism that locks the chuck on my Milwaukee M12 drill because I was used to tightening keyless chuck by gripping the chuck and pulling the trigger, something you have to do with cheap drills with keyless chucks to prevent bit loosening.
Inner Love is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-13-2022, 05:16 PM   #150
Bus Geek
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: Columbus Ohio
Posts: 18,753
Year: 1991
Coachwork: Carpenter
Chassis: International 3800
Engine: DTA360 / MT643
Rated Cap: 7 Row Handicap
Quote:
Originally Posted by Inner Love View Post
Last night I found the cleanest and fastest way to deburr screw holes in close quarters. Using the gray spherical stone in the 5 piece rotary grinding kit mentioned in an earlier post, and my small cordless drill.

On a sidenote, I nearly broke the mechanism that locks the chuck on my Milwaukee M12 drill because I was used to tightening keyless chuck by gripping the chuck and pulling the trigger, something you have to do with cheap drills with keyless chucks to prevent bit loosening.

is there another way to tighten a keyless chuck? LOL ive done it that way for years.. do it on my dewalts and dont have any issues with it (and the dewalts do work well and last contrary to popular belief).
cadillackid is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-14-2022, 11:15 PM   #151
Bus Nut
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: San Jose, CA
Posts: 273
Year: 1981
Coachwork: Coachwork?
Chassis: International
Engine: CAT 3208 Marine Diesel
Another Step Finished Today! I finished all the tar flattening on the ceiling today. I found with going briskly with the hot razor scraper parellel to the surface with a non-marred razor, I could shave off the "mountains" and "domes" of the moon-textured tar and chip away flakes without digging in to the tar. Since many squares high spots mainly were near the edges, and I was scratching through to the zinc trying to even it out, I decided to just leave 3-4" gaps and leave the edges alone, and to give my spray foam the most room to expand (it's formulated for open cavities, not gaps and I rather be safe than sorry, use more and not constrain it and have possibility of improper cure).

I used a Weber 21" three sided BBQ grill brush (found here: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Weber-21...6493/203609188) to loosen stubborn fiberglass, and a brass wire wheel to chip off the tar flakes on the walls as well as expose the oxidized zinc around the rub rail rivets in the walls. I tried the heat gun and roller and tar melted onto the roller, which I had to clean off with mineral spirits. I chipped away at anything between the seat rail and wall including squirts of sealant made 41 years ago.

I used a cylindrical rasp bit to quickly clean up crude cuts I made early in the build underneath the rear windows, as well as a conical grinding stone. I quickly turned the acorn shaped stone into a conical cone, so I learned to use the rasp first to get most of the cut smoothed, then the grinding stone to keep consumable costs down.

I started deburring holes today with the spherical die grinder, hope to complete that step tomorrow. If I didn't deburr the holes, wipedown would take weeks, not a day.

I will warm the tar with my radiant space heater tomorrow, as I found warming the tar softens it enough to flatten with the seam roller.

After I've debured and smoothed all tar, I will spot sandblast all the surface rust.

Then I am going to bend back the metal not flush to the plane of the 45 degree ribs above the windows with a rubber mallet and locking sheet metal clamp, found here: https://www.harborfreight.com/2-piec...set-30024.html. Marr the metal before it gets painted, not after.

I am getting closer to being able to cleanup & wipedown for the inner zinc paint!
Inner Love is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-16-2022, 02:34 AM   #152
Bus Nut
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: San Jose, CA
Posts: 273
Year: 1981
Coachwork: Coachwork?
Chassis: International
Engine: CAT 3208 Marine Diesel
The unstated benefit of extra large water capacity, it's not just boondocking. Renting a spot, I can go the same 1-2 weeks without hookups as I would boondocking. It becomes competitive to hire out low-cost collection for in-situ grey and blackwater collection. There are many different liquid waste companies to choose and compare rates from. Competitive to time spent prepping my space for movement, driving to a dump site, dumping, driving back, re-parking, and setting things out again within my space, which is half to a full working day. As a future remote worker, it pays to have extra large tanks.
Inner Love is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-17-2022, 11:15 PM   #153
Bus Nut
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: San Jose, CA
Posts: 273
Year: 1981
Coachwork: Coachwork?
Chassis: International
Engine: CAT 3208 Marine Diesel
Post

I finished the deburring above the windows, I ended up using the 3/8” belt air sander (found here, https://www.harborfreight.com/air-to...der-60627.html) and 120 grit belts. It was the only way I could remove burrs without broaching the rim of the holes. Deburring is almost complete, what is left is deburring the worst holes on the ceiling. If I can run my finger across it at medium pressure, it won’t catch and rip a microfiber towel.

I am going to use these cable zip tie mounts (found here: https://www.smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08F7J8CSQ/), this seam sealer (found here:https://www.smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A9ZR8HO/), and this product to preserve my caulk tubes of product (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PQSZ5YH/).


Last night I wrote out the list of steps:
“Inner Love Inner Zinc Paint
Doing:
-Deburr Holes (for Paint Prep)
-Removing Rubber Cement
—From Seat rail & above windows

-Smoothing & flattening tar in walls
-scraping old sealant [in walls]

Next:
-Spot Sandblasting, incl. bttm wall cavity.
Buy -> -PVC for bundles of cable (measure), both sides
Buy -> Adhesive wire ties to rear lights.
Buy -> Urethane, Auto Sealant 3M + Caulk containers

Me and Alex [hired help]:
-Resecure Masking, Repair.
-Help with wipedown
-Alex paints zinc (thinned [s]30[/s]-40%) [s]then enamel[/s] with Min. Spirits
-One Hour later, white rustoleum enamel

Next Day Me & Alex (Post-Insulfoam cure)
-[s]Paint Enamel[/s] Alex Sprays Foam
-Install Ceiling Panels?”

The wires were rerouted through the racetrack shaped holes above the windows, and I am going to channel them in a length-wise cut PVC pipe. I will go to a plastics shop called TAP Plastics to have the PVC pipe cleanly cut into gutters. This will become my wire racetrack on both sides, and will be future accessible by removing the 1/4” thick screwed on wall panels.

Am I missing anything?
Inner Love is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 03-24-2022, 02:38 AM   #154
Bus Nut
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: San Jose, CA
Posts: 273
Year: 1981
Coachwork: Coachwork?
Chassis: International
Engine: CAT 3208 Marine Diesel
After weeks, I now have my adhesive. It’s the Loctite polyurethane adhesive. The 3rd test I did, reflective foil to styrofoam without printed backing, I tore the board trying to separate it with my fingers. Both foil to backing tests broke apart 5+ days later, like with the general purpose adhesive. The tubes of polyurethane adhesive are what you want for maximum bonding two sheets of rigid white foam board insulation. The 28 oz. tubes are the cheapest way to get it. It was a blessing in disguise to have my order of two cases of foam board adhesive be out of stock. Looking forward to doing my test squares inside Inner Love, I’m feeling good 4 concentric beads on the board contacting the skin will prevent flex in the roof skin.

I finished deburring today, and began halving the PVC 1 1/4” pipe that will be my wire trough. TAP Plastics in San Jose isn’t able or willing to do lengthwise pipe cuts, and I was recommended to call machine shops. I called one and spoke for 10 minutes, and in that time we came to see that I was better off doing it myself.

My first tube of automotive seam sealer, half of it was used to secure the last piece of subfloor as it was hardening up. It still feels like I wasted half the tube.

I am now one full workday away from being ready to add zinc to Inner Love’s inner walls.
Inner Love is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 09-04-2022, 12:24 AM   #155
Bus Nut
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: San Jose, CA
Posts: 273
Year: 1981
Coachwork: Coachwork?
Chassis: International
Engine: CAT 3208 Marine Diesel
Quote:
Originally Posted by Inner Love View Post
I finished the deburring above the windows, I ended up using the 3/8” belt air sander (found here, https://www.harborfreight.com/air-to...der-60627.html) and 120 grit belts. It was the only way I could remove burrs without broaching the rim of the holes. Deburring is almost complete, what is left is deburring the worst holes on the ceiling. If I can run my finger across it at medium pressure, it won’t catch and rip a microfiber towel.

I am going to use these cable zip tie mounts (found here: https://www.smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08F7J8CSQ/), this seam sealer (found here:https://www.smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00A9ZR8HO/), and this product to preserve my caulk tubes of product (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07PQSZ5YH/).


Last night 5 months ago I wrote out the list of steps:
“Inner Love Inner Zinc Paint
Doing:
-Deburr Holes (for Paint Prep) Done.
-Removing Rubber Cement
—From Seat rail & above windows Done.

-Smoothing & flattening tar in walls Done.
-scraping old sealant [in walls] Done.

Next:
-Spot Sandblasting, incl. bttm wall cavity.
Buy Bought.-> -PVC for bundles of cable (measure), both sides
Buy Bought.-> Adhesive wire ties to rear lights. Wires tied. Needs plastic wrap before spray insulation.
Buy Bought.-> Urethane, Auto Sealant 3M + Caulk containers

Double-sealed rear seam with 3M Auto Sealant on both the inside and out.
-To Prep: Made microfiber strips, cutting one microfiber towel into 5-7 strips (fold orientation relative to cuts doesn't matter), then singing the shedding fibers using a butane touch lighter. Lengthwise cut halves of balance-spent plastic cards to use as very light duty plastic scrapers and shims.
Dunking the Grade A unused microfiber strips and the unused pipe cleaners into the gallon of acetone right before wipedown, I jam the microfiber wherever I can into and through the rear seam, and agressively remove crud. Places with high crud and were accessible by a strip of fine grit sandpaper, I disturbed the crud and oxidation it could be picked up by the microfiber. Ended up doing it in 6 segments. Segments recieved a final acetoning with Grade A pipe cleaners, right before final Urethane sealing. This should never need to be done again.

I am here.
...
The radiant heater was broad enough to cover a whole square at once, and warm it up gradually to dry wood putty consistency. I was able to flatten the bubbles and chip away flaking tar where the zinc has been consumed around the rub rail rivets. This step is complete.

Even in low humidity San Jose summer air, there was enough moisture in the compressed air to clog my spot sandblasting gun, which prevented me from completing spot sandblasting. Time saved, because all the rivet ends I spot sandblasted have new surface oxidation. I now have a desiccant air dryer for my compressed air setup.

I have had to put my bus build on hold because of major home improvement projects. I am going to be able to start again this month.

This is what a 6 month paused skoolie project looks like:
-The rubber air hose intended to be outside for 6 months is cracking to the inner wall lining in spots with high UV exposure. Buying a spare so it doesn't become a store run.
-The gray tarp keeping my two couches out of the elements on the driveway is delaminating and no longer waterproof.
-the plastic on the windows is turning milky, but the blue tape still holds.
Inner Love is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 02-09-2024, 02:36 PM   #156
Bus Nut
 
Join Date: Aug 2017
Location: San Jose, CA
Posts: 273
Year: 1981
Coachwork: Coachwork?
Chassis: International
Engine: CAT 3208 Marine Diesel
Post

Long Overdue Update.



I have not been able to work on my bus at all. I have had to convert it into a 28x8 storage unit as I gathered all the wood, and many reclaimed parts, and pieces of quality steel for the build, most of what I gathered is saved from going - to waste.

Old steel bedframes are basically 90 degree angled steel with pre-drilled holes after seperating the different riveted pieces. Use a 7/16th high speed steel drill bit like this one at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AYZ27ES/ to drill out rivets alongside your cut off tool / angle grinder. Most are going to be mild steel, so only use for light structure uses if you are going to use only one.

In this time, I have not sat idle. I have planned out & drew diagrams for my water tanks, water tank placements, my fuel tank expansion (spoken about in "Maximum Legal Fuel Capacities" thread), solar panel roof rack with slide out steel shade panels, my PC desk, the TVs, consoles and devices in my bus living room, the kitchen and it's appliances, where the compact RV washing machine will go and even my drivers area.

I have been cleaning and saving every single-use clear polystryene cup from the costco food court when I buy fruit smoothies (the only place I regularly eat out now because they don't have MSG, added sweetener, flavorants or many filler ingredients in the Food Court's Pizza). I live 2 miles away from my nearest Costco and another Costco is 5 miles away in the other direction. The plan for these cups is to use them as disposable cups for paint and coating.



I selectively save containers that are square or match a few sizes / capacities (for standardization and ease of storage) that is usable as durable storage containers or consumables in my projects. I could fill a whole thread with strategies for reclaiming parts and resources and I haven't gotten to share because I am bogged down with other obligations.


If you have the ability, build yourself a giant utility tub out of rebar reinforced cinder blocks. Depeding on the water depth, you may need to double up the blocks on the bottom. Borrow or buy a concrete drill as you'll need to anchor it into an existing concrete slab which should be rebar reinforced as well. If you think your concrete willl crack from the weight, then build it shallower. Before filling with water, coat the walls like is done for in ground swimming pools.

A utility tub in your shed is extremely useful for derusting metal by electrolysis, a paint spray booth, soaking parts for days in degreaser, washing oily things too big / heavy for a parts washer and collecting the contaminates, and many more uses.
Inner Love is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
anti-miser, first bus, inner love, skoolie build, work smart then hard

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 08:37 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.