The Lucinda Lowdown

[Branden]

Well, having read a bunch over the last little while, I've gone and done it. I'm now the owner of a Bluebird All-American, 1982 vintage. Cummins 555, Allison auto, air brakes, great rubber, recently tuned then retired. Seats are out. Looks like I'll have to re-do the subfloor. Any thoughts on plywood/outdoor plywood/particle board for this? It's got particle board now, and some if it is rotten.

Branden

1982 Bluebird All American--Lucinda

[SeanF]

Welcome to the club!

Flooring & such have been discussed to varying degrees...do a search through the archives, and also at the other forum (http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/...conversionuts/).

It will give you some background on what people have done about their floors. Save folks from re-typing what they done typed.

What are your plans for the conversion? Seasonal use? full time? Got any pictures?

[Branden]

Thanks! Not that I'm not just a bit freaked out at the moment. Sitting in the driver's seat one thinks (beyond "I get to work the door!") damn, is this thing BIG! I've checked the archives, and it seems that people do many different things (surprise!). I think I'll likely use plywood for the repairs or rebuild of the floor.

In terms of condition, she's all cleared of seats, the floors are soft in spots, but other than that the bus seems very sound. It's in such decent shape that my plans for beadboarding the walls have changed, and I think I'm just going to clean and paint them. I kind of like the rivets look and the steel rail where the seats were mounted will come in handy. The ceiling paint is fine, but doesn't match my long-term color scheme Anybody ever just gone to a truck wash and used their pressure wash hose to clean the inside of your bus? I'm thinking that might be a good idea, but I'm a bit worried about the wiring and lights, so would avoid the ceiling. But it would be great for the floor, walls, and glass, no?

I plan on using her for recreational trips--Burning Man 05 for her big launch date, but then oystering with the gang here in Washington, as travel vehicle to triathlons, concerts, and such, and the occasional solitude-seeking writing trip to the Oregon Coast, or the Madison River, or whatnot. My dad is a crazy flyfisher, so we'll be putting some fishing miles on her, too.

So I want clean, easy, and simple. Gotta handle dirt roads, wet waders, and muddy folks. I'm thinking of tearing out all the old flooring (but if it's just bad in spots then replacing just those). I don't know what to expect under the wood. Over the wood subfloor I'll put a thin sheet of insulation material and then a t&g or pergo-type wood floor running the length of the bus. I plan on framing in either 2 closets or a closet and bathroom (might be required for RV lic. in WA, but other than that am debating if it's worth the trouble of installation and maintenance, although a shower would sure be nice) over/around the rear wheel wells, and having the rear section thus defined being the bedroom. Midships will be a kitchen with stove and sink cabinet and behind on the other wall (probably passenger side) will likely be a fold-down table for extra cooking space and to eat, forming a galley kitchen. In front of that, living room and eating space, with probably a futon for seating/sleeping and some chairs mounted (on pedastals?) for navigator and others. Maybe 4 seats like that, reclaimed from a car.

I'll put together some pics as I go along, and probably put them on a website. This is clearly a dangerous obsession! I'm already thinking floorplans in my sleep.

Branden

[Ryan Grimm]

If you're considering mud/sand/water on the floors, I'd think sheet linoleum. Fast, easy, relatively cheap to put down, and another floor can be laid on top of it later if need be.

Easy to clean, too.

T&G will get scratched fast with sandy soils being tracked in, but sure looks nice for a while.

My $0.02.

[busone]

If looks are not the most important thing in the world you can use commercial tiles. The stuff you see in your local grocery store. They come in lots of different colors and are solid so you can sand, grind, and polish them.

http://www.armstrong.com/commflooringna ... y=linoleum

[lapeer20m]

the bus is possibly the best possible vehicle for burningman. When the dust storm kicks into high gear, or the freezing cold nites come along you'll be so happy that youre in a bus and not sleeping in your tent on the cold cold ground.

During a real bad dust storm, i had my bus full to max capacity at bm2004 as people were trying to escape from the blowing sand.

This year i plan to bring a 110 volt air purifier to help keep the atmosphere in the bus more tollerable during the killer dust storms.

[koldei]

soudns like there'll be a Mini-Member-Meeting in Black Rock City ;)

my last trip to BRC i had a 23' long vehicle, not quite a bus, but amazingly better than the little dodge caravan i had my first year, for all the reasons (and more) Jason mentioned

robert

[Branden]

I picked her up today... I have the KEYS AND TITLE!!!!!


Only one month and four days since payment... eek.

Now it's an emissions test and insurance and and and...

YEAH!!!!


Happy happy, joy joy!

I'm going to our burners' brunch tomorrow and taking the big rig.

If I can get insurance today I'm going to get some road miles in on I-5 to heat it up and burn out the gunk. More on the key/title saga later.

Branden

[Branden]

Nothing like learning to drive a bus in Seattle rush hour traffic and the Mercer mess. Um... whoops.

But she drives like a champ although the brakes pull right a little bit--might the air tanks need some adjustment? The brakes themselves?

Cruised on the freeway for 50 miles and heated her up really good. Burned out all the gunk, no more blue smoke. Drives at 60 at 2500 rpm, and can make it to 70, but that seems kind of fast. 60 is really comfortable, though. Probably better when loaded--will additional flooring cut down on the noise a bit? I don't want to insulate the walls, but it is pretty loud. Of course it's a rolling cave at the moment, so that's no surprise.

Yesterday I took the bus down for emissions testing and it passed. The drive-through was about six inches wider on each side than the bus. Man, they're testing me early!

So fun, so fun!

I'll post some pics in the gallery.

Karma has been good and I've a warehouse space for a couple months in South Lake Union, downtown Seattle. A mile from my house!

Will have to wait for the weekend to title and license, and then start on the floor and painting.

Has anyone else noted the ability of their bus to suck up money?

[Griff]

Originally Posted by Branden

Has anyone else noted the ability of their bus to suck up money?

Have you ever seen the movie "Money Pit"? It's kinda like that, and yet it's still FUN.

I, (and others I'm sure) share your enthusiasm! It's like when I was a kid taking the bus to school, the euphoria of getting one of the coveted wheel well seats so you could try to set bounce altitude records over bumps.

Yeah, bus ownership is a priceless joy!

[J.B.]

Hi Branden , welcome to the club, I live on Fir Island north of Seattle and my friend Ron lives on N 205th in Seattle. Both of us have 35' Crowns. A little tip for you on the title thing. Washington State no longer requires inspections. Just go to your friendly licensing place and tell them that you have a "BLUE BIRD MOTOR HOME". They will license accordingly. It seems I have talked to you before about this but that was a while ago and i don't remember the circumstances. Any assistance either Ron or I can give you don't hesitate to ask. Ah yes, the Mercer mess , what a shame I don't have to drive down there much any more. My rules for Seattle are in by 10 and out by 2.
Best of luck, J.B.

[Branden]

Well, thanks to the handy knowledge herein I've now got my Bluebird Motorhome licensed in the state of Washington. Interestingly, the woman at the licensing place still thought I needed a state patrol inspection as the title says "school bus" but I explained that I knew of people who had recently made the licensing shift and the WSP no longer inspects...

She called her manager, who also wouldn't do it, BUT, there was another employee there who would, explaining that if WSP called me I'd have to have it inspected... so we'll see.

Now I'm thinking paint... and I'm strangely thinking yellow--John Deere yellow, with lots of metallic sparkles. Kind of electric yellow with the same black trim as is presently on it.

And I'm looking for laminate flooring...

Yee ha!

[J.B.]

Congratulations , I always say you have to help people do thier job. As long as your title says BLUBIRD MOTORHOME you are OK. Now that that hurdle is out of the way you only have a few dozen more jobs to not only think about but accomplish. I spent last week and part of this week placing a trailer hitch receiver on 'Farther' and putting in the 52 gal black water tank. Just a couple of more days and it will be done.

J.B.

[Branden]

Yep, it sure does loom large.

Having some friends in the bus has brought up new ideas--flexible space and openness, not lots of fixed walls... interesting.

I'm still contemplating the toilet and shower possibility. Seems like so much space in a bus it would be a waste not to have one. How big is your fresh tank? You're doing a gray and black? I'm thinking about 100 gal fresh (burning man, you know) and appropriate gray/black although maybe not separate tanks...

A friend summed it up nickely when he said the challenge really was in the lack of any possibilities (minus money, of course). You can totally do what you want, and all those decisions make it hard to figure out where you want to go. I'm thinking function, then form... but with a good eye on form, too.

We'll see if the title comes back...

BB

[Branden]

With the Man Burning in just a scant few weeks, lots of good work is being done on Lucinda.

The outside paint is just about done. There are two coats of Sno Seal on the roof for cooling purposes (sealing, too). The inside has a coat of paint on the bottom (top was fine), and a new plywood subfloor over the steel floor.

We have mounted frames on seats (2 BMW buckets, 3 Ford Windstar seats) and are working on floorplans. Right now the diamond pattern is in the lead, which will allow for reclining and getting a seat close to the engine block between the front wheel wells, a space too narrow for two seats.

Pergo floor going in, to be finished once the seats are in. The back of the bus will remain empty for the trip to BRC, (two couches along with the five seats) for future simple, open floor plans including two long cabinets holding a 30-gallon tank each and additional storage, a sink, and a propane stove.

Where is the easiest place to mount propane tanks? I've seen the underchassis mount and the rear mount, up high out of the way of a collision. Which is better/easier--to install, to use? Opinions?

BTW, for those following the old cost/keys mess, I got my 300 bucks for the new batteries back from the seller, so my final cost for the bus came down to $3K. Not all bad.

[Eric von Kleist]

My propane tank is mounted underneath the bus behind the "nut", the differential. I figured that was the safest place to put it. I could be wrong, but it's not directly in the line of fire from anything coming from the tires, and anything big I might run over would have to come through the differential to get to it.



I essentially constructed a floor that is suspended from the frame with allthread, and then I built a box around that. It is just barely big enough to fit 2 regular propane tanks in, although I only have one in there now.

It was a pretty simple installation. Drilling holes in the floor joist flanges was the only cutting that had to be done on the bus to hang the bottles. The allthread lets you use 2 nuts above the joist, 2 below, 2 above the floor platform, and 2 below it to hold the platform in place (8 per rod, 32 total) The platform is 1 1/2" of plywood with 2x2 frame around the edges. Then plywood walls are screwed to that with 2x2 framing pieces where they join each other. Wing nuts and carriage bolts hold the front board in place so that I can get the bottle(s) in and out. There is no top to the box, and the regulator hose passes over the sidewall on its way to the black steel pipe that leads it into the bus.

Oh yes, I did put some of that 1/8" thick by 1 1/2" wide sheet metal with 3/8" holes in it across the bottom of the platform in such a way that it is fastened on by the all thread. Just in case.... Can't hurt.

[Branden]

Thanks Eric,

Is it a pain in the butt to get under to switch tanks?

And, how did you get the underchassis so clean? Mine is like, um, black and covered in gronuff and munge. Don't necessarily want to take a hose under there, though, don't know what shouldn't be hosed out...

[Eric von Kleist]

It's not at all bad getting under there. I'm a little bitty fellow, so that makes it even easier, but it's pretty easy. Just roll the tank under, follow it, remove the forward side of the box and hoist the tank up into it and connect the regulator. Nothing to it. You can hardly see the installation from the side or rear of the bus, and it is painted flat black, which makes it even harder to see. There's still plenty of clearance beneath it, and it's far enough from the rear bumper that I'd pretty much have to back over a low wall to hit the tanks. I doubt it would be possible to bottom it out without bottoming out both the differential and the rear bumper first.



The bus was clean as a whistle when I got it. 99.99% rust free, too. There might have been 1.5 square feet of surface rust on the whole thing in about 3 spots. There is some tiny amount of sand accumulation on a few of the frame members, since the bus came from a coastal county, but other than that it was pretty much spotless underneath. I think they used pressure washers pretty regularly there. I know they had one handy when I went to pick it up, and they hosed down the inside for me because the bus had been sitting empty for several months.

[KevinCoughlin]

I know this is a pretty late reply to the thread (hey, only about 10 months....). My propane tank is on the right side, behind the front stair, in front of the rear wheels. A long cylinder tucked in and protected by the frame and some extra steel "armor" pieces.

Of course, the bus is POWERED by propane - that's my gas tank. I just bought it from First Student in Portland (1983 International S1700/Bluebird) and will be doing the "Bluebird Motorhome" registration in Washington as well. Now, to see if I can't tap off of the main tank for peripherals like the stove, as well as rig some ability to connect barbeque cylinders into the main system as a "spare gas tank" in case I run out and have to hitch a ride to the service station.....

[Branden]

Cabinets are roughed in, two 88-inch open cabinets (like big bookshelves, no doors) over the rear wheel wells, holding the water tank (33-gal, vertical), the sink and pump, and propane stove.

The location of the tank, though, is a question of the moment. I want to keep the tank and stove removable, so I can cook outside or inside. I want to put the 20lb (5gal) tank under the sink, where the pump will be, or in the next compartment over. This will allow a four-foot connecting hose between the tank and the stove and I could take the whole deal out just by lifting it up. During transit, I'll store the tank outside in a lower bin, but in camp I want to keep it in the bus. Is this a major problem? Don't boats do it? With a propane detector perhaps?

Les and others, am I crazy?