Bailey Bus Bunedoggle

[bunedoggle]

I came across this place, a Yamaha factory dealer that sells units already converted to tri-fuel: gasoline, propane or natural gas. Hook up a hose and go!
http://www.yamaha-propane-natural-gas-generators.com/ They also apparently do not void the factory warrantee.

The Yamahas inverter units are slightly quieter than the Hondas, and have cast-iron sleeved cylinders for longevity.
It's not in my budget for spring, unless a new clutch for the wife's SUV is cheap, but I'm telling Santa Claus!

My latest thinking for a generator is to combine a high output alternator with a 8HP Briggs and generate 12 Volts directly to charge my batteries. This will save me money on a battery charger, plus I save the inefficiency of converting from 110V AC to 12 V DC and back to 110V. I already have the engine and a 200 amp alternator is under $200.

If you add a car muffler to a Briggs or Tecumseh you can get it pretty quiet too. Plus you can repair the whole rig yourself with parts available anywhere.

 

[bunedoggle]

Time for an update.

The was a cable supplying power to the wheelchair lift. It took a bit of effort to extract it from under the bus, but the reward was 20 feet of #2/0 copper wire! Sweet, that's all the connection wire I'll need for my battery bank, and more.

I ended up canceling the order I placed for my water tanks. I had ordered 4 tanks from rvsurplus.com along with the pump and accumulator tank. They emailed me yesterday and told me there was a miscalculation in shipping and it would be $119 instead of $43. With the new higher shipping I found I could get tanks on ebay cheaper. I ordered just the freshwater tank. For the grey water, and maybe the black water, I found a local guy who has some HDPE barrels. 30 gallons only $20 which I'm going to try and use.
http://boston.craigslist.org/nwb/mat/1651067329.html

Last few days I've been dealing with the side door opening. I first bolted the door closed. Then I ran a bead of silicone around the outside and inside. After removing the door handle I filled the holes left behind with bolts.

Then I put strapping on the inside of the door and furred it out to the level of the inside wall. I used the same 1/2 foam insulation to insulate it. Then on to the floor...

The floor has been a bit more challenging. I had a piece of steel from the lift that fit pretty well but I wanted to make sure it was well sealed from moisture. I cut some flashing I had and made some pans to fit the hole. Then inside the pan I'll put plywood.

Here's some photos...
The door covered and pan visible.


And just the floor pan.

 

[jugganaut]

So are you nixing the wheelchair lift for the motorcycle? Thought that would be a cool thing to have, but it seems to take up a bit of space...

 

[bunedoggle]

So are you nixing the wheelchair lift for the motorcycle? Thought that would be a cool thing to have, but it seems to take up a bit of space...

There's no way on earth that lift would have lifted anything but a small dirt bike, maybe. My 800 lbs Roadking wouldn't have budged. When making the lift go up and down with nothing on it at all I would see little wisps of smoke would come from the hydraulic pump. I wasn't about to push my luck.

Also, the lift was only attached with 6 bolts that went into wall pillars. There was NO attachment to the floor frame! I'll bet the wall would have collapsed had I actually been able to lift a motorcycle off the ground.

An yes, it takes up lots of space. It's funny, when you first get a bus you walk around inside marveling at all the space. You can't image what you're going to do will "all this space" Then as time goes on and you pile more and more stuff into your future RV, it suddenly doesn't feel so spacious.

 

[browncrown]

[/quote]

There's no way on earth that lift would have lifted anything but a small dirt bike, maybe. My 800 lbs Roadking wouldn't have budged. When making the lift go up and down with nothing on it at all I would see little wisps of smoke would come from the hydraulic pump. I wasn't about to push my luck.

I've seen those lifts struggle with one of the heavier electric wheelchairs, so you probablly made the right choice. Looks good on the work you did! Great progress.

An yes, it takes up lots of space. It's funny, when you first get a bus you walk around inside marveling at all the space. You can't image what you're going to do will "all this space" Then as time goes on and you pile more and more stuff into your future RV, it suddenly doesn't feel so spacious.

Amen to that! It fills up in a hurry

 

[CAMO-MONSTER]

There's no way on earth that lift would have lifted anything but a small dirt bike, maybe. My 800 lbs Roadking wouldn't have budged. When making the lift go up and down with nothing on it at all I would see little wisps of smoke would come from the hydraulic pump. I wasn't about to push my luck.

I've seen those lifts struggle with one of the heavier electric wheelchairs, so you probablly made the right choice. Looks good on the work you did! Great progress.

An yes, it takes up lots of space. It's funny, when you first get a bus you walk around inside marveling at all the space. You can't image what you're going to do will "all this space" Then as time goes on and you pile more and more stuff into your future RV, it suddenly doesn't feel so spacious.

Amen to that! It fills up in a hurry [/quote]

yes and my dad is thinking of getting one of these buses so he can load a quad which is about the same. my dad and mom have driven buses for 20+ years for the walla walla and collage place school dist.

 

[bunedoggle]

Bunk, bunks and more bunks! I'm getting sick of the bunks. I received my fresh water tank and pump today. I'm eager to start the plumbing.

I've finally framed the second set of bunks. I dragged the digital SLR out to the bus tonight with the wide angle lens. Things are getting tight in the bus and photos are getting harder to take.

I've changed my floor plan and moved my toilet to the back driver's side. It works out better for many reasons, one of which is the need to empty the tanks on the driver's side. It also gives me more space for the toilet.

I'll post the new floor plan soon.

Anyway, on to the progress pictures...


I finished this bunk tonight.


Here's one of the links I'm putting over the existing light sockets. This one is in the top bunk. You can get these on ebay for less than $3.

 

[bunedoggle]

New floor plan. Grid is 1 foot per division. Feel free to comment.

 

[bunedoggle]

Plumbing time! I fabricated a frame for my water tank and mounted it under the master bed:



I welded the frame to the original bracket that held the rear seats. I ended up only getting a 30 gallon tank but I left enough room for a second tank.

 

[bunedoggle]

The pump and accumulator are mounted just below the water tank. I ran pex directly to the pump (I know it says braided vinyl tube up to the pump but I figure the PEX has enough give, we'll see.)

With ball valves on both sides it should be easy to replace the pump.


For a water heater I'm trying this one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/EZ-101-Portable-Tan ... 2a05d5df6b

I plan to mount it in an enclosure under the bus. It's so cheap I can't resist giving it a try. Tomorrow I hope to finish the walls around the tub and plumb in the shower valve. My shower value has a tub output which I'm thinking of routing back into the water tank. That way I can run the water back into the tank until it gets warm and not waste the water and fill the gray water tank waiting for hot water.

 

[bunedoggle]

Nice job on the frame! That looks just like the 2 smaller (75 gal) tanks I just got. You were getting a deal on shipping from them, they wanted $215 to ship 2 tanks (the roof tank wouldn't go UPS) and a pump to me (only 3 hours south).
Smitty

The big tanks have a huge surcharge for being over sized.

I paid $70 total for my 30 gallon tank through this guy on ebay:
http://myworld.ebay.com/ebaymotors/randpcarriages/

I figure I can buy as many 30 gallon tanks as I need. At just over $2 per gallon I don't think you can beat the price and it's not hard to tee in a second tank.

 

[BUSBOZO]

NICE! LOVE THE FRAME ON THE TANK!! I'll be calling upon you when I get to the point of mounting tanks and batteries under the bus.

Oh, hey speaking of water tanks.. I was originally going to go with a 40 gal and 21 gal fresh water tank combined. But then decided to go with 2 40gal tanks. So I have a brand new 21 gallon tank from R&P Carriages if you are interested.

I'll trade you the tank for a little welding labor down the road.

 

[bunedoggle]

So I have a brand new 21 gallon tank from R&P Carriages if you are interested.

I'll trade you the tank for a little welding labor down the road.

I may well be interested!

 

[bunedoggle]

So I decided to skip right to painting the exterior. I've been trying to decide for weeks now how to paint it. I finally said screw it and just started painting. What do you guys think? Be honest.

 

[Diesel Dan]

 

[BUSBOZO]

Gee.. Thats funny. Me and my girl drove by your house so I could show her your skoolie and if I remember correctly it didn't look like that.

 

[bunedoggle]

Gee.. Thats funny. Me and my girl drove by your house so I could show her your skoolie and if I remember correctly it didn't look like that.

Just a little April fools

You should have stopped in and said hi!

 

[bunedoggle]

Hey all, I just bought one of those EZ 101 tankless hot water heaters. I haven't gotten it installed quite yet. But I just received an email from them good for 15% off any of their products for me or my friends (plus they always have free shipping).

If anyone is interested, I think you just have to call and mention the discount. The email says it's good till May 31st. You might want to wait till I can report on how well it works

I plan to mount it under the bus so it's outside and therefore well vented. Hopefully I'll have hot water by this weekend.

http://www.eztankless.com/

 

[bunedoggle]

I hooked up the EZ101 water heater last night to try it before installing it. I have to say I spent a few hours in vain trying to get it to work. I emailed support last night and they emailed me back this morning. They suggested I try a different LP regulator. I was using one from a turkey fryer that was 15 PSI. They suggested this was too high.

I was skeptical but I pulled the regulator off my grill and hooked it up. the unit lit on the first try and started producing hot water immediately. I'm very happy so far. Now to install the system.

I have a propane question: I read a lot (on this site and others) about propane lines in RVs. I'm thinking of running solid black pipe but there's no way I'm going to be able to connect solid lines to the propane tank regulators. There would be no way to change the tanks. Somewhere in the system there has to be flexible lines.

The regulators (like the auto switching type and others) come with rubber hoses. Are people using these? What about flexible steel appliance type? Those say on the package not to use in an RV I think.

 

[CAMO-MONSTER]

http://www.rvsurplus.net/catalog/display.php?product_id=4533

(comes in a single line too, but I'd get a dual)

Smitty

not bad for $50 bones to!