Meet our new bus... Mr. Beefy!

[TheHubbardBus]

Well, I made it back! Thanks to my awesome wife for keeping this thread going. And thanks to all of you for your shared experiences, advice, support, and assistance. I can say with all honesty if it weren't for this forum and its membership, we would never have even known what to look for in a bus, much less had the ability to get that vision home. we truly can't thank you all enough.

Our short story (which I'll tell in extremely long fashion, so scroll to the end for the TLDR summary if you're smart) so far has been an emotional roller-coaster for us both. The two days spent traveling to Austin in a rental car were quick & uneventful, but I slept quite poorly both nights, which combined with the stress of the unknown had me waking up Monday exhausted and with a budding migraine. After washing down an unhealthy quantity of Aspirin & Tylenol with cheap hotel coffee, I managed to hit the bus depot at 7:00 am. By 7:20, I had confirmed the batteries were toast, and was sitting outside an Advanced auto down the street, waiting for them to open. An hour later I had two new batteries installed in the bus, and despite the growing pain in my head, an ear to ear grin; she fired up instantly - strong - without a hint of hesitation, nor any sign of age or wear!!!

It didn't take long, however, for that smile to flip 180-degrees. After performing my first-ever pre-trip air brake inspection (learned via youtube 2 days prior), I determined the air brakes to be leaking. After a defeated call back home discussing options for getting it repaired locally, I was offered the assistance of a couple district mechanics, who assured me that the air brakes were in serviceable condition and would be safe. Again another flip of the lips, and sigh of relief! But by this time, I had missed the 9:00 appointment I had at the local tax office to get my temp permit to drive Beefy home. "No big deal", I thought. After all, I still had 4 whole hours before the bus barn closed at 1 PM (summer hours). How long could it possibly take?

That question was answered in the half hour it took me circling the tax office just to find a place to park. I'll spare you all the details of the DMV experience, we've all been there. You know the fun. Fast forward a few hours later, and I finally had my temp permit in hand... 10 minutes before the bus barn closed, and 50 minutes past the time I was supposed to have my rental car returned.

I hustled back post-haste, and found the gates still open. Kismet! As quick as I could, I transferred the ridiculous amount of tools & supplies I had brought with me from car to bus, and arranged for the mechanics (who graciously offered) to remove the 55mph governed speed limit. I then returned the rental car (no late charge!), took a taxi back to the bus barn ('Kilo' and his daughter, who had to remind dad she had practice that day. "You have practice today?", dad asked. "I have practice every day", daughter responded).

Back at the bus barn, and after a short encounter with a manager I hadn't met who was suspicious of my presence, I hopped in Mr. Beefy, fired him up (full tank of gas! Thanks guys!), let the air tanks fill, and then out through the gates!!!! I was on my way home!!! I was actually doing this!!! How exciting! How thrilling! How....

Scary. White-knuckle, teeth-grinding Scary. "I'm going to jail or the hospital" scary. "This was a really stupid decision" scary. I had never driven a bus, or anything approaching its size. I had never driven anything with air brakes. I had never driven in Austin aside from the prior 24-hours, and those 24 hours had only taught me one thing and one thing only... driving is Austin is nuts. Google maps was my navigator, but my phone died 2 minutes out of the gates. There was no DC plug in the bus, and my backup power pack failed. The combination of shot shocks, shot roads, a jerky low gear, and zero load made driving the bus feel more like piloting a 15,000 pound pogo stick.

For the first hour I just drove aimlessly in the city - during the start of rush hour - completely lost, my route determined solely by the path of least resistance. Two times the air brake alarm went off (my fault, not the system), forcing me to seek temporary refuge in grocery-store parking lots lest I end up blocking traffic. Eventually I managed to get my phone powered back up long enough to map my way out of the city. By this time I at least had a sense for how wide to take turns (worried about nothing - it turns on a dime), how to fit in lanes (worried about nothing, it fit just fine), how to brake (just don't ride them), and how to minimize the pogo effect (not sure how I managed that, but I did).

The next few hours on the fast & busy 290 were, relatively speaking, easy... until I hit the towns. In high gears Beefy ran fine, but coming off a stop or major slow-down the tranny began slipping so bad I had to run it up to 2K before it even began to move, and when it did it took forever before it gained any speed. The 'check transmission' light came on, the engine temp was escalating well past 210, and I figured I was having major problems that were likely to only get worse. A couple of times I was sure I was going to end up stuck dead in the middle of an intersection. But eventually he'd get up to speed, hit the upshifts, and be back in the game. Figuring my tranny was shot, I endeavored to do one thing and one thing only... get as close to home as possible before it finally went tits up for good.

Somehow, someway, I finally made it to my first-day's destination: Llano River State Park. I pulled up in front of the main office in their designated RV space, let the turbo cool down, and then turned off the key, believing Beefy very well may never leave that spot under his own power. I tried calling Sharon, but cell reception was very poor, so I wasn't able to relay much info to her. After about 1/2 hour of resting, I hesitantly fired him up again, put him in gear, and I'll be damned... the warning light was gone, and he lugged out in first gear just fine! I drove the very short distance to my camp site, backed in ('beep', 'beep', 'beep'), and enjoyed the remainder of my nervous breakdown among the chatter of bugs, birds, and frogs. My plan had been to stop along the way for ice, food, and beverages. But I had been afraid to stop for fear of not starting. So dinner ended up being a 5-year-shelf-life, 2400-calorie USCG survival ration (brick-o-food) that had literally been sitting in the back of my truck (think Arizona desert summers) for the past 3 years, washed down with bleach-tainted water from my camelback pack. Too tired, lazy, and apathetic to set up a tent, I slept - at least for a couple hours - with my body stretched across one row of seats, and a cooler in the isle to rest my knees upon.

The next day I had everything ready to go by daybreak. I still didn't know what to expect with the transmission, but had reason to believe it was as likely a heat-induced temporary malfunction as a major problem. So my new plan was to put as many miles in during the cool morning hours as possible, and if lucky - get to my next destination - Monahan Sandhills State Park - before the heat of the day came on.

But the Mr. Beefy that day was a different Mr Beefy altogether. It seemed with every passing mile he ran better, stronger, and smoother. Where the temp gauge the day prior had pushed up around 220, he was happily putting in mile after mile sitting on the thermostat @ ~175. Slowing or stopping - even after hours of highway driving - were trouble-free... no more slipping, chugging, or lurching. He ran @ 65mph - my self-imposed speed limit - with ease. In fact, my biggest problem was keeping his speed below 65 (which was 2K rpm on flat ground)... it was just so easy to go higher!

By the time I got to the turn-off towards the Sandhills, I was already toying with the idea of continuing west based on his new-found performance. But I figured it would be best to err on the side of caution, and since it wasn't even noon yet, I'd have a great opportunity to do the detailed inspection & service I had planned to have done already. That decision lasted about 10 miles down Texas Farm Road 11, at which point I thanked the lord I was still alive, flipped a 180, and prayed my way back to I10. If you've never driven it, Farm Road 11 is the functional equivalent of one continuous strip of cattle-guard; an undivided two-lane highway with a 70mph posted limit (which reads 90 to Texans), lanes 1 VW-beetle wide, and populated exclusively by overloaded 18-wheelers that apparently must surpass the speed of light in order to meet their quotas.

Back on I10, and I just kept going. Every time I'd stop for gas, water, or other necessities, the air was hotter. And every time I'd figure "This time he'll start struggling, better look for a place to rest". But he never did. And neither did I. With the difference in time zones I gained two hours, and by 4PM - after over 10 hours of pretty much straight driving, we hit El Paso. This is where Beefy finally had his first (and only) hiccup of the day. A major jam in rush-hour traffic had us down to a stop & go crawl for a few miles, and that got him lurching (not slipping though) in first gear again. Fortunately things cleared up before the tranny could continue to get hotter.

Still plenty of light left on this mid-June day, so we kept on going... in and out of Las Cruces, and then the climb up to Deming. The air temps were probably as hot as they'd been all day, and the incline probably the longest & steepest so far. No problemo for the Beefmeister! We finally called it quits for the night in Deming, partly because I was exhausted, and partly because the headlights weren't working (relay). I didn't want to spring for a motel, but I didn't have time to find a place to boondock, and needed power to charge my phone. So I pulled into the deserted Motel 6 off the interstate (the lack of occupants should have been a clue), and got a room. Meth-fueled fighting in the room next door. Some greasy clown who kept wandering around my bus. My room's steel door bent inward 2", top & bottom, from what I'm guessing was a prior visit from the local drug task force. I've lived in worse, but with only a handful of hours separating me from bringing Beefy home to my baby, I couldn't bear chancing someone messing with it... particularly with a door you have no way to lock. So I showered, shaved, took a leak, and - for the second night in a row - slept stretched across a row of seats. Parked outside the crap room I wish I had never paid for

The next morning I struck out as soon as there was enough light to leave by. Not much to say other than Mr. Beefy continued to run like the spotted ape he was the day prior. Temps were hotter than ever by trip's end, and he had zero issues. If we had got stuck in stop & go traffic, that would likely have changed. But we didn't, and by noon I was pulling up to meet my lovely wife, with her big beautiful smile, which only grew bigger as she saw Mr. Beefy thunder into view.


TL;DR:

I couldn't drive, then I could
Bus ran like crap, then it ran great
Austin ISD Rocks
West Texas Sucks
Deming Sucks more
Great to be Home
Additional Tranny Cooler + TES295 fluid mandatory

Mr Beefy!

Oh yeah... he's the 210HP tune

[HazMatt]

Best travelogue I've read in quite some time.
Welcome, both to home, and officially to the asylum!

[Sleddgracer]

Great story

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by TheHubbardBus

Well, I made it back! Thanks to my awesome wife for keeping this thread going. And thanks to all of you for your shared experiences, advice, support, and assistance. I can say with all honesty if it weren't for this forum and its membership, we would never have even known what to look for in a bus, much less had the ability to get that vision home. we truly can't thank you all enough.

Our short story (which I'll tell in extremely long fashion, so scroll to the end for the TLDR summary if you're smart) so far has been an emotional roller-coaster for us both. The two days spent traveling to Austin in a rental car were quick & uneventful, but I slept quite poorly both nights, which combined with the stress of the unknown had me waking up Monday exhausted and with a budding migraine. After washing down an unhealthy quantity of Aspirin & Tylenol with cheap hotel coffee, I managed to hit the bus depot at 7:00 am. By 7:20, I had confirmed the batteries were toast, and was sitting outside an Advanced auto down the street, waiting for them to open. An hour later I had two new batteries installed in the bus, and despite the growing pain in my head, an ear to ear grin; she fired up instantly - strong - without a hint of hesitation, nor any sign of age or wear!!!

It didn't take long, however, for that smile to flip 180-degrees. After performing my first-ever pre-trip air brake inspection (learned via youtube 2 days prior), I determined the air brakes to be leaking. After a defeated call back home discussing options for getting it repaired locally, I was offered the assistance of a couple district mechanics, who assured me that the air brakes were in serviceable condition and would be safe. Again another flip of the lips, and sigh of relief! But by this time, I had missed the 9:00 appointment I had at the local tax office to get my temp permit to drive Beefy home. "No big deal", I thought. After all, I still had 4 whole hours before the bus barn closed at 1 PM (summer hours). How long could it possibly take?

That question was answered in the half hour it took me circling the tax office just to find a place to park. I'll spare you all the details of the DMV experience, we've all been there. You know the fun. Fast forward a few hours later, and I finally had my temp permit in hand... 10 minutes before the bus barn closed, and 50 minutes past the time I was supposed to have my rental car returned.

I hustled back post-haste, and found the gates still open. Kismet! As quick as I could, I transferred the ridiculous amount of tools & supplies I had brought with me from car to bus, and arranged for the mechanics (who graciously offered) to remove the 55mph governed speed limit. I then returned the rental car (no late charge!), took a taxi back to the bus barn ('Kilo' and his daughter, who had to remind dad she had practice that day. "You have practice today?", dad asked. "I have practice every day", daughter responded).

Back at the bus barn, and after a short encounter with a manager I hadn't met who was suspicious of my presence, I hopped in Mr. Beefy, fired him up (full tank of gas! Thanks guys!), let the air tanks fill, and then out through the gates!!!! I was on my way home!!! I was actually doing this!!! How exciting! How thrilling! How....

Scary. White-knuckle, teeth-grinding Scary. "I'm going to jail or the hospital" scary. "This was a really stupid decision" scary. I had never driven a bus, or anything approaching its size. I had never driven anything with air brakes. I had never driven in Austin aside from the prior 24-hours, and those 24 hours had only taught me one thing and one thing only... driving is Austin is nuts. Google maps was my navigator, but my phone died 2 minutes out of the gates. There was no DC plug in the bus, and my backup power pack failed. The combination of shot shocks, shot roads, a jerky low gear, and zero load made driving the bus feel more like piloting a 15,000 pound pogo stick.

For the first hour I just drove aimlessly in the city - during the start of rush hour - completely lost, my route determined solely by the path of least resistance. Two times the air brake alarm went off (my fault, not the system), forcing me to seek temporary refuge in grocery-store parking lots lest I end up blocking traffic. Eventually I managed to get my phone powered back up long enough to map my way out of the city. By this time I at least had a sense for how wide to take turns (worried about nothing - it turns on a dime), how to fit in lanes (worried about nothing, it fit just fine), how to brake (just don't ride them), and how to minimize the pogo effect (not sure how I managed that, but I did).

The next few hours on the fast & busy 290 were, relatively speaking, easy... until I hit the towns. In high gears Beefy ran fine, but coming off a stop or major slow-down the tranny began slipping so bad I had to run it up to 2K before it even began to move, and when it did it took forever before it gained any speed. The 'check transmission' light came on, the engine temp was escalating well past 210, and I figured I was having major problems that were likely to only get worse. A couple of times I was sure I was going to end up stuck dead in the middle of an intersection. But eventually he'd get up to speed, hit the upshifts, and be back in the game. Figuring my tranny was shot, I endeavored to do one thing and one thing only... get as close to home as possible before it finally went tits up for good.

Somehow, someway, I finally made it to my first-day's destination: Llano River State Park. I pulled up in front of the main office in their designated RV space, let the turbo cool down, and then turned off the key, believing Beefy very well may never leave that spot under his own power. I tried calling Sharon, but cell reception was very poor, so I wasn't able to relay much info to her. After about 1/2 hour of resting, I hesitantly fired him up again, put him in gear, and I'll be damned... the warning light was gone, and he lugged out in first gear just fine! I drove the very short distance to my camp site, backed in ('beep', 'beep', 'beep'), and enjoyed the remainder of my nervous breakdown among the chatter of bugs, birds, and frogs. My plan had been to stop along the way for ice, food, and beverages. But I had been afraid to stop for fear of not starting. So dinner ended up being a 5-year-shelf-life, 2400-calorie USCG survival ration (brick-o-food) that had literally been sitting in the back of my truck (think Arizona desert summers) for the past 3 years, washed down with bleach-tainted water from my camelback pack. Too tired, lazy, and apathetic to set up a tent, I slept - at least for a couple hours - with my body stretched across one row of seats, and a cooler in the isle to rest my knees upon.

The next day I had everything ready to go by daybreak. I still didn't know what to expect with the transmission, but had reason to believe it was as likely a heat-induced temporary malfunction as a major problem. So my new plan was to put as many miles in during the cool morning hours as possible, and if lucky - get to my next destination - Monahan Sandhills State Park - before the heat of the day came on.

But the Mr. Beefy that day was a different Mr Beefy altogether. It seemed with every passing mile he ran better, stronger, and smoother. Where the temp gauge the day prior had pushed up around 220, he was happily putting in mile after mile sitting on the thermostat @ ~175. Slowing or stopping - even after hours of highway driving - were trouble-free... no more slipping, chugging, or lurching. He ran @ 65mph - my self-imposed speed limit - with ease. In fact, my biggest problem was keeping his speed below 65 (which was 2K rpm on flat ground)... it was just so easy to go higher!

By the time I got to the turn-off towards the Sandhills, I was already toying with the idea of continuing west based on his new-found performance. But I figured it would be best to err on the side of caution, and since it wasn't even noon yet, I'd have a great opportunity to do the detailed inspection & service I had planned to have done already. That decision lasted about 10 miles down Texas Farm Road 11, at which point I thanked the lord I was still alive, flipped a 180, and prayed my way back to I10. If you've never driven it, Farm Road 11 is the functional equivalent of one continuous strip of cattle-guard; an undivided two-lane highway with a 70mph posted limit (which reads 90 to Texans), lanes 1 VW-beetle wide, and populated exclusively by overloaded 18-wheelers that apparently must surpass the speed of light in order to meet their quotas.

Back on I10, and I just kept going. Every time I'd stop for gas, water, or other necessities, the air was hotter. And every time I'd figure "This time he'll start struggling, better look for a place to rest". But he never did. And neither did I. With the difference in time zones I gained two hours, and by 4PM - after over 10 hours of pretty much straight driving, we hit El Paso. This is where Beefy finally had his first (and only) hiccup of the day. A major jam in rush-hour traffic had us down to a stop & go crawl for a few miles, and that got him lurching (not slipping though) in first gear again. Fortunately things cleared up before the tranny could continue to get hotter.

Still plenty of light left on this mid-June day, so we kept on going... in and out of Las Cruces, and then the climb up to Deming. The air temps were probably as hot as they'd been all day, and the incline probably the longest & steepest so far. No problemo for the Beefmeister! We finally called it quits for the night in Deming, partly because I was exhausted, and partly because the headlights weren't working (relay). I didn't want to spring for a motel, but I didn't have time to find a place to boondock, and needed power to charge my phone. So I pulled into the deserted Motel 6 off the interstate (the lack of occupants should have been a clue), and got a room. Meth-fueled fighting in the room next door. Some greasy clown who kept wandering around my bus. My room's steel door bent inward 2", top & bottom, from what I'm guessing was a prior visit from the local drug task force. I've lived in worse, but with only a handful of hours separating me from bringing Beefy home to my baby, I couldn't bear chancing someone messing with it... particularly with a door you have no way to lock. So I showered, shaved, took a leak, and - for the second night in a row - slept stretched across a row of seats. Parked outside the crap room I wish I had never paid for

The next morning I struck out as soon as there was enough light to leave by. Not much to say other than Mr. Beefy continued to run like the spotted ape he was the day prior. Temps were hotter than ever by trip's end, and he had zero issues. If we had got stuck in stop & go traffic, that would likely have changed. But we didn't, and by noon I was pulling up to meet my lovely wife, with her big beautiful smile, which only grew bigger as she saw Mr. Beefy thunder into view.


TL;DR:

I couldn't drive, then I could
Bus ran like crap, then it ran great
Austin ISD Rocks
West Texas Sucks
Deming Sucks more
Great to be Home
Additional Tranny Cooler + TES295 fluid mandatory

Mr Beefy!

Oh yeah... he's the 210HP tune

Its nice having a powerful cruiser of a bus, eh?!

[Disastrogirl]

Great story! I’m having some regrets about not bidding on one of those busses.

[TheHubbardBus]

Originally Posted by EastCoastCB

Its nice having a powerful cruiser of a bus, eh?!

Oh yeah!

[TheHubbardBus]

A few pics from his road home
First stop.. still feeling a lot of uncertainty.. stress.. frustration. But fortunately that was all soon to change.


At the Chili store, enjoyin' the drive pushing 2nd day further than expected.

[TheHubbardBus]

Mr Beefy Arrives!!


Gettin' legal:


Couldn't wait to get stated.. picked a few cool 100+ degree days to get started:


Mission accomplished:

[RandyLee]

Keep the Progress coming we are watching

[EastCoastCB]

I'm working on a buddy's bus and its the same as yours except his has the lower headroom. I keep hitting my head and I'm only 5'10"
I'm jealous of that headroom. At least my own bus has the full 6'7"!

[TheHubbardBus]

I'm an inch taller than you, and the headroom is very nice. Even then I keep beaning myself on the AC units. I don't think I'd be happy at all if it wasn't a high headroom bus.


Sharon's 5'2. When she's standing in the middle, she looks like she's in the Taj Majal

[HazMatt]

Originally Posted by TheHubbardBus

I'm an inch taller than you, and the headroom is very nice. Even then I keep beaning myself on the AC units. I don't think I'd be happy at all if it wasn't a high headroom bus.


Sharon's 5'2. When she's standing in the middle, she looks like she's in the Taj Majal [emoji3]

Sari to hear that...

[TheHubbardBus]

I'll admit it. I had to look that up.


I'm 4 letters smarter today

[HazMatt]

U r wc!
(Sorry, but I couldn't come up with a better 4-letter rejoinder.
Since WC is the abbreviation for water closet, and not welcome, thought it'd be a real crapper if I didn't elucidate.
Always happy to share my store of four-letter words!)

[TheHubbardBus]

A few more pics of our progress. Not too much as temps are hitting the 110's so.. our efforts will slow while we wait for cooler temps.

Seats out, stripped and sorted.... got us a whole $16.00


Floor stripped of rubber and wood, no major rust.. sweet!!


Mr Beefy's got goggles


Side note for those who have been frustrated as I have... makes sure your images are wider than tall (adjust canvas as needed) will keep them upright.

[plfking]

Your floor looks like mine did....I about had a stroke, til I started sanding and it was all surface rust.

What's the black thing against the back wall?

[HazMatt]

I like vertical format! All but the first frame wouldn't've benefited from horizontal formatting, IMO.
Digging the Minion sunshade! Mayn't work quite so well post paint job, but for now [emoji106]
Tho oriented North, I've whacked out a coupla huge honkin' rectangles from my Reflectix stockpile to custom fit windscreen shades. Not having sunlight reflecting offa that hyoooo-oge tract of shiny white hood, even given the indirect bounce that it is, helps ginormously.
Also made covers for the rest of the windows. Top windows' can be cut so they'll stay on their own, bottom windows need a little help, with a little masking tape.
While opaque, Reflectix is also translucent, allowing in a nice diffused illumination. Definite improvement in the thermal loading under direct sunlight.
Don't recall the price, other than it was reasonable. But I saw 10' square pop-up canopies for sale this holiday weekend at Y'all Mart. Too often too windy here, but thinking it might help with the heat if you were to purchase it, at perch it over your roof.
Might gain all y'all a little more work inside before melting away and trickling thru that big hole in the starboard midship deck!

[TheHubbardBus]

Originally Posted by plfking

Your floor looks like mine did....I about had a stroke, til I started sanding and it was all surface rust.

LOL. I felt a clot forming as well as I was pulling up the plywood, but like yours, it's not nearly as bad as it looks. And we'll be going after what's there with a vengeance. Still plenty of meat left even in the worse spots. If by any chance it does end up too thin, we'll weld in new metal. But I think the chances of that are slim to none. I have a built-in structural integrity tool... 280lbs of body mass. So far it's tested out fine, even jumping up & down on one foot

What's the black thing against the back wall?

Hoses/wiring to the rear AC (it has 2). Not sure why they couldn't run it up a corner. Anyway, we'll either be relocating the unit entirely, or at a bare minimum rerouting that so it doesn't block the window. Either way we'll have to get new hoses made I guess, and either shorten or lengthen the wiring as needed.

[TheHubbardBus]

Originally Posted by HazMatt

I like vertical format! All but the first frame wouldn't've benefited from horizontal formatting, IMO.
Digging the Minion sunshade! Mayn't work quite so well post paint job, but for now [emoji106]
Tho oriented North, I've whacked out a coupla huge honkin' rectangles from my Reflectix stockpile to custom fit windscreen shades. Not having sunlight reflecting offa that hyoooo-oge tract of shiny white hood, even given the indirect bounce that it is, helps ginormously.
Also made covers for the rest of the windows. Top windows' can be cut so they'll stay on their own, bottom windows need a little help, with a little masking tape.
While opaque, Reflectix is also translucent, allowing in a nice diffused illumination. Definite improvement in the thermal loading under direct sunlight.
Don't recall the price, other than it was reasonable. But I saw 10' square pop-up canopies for sale this holiday weekend at Y'all Mart. Too often too windy here, but thinking it might help with the heat if you were to purchase it, at perch it over your roof.
Might gain all y'all a little more work inside before melting away and trickling thru that big hole in the starboard midship deck!

All great info. Thanks so much, Matt. I'll look into that for sure. That is the actual brand name, correct? Not one of your patented plays on spelling?

Eventually we need something to paint in/under, as I plan to spray the exterior myself (we'll see how that goes. The scale of the project may exceed my ambition and abilities. But that's the plan for now). Maybe I can find something that would work for both heat & paint protection.

[HazMatt]

"Silly rabbit! Reflec-T(r)ix is for kid's (transpo)!"
Nawp, not from my word playing ways. HD has it with insulation (duh). Go with the 4' x 24' roll, best bang for the buck, especially if you're planning on later to install a radiant barrier layer in your insulation scheme. I've got my third roll waiting in the bull pen...
I doubt the canopy'd be much use when painting. It's one off those collapsible, accordion-eaved dealie-bobbers. Tho it can be belayed offa the bus' side in lieu of a proper RV canopy for some shady outside time.

Originally Posted by TheHubbardBus

All great info. Thanks so much, Matt. I'll look into that for sure. That is the actual brand name, correct? Not one of your patented plays on spelling?

Eventually we need something to paint in/under, as I plan to spray the exterior myself (we'll see how that goes. The scale of the project may exceed my ambition and abilities. But that's the plan for now). Maybe I can find something that would work for both heat & paint protection.

And you are quite welcome.
Anything to give me an excuse to stay inside the marginally less stultifying air of my bus, instead of accomplishing anything outside, while baking my beans!