Journey with Confidence RV GPS App RV Trip Planner RV LIFE Campground Reviews RV Maintenance Take a Speed Test Free 7 Day Trial ×


Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
 
Old 06-01-2020, 01:30 PM   #1
Skoolie
 
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: Corvallis Oregon
Posts: 133
Year: 2002
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: Freightliner
Engine: Cat3126
Questions on next step

We’ve made progress on our build. I got the chairs out, we’ve got most of the floor out. Interior panels and fiberglass have been pulled. So even dent after that why so important to pull it all out. We had several roof holes to fill. The rack for the air conditioner was pretty rusty. Lucky it hadn’t rusted through. Happily floor just had surface rust. Unhappily, the space underneath the windows below that skirting, is running with water when we do a hose test or it rains (a lot here in Oregon). It looks like its running out of the metal supports between windows. We dont know if thats from the windows (we plan to reseal them) or seams? We plan on doing seams anyway. We dont think its worth attacking and painting the floor until we get her watertight. Our preliminary plans are, clean up and rough up roof, seal seams, paint roof, then redo the windows. We thought to use Henrys. We’re concerned that if we use Henrys, then when we put solar panels and roof deck on, that the holders for them wont seal because Henrys is silicone and nothing sticks to silicone. Has anybody else installed things on the roof after using Henrys?
Thanks!
Karen

Kaleth2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-01-2020, 02:07 PM   #2
Skoolie
 
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: Corvallis Oregon
Posts: 133
Year: 2002
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: Freightliner
Engine: Cat3126
Also about rust at bottom well of windows

I forgot to say the other thing I’m a bit concerned about is that there’s a lot of rust at the bottom of the window well out of reach from cleaning painting and priming. It seems like its all a part of that chair rail and I don't think anyone takes that out. Isn’t it used to help secure framing later on in the build?

https://share.icloud.com/photos/02mf...TUDmazh8XI_J3g
Kaleth2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-01-2020, 03:17 PM   #3
Bus Crazy
 
kazetsukai's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2017
Location: Athens, TN
Posts: 1,574
Year: 1999
Coachwork: Amtran
Chassis: International RE
Engine: International T444e
Rated Cap: 76
Quote:
Originally Posted by Kaleth2 View Post
We’re concerned that if we use Henrys, then when we put solar panels and roof deck on, that the holders for them wont seal because Henrys is silicone and nothing sticks to silicone. Has anybody else installed things on the roof after using Henrys?

Yeah, we installed strut channel after henry's.


"Nothing sticks to silicone" Regardless of what you do up top, I wouldn't use adhesives to secure solar or a deck, for sure... or do I misunderstand - are you worried about sealing screws/bolts? Duct seal and silicone have worked for me.




Quote:
Originally Posted by Kaleth2 View Post
I forgot to say the other thing I’m a bit concerned about is that there’s a lot of rust at the bottom of the window well out of reach from cleaning painting and priming. It seems like its all a part of that chair rail and I don't think anyone takes that out. Isn’t it used to help secure framing later on in the build?

https://share.icloud.com/photos/02mf...TUDmazh8XI_J3g
Took me a few to understand what I was looking at. Yeah, reach what you can and ensure you are watertight up top, the unreachable spots in behind that channel, we sprayed what we could, installed insulation and moved on. The rail we used for framing on top of- we left the bottom space open to run wire and coolant lines. It is really easy for me to go back and run wire because I left that open.



Good luck.
kazetsukai is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-01-2020, 05:09 PM   #4
Bus Geek
 
ol trunt's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: So Cal
Posts: 3,227
Year: 1935
Coachwork: Superior
Chassis: Chevy
Engine: 317 ci/tid / Isuzu
Next step?? Sell it quick!



Ha Ha just kidding. Once you have the water leaks fixed and before you insulate figure out conduit for your wiring and where you want which voltage. Next plumping rough in then insulation remembering that you may have to access electric and rough plumbing after insulating.

I don't work cheap so that's my twenty cents worth.
Jack
ol trunt is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 06-01-2020, 09:00 PM   #5
Bus Nut
 
Join Date: Apr 2019
Location: Savannah GA
Posts: 756
Year: 2003
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: TC2000
Engine: Cummins 5.9 24v
Rated Cap: 54 passenger
Like what was said above, spray what you can, ospho might work, behind the chair rail and move on. Unless you see rust from the exterior.

I had trouble tracking my leak down those channels too. After I resealed all my windows. Turns out I was leaking from the seams on my roof. If your ceiling is still in, you'll notice where the rivets are (or screws) that channel runs all the way down between the windows. Once my ceiling was out I noticed a couple of drips from the rivet holes every time I had these puddles by the windows. That's how I figured it out.
JDSquared is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-01-2020, 09:11 PM   #6
Bus Crazy
 
Drew Bru's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2016
Location: Grayson County, VA
Posts: 1,428
Year: 1996
Coachwork: Amtran
Chassis: International
Engine: DT466
Rated Cap: 65
Just a thought, but if you're at your wits end with finding the source of the water leak: We had a helluva time tracking down the water coming in from the windows. We took all windows out, cleaned the frames to bare metal, and reinstalled them using a hefty amount of automotive seam sealer. They still leaked. It was maddening, as it should have done the trick.

We traced the leak to the dry-rotted rubber gasket at the bottom edge of the window pane (what you would call glazing on a home window). The water was getting behind the bottom edge of the window frame and migrating to the corners, then out the joints where the bottom and sides connect. We put weathersealing tape over the gasket and it took care of the problem. We've since removed the tape and put a bead of clear Henry's sealer on.
__________________
Our Build: https://dazzlingbluebus.wordpress.com/
Drew Bru is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-01-2020, 09:57 PM   #7
Skoolie
 
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: Corvallis Oregon
Posts: 133
Year: 2002
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: Freightliner
Engine: Cat3126
Thanks for the input!

It sounds like we’ll just need to start sealing at the top of the bus on the seams (do we seal the rivets and seams together?) and work our way through the windows. We’ll spray down in those wells too. We picked up that Dynatron 550. Have almost got the roof roughed up. Need to prime some bare metal up there. Got some good weather for a while now.
Ol Trunt, thanks for the joke Gotta lighten it up once in a while! I expected a lot of little things to do and a long time to build her out, so, not too crazy yet
On a completely different subject, with a 25 foot bus do we need both a Maxfan and a mini split?
Kaleth2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-01-2020, 10:49 PM   #8
Bus Crazy
 
bus-bro's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Whidbey Island, WA.
Posts: 1,109
Year: 1984
Coachwork: Blue Bird
Chassis: All American
Engine: 3208 na boat anchor
Rated Cap: 2
I am really impressed with Henry's tropi-cool. It's a remarkable can of silicon goo. I had my solar mounts glued and screwed before I put the solar flex down.

Before, I had bus-kote with a their clearcoat. That worked well for about 10 years. So far nothing has stuck to the tropi-cool in it's second year.

The tropi-cool is not something to roll out on hot sunny afternoon. You open a gallon and you use it. You got maybe an hour, depending on temperature, before the can becomes a glob.
bus-bro is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-02-2020, 05:49 AM   #9
Bus Geek
 
musigenesis's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2019
Location: Philadelphia
Posts: 6,995
Year: 2003
Coachwork: International
Chassis: CE 300
Engine: DT466e
Rated Cap: 65C-43A
My windows leaked in a weird way that I haven't seen anyone else report, and I wonder if it's sometimes the source of other peoples' leaking problems as well. Bus windows consist of a thick outer frame of pressed (maybe cast or machined?) aluminum in which the two panes of glass are attached (the bottom pane is fixed and the top pane slides up and down tracks in the outer frame).

This outer frame is made from four separate pieces that are press-fitted and riveted together, and from the factory at least I presume the joints are watertight. On my bus, however, the joints between the bottom and side pieces often had a very small gap between them - when I had the windows out of my bus for cleaning and put a hose onto the sill on the outside of the window, water would spray through this gap into what would be the inside of the bus while mounted.

The fix was to apply seam sealer over these seams from the outside, which is pretty difficult to do and I needed to use my pinky to get it in. I still have a couple of leaks in these, so I'm going to have to touch it up with a craft paintbrush (one cool thing about Dynatron is that if you mix it with a little mineral spirits you can paint it on). If I could redo my windows, I would instead seal these particular seams from the inside part of the window.
__________________
Rusty 87 build thread
musigenesis is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 06-02-2020, 10:03 AM   #10
Bus Geek
 
ol trunt's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: So Cal
Posts: 3,227
Year: 1935
Coachwork: Superior
Chassis: Chevy
Engine: 317 ci/tid / Isuzu
The fan will help get the heat out the top but without some form of AC you'll bake like a potato wrapped in aluminum foil once the outside air hits about 90 degrees F outside. On our first trip through the central valley of Ca in July we stopped for the evening in Bakersfield where it was 112 degrees. We set up the well insulated dual glazed AC equipped 22' long bus and settled in. Within 10 minutes it was clear the 6K AC couldn't do the job. The bus turned into a sauna. We don't have roof fans but fortunately we do have zippered screen windows in the pop up and once they were opened things got better. Not LOTS better but better. The point of all this is if you can do the mini split it will soon be your best buddy.
Jack
ol trunt is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 06-02-2020, 01:28 PM   #11
Skoolie
 
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: Corvallis Oregon
Posts: 133
Year: 2002
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: Freightliner
Engine: Cat3126
Quote:
Originally Posted by ol trunt View Post
The fan will help get the heat out the top but without some form of AC you'll bake like a potato wrapped in aluminum foil once the outside air hits about 90 degrees F outside. On our first trip through the central valley of Ca in July we stopped for the evening in Bakersfield where it was 112 degrees. We set up the well insulated dual glazed AC equipped 22' long bus and settled in. Within 10 minutes it was clear the 6K AC couldn't do the job. The bus turned into a sauna. We don't have roof fans but fortunately we do have zippered screen windows in the pop up and once they were opened things got better. Not LOTS better but better. The point of all this is if you can do the mini split it will soon be your best buddy.
Jack
Thanks Jack. Your popcorn eating smiley face cracks me up. I keep thinking that it must be a bit like watching a perpetual circus with us newbies running over the same old ground!
My better half wants a maxair in addition to the fan...both. Saw some folks in some Youtube Builds putting them in and is a fan of attic fans. Attic fans work differently though dont they? They are moving a body of static air out of an attic to create airflow from under the cool of the crawl space I think...neither of which a bus has. Is there any advantage to having both a maxfan and a mini split? It seems like a bit of overkill on a Shortie where we have competing roof space needs. We were hoping to get a deck, solar panels, and mini split up there.
Karen
Kaleth2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-02-2020, 02:46 PM   #12
Bus Geek
 
ol trunt's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: So Cal
Posts: 3,227
Year: 1935
Coachwork: Superior
Chassis: Chevy
Engine: 317 ci/tid / Isuzu
It is sort of like a circus--fun to watch. None of us were born knowing this junk and there are several ways to skin a cat! Jack
ol trunt is online now   Reply With Quote
Old 06-02-2020, 04:43 PM   #13
Bus Crazy
 
Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Picton,Ont, Can.
Posts: 1,956
Year: 1997
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: GMC
Engine: Cat 3116
Rated Cap: 72
Quote:
Originally Posted by ol trunt View Post
The fan will help get the heat out the top but without some form of AC you'll bake like a potato wrapped in aluminum foil once the outside air hits about 90 degrees F outside. On our first trip through the central valley of Ca in July we stopped for the evening in Bakersfield where it was 112 degrees. We set up the well insulated dual glazed AC equipped 22' long bus and settled in. Within 10 minutes it was clear the 6K AC couldn't do the job. The bus turned into a sauna. We don't have roof fans but fortunately we do have zippered screen windows in the pop up and once they were opened things got better. Not LOTS better but better. The point of all this is if you can do the mini split it will soon be your best buddy.
Jack

WELL Jack, besides us both being ol', we both got baked in Bakersfield


Hi Kaleth, enjoy the build, make that bus comfortable, stay safe.


John
__________________
Question everything!
BlackJohn is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 06-03-2020, 10:29 PM   #14
Skoolie
 
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: Corvallis Oregon
Posts: 133
Year: 2002
Coachwork: Bluebird
Chassis: Freightliner
Engine: Cat3126
Hi John Hope your spring is going well!
Kaleth2 is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


» Featured Campgrounds

Reviews provided by

Powered by vBadvanced CMPS v3.2.3

All times are GMT -5. The time now is 12:32 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8 Beta 4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.