I found my Bus...! TAKE A LOOK.. :)

[cheezypsnookle]

congrats

[ezbme]

Sweet bus! Congrats on the new ride!

[ezbme]

Originally Posted by Smitty

Nice bus Steve, and there's a whole-lotta things on that list that make it even better (lol, like the 77" interior height).

Congrats!
Smitty

You will LOVE the high ceilings... ours has the same as yours!!

[timbuk]

that bus is huge,nicely optioned also mind you fill that thing with all those kids...... congrats! timbuk

[Castro]

Nice bus. Biiiiigggggg.....

When I first saw it, I thought it would make a good conversion.

[swinada]

Congratulations, and yes I am jelous at your high sealing, wish ours was like that.
Wish you all the best in your conversion adventure, and have one more kid and yu'll catch up to us.

[Xtevan]

Sweet, pretty close to my dream rig!!

[Ob1]

I refer to the master bedroom as the Aft Stateroom.

You'd have to see it to have the same grin I have evry time I say it!

[Redbear]

On board motion satellite (works while driving) Jesse must have internet!

Huh? Let me know where you are getting this. I would really be interested in it. Is this a wish-list item of yours, or do you actually have a vendor with an in-motion system at an affordable price?

I know there is in-motion television reception, but if the receive-only dish points the wrong way, the only thing damaged is your reception. Since geo-stationary satellites are crammed so close together over the US, with a moving transmitter it is hard to prevent your uplink beam from occasionally lighting up the wrong one. It's a bad thing if your web browsing knocks out "The Price is Right."

IBM has offered public safety agencies an in-motion solution the military uses overseas, and I have been aboard a moving demo, but the uplinks aren't focused sharply enough to be licensed for non-federal use stateside. This is according to the agent who sells us satellite bandwidth. (Since 9-11, salesmen are always trying to push equipment only the Feds can use.) In fact, we had to agree to crank down stabilizing jacks before powering up the auto-deploy stationary unit. That is so people walking around inside the vehicle, or any wind rocking it, doesn't move the beam off target.

Some of the Low-Earth Orbit satellite voice providers have some data connectivity, but from what I've seen, at about 8kbps they make dial-up look dreamy. A couple of maritime providers have high-speed in-motion solutions, but they cost two arms and two legs for both equipment and airtime. Inmarsat has a data terminal uplink about the size of a textbook, just connect power and a Cat 5 cable, but I wouldn't want to pay the airtime costs.

Most RVers use simple and reasonably-priced land-based broadband from Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, Rogers, etc. This works stationary or in-motion, and is simpler to operate. You can install an external antenna for better reception, and feed a wired or wireless router to share the link. There are no towers in some of the boondocks where satellite is your only option, but there are also lots of parking spaces with no view of the southern sky.

I would really appreciate information on what you know about this. I would love to find such a service. I may find it very useful.

[Sojakai]

I think it was Kamoo who had their bus blasted... Make sure that you have the inside pannels off when you get it done. Should make for easier cleanup on the sand...

[davido]

Nice bus! You might look at an air card as an ISP instead. Satellites have bad lag.

[kamoo]

If you sandblast the inside, tape and cover all of your interior controls, column/ignition etc really well. We didnt do this and had a real mess in the electrical panel, ignition switch and turn signal stalk. Also at least pull the windows and wire chase covers since there is usually rust behind those from water getting in the rub rails on the roof and running down the ceiling panels. Other than that, with a shopvac and the time it takes to build the bus, there isnt much sand left.

[kamoo]

I dont have sand anywhere and I did the inside and out. There is no way you can remove all of the rust by hand, not that you need to anyways, but if that is your goal this is the best way. Duct tape and cardboard is what you would use to mask when sandblasting and as you planned tarp the rest. We didnt do the dash since that could have been a disaster. Just a thought, the guy that did the work on mine is in Ft Pierce, he may be able to do it cheaper than you can even get supplies for. For the floor, he could use any leftover paint he has since it will be covered anyways. The outside doesnt have to be done, mine was just for the sake of time.

[Frank ZX]

I would not blast the bus!!!!If you do,You will have the etch the metal,prime with a epoxy primer,etc to get it right.You will end up with way more than $2000.00 with all the meterials.
I would only spot blast real rusty areas,or better yet,wire wheel them with a stiff wire brush.My .02.

[kamoo]

You could always just blast the interior floor and the area above the windows that the channel covers. The idea of spot blasting would make your life alot easier although Im sure the entire floor needs to be done. The only reason my exterior was done was because of rust and flaking paint around the rivets which would have been extremely time consuming to hand sand. I dont think I would screw with the underside of the bus, it would be very difficult and you would be hard pressed to have paint cover every place the sand hit. The underside is a good place to spray with black rustoleum. You should get a price from someone to do the sandblasting and primer, I still think it would be less than the cost of materials if you did it yourself. Were 3 hours from Clearwater and I can get him to hook you up pretty good. Theres also a guy in Tampa a friend of mine uses that is reasonable and another guy in Mulberry that I kinda sorta know, probably not enough to get you a smokin deal though.

[kamoo]

$500 blast and prime your floor in Ft Pierce, $800 with a decent 2 part paint on top. I didnt call the guy in Tampa since it seems you are wavering on what you want to do. But this gives you an idea.

[mouse059]

That is an amazingly large bus I hope to find something like that too! Congrats on the buy.