Conversion Begins

[wrenchtech]

I started taking out the seats today. My insurance company, National General, wrote me a policy to get the bus home, but told me that they would let it cancel in 90 days if I didn’t demonstrate that I was moving towards conversion.They want me to get the seats out as soon as possible.

My plan is to initially do the absolute minimum to get the registration switched over to motor home. I am thinking Heating, Electric, Cooking, and a Refrigerator for my four mandatory life support systems. This will be accomplished by adding some house batteries in the underbelly storage with a charger and a shore power connection, a short run of kitchen floor cabinets with a countertop, sink and propane stovetop and an under-counter fridge. I will install some Chinese knockoffs of Webasto diesel fired heaters. That should get me signed off for official designation as a motor home. After which I will revisit everything with an eye to doing a quality build that will most likely include a roof raise, spray foam insulation and a lot of solar.

As a mechanic that deals with all the companies....id rank State Farm and National General at the top (most repair facilities accept them for claim and resolution).

Another great insurance company is Geico, at least from my brothers' experiences. Not problem with claims or contacting them to change when you should pay. Hopefully this helped and you sound like your on the right track. Good luck!

[PNW_Steve]

Hey Wrenchteck,

I just noticed your bus info in your profile. 300hp and a retarder. That's a beast. Where did you find yours?

[wrenchtech]

I looked for about a year and really seriously for about six months, and then one day I saw this bus on an auction site on the web. It was sitting in south eastern Colorado and I don’t need much of an excuse to go to Colorado, so I caught a plane the next day. That, and it was everything that I had been looking for, and for less money than some rusty junk that I was looking at in the Midwest that didn’t have half the options.

[wrenchtech]

There is a lot more to this bus conversion stuff then I am imagined. I can understand why so many people give up. I think that I was made for this kind of task though.. I have a carpentry and home remodeling/construction background and have played around with cars and metalworking for most of my life . Plus I did a good stint in over the road trucking.

So far I’ve only pulled out the seats. I want to try to live in this bus ASAP, and since it’s Wisconsin, I have to focus on insulation first off. I’m thinking of tackling the floor next. I want to remove the existing floor down to the metal and then put in some rigid insulating board followed by plywood and maybe some laminate flooring to finish it off. In the meantime I scored a nice pillow top mattress and box spring for 40 bucks off of Facebook marketplace and spent my first night, since I got home, in the bus. The outside temperature dipped down to about 35°F and so it was not much warmer in the bus, but I have a couple of comforters and a mid-weight sleeping bag. At one point I was too hot and had to take a layer off of my bedding. One of the reasons I slept on the bus is because my cat is there. I can’t keep her at the house I’m renting and she has never been exposed to these kind of temperatures. I needn’t have worried though, she seems totally unaffected by the low temperatures. I am trying to teach her to get under the comforter which is the top layer of my bedding. She seems to be catching on, but is not quite used to the idea.