Schoolbus Homestead

[soused moose]

Sean I hope you don’t feel your thread about your beautiful bus is being hijacked here.
If you’d prefer me or anyone else taking this to another section of the forum , please let us know.

Demon I’ve been thinking about your catapult/counterweight idea and the only way I can think of pulling that off is to do something like that on the back of the bus.
It’d be silly to do it up on the roof and although a person could put it on the side of their bus …I personally wouldn’t.


Although this would work … it would be a problem in the sense you’d have to mess around quite a bit ….figuring out how you were going to secure the pole in an upright position would be a bit of a pain.
Because you couldn’t have anything sticking out that would impede the poles movement. So you’d most likely have to build some sort of catch system that you would attach over/around the pole after you got it in position.


Wow Les …that marine antenna mast holder bracket is perfect for what I want to do….Thanks.

[SeanF]

It's all good...I'm digging the brain-storming and tossing around ideas. Great stuff.
Les, I like those fittings too..thanks for mentioning them

Sean

[SeanF]

I need to set up the bus to tow my motorcycle trailer. Currently, the house batteries are located on the rear deck, which is attached to the frame rails. This is where a receiver has to be mounted, so the batteries get to live inside the bus.


Looking at the new battery location. This is the rear of the bus on the passenger side.

I disassembled the battery box, removed the batteries from the rear deck, cleaned the batteries, and placed them on the floor at the foot of the bed. Lengths of 1" x 2" were then screwed to the floor and bed box to keep the batteries from moving.

I also took this opportunity to reverse the positive and negative of the battery bank, and also to use different batteries as the "terminals" of the series/parallel string. Put another way, I shuffled the batteries.

The box is vented to the rear of the bus with a 12-volt muffin fan from Shaque du'Radio. A screened, 3" hole on the right side of the box allows fresh air entry. The hole where the wires enter/exit the box is sealed with spray-in foam.

A few days after this photo was taken, I installed a voltage-sensing switch to turn on the fan only when the batteries are charging and generating oxygen & hydrogen.

I added gasket material to the sides of the box to ensure a nearly air-tight seal between the box and bus door.
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Next I installed a Class III Valley Industries hitch. This is a variable-width model. Attaches to the bus chassis rails with 9/16" hardware.

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Using the 2" x 2" x 3/16" angle iron from the deck support, I relocated the deck to a higher position, and installed a 48-gallon Action Packer box.
3/8" Grade 8 nuts & bolts fasten the parts together, and fasten everything to the bus bumper.

The rear deck is offset from the back of the bus a few inches so the box lid can be opened completely.
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This entails a lot of drilling through steel, so there were metal shavings everywhere. A small magnet makes it possible to collect of all of the metal shavings from the work area.

Long spiraling metal shavings tell me that was probably doing things right: using the right drill speed and pressure, a good bit, and cutting oil (20w-50 in this case).
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This is a mockup of the trailer in relation to the new deck. I don't think I'll have to use a hitch extension.

[SeanF]

This past August marked two years of full-time bus-living....w00t!

I decided to update the bathroom to have running water, and also make a change to the composting toilet setup.

The "before" shot. The bathroom, while functional, was left incomplete during the original conversion process. This is looking rearward. Behind the picture-taker is the composting toilet.

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Add plywood (11/32nds thickness) to finish the wall, sand and wipe with mineral spirits.

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Primer, then paint with oil-based gloss almond enamel.

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I'll cut down a beefy Boos maple countertop (1.75" thick!) to fit the available space (26" wide x 16" deep.) A Chicago Faucets spigot will deliver water to the 12" stainless sink. I'm using a foot-pedal valve to turn the water on & off. I'm not a major germ-a-phobe (seriously), but it's always bugged me to turn on water with dirty hands, wash your hands, then turn off the water by touching the dirty handle.

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Water service comes in from the lower left corner, via 1/2" pex pipe. Rather than use a bunch of elbows to route the water to the intake of the pedal valve, I decided to make a nice curve and arc it over. It works best to make Incredible Hulk sounds while bending pex this way. The Bill Bixby Hulk, not Ed Norton Hulk.

I screwed the foot pedal valve (mfg by Fisher Faucets) to some scrap 2x4s to meet the required clearances for mounting.

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This is a dry-fit of the sink. I screwed 2"x2" lengths of pine to the walls to support the countertop. The left side is screwed to 1/4" birch, so I decided to add more support via a vertical 2x2.

Cutting the butcher block to size left enough material for a nice back splash. I also lopped off the right corner to provide some extra clearance for the narrow bathroom doorway.

I had to find an extra long blade for the jigsaw. Cutting the hole was a lot easier than I'd anticipated.

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Two coats of polyurethane later I installed the sink and faucet, and attached the water supply. Works like a charm!
After the photo I added a bead of almond caulk around the perimeter of the countertop.
Now that I have freshwater delivery to the bathroom, I have to figure out how to get the waste water out. I also need to do something to cover the space under the sink. A curtain? cabinets?




Bigger pics here.

[paul iossi]

the bath counter and sink really look sharp, keep up the good work

[dieselman69]

question for you sean, what size bed are you using & did you just use the mattress or the box spring also, thank you for your help, our bus is kind of like yours except longer & DT466 instead of the DT366.

[SeanF]

The bed is a Full size, and I just have the mattress on the plywood. Very comfy.

Originally Posted by dieselman69

question for you sean, what size bed are you using & did you just use the mattress or the box spring also, thank you for your help, our bus is kind of like yours except longer & DT466 instead of the DT366.

[reprobate]

Love that maple counter top and faucet set-up! Nice looking.

[BoonDockGhost]

SeanF

How has that Tiny Tot stove worked out, does it put out any useable amount of heat?

Thanks

Ty

[SeanF]

Hi-

Yes, the stove puts out lots of heat. It takes a little while to get up to speed but easily warms the bus (with the help of a fan to circulate the heated air).
But bear in mind I spend winter in the desert so I'm not dealing with really cold temps.

Cheers
Sean

[SeanF]

Thanks for the kind words. Yes, I'm a believer when it comes to composting toilets. I currently use a Nature's Head urine-diverting unit, but from what I hear & read, any of the offerings from the composting toilet makers will do the trick...Biolet, sun-mar, etc. My home-made composter actually worked quite well, just a little bit fiddly and unrefined.

Cheers
Sean

[dieselman69]

My wife & I really like your bus conversion Sean, I noticed in one of your posts in everything else that you have a post box in flagstaff AZ. , is that also where you have your bus title? If so does AZ Do emission testing on cars? How did you find you're parking place deal? Thank you for any help you can give us!!!!!!

[SeanF]

Hey Dieselman-

Yes, I have all of my vehicles registered to a Flagstaff address. Arizona does have emissions testing, but only for vehicles registered to an address in the counties that contain the major metro areas (Tucson & Phoenix).
If you aren't in Pima, Pinal, Maricopa or Yavapai county, then no worries; otherwise check this out..--> http://gisweb.azdeq.gov/website/veiareas/

My current parking situation just fell in my lap - a friend has this property for sale and felt better if someone was on-site for the season. Would love to find another caretaking gig in the mountains for the summer.

Sean

[dieselman69]

Thank you seanF, for your answers, we are still working on our project, of course the rain is not helping. I would post pictures but have tried unsuccessfully writing this on a macintosh.

[SeanF]

Aug 1st marked my 3rd year of living in the bus.

Here's an update of problems, etc since last year:
1. Water leak at a connection at the water heater, where PEX tubing meets a brass fitting. Solution was to disassemble and re-do the teflon tape on the brass/male side.
2. Painted plywood squares over the windows continue to peel and look kinda crappy. Just need to stop being lazy and fix it either by re-painting or skinning over it with sheet metal.
3. The agitator handle on the Nature's Head waterless toilet broke after about a year of use. I emailed the company to buy a replacement; they sent a free one via USPS Priority Mail.

That's it. Everything else is functioning as expected.

Cheers amigos
Sean

[TygerCub]

Congratulations on showing the way!

May you have many more successful, wonderful years out there!

[fernmistress]

I love hearing from people who are successfully living on their bus and loving it. And how great that there haven't been any major problems in 3 years!
Awesome! And I have to agree with the others who have commented that your conversion is an inspiration. It was one of the first I ever saw and it continues to be a source of motivation/inspiration. Thanks for sharing it with us.

[SeanF]

On August 1, 2010 I parked the bus and climbed aboard an overloaded motorcycle for a 1.5-year ride around the planet.
Blog here if anyone wants to follow along. Downsizing my life yet again.

So in the meantime, keep the bus conversion dreams alive, be nice to the n00bs and each other. I'll peek back in when I get a chance, and if I see any interesting rolling homes along the way I'll post some pics.

Cheers all
Sean

[browncrown]

Be safe in your travels and have a great time exploring!!!

[Coma]

What happened to the other person and cat??