H.Gilly School Bus

H.Gilly

Member
Joined
Apr 11, 2019
Posts
10
Location
Around Nashville, TN
Hey everyone, I figured I'd start a post because I just keep having questions and getting very mixed answers. I've had my bus for a little under two months now and it's been a little bit of a struggle. I'm completely inexperienced with power tools, and work 5 days a week. I'm doing my best with the time that I have, but I want to do everything as efficiently as I can. I live near Nashville, and Tennessee winters suck. It's upon us, and I'm gonna try to beat it to some extent.
In the two months I've worked on it I've gotten all the seats out, and the floors. At this point it's just a shell, and I've been having to grind paint off of the metal floor. I haven't found any other buses like this, but mine didn't have a plywood subfloor under the rubber floor. The bus was from Indiana, so it might be weather related, but it's really annoying because we're having to grind off a bunch of paint and adhesive.
I'll start posting pictures and questions after this post, this one is just an intro. Let me know if you have any questions about me or the bus. Thank you!
 
Hey! Don't give up. I've lived in 2 skoolies. Both are learn as you go projects. I've earned a lot of new skills simply from working and living on the bus. Keep in mind there is "ideal" and there is "functional." Sometimes I live with "functional" until I figure out how to make things better. Even though there are some difficult days, I'm much happier full-timing in my bus than being in a house without wheels.
 
In 6 buses I've only had one with a plywood floor. What a pain to pull it up but totally necessary.

Three buses here.. All had plywood. One had two layers of 3/4" plywood.

I don't know why the difference? Was it a customer option? If so, what are the advantages of none, one or two layers of plywood?
 
From what I remember reading, plywood acts as "insulation", of sorts, to help in colder climates. Most of the time, it is in fact customer ordered.
 
My Bluebird had plywood. It came from WA.

Weird thing was that some plywood had been painted on the down side and some had not. After seeing the difference in the amount of rot between the painted and unpainted pieces, I've painted the down side of the plywood I'm putting back.
 

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