1998 Thomas MVP Pusher 40ft

[tugboater-SKO]

I'm afraid that you'll probably overtake us in the process fairly quickly, so it may be me following you! Alaska is on our list so you may well see us in the future. Alaska's pretty small, right?!

In some ways Alaska is smaller than most think. I hope to connect with more bus converters in the future so come on up! Our progress is about to slow soon, we're about to travel overseas for a month & soon after I am off to work for the summer season. It doesn't help that I really have no idea what I'm doing, part of the fun of this project is that it will force us to learn! My darling is capable of anything, but I've been begging her not to work too fast until I'm back home in the fall.

 

[Curious Slug]

Northern Arizona Wind and Solar can do a custom kit. I'm not sure the price, but that site is great and their customer service has been amazing so far. They also have pre-made kits.

I have piecemealed my system together so far but they have answered every question I ask within about 24 hours. There is also a learning section that has a ton of useful information.

Yeah, doesn't help me I'm afraid. I'm up in The Land Of Maple Syrup. They do seem comparatively expensive though (about $1700USD compared to $1200CAD, and the kit on Northern Arizona is a little less wattage) so maybe the Prodesign Kit up here is a good option.

 

[Curious Slug]

Rust, Rust, Glorious Rust

Back in town between a few work trips, tying up some loose ends.

Had a quote to raise the roof by 12" for $5,000, labour and materials. It's tempting. We are going to see how we feel after the insulation and subfloor go in.

Speaking of which, I've bought a bunch of sheets of 8'x2' extruded (XPS) 1.5" foam board. Going to top that with 1/2" ply. Our eventual flooring is going to be wood board.

Speaking of which, we managed to grab about 180sqft of nice solid Cedar tongue and groove planks for $150.

Ground/bashed out all the nails/leftover bolts from the floor. Nice to be able to kneel down without all that sharp stuff everywhere. Removed most of the insulation from the ceiling.

I had a quick bash at the rust and unfortunately discovered that around one of the wheels it gets a little more serious than I had originally thought (1st/2nd picture) It's difficult to tell exactly where the ingress is from underneath but there's some serious de-lamination of the metal under there (Pic 3, sidewards - right hand side is down). Inside the bus I've got some full depth rust through the two layers of metal but the channel (cross beam, I think people call this) seems stable below this.

My plan for the underside of the bus is - work out where the holes are, wire brush, rust convert, patch (not sure about this yet, might be difficult to successfully use adhesive and I don't weld. Silicone?!), rust paint. I might proactively wire brush/rust paint the underside of other places on the bus which are similar i.e. just in front of the wheels.

Internally, I've wire brushed and then used a cut off wheel to get access to the metal channel where the rust is (see last picture). My plan is - clear all the crap out, clean it, rust convert (x2 maybe), rust paint, fill the channel with expanding foam (I made this bit up but I like it, unless anyone has a good reason not to), glue some new metal over the top, rust paint with the rest of the interior floor.

 

[Curious Slug]

Also, in a dilemma with the coolant hoses.

In an ideal world, we'd delete the two mid bus heaters and keep the windscreen heater in case we need to clear the glass. However, we'd have to re-route the coolant hose underneath. I've seen this done, it seems like a faff.

I've also seen people delete all 3 heaters, create a short loop of hose and have a makeshift setup for clearing the window. I have some layman concerns about removing all the heaters and shortening the loop, would the lack of emitters and 80ft of hose effect performance for the radiator? I'm also less than thrilled about having to find a heat source to shove next to a hole in the front of the bus.

I'd welcome thoughts!

 

[Ninjakitty]

https://www.jegs.com/i/JEGS-Perform...PjFDzKpXkIk2_CUZ1NBdRfjqVZbR-LGAaAjYqEALw_wcB

That is what I am replacing the front heater with. I'll have to modify the area that air intake up front is but not by much.

My floor had some rust. I put about 47 patches in her. I wire wheeled the whole floor, rust converted, primed with rusty metal primer, cut out bad spots and patched, and then sealed with Rustoleum.

I don't weld either. I used undercoating spray on the bottom of the patches. Then I used polyurethane roofing sealant on the edges of the holes I cut and then the edges of the patches. Screwed them in and painted over the top.

 

[Curious Slug]

Ok, so this rust has taken a while to deal with... lots of little trips to the bus with drying times.

Deleted the 2 mid-bus heaters and temporarily looped the coolant line at the back of the bus. I was hoping to get it done without any spillage, I failed. But it wasn't a disaster and a good hurdle to get past. I need to re-route the full coolant hose to the front of the bus in order to get the driver/windscreen heater running hot again. I figured I'd leave this till last so that I don't have to re-do it after installing the tanks.

I used two coats of Krud Kutter, a rust converter, to treat the remaining rust. I then primed with a spray on rust primer, with especial attention to the problem areas, into the holes etc. Then I painted with a rust paint. We chose a bright yellow in a nod to the history of the vehicle. It's intense. Intensely awesome.

I went for the pennies option to cover the floor holes. Finding them was actually more difficult than I thought, I didn't realise that they've taken them out of circulation here. Banks said no, businesses only had a handful. I managed to pick up 300 from a lovely lady but ran out on site so just made some little patches out of the metal ceiling panels. I used the same panels to make some bigger patches for the problem areas. In an admittedly overkill move, I rust treated them with the primer before glueing them down with metal adhesive.

I filled the holes at the back of the bus with foam to hopefully block any of the holes which are letting water in. Got liberal with the silicone, a few dabs of metal adhesive and then used some self tapping tek screws to put the patches in place.

I'm one dash of paint away from being able to start on the sub-floor. Getting to the end of demo is very exciting. Being able to start putting things back in the bus represents the next stage, which is great.

Sh*t is getting real.

 

[Nachowarrior]

i have a 99 thomas...

tips fwiw;

those ceiling panels are a pain in the ass to get back in if they built em just like mine.. you will want to number them, and it is very difficult to get them back in without help. ieven at that, the holes never quite line back up right. lol. I replaced mine with wood, not saying you should, but i would consider adding a thermal break to the steel pillars to keep out condensation and excess heat or cold no matter what you put back up. i can feel radiant heat coming through the wood where the steel is on mine. also, i found foam board insulation fits up in there perfect, with a few cuts and snaps itll make the curve. mine also came witha rubberized floor that was glued directly to steel, a floor scrapper and an air chisel would do great. i had to repaint my whole pan after i ground out glue and rust with an angle grinder. i also have some very deep pockets in tye walls, used gap and crack sealer on that. oh and mylar bubble wrap. they call it "reflectix" at the hardware store. i tape that stuff to everything, and usenit for my front window covers when its too hot or cold.
i ran my electric through the conduit thats there for tye dc electrical above the windows. I coukdnt find much to do with the bench above the engine so i made it the bed and dog bed and storage. got a king in there.

i had to check and clean and recaulk the seals on the bottoms of the windows, the hatches are almost always leaky, i replaced those as well. there are two ridges that run the length of the roof, those have a tendency to hold water on the roof.


oh and you want self leveling sealant. the reflectix is decent insulation for the floor to save roof space, i used engineered flooring and relfexticlx on mine, works okay. but im a fan of real wood, which is what ill replace it with when this wears out, but likely just something planed to 1/2 inch thickness.


as for the heaters, i deleted them both temporarily, i will be installing belly storage and running the lines underneath and installing the mid compartmwnt webesto down there so i can keep that storage warm during cold drives.



i also have plans to run a small radiator down there from my wood burning stove, but j dont live anywhere that cold now so its a project for later.





oh, and wear some good ppe when you remove the panels. lots of fiberglass and disel dust, very gross. i used tsp to clean and deck scrub my entire interior.



also those ceiling panels are great for other projects like doors and heat sheilds if you decide not to put them back up.



anyway. not to overwhelm you, just a few things i ran into on my 99.


looking good. i like the tweety bird yellow.

 

[chrisml]

Not sure if you've ironed out your solar plans yet, but I would totally recommend checking out wegosolar in Chemainus. The guy I dealt with was named Drew. It's a very small operation, you'll probably speak to him as well if you give them a call. Drew helped us spec out our system for our family houseboat (We're in Ontario, but it's a Three Bouys from Sicamous!). I'm pretty sure Drew would get a kick out of specing a system for a skoolie. And even before I learned about their top-notch service they were the most cost effective retailer I could find.

 

[Curious Slug]

Not sure if you've ironed out your solar plans yet, but I would totally recommend checking out wegosolar in Chemainus. The guy I dealt with was named Drew. It's a very small operation, you'll probably speak to him as well if you give them a call. Drew helped us spec out our system for our family houseboat (We're in Ontario, but it's a Three Bouys from Sicamous!). I'm pretty sure Drew would get a kick out of specing a system for a skoolie. And even before I learned about their top-notch service they were the most cost effective retailer I could find.

Hmm, this is a good local tip. I'll give them a call and see what they say. I also want to get my hands on some boat hatches to replace the emergency roof exits so perhaps they can point me in the right direction for them. Thanks!

 

[Curious Slug]

It's been a while. Excuse this time - we have been finishing up our attic space and travelling a lot. A few updates though -

I laid the 1 1/2" XPS on the floor using foam adhesive from PL. It went ok, fairly basic stuff. A little bit of foam to fill gaps. Then glued down the 1/2" plywood. There were a few patches which were a little squeaky, the worst of which was near the patching I'd done to the floor as these messed with the levels. I thought that might be mitigated a bit when we lay the proper floor (most likely T&G planks). Having gone back to the bus, the ply has warped a bit (see pics).

We'd gone with a thinner ply to save head height but we should have stuck to 3/4" which I think would have solved both the squeaking and the warping. As it stands, I'm going to have to put some 2 1/2" self tapping screws through at the worst points which is painful as I'd spent so long sealing up the floor. Even more painful because...

We've gone with the fabricators to raise the roof by 12". So our efforts to save 1/4" wasn't worth it. Anyway, not a huge issue. The last thing we did was to remove all the windows and give it a clearout so the guys have space to work.

Out of the country now until October, time to work on plumbing and electrical plans. It's a little nervy leaving the bus in someone else's hands, but they seem competent and it will be overseen by the inspector who will eventually sign off the conversion from commercial vehicle to motorhome so at the very least it will be structurally sound.

Pictures are sideways, can't be bothered to fix it.

 

[Curious Slug]

Oh, I forgot to say... The windows took more effort than I thought they would, given other peoples' experiences. After taking out the brackets, I originally thought that perhaps they were held in through other means but eventually got them out through force. I found that the best method was a quick cut around the sealant and then using body weight against one corner of the window to shift it.

Some of them are the special emergency exit ones, which I think are awesome as you can open them fully outwards. I might try to work out something so we can hinge these open when we refit them.

 

[Curious Slug]

Lots of progress. Namely -

- Roof raised completed - Took a lot longer than we'd hoped but finished. We went with a 12" raise, behind the driver seat.
- Windows back in - Mostly sealed up, which is good as the weather turned.
- Ceiling/wall furring strips added - Decided on 2x4 cedar T&G for finished ceiling. Basically it's a cookie cutter Skoolie build.
- Sprayfoam - Messy, prep work was a ball ache but it definitely made a difference.
- Bunkroom framed in - We are trying to cram a lot into a small space at the back so that we get more space up front.
- Water tank dry-fitted/framed in.
- Waiting on another fresh tank to be delivered (hopefully tomorrow!) and then the plumbing can start.

I've got plenty of stuff arriving over the next week and should be able to make some advancements with plumbing, gas and potentially the electrics. I need to sit down and plan everything out properly, so watch this space.

It has gotten very cold here. I'm currently using a BBQ for heat until the ventless Mr Heater unit arrives. It kind of works, and it makes the bus smell a bit like beef. So that's nice.

Anyone got any experience removing the front heater, next to the steering wheel in the middle of the bus? I don't think we'll need such a big unit, just keen on the front window ones and maybe a few smaller vents to heat us at the front. I've seen a video where they used it as storage, which would be great. It seemingly won't come out without a bit of force, which I'm reluctant to do. Tips appreciated.

 

[Curious Slug]

Done.

Hiya.

So it turns out that updating Skoolie.net is not one of my strong points. My last post was in mid 2018. It's been a busy year, we've had a baby boy to bring us up to a family of 5 (the other two just turned 4 & 2). My visa situation meant that we had to leave Canada for a while, lots of stress.

In terms of the bus, we've pretty much finished. It seems weird to look at the photos from last year now, with hundreds of hours of work between then and now. I wanted to follow up because I know plenty of projects get started and never finished. It's taken a lot out of us, but we're there... Kind of.

We have been living in the bus full time for over a month now. We're living in an old forestry fire base, which is pretty cool. I've learnt a bunch, come close to tears and probably knocked a few years off my life from anxiety. I've shot a brad nail through my finger, worked through -25 celsius, pulled a fair few 16hr days, all whilst never really having a clue what I was doing.

So, last time I posted we had just about framed and insulated. It was basically a blank slate at that point. since then -

Flooring - Douglas fir T&G, super satisfying to put down

Plumbing - Installed the full plumbing system, including two 50 gal fresh tanks and a 44 gal grey tank under the bus. City water, tank monitors, etc. I got totally lost with connecting up the appliances and as we were running short on time, I brought in a plumber to connect everything up. Sink could drain a bit better but otherwise pretty happy with it all. Bathtub is a galvanised animal feed trough which we painted with enamel. We also have an external shower near the front door.

Kitchen - Installed some Ikea cabinets in a galley style and made a custom Douglas Fir wrap around countertop, which was an awesome project. We have a sink, fridge (120v), water heater (propane, battery ignitor so not connected to the 12v)

Propane - Installed the propane storage in the 'basement', tried to run the lines and struggled so went the same way as the plumbing - got a guy in to connect up the appliances - water heater, propane stove and a 4-burner cook top as well as a BBQ quick connect on the outside.

Climate control - We have a Dickenson P12000 stove, it's getting cold in the Canadian rockies now - just about hitting freezing at night. Our stove JUST about keeps us warm, it generally keeps the living area 10-15 degrees above external temperature at night. We never designed this thing for winter living - we purposely left 13/14 of the single glazed windows on each side of the bus to maintain the bus feel and to give us loads of light. However, I did put in a decent amount of insulation so that counteracts it. A little. We put in two fantastic Fans in the roof, which were great when it was still hot.

Bus 12v - I ripped out the redundant wiring, which is a great way to get to grips and gain confidence with 12v. Plus an awesome source of wire for the rest of the project. Wired in the old school bus lights with the signals/brakes at the back and signals/switched flood lights at the front. Had a problem with a short in the signals somewhere, we had to get a mechanic to sort that out and he sorted it by replacing a couple of bulbs and grinding down some badly corroded ground connections.

House 12v/120v - I absolutely loved this bit of the build. I've got four 6v batteries in a vented box in the basement which puts me at 420ah, as well as a Go Power 2000w inverter, 400w of Renogy solar on the roof with a 30a MPPT charge controller. We have usb points and 120v outlets spread all around the bus. Also have the stove, roof vent fans, lights etc. 30a shore power, AC panel with plenty of outlets, wiring for a potential Air Con unit in the future and a 120v fridge.

Toilet - Installed a composting toilet, works a treat. Accumulated urine smells weird.

Paint - My partner nailed this one, it took her probably 1.5 days prep in taping up etc. and then another day to paint. We'd already done some prep as we went (removing stickers etc). and had done the roof in RV roof paint. I personally think it looks a bit like a cheap cocktail that you'd get on a beach.

Mechanical - The compressor kicked the bucket so we had to get that replaced - $1500.

Bus upgrades - We took out all the seats in the beginning and would have loved to have installed some nice swivel chairs for the 4 passengers. Space didn't allow so we ended up re-painting and re-covering two of the old seats before re-fitting them. Bus chiq? Combined the doors into a single door with a deadbolt and a latch. Also upgraded the entrance way after I slipped down it and nearly broke my arm - rubber matting, auto carpet, trim etc. Built a couple of passenger walls to make the journeys more enjoyable for the kids and added in a few 12v outlets. Added a back up camera and I still have a dash cam to install.

Finishing - We stuck with the Douglas Fir theme, I would have loved to have gone with Cedar but the cost would have been double. We finished up the walls and ceiling with more, thinner, T&G. Built a sofa/storage unit, pop up table. Our idea was that we wanted to have the 'living area' as open as possible so that on rainy days the kids could have some space to play indoors. It works really well, doesn't feel cramped at all. We also left the two bottom bunks as an open space and we're currently using it as another play area. If we still own this thing when the kids are older then we'll be turning this into one/two more beds. We have a huge double bed in the back and the views out of all the windows and the emergency exit are amazing. We renovated and installed some luggage racks from an old bluebird so we have absolutely loads of storage, though it does look a bit cluttered - living with 3 kids under 4 in a bus means you have to accept a certain degree of mess.

Converting the title - Changed from a commercial vehicle to a motorhome. This felt like a massive step and I wish we'd done it earlier - we hit a problem in that getting the vehicle signed off proved a very tricky process. We had to wait until after the roof raise so the inspector could see that was done properly, then he basically inspected it as a bus when it was already a motorhome. Complicated and frustrating.

After my visa situation changed, we had a long think about what we were doing and decided that we wanted to hit the road full time and head as far south as we could get in this thing. However, we hit an unexpected problem. Without going too deep into it, we worked out that we currently don't have the correct licences to drive the bus. Our BC licences would have covered us but they expired at the end of my visa last year. We're about to head back to the UK to upgrade licences (Cat C ('HGV') for anyone familiar) which should leave us good to head out in spring, when the campsites have all re-opened. We're currently winterising and storing the thing (hard work here in the middle of nowhere!).

Wow, that's a long post. Hopefully I've covered a lot of the stuff that people might be interested in, feel free to ask if you want to know anything specific. Obviously we still have loads of stuff that we'd like to do but we are fairly over it at this point, I think a little time away from the bus and spent with family will do us good. Very nervous about leaving our rig here and hoping for a mild and uneventful winter for it.

Thanks to everyone on Skoolie for their help. I haven't engaged with the community as much as I had originally intended but I have totally stalked most of you and your builds. Our bus, like many I suspect, is more of a mash up of other people's ideas with a little of our own style thrown in. There's no way i would have been able to get to grips with all of the utilities without this website so I appreciate it.

Sorry for the poor photos, I've taken hundreds but haven't had the chance to go through and pick out the best. There's so much to show that our tiny little cellular router would explode if I covered everything. Also, loads of our pictures have us/the kids in them and I'm not to keen to post them on the web! Again, any questions then ask.

 

[paulup]

Beautiful bus, love the wood work