Exterior receptacle

[Dj349]

Has anyone added a outside receptacle to their bus? If so how did you attach the receptacle box to the sheet metal on the bus? I was planning on using a box similar to the one in the picture and mount it flush to the exterior wall but not sure how I'm going to attach it.

[Native]

I have not yet, but it is in the plan.

[Danjo]

Why not mount it flush with the exterior?

If you install an exterior outlet it needs to be weathertight. The box needs to be like the one shown, with caps on any openings, and it needs a weathertight cover. It also needs to be GFCI protected.

The grounding part is an interesting thing and I don’t have an answer for that. I can only suppose that in all instances, the bus itself is ground. Maybe someone can fill in that detail.

[AzironaZack]

I haven't done it myself but if you're installing that box inside the bus then you can feel free to make holes in it anywhere you like to mount it. If a wall-channel was handy I'd drill holes in the side of the box and bolt it to the wall channel. That would be strong as hell. Another option is to mount some angle brackets to the box and then bolt/rivet those to the skin. Just make sure whatever hardware you use in the box isn't going to abrade the wires inside it.

[AzironaZack]

You could also just cut a hole in your skin to match the opening and use the already-threaded bolt holes in the box to mount it directly to the skin (drilling the holes in the skin as required). Your weather-resistant cover would go over the whole thing.

[Placeholder Bus Name]

My bus had 9 of these on the outside when we bought it and I'm removing all but one. They were just screwed into the body and there is a collar on the box where it goes through the body for the wires. They sealed them on with some sort of sealer as well as the sheetmetal screws. More than 1/2 of them were rusted inside, but that was because the covers leaked, not the boxes.