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Rradventuretime bus
Hey guys. We are Rose and Randall from Hazard Ky. Our bus name comes from our names RR and we had a running joke when dating about her adventure time man, or my adventure time woman. And this is our adventure. So that makes us Rradventuretime. We started our adventure in a tent, then a popup and then a travel trailer.
We bought our bus in September 2020 from GSA auctions out of Chattanooga TN. It's a 2009 Bluebird All American RE (rear engine flat nose) 40 footer with a 8.3 Cummins and a Allison trans. It was originally a US Army bus from Fort Benning Georgia with 64,000 miles.
I got a real good start on it the day after we bought it (our anniversary) with a goal for gutting it by spring. I did it in 8 days. My goal for completion is Spring 2022 but I hope with any good luck Fall 2021.
The ceiling has been insulated and a few wires ran. I plan to use either white pine or cedar 3.5 planks. Lighting will be led puck lights.
I used XPS foam board insulation throughout. 1" floor, 1.5" walls and 2" ceiling. The subfloor is 3/8 plywood. I didn't frame it, I glued the foam board down and screwed the plywood through the foam board and into the floor. I feel framing is a waste of money since the foam board has a crush strength of a fork lift on a square foot. The final floor is 8mm laminate. It's floating and I installed it before the wall framing. It's much easier to do it now and the walls will help hold it down.
The water heater, bathroom vent, tv antenna, and awning is installed. I have a old 32 foot travel trailer I'm using for parts (appliances, windows etc.) to save money.
I plan to remove the windows and cover with 16 to 18 gauge metal. Then install some of the camper Windows. At this time I plan to keep the original door. It already has a lock in it.
I will have a camper type setup with almost everything running on 12 volt and propane. Black and gray tanks along with a water tank all mounted underneath with some storage boxes and a generator. Solar isn't in the budget so I'm running twin golf cart batteries that will charge on the generator and also while driving.
It will soon have a 50" front lightbar, 22" rear lightbar and 4 four 4" pods (2 on each side) to light up the night boondocking in the desert.
After completion we plan to use it locally and save up for a cross country trip headed out west on a 6,000 mile summer trip.
I've been employed as a school bus driver for 6yrs. So I naturally love buses. The straw that broke is over was our campers previous owner let the roof leak and I didn't know it. When we got it I fixed the leaks but the damage had been done. The walls where wavy and the floor sinking on the sides. Soft spot near the door. On one trip in 2020 the entire front side folded back. I repaired that the best I could and used it a few more times before getting our bus. People ask why you want a bus over a camper and my reply is put a bus and a camper in a field for twenty years and come back and see which one is still standing.
Things have been slow over the winter but hope to get back at it soon.
You can follow our build and adventures here
https://www.instagram.com/rradventuretime/
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