Bus down by the river

[Ronnie]

Originally Posted by inhof009

Ronnie, could you elaborate and what "hydroscopic" means?

Means it absorbs water vapor. So liquid water dies not go through it but it will attract vapor. Over time that will rust the metal

[inhof009]

Originally Posted by Ronnie

Means it absorbs water vapor. So liquid water dies not go through it but it will attract vapor. Over time that will rust the metal

Yikes, thanks for the heads up! I'll definitely get some proper gaskets then.

[PatrickBaptist]

Originally Posted by inhof009

Alright, here goes.

We live in Norfolk, VA, and have won the bid on a bus in WV. We're planning to take next Friday off and drive on over to pick it up, so the pieces are falling in to place. Insurance is bought and paid for (thanks to Ricky!) and we will have temp tags from the DMV for the trip.

My wife and I will be driving out in our car and she'll be driving the car back and hopefully I'll be leading the way with the bus!

If the gentleman I spoke to about the bus from the education department is to be trusted (I feel like he is), it'll be a DT466 engine with an Allison 3000 transmission (hope it's MD3060) in a 2003 International Integrated CE S Bus.

First order of business will be to get it back, paint it so my neighbor *hopefully* doesn't call the cops on me, and then start the demo and roof raise.

Stay tuned for pics and progress!

Sounds like alot of fun, exciting times!
Don't you just hate it when neighbors want to be jerk holes? I've got one and no matter how kind you try to be, anything they can complain about they do. I've learned to tell them "you know my address, from now on you mail your complaint letters to me from now on I don't have time to stand here and argue with you, stay off my property this is your no trespass notice, have a great day" and walk off. It works wonders.

[HazMatt]

Hot-skinning the hull'd work, if they're the cowardly under-cover-of-dark kinda vandals...
So's I've heard... [emoji57]

[inhof009]

Originally Posted by PatrickBaptist

Sounds like alot of fun, exciting times!
Don't you just hate it when neighbors want to be jerk holes? I've got one and no matter how kind you try to be, anything they can complain about they do. I've learned to tell them "you know my address, from now on you mail your complaint letters to me from now on I don't have time to stand here and argue with you, stay off my property this is your no trespass notice, have a great day" and walk off. It works wonders.

Patrick,

I was expecting something more like what you've got (even calls/emails/letter to my landlord), but I wound up getting a much more enjoyable experience. My neighbor (who my landlord expected to hear from about the bus) actually helped out when I got stuck in the mud, gave me suggestions for parking on said muddy ground, donated sheet metal for my floor, let me borrow his long ladder to climb on the roof, AND rushed home from work to drive me to the metal working shop to pick up the skin. He's been a great help and even my landlord is surprised how receptive he has been!

[HazMatt]

[emoji106] Rara avis!

[PatrickBaptist]

Originally Posted by inhof009

Patrick,

I was expecting something more like what you've got (even calls/emails/letter to my landlord), but I wound up getting a much more enjoyable experience. My neighbor (who my landlord expected to hear from about the bus) actually helped out when I got stuck in the mud, gave me suggestions for parking on said muddy ground, donated sheet metal for my floor, let me borrow his long ladder to climb on the roof, AND rushed home from work to drive me to the metal working shop to pick up the skin. He's been a great help and even my landlord is surprised how receptive he has been!

Man that is awesome to hear. Bless God when people want to be kind and help one another like we all ought.
For me it's alot better now that we aren't in RV parks, while a few were really awesome neighbors, most the people reminded me why we are going for property without any neighbors.
In one park we had the cops called on us because of quote "there are a bunch of kids living in a school bus". My Wife was stuck dealing with them because I was at work, but after they ran our backgrounds they left and didn't bother us again. While I may look really rough, my record doesn't hurt me a bit, just speeding ticket type stuff and a bad check 12 years ago because we were hungry and broke and I wrote a $60something check to foodlion and didn't pay it back so I got a year probation for that stupidness, guess they were hoping for more, happy to let em down LOL.
My Wife said the cops thought the whole thing was more of a joke, but she said "well they lied to you, kids aren't all that are living here and we aren't breaking the law unless you want to accuse us of any wrong doing have a great day".
So I've about had it with crappy neighbors that don't want to get along, I prefer none.

[inhof009]

Got all of the windows installed and sealed! Here's the driver's side:

And passenger side:

Spent the last few days last week framing in the inside! It's coming along nicely, liquid nails and metal screws:

I had previously sealed in all of the lights during a dry period around here and noted a few leaks. 2 lights, the top of the water heater, and the bathroom window had leaked. I re-sealed them all. We are currently under the typical Norfolk "flash flood" type of rainstorm, so we ran out to the bus to check. All of the lights have been appropriately sealed, but unfortunately the bathroom window is leaking significantly. As we had previously discussed, the window was designed to be sideways, not vertical like that. I mounted it so that the sliding window opened downward, because gravity would hold it down (open) and the clamp would hold it up (closed). Unfortunately the gasket that seals the sliding window and allows it to slide is the source of the leak. We can either flip the window or improve on that gasket. I'm leaning toward improving the gasket because of the work involved in flipping the window, but we'll see if I can fix it up. Fortunately, everything else is well sealed!

I'm going on the road for work for a few months, so I won't be able to do much more work for a while. I'm going to rough in the DC circuit before I leave and save the AC for when I come back. The insulation is obviously going to have to wait until I have this leaky window sealed, but it's moving along nicely!

Side note, working with wood is infinitely better than metal. Cutting is easier, splinters hurt less, and lumber is ridiculously cheap when compared to metal.

[ol trunt]

Excellent progress. You were smart to get the leaks fixed before you got too far into the build. I know it will take extra work to remove and replace that window but you will always be glad you did once it is done. I had to laugh about your liking to work with wood rather than steel. We are just the opposite. I love to work with metal--especially when it gives me a chance to weld and I've got the scars to prove it. On the other hand, I also have a dandy scar on my pinky finger where a 1/2" long wood splinter had to be removed surgically (twice, 'Ol Sawbones didn't get it all on the first try).

Sorry that work is interfering with your bus build but at least when you return you will have something fun to do.
Jack

[inhof009]

Guess who's back in town?

Travelling these past 2 months has been a bit pricey, so I'm going to take my time to make sure the rent and bills are all paid before I pour the money into the bus. At this point, I'm prepping to insulate, which will be about $1k for walls, ceiling, and floor. I'm expecting to come in to more than that from reimbursements for the past 2 months, but the turnaround on that is not great, so it might be a bit.

My wife did some good work while I was gone. The leaky bathroom window is no longer leaky, confirmed yesterday during the downpour here in Norfolk. We cleaned out the interior, so while I wait for the money to roll in I'm going to be prepping the walls and ceiling for the spray foam. I've got a shop vac to pick up anything I can reach, but is there any more prepping required other than that?

Additionally, the temperatures are starting to drop around these parts. It doesn't get very cold here, but I'm familiarizing myself with winterizing. Basically the idea is to completely winterize prior to the ambient temperature hitting +32F, right?

It's good to be back home, and I'm looking forward to cranking out the insulation so I can FINALLY build the interior (after piping the coolant through the floor, that is!).

[inhof009]

So I'm narrowing down the insulation if choice while I wait for the opportune moment to buy it. I'm strongly thinking the 600BF tiger foam closed cell fast rise, but the problem that presents is that the chair rail is essentially an "existing wall" and I don't want to accidentally blow it out by being careless. Got me thinking, what if I also buy a small amount of slow rise and use it on the chair rail first? That way I get the insulation good in there without risking a blow out, but I get more possible coverage.

Pictures for reference:


Haven't cleaned out the entire chair rail yet, though.

Has anyone done this? If not, does it sound reasonable? I want to take this insulation seriously and do it right the first time.

[o1marc]

Keep in mind that 600bf is based on a 1" thickness. You'll possibly need more if going the full 1-1/2"-2".
I doubt you'll have an issue spraying foam down the chair rail cavity. It is support every 25" by a body rib, it is substantial thickness of metal, not tall enough to have the foam move it while expanding. No issue as long as it's not an enclosed space, the pressure of expanding will go up, not out.

[inhof009]

Originally Posted by o1marc

Keep in mind that 600bf is based on a 1" thickness. You'll possibly need more if going the full 1-1/2"-2".
I doubt you'll have an issue spraying foam down the chair rail cavity. It is support every 25" by a body rib, it is substantial thickness of metal, not tall enough to have the foam move it while expanding. No issue as long as it's not an enclosed space, the pressure of expanding will go up, not out.

Right, I've been struggling with the 1" vs 2" debate for a while, you can see in my post history. I was considering the slow rise because then I could take that volume of fast rise elsewhere. But if it can handle it, it might be cheaper to buy more fast rise instead.

I do have a small gap between my steel tubing from the raise and the metal skinning I added (about 1/4"). Would I be okay to hit that with the fast rise first, or would the metal skinning not be able to handle it? I'm thinking it'll be fine because it's a small area, but I'd hate to wreck that skin.

[inhof009]

While waiting for quotes for insulation, I went junkyard rat again. Found myself a beat up, but sturdy, box for a very steep discount. It didn't even have a latch, so I had to custom make one:

I fashioned some angle iron to secure to the frame for the floor, and some angle iron to go opposite direction (lengthwise) in the box at the ceiling. Cleaned and painted all of the iron and attaching points, and lifted it in place, with the help of my lovely floor jack:

And got it into place:

Seems sturdy to me:

Bonus is my sweet straight cuts. Light was fading, so I'm going to clean the cuts up tomorrow.

If I don't get any good quotes back on the insulation by the end of the week, I figure I'll do it myself.

On another note, I'm looking at PEX manifolds for my heated floors and am eyeing this one:
https://www.pexuniverse.com/ssm204-s...-heat-manifold
While it looks wonderful, the maximum heat tolerance is lower than the targeted temp of the coolant heater I'm looking at. While I could mix it, that does kind of defeat the purpose. That being said, another option is to use this:
https://www.pexuniverse.com/sioux-ch...lves-672xv0490
As it likely can tolerate more heat.

Has anyone has experience with either of those?

[musigenesis]

Originally Posted by inhof009

Bonus is my sweet straight cuts.

I was going to say, did you use a weed-whacker to cut that?

[o1marc]

Originally Posted by inhof009

On another note, I'm looking at PEX manifolds for my heated floors and am eyeing this one:
https://www.pexuniverse.com/ssm204-s...-heat-manifold
While it looks wonderful, the maximum heat tolerance is lower than the targeted temp of the coolant heater I'm looking at. While I could mix it, that does kind of defeat the purpose. That being said, another option is to use this:
https://www.pexuniverse.com/sioux-ch...lves-672xv0490
As it likely can tolerate more heat.

Has anyone has experience with either of those?

How much of the floor to plan on heating? I see no need to heat under cabinets or beds, so I basically have a 2' wide, 4 line run down the middle of the bus. One run running fore and one aft of the heater.
I don't understand the "defeat the purpose" statement. You want it too hot intentionally? Some have said the heater may not get hot enough, so it is run on full hot.

[Native]

Originally Posted by musigenesis

I was going to say, did you use a weed-whacker to cut that?

That is what trim pieces are for, right?

[inhof009]

Originally Posted by o1marc

How much of the floor to plan on heating? I see no need to heat under cabinets or beds, so I basically have a 2' wide, 4 line run down the middle of the bus. One run running fore and one aft of the heater.
I don't understand the "defeat the purpose" statement. You want it too hot intentionally? Some have said the heater may not get hot enough, so it is run on full hot.

I think I saw your design somewhere in my searches. I'm shooting for camping in very cold weather, so I'm leaning more toward the "more heating elements are better than fewer" right now. I'm not going to heat the cabinets, but I'm going to have one heating run for the sitting area and kitchen, spaced 6" apart. Then another heating run for the bathroom and bedroom, again spaced 6". Heating under the bed will happen, because we're going to loft the bed and put a spot for our dogs under the bed, heated of course. Then one port for a toe-kick heater, and that leaves another open if I want to add another heater somewhere.

For my understanding, you're saying that you are running the heater full hot and not making it too hot? My concern with mixing to drop the temp is that the heater will then be running constantly and consuming more fuel. What heater are you using?

The manifolds I'm looking at are max temp 70C and the heater I'm looking at runs 65C-80C, so a majority of the time will be above max temp.

[o1marc]

Originally Posted by inhof009

I think I saw your design somewhere in my searches. I'm shooting for camping in very cold weather, so I'm leaning more toward the "more heating elements are better than fewer" right now. I'm not going to heat the cabinets, but I'm going to have one heating run for the sitting area and kitchen, spaced 6" apart. Then another heating run for the bathroom and bedroom, again spaced 6". Heating under the bed will happen, because we're going to loft the bed and put a spot for our dogs under the bed, heated of course. Then one port for a toe-kick heater, and that leaves another open if I want to add another heater somewhere.

For my understanding, you're saying that you are running the heater full hot and not making it too hot? My concern with mixing to drop the temp is that the heater will then be running constantly and consuming more fuel. What heater are you using?

The manifolds I'm looking at are max temp 70C and the heater I'm looking at runs 65C-80C, so a majority of the time will be above max temp.

Dude, you're in the USA, temps are in F, not C. On hindsight, I should have run a loop through the small bathroom. I'm not saying I run them full hot, but I've read others have said it didn't get so hot it couldn't be run wide open. I will test with mine to see what works. The heaters I'm using are HON brand, Chinese knock off.

[Sleddgracer]

Originally Posted by o1marc

Dude, you're in the USA, temps are in F, not C. On hindsight, I should have run a loop through the small bathroom. I'm not saying I run them full hot, but I've read others have said it didn't get so hot it couldn't be run wide open. I will test with mine to see what works. The heaters I'm using are HON brand, Chinese knock off.

Celsius to Fahrenheit formula
Celsius (°C) to Fahrenheit (°F), how to convert & conversion table.
How to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit
The temperature T in degrees Fahrenheit (°F) is equal to the temperature T in degrees Celsius (°C) times 9/5 plus 32:
T(°F) = T(°C) × 9/5 + 32
or
T(°F) = T(°C) × 1.8 + 32
Example
Convert 20 degrees Celsius to degrees Fahrenheit:
T(°F) = 20°C × 9/5 + 32 = 68 °F