The Roach Motel

[bansil]

Originally Posted by roach711

As they say: "Experience gained is directly proportional to equipment ruined."

That just means you don't have a welder and grinder to save the equipment ..........

[roach711]

Originally Posted by bansil

That just means you don't have a welder and grinder to save the equipment ..........

I've got a grinder, but fortunately didn't whip it out this time. A welder is looking more and more like essential equipment.

[ol trunt]

Go for it! YOU NEED A WELDER! No less than a Lincoln 140 mig (125 volts) and with variable amps with argon or co2 shielding gas--a little practice and you'll be fryn' baccon! Jack

[roach711]

I've learned too many new skills and my brain is full.

The skills do come in handy though - the air conditioning rebuild may have helped score me a new job. My building babysitting gig ended a few weeks ago and the guy I interviewed with for a new job was impressed that I'd taught myself how to rebuild my own bus AC system.

A welder is just going to get me into trouble. Once I got one I'd feel duty bound to use it and who knows what unnatural things might come of that.

[Redbear]

Originally Posted by roach711

. . . A welder is just going to get me into trouble. Once I got one I'd feel duty bound to use it and who knows what unnatural things might come of that.

Waiting for the "unnatural" pictures . . .

[roach711]

All our bus forays so far have been up to the family campsite where Roachie is basically just sleeping quarters. This time we'll start out at the camp then work our way back home over the following week, checking out some of the "real" campgrounds on the way and using it as an actual RV for a change.

With that in mind I thought it might be a good thing to check out the water tank that was filled once last year to test connections then drained and never used since. I had visions of a nice green swamp in there complete with frogs merrily croaking on lilly pads. Of course there was no way to actually look in there so I found this deck plate from Beckson Marine that filled the bill nicely. It went in easily, has an o-ring seal and is wide enough that I can get my whole arm in to scrub down the tank and evict the frogs.

Once I got the hole cut I could see about a cup of totally clean water in there and not a frog in sight. Still, for a measly $15 it was worth it if only to keep the paranoia down to a dull roar.

Anyone interested in one of these should have a look at the Beckson website where they have closeouts available for a substantial savings.

http://www.beckson.com/overstock.html

[turf]

nice clean out.

only a skoolie owner is gonna have a holesaw for that

[bansil]

dude....totally cool.......now you can actually access and feed KOI....or gold fish maybe even catfish then you can have onboard fish fry's....now that's so pimp and good for the planet with sustained food.....you can nowdrive "the smelly deisel" more with the accruded carbon stamps

[Accordion]

That inspection flap is a great idea. Good thinking.

[roach711]

Originally Posted by Accordion

That inspection flap is a great idea. Good thinking.

As usual, it wasn't MY idea, just googled "water tank inspection" and up popped the deck plate thingy. Previously I was thinking of making a clean out port out of lexan and some sort of gasket but found the Beckson plate for less than the cost of the lexan. It certainly looks better than what I would have cobbled up.

I think Bansil's onto something there. I could rig up a hydroponic garden under the bed and grow some entertaining plants down there. I'd probably need to add some solar panels to run the grow lights but that's certainly do-able.

[roach711]

Roachie's inaugural "traditional" camping weekend went well with no fights or disagreements among the RV's, and our lone bus. We did get a few long, questioning looks from passer's-by. All systems worked fine but we did find a few tweaks that will make life a bit easier, such as an organizer in the shower and a drop-down mirror above the kitchen sink. Both are easy fixes and I should have them done by next year.

Here's Roachie communing with the other RV's



As we were driving, wifey said "Hey! we'll be passing Roach Street in a few miles!" Of course I had to get a shot of that.

[bansil]

Wwwnooooo....nnnnoooo.........dude for real!!!!
1) you guys actually have spray painted plywood street signs....that's....ugh....
.
.
2) You need "to orginize" the shower ???
.
.its 9 sq feet......
.
.to quote a famous person....whatcha doin in der' willis?
.

[bansil]

Ohhh and by the way...the non magic ones don't effect your stay....damn muggles

[roach711]

Originally Posted by bansil

Wwwnooooo....nnnnoooo.........dude for real!!!!
1) you guys actually have spray painted plywood street signs....that's....ugh....
.
.
2) You need "to orginize" the shower ???

Yeah, the signs do look a bit cobbled up, don't they? But they're real street signs on M25 near Lexington (city of) in Michigan. Besides, if I DID fake them I'd do a way better job of it.

Shower "organizer" is probably a bad description. Maybe call it a "bin" to hold soap and shampoo. Just less stuff to dig out and put away after a hard day of kickin' back and chillin'. Besides, we're a bit anal.

[roach711]

It's been a busy couple of months. My building babysitting gig ended rather abruptly, I got another job which didn't work out and now I'm doing a bunch of repairs on a really run down parochial school. My big bus project has been to add a new LED light over the dinette table. A grueling 20 minute job!



And here's wifey making bus curtains out of about a thousand small fabric squares. It was HER idea folks, but should look pretty cool when they're done.

[bansil]

wow quilted curtains! she's a keeper

[roach711]

Originally Posted by bansil

wow quilted curtains! she's a keeper

Yup, she is. She just told me that my square count was way low. She actually will sew up 1288 by the time she's done. Apparently I'm not the only crazy one in this family.

[roach711]

It's been 4 months since I posted any Roachie related stuff so I'd better put something up before we scroll off into oblivion. Winter's been kicking our butts this year so nothing useful has been done, but I did get all my receipts together and now know how much this project has cost us. It's interesting to note that originally we had thought we could do the total conversion for about half what we ended up spending. What fools these mortals be. But I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Here's the summary in round numbers:

2000 Ford E-450 cutaway shuttle bus incl tax & title $6,000
Bus repairs and service $2,400
Conversion costs $6,600

Total - $15,000

We also had to extend our driveway to appease the local Zoning Gods and that cost us another $7000, but in fairness the drive was a wreck and needed replacing anyway.

Here's a 99% complete list of expenses: (sorry about the lack of readability. I couldn't find any way to make this look like an Excel table)

Bus Conversion Expenses (tax and shipping included)

24' Aerotech shuttle bus w/92000 miles $5,936.00 Incl. sales tax
Title transfer $15.00
Shurflo WhisperKing water pump $55.00
15 gal plastic water barrel for grey tank $37.23
Accumulator parts and pex crimp rings $26.71
Amana 3 burner range $200.00
New knob for amana range $10.75
Atwood Furnace 7619-II 16k btu $328.95
Kitchen faucet $6.00
30 gal clean water tank $63.31
Sink trap 1 1/4" $0.00
Progressive Load center PD4045 $184.50
30a Plug receptacle $47.50
Gravity water fill w/vent $26.00
Drinking water hose 25' $13.00
Check valve for water system $15.00
CO2 Alarm $6.33
Propane regulator with hoses $48.87
Two reading lights $13.33
RV shower handle and hose $11.84
Extension cord ends $55.17
Siemens Q1515 breakers (2) $27.50
Propane gas manifold w/shutoff $46.08
Battery disconnect switch $5.19
Bench hinges $2.12
12 & 14 ga primary wire $25.65
Dish soap dispenser $20.12
Repl gas valve coil for furnace $29.32
Thetford 365 porta potti $121.50
20 lb propane tank $10.00
Foam mattress $74.83
Leveling jacks (2) $53.01
Atwood water heater, door & switch $281.10
Elbow fittings for water heater $17.50
1/2" PEX pipe 100' $21.14
PEX crimp tools and 5 1/2" T's $42.12
Siemens Q2030 breaker for breake panel $13.78
RV Light switches - (5) 2 way & (2) 3 way $50.07
Fumoto T111N oil drain valve $31.24
Propane hoses $111.72
Trimetric 2025RV battery monitor $176.10
Moen Camelot 22231 kitchen sink $108.20
Shower fawcet and lift jack handle $15.00
Shower base 32" x 32" $95.50
2 captains chairs $100.00
Swivel seat base $98.00
Engine cover storage/cup holders $56.00
Fiberglass repair stuff $95.00
Antifreeze and trans fluid $125.00
Battery cable supplies $135.00
Andersen 4000 side door $348.00
2 GC2 6v coach batteries $169.60
Transmission pan, gasket and filter $129.00
Replace front brakes $330.00
Turbo rebuild parts $150.14
Front end repair & alignment $382.31
Windshield replacement $171.62
Misc paint & wood finishes $193.97
Misc bus repairs $495.05
Misc plumbing $242.87
Misc electrical $188.16
Misc Caulk/sealant $109.64
Misc fasteners $45.90
Poly iso Insulation board 3/4" (14) $196.00
Misc hardware $601.83
Misc adhesive $213.92
Oak plywood (7) $336.20
T&G sub flooring OSB (4) $58.68
Pine plywood (3) $100.50
FRP panels (4) & trim $126.00
Body wax and sandpaper $28.51
Kitchen counter and end caps $82.00
Carpeting for interior roof and wallls $170.82
Front air dam and hood bumpers $85.11
Fabric & naugahyde $137.68
Seatbelts (2) for dinette bench $40.90
Front fender new $98.58
Blower and air conditioning repair parts $189.69
Air conditioning recharge $89.00
Smoke alarm $26.47
Fantastic vent cover $56.80
Lacrosse indoor/outdoor thermometer $24.75

Total $14,756.58

Most of the appliances were scratch and dent or lightly used and I was able to scrounge a lot of my AC wiring and lumber. Service includes all fluids and filters, new front brakes, windshield, transmission oil pan, serpentine belt, steering pump, fender and alternator. The turbocharger and air conditioning were rebuilt. Brake fluid was flushed. My linoleum flooring was a freebee.

[nat_ster]

Thanks for sharing Roach.

Nat

[roach711]

Spring has sprung here in lower Michigan and it's finally warm enough to do a little work on Old Roachie. I pulled the original starting batteries and had them load tested. Found one of them was weak so I replaced the pair and also added 200 amp fuses to both ends of the cable between the starting and house banks. I got the cartridge fuse and holder from Blue Sea Systems.

New batteries!


The fuse and holder


I finally got around to pulling out the old door open/close mechanism and turned that area into a little extra storage space.



We found a neat little clock/indoor/outdoor thermometer from Lacrosse that has a remote sensor to read outdoor temps. Currently the outdoor sensor is sealed in plastic and mounted in the starting battery box. Time will tell how well that works out.



I burned up all my propane this winter in a vain attempt to warm up my garage. After trading in both propane cylinders I hooked up the new ones and heard hissing from one of them along with the tell tale smell of propane. Turns out the rubber gasket inside one of the propane valves was dried out and cracked. Next time I'll check that gasket when picking up new cylinders.

We're looking forward to getting on the road soon.