One story that I think everyone has had something similar happen occured when my wife was helping me find a leak. I haven't started much on interior work because I have a couple leaks. Right after sealing the roof It rained and I saw remnants of water. With my wifes help i'm outside with the hose making it rain on my bus. Thinking analytically I keep the water to one side of the seam. Honey is it leaking yet?... Not yet.. Trying the other side... Honey how about now?... No nothing... How about now? Anything? ... Nope no leaks. After 15 minutes of making it rain (into the wind of course) I walk inside and there is a puddle at her feet! I'm like Honey it leaked... how did you miss it?
Ok I can do this better... Honey get on the ladder and make it rain on the bus. Smart this time I have a paper towel stretched out over the area. I am staring at the ceiling looking for signs of a leak. Of course I boasted how I was going to be smart with the paper towel to find it. After a few minutes I look down with my dry paper towel in hand to a puddle at my feet. Thankfully she loves me otherwise I could have starved to death that day!
Rear door leaks a tiny stream that widens up further down the floor. The rear door normally had a raised floor on one side with trim that forced the water outside.
RV Parts
The very first thing I picked up was a sleeper sofa. My boss who had no idea I was doing a skoolie bought a new sleeper sofa for his trailer. 2 Days later decided he wanted something different and was going to just sell the sleeper sofa on Craigslist. I atually had the sleeper sofa 2 weeks before I had my bus! He was so interested in what I was building he sold me the sleeper sofa (brand new) for $100.
On Craigslist I ran across a guy parting out an older Winniebago RV. I ended up picking up the grey / black water tanks, fresh water tanks, entry extension step, 3 of the windows already tinted, and an external cabinet door along with a side mounted propane tank with its door panel. I think I got all of this for about $150.
I also picked up an rv propane range / oven for $100 on Craigslist. It needs to be cleaned a bit. Apparently it came from a travel trailer whose roof collapsed from water damage. Imagine that!
Browsing Craigslist I found someone selling 2 nice RV chairs with seat belts attached. When I arrived to see them I discovered he had a skoolie for Burning Man and had just swapped these out. Was really cool to see because that was the first real "skoolie" we had seen in person. picked these up for about $100 as well.
Bathroom
For the bathroom we plan on a small bathtub / shower and are using a 2x3 foot black plastic water trough. Its just about the right size since we have limited space being only 30 foot long. The bathroom has been the hardest thing for us as everything in the bus is moved or adjusted around the bathroom.
We plan on using a composting toilet above the wheel well. This will be the most expensive purchase I believe with either of the "Head" toilets costing around $1000.
Kitchen
The kitchen area will have the stove but also a small dorm style fridge that we will run only when plugged in to shore power or other source. This will run us around $100 bucks. I also picked up a brand new small stainless steel kitchen sink from a restore for $15 bucks. On one of the front wheel wells i plan on building a frame around a cooler that will drain out of the bus. We will use the cooler for most camping trips etc and when it is framed in i will have the counter top lift to reveal the cooler underneath. Since ice is cheap and doesnt require power along with some of the advancements in insulation a cooler should work really well.
Counter Space
I taught myself a fair amount about wood staining. I found that creating vector graphics and using low tac vinyl stickers from a sign company make for amazing stained wood graphics. My intent is to use wood stained designs through out but on the counters I want to have theme based art. My neighbor works with a large wood press that will join wood together in a preasure oven along with plane and smooth it. I plan on using 2x12s or larger to join together for the counter tops then sealed.
Living Space
We also plan on having the front door sealed shut with one of the Winniebego windows put in place. The mid door we want to extend and put in a stair well. This will allow us to place both of the new rv chairs up front so I have a co-pilot for those long trips and after revamping the layout (again) the chairs will be in the living room area and swivel backwards.
Once the front door is removed we will use the original wheel well as a storage box for a battery bay and go either generator or solar.
Flooring and color palet
I will post the inspiration picture for what we want the inside to look like. I prepurchased just shy of 200 square feet of Pergo XD hickory flooring. We are going to use pink 1inch r5 insulation on the flooring with white r5 insulation on the sides of the bus. I will place 1/2 inch or 3/4 inch plywood and wrap both the insulation and wood in black plastic drop cloth as a vaper barier with the pergo going down next. I think this will help keep water from the insulation and wood.
The screw holes on the floor I will use epoxy and pennies to cover. I saw this done on another video and thought it was genius. We are trying to find pennies with siginifiance to our lives like marrage, births, etc.
The walls will be painted with an hvlp gun and using pure white rustoleum paint cut with acetone to make the paint harder and sprayable. The walls will also be done in wainescoat. I intend on painting the wainescoat all the way around prior to installing to help with any moisture swelling. We want a ll verticle space to be white with all horizontal space to be stained darker wood. Previous pictures shows the cream interior of the walls prior to spraying.
Bedroom
For a bed we are going to just replace our current queen matress for a new one. We wanted the large handicap door in the back so that we could open all of the doors when we have a nice private spot and relax on the bed. It will be a flat deck with the water tank underneath.
Patio
We also started to think about getting an upper deck attached. The skoolie we saw in person had one. The only complaint he had was that it had rust drip stains but otherwise was fine.
Lighting
Our intention is to use tape strip LED color variable light strips. I want to put these along the floor and the edges of the ceiling. Havent got this nailed down yet but I am expecting it to not be too difficult.
Electrical
I havent gotten this fully figured out yet.
Pluming
I have a general idea but nothing solid yet. I do have all of the pluming being contained within an arms reach radius as the kitchen area is across from the bathroom area near the bedroom.
Entertainment
We know we will probably put in a big screen tv. Gotta have our football ya know. Not sure where, if it will be mounted or temporary, or how we will run the sound system. Most of the time I expect we will be using portable devices like Ipads and such. I also think I might put in a wrt54g wireless router that is flashed (upgraded) so I have flexibility in rebroadcasting wireless or using it at the bus. May put in a tiny PC as a media server so we can have music, movies, and such available to all devices.
Exterior color
Not totally sure but we know the top half will be white. After buying an hvlp gun from harbor freight and a new air compressor for fathers day I think I will attempt to spray it.
All in all I hope to be under 10k.
Picture posting is coming up next.