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Old 02-08-2020, 12:24 PM   #421
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FINALLY! A Craigslist score that actually materialized

25 sheets of 3/4" plywood, each 39"x45", for $125. A couple are slightly curved and have minor delamination, but most are in perfect condition, much higher quality than flooring-grade plywood. More than enough for my floors, countertops, desk and table and cabinets.

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The odd-sized pieces are from disassembled crates of South American juice concentrate. Surprised they use plywood of this quality for that.

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I asked the guy if he had any luan plywood, and he had a bunch of these 1/8" sheets that are all about 45"x45". At least one side of each is furniture-grade. I'm not sure how well I can actually use these for my ceiling and walls, but he said $0.50 each so I grabbed 20 of them. I'm already regretting not dropping another $10 and getting 40.

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So it looks like I got all the wood for my subfloor, walls and ceiling and all my furniture for $135.

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Old 02-08-2020, 12:42 PM   #422
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25 sheets of 3/4" plywood, each 39"x45", for $125. A couple are slightly curved and have minor delamination, but most are in perfect condition, much higher quality than flooring-grade plywood. More than enough for my floors, countertops, desk and table and cabinets.

The odd-sized pieces are from disassembled crates of South American juice concentrate. Surprised they use plywood of this quality for that.
That's Awesome!
Wondering if there's a source like that around Columbus...?

How'd you find the 'plywood dealer' ?
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Old 02-08-2020, 12:50 PM   #423
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That's Awesome!
Wondering if there's a source like that around Columbus...?

How'd you find the 'plywood dealer' ?
Craigslist. It was a farmhouse out in the wilds of New Jersey, with an outbuilding filled with pallets of just these two types of plywood, nothing else. I guess he buys the empty crates and disassembles them and sells them like this. Whodathunk fruit juice crates would be the way to go? Might have to change the name of my bus to Miss Chiquita or something.
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Old 02-08-2020, 02:42 PM   #424
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What a score, that's awesome. Craigslist has some great finds sometimes. We found 3" Dow XPS blue foamboard for 11 bucks per 4x8 sheet. I think we miscalculated and ended up buying about twice as much as we needed, which worked out well because we were able to superinsulate part of our house's attic before selling it.
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Old 02-08-2020, 03:06 PM   #425
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We found 3" Dow XPS blue foamboard for 11 bucks per 4x8 sheet.


Livin' the dream! My worst non-materializing find was 110 sheets of 2"x4'x8' XPS for $800. I think I could have resold the 90 or so sheets I wouldn't have needed for my bus and turned a profit on the whole deal. Of course somebody else pounced on that one.
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Old 02-08-2020, 03:29 PM   #426
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[emoji144]



Livin' the dream! My worst non-materializing find was 110 sheets of 2"x4'x8' XPS for $800. I think I could have resold the 90 or so sheets I wouldn't have needed for my bus and turned a profit on the whole deal. Of course somebody else pounced on that one.
I just found enough 2x4 ft XPS to do my floor and then some for 50$. But it's in Athens. Round trip gas makes it the same price as getting new sheets.
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Old 02-09-2020, 10:07 PM   #427
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Craigslist. It was a farmhouse out in the wilds of New Jersey, with an outbuilding filled with pallets of just these two types of plywood, nothing else. I guess he buys the empty crates and disassembles them and sells them like this. Whodathunk fruit juice crates would be the way to go? Might have to change the name of my bus to Miss Chiquita or something.
Ask the dude if he's willing to have his contact information published here? It sounds like he's got a pocket business going, and there would be a bunch of us who could benefit from it.
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Old 02-10-2020, 04:43 AM   #428
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Ask the dude if he's willing to have his contact information published here? It sounds like he's got a pocket business going, and there would be a bunch of us who could benefit from it.
Here's the CL ad, at least: https://philadelphia.craigslist.org/...036861814.html
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Old 02-10-2020, 08:24 PM   #429
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Beginning diesel tank cleanup

Started scraping and osphoing the diesel tank and the floor above it. Tank has a good amount of surface rust underneath the flaking paint layer, but it's not very deep and cleans up well with the ospho. The cage is also completely rusted on the surface but it's very thick steel so no structural problems. Just going to take a fair bit of work to clean and paint everything.

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I traced all the wires into the ABS box and nothing was cut, so presumably it got zapped by the welder dude.

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If I take my bus to my mechanic to look into the ABS problem, would they have an easier time getting at the module from above with the floor off like this? By "easier time" I mean would I have to pay less for the hourly cost?
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Old 02-10-2020, 08:31 PM   #430
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Goggles are important, apparently

For ospho I switched from using a spray bottle to using a chip brush - seems to penetrate better and be more under control and I inhale less of it. I went under my bus today to brush ospho on my fuel tank cage without goggles, and I quickly managed to flick the brush into my face and eyes. Had a fun time feeling my way around the bus back inside to where my water can was. Ay yi yi.
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Old 02-10-2020, 08:43 PM   #431
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Killing it on Craigslist this week

4 pieces of 2" XPS foam board 4'x8', 7 pieces about 4'x4' and a few large-ish scraps, $75 (plus about 6 gallons of diesel and a $7.50 bridge toll). When I saw this ad the other night, it had been posted 3 minutes prior; the guy said four people contacted him minutes after me. I guess no matter what your living situation, you can always stick some more XPS somewhere and be warmer, so this stuff is always going to be in demand.

These boards seriously take up space, though.

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Old 02-10-2020, 09:18 PM   #432
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4 pieces of 2" XPS foam board 4'x8', 7 pieces about 4'x4' and a few large-ish scraps, $75 (plus about 6 gallons of diesel and a $7.50 bridge toll). When I saw this ad the other night, it had been posted 3 minutes prior; the guy said four people contacted him minutes after me. I guess no matter what your living situation, you can always stick some more XPS somewhere and be warmer, so this stuff is always going to be in demand.



These boards seriously take up space, though.



Attachment 41518
I get so jealous of your Craigslist finds. But still happy you find them lol.
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Old 02-11-2020, 07:02 AM   #433
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I just found enough 2x4 ft XPS to do my floor and then some for 50$. But it's in Athens. Round trip gas makes it the same price as getting new sheets.
I know Georgia's big, but I'm surprised that's almost a four hour trip one-way. Yeah, that would kill the price advantage, especially if you have to take the bus.
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Old 02-11-2020, 08:20 AM   #434
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I know Georgia's big, but I'm surprised that's almost a four hour trip one-way. Yeah, that would kill the price advantage, especially if you have to take the bus.
I've got my Econoline also. But I think the bus gets better mileage lol.

Might actually be camping weather this weekend or next if I can talk my kid into it.
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Old 02-11-2020, 06:22 PM   #435
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Watertight closet

Well, my closet is watertight, anyway. My trip to Jersey for insulation yesterday was in the rain and quite a bit of water came in through the big open hole. I still have to figure out what sort of drain hole gadget I'm going to put in here.

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Noticed a tiny puddle underneath one of my roof hatches. Couldn't find any sign of a leak in it anywhere.

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Aha, rusty rivet with a little droplet of water.

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This is the inside of one of the chassis rails where the fuel tank is (tank is just visible at the bottom). Before I started on this part, I had the impression that the fuel tank area had somehow escaped severe rust like the wheel wells, but in fact it was just a massive amount of dirt covering everything. The access here is a little tricky but at least I can manage to get to everything.

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Tank itself has a bunch of small rust spots on the top. Tank seems to be galvanized so I'll be using SEM self-etching primer.

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Really nasty work.
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Old 02-12-2020, 06:34 PM   #436
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Tank and cage rust

One side of the tank from above. I'm going to have to concoct a sort of bent long-handled paint brush to get to this, or I might use a small roller.

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More scraping to do on the cage members, but most of the paint or undercoat layer or whatever it is is off. Very easy to scrape it clean - the paint layer had already separated over most of it.

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Underside of the tank lookin' nasty. Fortunately, the rust on the tank looks bad but it cleans up completely and easily with ospho. The spots on top are down to clean metal now with no perceptible loss of thickness, so it's not like the tank is about to rust through. Still glad I'm attacking this now, though, it obviously needs to at least be arrested ASAP.

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This bracket is kind of curious. Despite the body being clipped all along the chassis rails with clips that allow the body to slide forward in a collision, there are these two clips back by the fuel tank that are bolted to both the chassis rail and the bus floor. With the slot in the notch, it looks like the body could still slide a little bit but not as far as what seems to happen in the head-on collisions. I wonder if these brackets are there to keep the fuel pipe from being ripped out of the tank, since the pipe is attached to the body and the tank is attached to the chassis rails.

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I got a little bit of osphoing done the other day before flicking some into my eyes. Not too bad after one coating.

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After a little more than a year at this, I can say that this is the worst part of it, by far.
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Old 02-12-2020, 08:55 PM   #437
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One side of the tank from above. I'm going to have to concoct a sort of bent long-handled paint brush to get to this, or I might use a small roller.

Attachment 41550

More scraping to do on the cage members, but most of the paint or undercoat layer or whatever it is is off. Very easy to scrape it clean - the paint layer had already separated over most of it.

Attachment 41551

Underside of the tank lookin' nasty. Fortunately, the rust on the tank looks bad but it cleans up completely and easily with ospho. The spots on top are down to clean metal now with no perceptible loss of thickness, so it's not like the tank is about to rust through. Still glad I'm attacking this now, though, it obviously needs to at least be arrested ASAP.

Attachment 41552

This bracket is kind of curious. Despite the body being clipped all along the chassis rails with clips that allow the body to slide forward in a collision, there are these two clips back by the fuel tank that are bolted to both the chassis rail and the bus floor. With the slot in the notch, it looks like the body could still slide a little bit but not as far as what seems to happen in the head-on collisions. I wonder if these brackets are there to keep the fuel pipe from being ripped out of the tank, since the pipe is attached to the body and the tank is attached to the chassis rails.

Attachment 41553

I got a little bit of osphoing done the other day before flicking some into my eyes. Not too bad after one coating.

Attachment 41554

After a little more than a year at this, I can say that this is the worst part of it, by far.



Its not too late to take the tank off.
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Old 02-13-2020, 07:46 AM   #438
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Its not too late to take the tank off.
I still lack the tools, know-how and a place to do it.
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Old 02-13-2020, 11:41 PM   #439
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I know Georgia's big, but I'm surprised that's almost a four hour trip one-way. Yeah, that would kill the price advantage, especially if you have to take the bus.
You could go to the bus graveyard in Alto. It's not on the way, but it might make it worthwhile.
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Old 02-17-2020, 04:26 PM   #440
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Beginning to paint inside

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