Just Call Me Bobert

[musigenesis]

Question for those who've completed a build - $47,840.86 seem reasonable based on what I've described thus far or am I off my rocker?

This actually seems a bit low. There are lots and lots of incidental expenses in a skoolie build that add up to a substantial amount of money. My build is in the neighborhood of your estimate here, and that's without solar/batteries, without $2500 worth of appliances, and without $1500 AC etc. etc.

Kudos on your very thorough planning work here, but if I had done something similar I never would have bought my bus in the first place.

 

[musigenesis]

I'd add that in addition to Tropi-Fool not being automatically "the thing to do", spray foaming is also not automatically "it". XPS (or EPS) foam board is easy to work with (especially if you have a table saw and/or a track saw) and effective and will generally cost you about half as much per board-foot as spray foam.

 

[Dbacks2k4]

Some initial plumbing diagrams

I've been busy with work the past few days so not much planning going on until tonight. Waiting for my kill-o-watt to come in to do much more with the power plan. I found a second bus that has me intrigued that I'm going to look at on Friday. It's a bit of a drive, 9 hours, but it meets most of my requirements (everything except factory AC and it has the smaller 40 gal fuel tank). The existing owners have already done most of the demo work before giving up on the project. I will likely stop and check out the handicap bus at the dealership I posted last week en-route as it's on the way. The dealer never did email or call me back (insert sarcastic "surprise surprise" here).

So anyway, I got some research and planning done on the plumbing system tonight. My goal here is a recirculating shower system that does not use water out of my actual grey tank. What I'm aiming for is to bring fresh water into the recirculating system, use for a shower or three, then dump into grey and start over with new clean water. I also want the shower to be able to work in non-circulating mode when I'm connected to hookups. This could also allow me to take a full shower in recirculating mode and then switch back to standard mode to quick wash out my hair at the end without burning too much additional water. I've read that most soaps and shampoos don't play nicely with the filters.

A couple simple electrical switches near the shower is my ideal plan for making the switch between modes easy.

The plan gets a little funky in that I'm not planning on putting a second water heater in for the recirc system and instead will send it through the fresh water heater. So I want to make sure I'm blocking off the sink and washer from the water heater when in recirc mode to minimize the amount of flushing that needs to be done. Maybe this is just crazy and I should buy a second water heater??

A quick Google search found me some electronic diverter valves for the water side so I'm confident I can find a workable solution there. That's most important because those valves will be in the walls (accessible of course through an access panel but not convenient).

I did a quick search for the drain valves, didn't find anything electronic, but I also didn't dig very deep. Since the recirc tank is going to have to be under the chassis in order to capture the shower drain, I could fabricate something up similar to the concept of how household outdoor water spigots the valve handle outside actually closes a valve inside to avoid freezing.

The diagrams below are not drawn to any sort of scale or indicate any latereral or vertical placement in the bus. In fact, I plan on the hot water heater and hot water loop to be in closer placement to the shower and the longer lines then run to the sink and washing machine. The elevation for the drains gets interesting though as I'm not quite sure how I'm going to empty the recirc tank into the grey tank for maint as they will be about level with one another under the bus.

Legend:

• Arrows inidicate water flow
• Red lines are hot
• Blue lines are cold
• Black lines are drain.
• X's indicate valve in closed position for that mode.

Some things planned in my head, but not drawn on the diagram:

• There will most likely be Hepvo valves on the grey tank connections to keep odors and back-splashing from occuring.
• In some spots a PEX manifold will likely make more sense than several daisy-chained tees.
• A few manual shutoff valves will be placed in strategic positions for future maintenance.

So I'm sure there's probably a flaw or two (hopefully not more than that ) with my plan, so I look forward to your criticisms!

 

[Trooper2]

Finally got my preliminary budget done.

• As mentioned previously I'm using this as sort of a worst-case scenario assuming almost everything has to be bought new at retail prices.
• Acquisition costs are an estimate. Since I'm looking for such a specific bus it'll be hard to tell what it'll end up costing me, as well as what work I'll need to put into it. New tires are probably a given.
• I really really hope lumber prices come down some more before this happens!
• Includes 800ah lithium battery storage and 800w of rooftop solar. I have more research to do on this yet. Doesn't include any of my plans for portable solar so I anticipate this going up.
• Includes $1000 for Screws, Adhesives, Sealants, Misc. All that "gotta run to Home Depot AGAIN for xyz..." stuff.
  

I was a little surprised how quickly it all added up. Did a cursory scan of RVTrader and found the the average for a used Class C in my area that is way smaller and doesn't meet half my requirements runs $40-60k. Only glanced at the Class A page before determining that was a waste of time So that reaffirmed my decision to go with the skoolie route!

Question for those who've completed a build - $47,840.86 seem reasonable based on what I've described thus far or am I off my rocker?

Looks Like you captured a good portion of the the costs in your budget.
My 25' TC-2000 is at 15k including the purchase price (6k) for a very basic build in compared to yours. Looking forward to seeing the progress.

 

[DeMac]

New Flooring Material Can Usually Wait

4 WeatherProofing
4.1 Floor
4.1.1 Remove Rust Spots
4.1.2 Paint Floor
4.1.3 Lay Insulation
4.1.4 Lay Subfloor OSB
4.2 Windows
4.2.1 Remove Windows
4.2.2 Scrape old seals
4.2.3 Fix latches
4.2.4 Repaint
4.2.5 Reseal Windows
4.3 Ceiling
4.3.1 Reseal or Replace Roof Hatches
4.3.2 Install Maxxforce Airfan
4.3.3 Scrape old insulation
4.3.4 Attach Furing Strips
4.4 Frame Wheel Wells

5 Bodywork
5.1 Rebuild Single Entry Door
5.2 Install Water Inlet
5.3 Install Shore Power Connector
5.4 Install Dryer Vent
5.5 LP Tanks
5.5.1 Fabricate Frame
5.5.2 Mount
5.5.3 Plumb Inside
5.6 Waste Tank(s)
5.6.1 Fabricate Frame
5.6.2 Mount
5.6.3 Plumb Inside
5.7 Rear Mini Split
5.7.1 Fabricate Frame
5.7.2 Mount
5.7.3 Plumb Inside
5.8 Front Mini Split
5.8.1 Fabricate Frame
5.8.2 Mount
5.8.3 Plumb Inside
5.9 Solar
5.9.1 Install Panels
5.9.2 Install Exterior Combiner Box
5.9.3 Run Cables/Conduit Inside
5.10 Install Toilet Vent
5.11 Reseal Entry Points
5.12 Touch-up Paint

6 Spray Foam & Ceiling Install
6.1 Preparation/Masking
6.2 Spray Foam Installation Appointment
6.3 Scraping/Cleanup
6.4 T&G Ceiling Installation
[move floors to here]


Constructive feedback, as always, appreciated (it's why I'm here )

------------------------------


We see alot of skoolie projects where the builder chooses to install the floor prior to destroying it with other building processes and unknown leaks.

Brick & morter buildings are often nearly complete, with a/c, windows, drywall, paint, fixtures, etc. prior to installing new flooring. Durring the construction process, floors are continuously wet, scratched, oversprayed and generally abused by the ongoing construction & boots above.

Most skoolie builds could stand to demo and seal the floor, yet hold off on installing any newly purchased flooring material until the framing or drains require that bottom layer.

Lots of debris will follow. The black nasty window butyl, spray foam mess, dew & leaks (you will have leaks), accidental spills & drips, leveraged 2x4s, scrapes, sparks, etc..... All part of the process which your floors will experience.

Top down is a good approach. Leaky windows have no affect on a sealed roof or a framed, insulated & finished ceiling (even with rooftop a/c).

Sealing the building envelope from irreversible condensate damage ought to be a priority prior to installing any new building materials. Especially the floor, where all the drips, drops, dirt & water gravitate.

 

[Mercuric Mind]

And then I stumbled across the concept of the recirculating shower!

I'm doing the recirculating shower as well. I found this place for filter systems. I plan on using a loop from the heater with a plate heat exchanger for the hot side.

Boat/RV Point of Entry (POE) Drinking Water Systems and Salt Free Water Conditioners

Kudos on the planning!

 

[Jolly Roger bus 223]

what you are talking about for water hook up and freezing is called a frost proof hose bib and you can get them in various length.
6" is the shortest but you can also get recessed wall boxed with a lockable cover that will be more flush to the bus body than it just sticking out but the shortest one with the wall box will take you to 8" to piping connection.
some top commercial brands are
zurn
woodford
prier

 

[Rucker]

...

So anyway, I got some research and planning done on the plumbing system tonight.

...

You might save yourself a bit of trouble from my experience: you can't recirculate water with an instant hot water heater. As soon as you pump enough warm water into the recirc tank either the temperature rises on the return line to above the allowable input temperature of the water heater (which shuts off the burner and errors out the unit, requiring power cycle), or the output flow is reduced by the mixer valve to the point where the unit shuts off, sending a slug of cold water into the shower head.

It's a conundrum.

If you could somehow 'charge' the recirc tank with hot water and and then only pump fresh hot water into the tank as it is demanded by the shower, you might have a chance.

I abandoned the effort after a few days of mocking up various systems--maybe you'll have more luck.

 

[Dbacks2k4]

We see alot of skoolie projects where the builder chooses to install the floor prior to destroying it with other building processes and unknown leaks.
.

I had kind of considered that with moving the LVP install towards the end but you bring up a good point about leaks during some of the installation and other waste materials causing issues with the subfloor. I know from experience in putting LVP in our party buses that with an imperfect subfloor (which most of mine are) that the LVP doesn't hold up real well. I will definitely adjust my plan accordingly - thanks.

what you are talking about for water hook up and freezing is called a frost proof hose bib and you can get them in various length.

Yes, that's exactly what I was thinking of!

I plan on using a loop from the heater with a plate heat exchanger for the hot side.

I saw a lot of designs like that but ruled out the heat exchanger idea since the biggest use of this bus will be winter snow-birding in Arizona and I'm hoping I won't need to run heat sources down there too much (otherwise I may as well stay home in Iowa, ha ha).

As soon as you pump enough warm water into the recirc tank either the temperature rises on the return line to above the allowable input temperature of the water heater (which shuts off the burner and errors out the unit, requiring power cycle), or the output flow is reduced by the mixer valve to the point where the unit shuts off

THANK YOU THANK YOU for that valuable piece of experience! I never would've thought of that and would've banged my head against a wall for quite some time trying to figure out why my water heater kept shutting down and blasting my face with cold water!

It also explains (now that I think about it for a minute) why every build video of these systems I saw use a 5-6 gal conventional RV water tank heater. My thought with those is they aren't very efficient, so will they actually keep the circulating water up to temp? A hot shower at the end of the day is supposed to be relaxing, not a constant battle to keep from being frozen out! I also don't want to have to wait for 30 minutes to charge the recirc system just so I can take a hot shower nor burn that much LP to keep it charged 24/7.

Mercuric above talked about using a heat exchanger to heat his water, I wonder about using an outside heat exchanger to cool the water (almost like a radiator). I would think it'd have to be post-filter to avoid clogging, so maybe right before the UV light? Perhaps wire a thermostat in that line somewhere attached to the fan on the radiator? That would ensure the water re-entering the instant water heater was below the maximum temp threshold?

 

[Mercuric Mind]

In regard to the recirculating shower, you may want to look into a thermostatic balancing mixing valve. I know that Moen and Kohler have them. The only down side is they are big $$$$. Here is an article explaining the difference between pressure balancing and thermostatic balancing.
https://www.plumbingsupply.com/pressure-balance-vs-thermostatic-valves.html

For me I'm going to first try it with manually adjusting the temperature with the shower valve as the water warms up in the recirculating tank. Eventually I would have the valve all the way to the cold side and just be using the residual heat in the tank. I will see if my gal is ok with this, otherwise it will be back to the drawing board for me.

 

[Rucker]

In regard to the recirculating shower, you may want to look into a thermostatic balancing mixing valve. I know that Moen and Kohler have them. The only down side is they are big $$$$. Here is an article explaining the difference between pressure balancing and thermostatic balancing.
https://www.plumbingsupply.com/pressure-balance-vs-thermostatic-valves.html

For me I'm going to first try it with manually adjusting the temperature with the shower valve as the water warms up in the recirculating tank. Eventually I would have the valve all the way to the cold side and just be using the residual heat in the tank. I will see if my gal is ok with this, otherwise it will be back to the drawing board for me.

I got a cheap thermostatic mixer valve, forty bucks. Seems to work, ish.

 

[Rucker]

One other design point-check valves between your pump and the instant water heater can cause issues because the momentary pressure drop when you turn on the shower lowers the input pressure to the heater and may cause pressure to drop below the device's required input pressure.

You won't know this unless you have a pressure gauge on that section of the line. If you have shore freshwater, the input pressure regulator will NOT show the house pressure drop, being upstream from the check valve.

 

[WIbluebird]

I'd add that in addition to Tropi-Fool not being automatically "the thing to do", spray foaming is also not automatically "it". XPS (or EPS) foam board is easy to work with (especially if you have a table saw and/or a track saw) and effective and will generally cost you about half as much per board-foot as spray foam.

Can't emphasize this enough. I did 1.5 - 2 inch foam board everywhere and it ended up being a fraction of what I was quoted on for spray foam. It heats/cools up perfectly and imo is more than enough.

 

[Dbacks2k4]

Not much new the last couple weeks. Work has kept me hopping. My limited freetime has been mostly dedicated to research, with a few documented design/plan updates.

Thanks to your feedback I modified the recirc shower design to use old-school 50s-style residential shower knobs with separate hot/cold valves instead of a mixer. The water heater I want to use can set the temp at desired so when showering I'd use only the hot-water valve. The cold valve would be there only for ancillary purposes... filling a dog's water dish perhaps? I'm also strongly leaning towards separate LP on-demand water heaters for regular usage and recirc usage. I think I found a good ancillary radiator I can configure to get around Rucker's issue with recirculating hot water being too hot for the water heater to kick on with. I may have to just order the parts and do a bench mock-up test even if I don't have a bus yet...

I'm also still reading on insulation options. That was another "everyone spray foams so that must be the thing to do" assumption I'm now second-guessing. I see the benefit of spray-foam, particularly in moisture-barrier, but I'm trying to weigh cost versus benefit for my intended use. No decision yet, but thanks for advising me to think through rather than just follow-the-norm.

The two buses I was considering I decided against both. The handicap bus at the dealer I decided against even going to even look at. The more I tweaked my floor plan and evaluated my needs I really do believe I want a full-size 40' bus. And the 100-gallon fuel tank requirement I came up with after more analysis has become a must-have instead of a nice-to-have. I recall living in Arizona as a kid and how cold it can get at night in the winter. My original intention is to boondock for long periods while snow-birding and the thought of having to break camp to go buy diesel while long-term parking to run my diesel heaters is just absurd to me. The 40-gallon tank option just won't be practical or feasible. Plus with diesel now going over $4/gallon in my area, I want the option to fuel at lower prices (with the TSD Open Roads program) if I decide to travel into certain Pacific-coast states to limit how much fuel I have to buy in those states. As an operator of a multi-state commerical fleet who has to deal with (and pay) jurisdictional IFTA fuel taxes I'm keenly aware of the price difference across certain state lines

The second bus I was considering I also talked myself out of. I got overly excited about most of the demo work being done and some conversion materials being included and was overlooking two of my requirements.... factory A/C for travelling and again the 100 gal fuel tank.

There's a couple buses on public surplus out of Arizona right now that are much closer to meeting my requirements. I'm watching the auctions but a) don't have time the next week to fly out and look at them and b) am turned off by the strict "visual inspection only - cannot start or test drive" stipulations. Even at $5k I'm highly suspicous of a bus that's been sitting for a year with known dead batteries that I can't hear start cold, hook up my diagnostics to read engine data/diagnostic codes, and take for a test drive. Especially with a 1600 mile trip home. If they were somewhat local and I knew I could get my trusted mechanic friend to help me if I broke down on the way home, that'd be one thing. But he doesn't travel that far

I also completed a lot of research on composting toilets. Not everyone's favorite topic and I had to force myself to dig into it. I'm now leaning away from Nature's Head (the "everyone else is doing it" default) and towards AirHead or more likely build-my-own. I think I can build-my-own that more looks and feels like a conventional household porcelain toilet than something on Elon's future Mars-base . I hated squatting on that weird RV toilet in the 5th wheel I lived in in college.... plus $1000 for a toilet? I saw one YouTube video of a guy describing his self-built composting toilet and his quote stuck with me.... "no matter how much $ you spend, at the end of the day you are still S*ing into a bucket"

In other news my new kill-o-watt arrived and I've been updating my power-plan as well as doing some tweaking on my build ideas list. Good news: my laptop actually uses significantly less power than I originally guestimated.

I've been re-watching some build videos on the YouTubes and taking a few screen shots of things I like and want to incorporate into my build. A bus we recently acquired for the party bus business is a pretty close match to my requirements, at least dimension wise. I'd keep it for myself if it wasn't a Michigan rust bucket with no A/C. But it does work for getting precise interior and under-carriage measurements and continuing to develop a more detailed floor and build-plan. I'll share the spreadsheet and diagrams as I get further along. By the way, does anyone have a good YouTube link to an idiot's guide to getting started with Sketchup?

 

[Dbacks2k4]

March update

I've not given up on this dream and if anything my hyper-focus has become more intense! I just wanted to avoid making a weekly "I'm still researching" post that contained nothing substantiative (seen way too many YouTube channels that do this just to keep their stats up).

I've built up a list of auction sites and bus dealers that I now check about 3x a week looking for "the one." So, far, obviously, not much luck . I'm just too picky! I've ranked my needs/wants and at a certain point will have to pull the trigger on an "almost ideal" bus but for now am waiting for the unicorn to appear.

I've been busy with work but have also spent the vast majoity of my freetime watching YouTube build series and researching various topics. I think my level of expertise (well maybe not expertise, but at least technical aptitude) is growing when I find myself critiquing build videos and saying to myself "I wouldn't do that!" or "That's gonna be a problem later!"

I've been measuring the few home devices that will come with me on the road with my Kill-o-watt and updating my power plan. I've read a ton of stuff on LifePO4 batteries, maximum SOC, reviews of different battery manufacturers, and pros/cons of 24v vs 48v systems for "high-power" rigs. I think I've figured out why Tesla recommends I only charge my Model S to 80-90% for maximum lifecycle compared to why Victrons' charge controlers do not have a maxmium SOC setting. Keyword - *think* lol.

I've given some thought to weather and extreme temperatures... my desire to travel south for the winter versus what the bus might go through while "stored" for the portions of the year I'm at home - power and battery management, water systems (I've read a lot today just on undercarriage-mounted grey water tanks and freezing considerations). I've thought about future-proofing my intended use as I see it now and what I could possibly maybe someday want to do with the bus in the future. I've read more on insulation and have mostly decided on doing spray-foam walls/ceiling, XPS floorboards, but skipping tropi-cool.

I've read about cellular and internet connectivity (probably too much being I do IT for a living :biggrin and have come up with my internet plan. This piece will be essential and I'll spend more on this than I'd like but solid internet-connectivity is essential to continue my IT day-job that will allow me to work while travelling. Due to the need to change out roof items like antennaes over time, I don't think that silicone on the roof is a good idea and that a good glossy white paint combined with sufficient interior insulation will get the job done. If of interest to anyone I can write a whole deep-dive on my technology plans later (I may just do it anyway for my own documentation purposes).

I've spent numerous hours understanding the mechanical and power-train systems of my existing party bus fleet and asking my mechanic friend questions about how things work, and why we do certain things like preventitive maintenance on specific components, etc. Questions like why do we use Lucas oil-stabilizer, when we change oil why do we use red ELC coolant instead of the cheaper green, what parts should we just replace up-front on used buses we acquire because we know they'll fail sooner rather than later after 150k+ miles, and what things should I do to the buses to make routine maintenance easier? (2005-2007 DT466e)
FYI - the "immediate" parts replacement list so far includes all filters/fluid changes, low pressure fuel pump, fuel primer, IPR, IPR pig tail, coolant lines (see next paragraph), coolant-line to heater shut-off valves, turbo and CAC duct clamps, and the water pump. We also make the EGR cooler bullet-proof, but that's all I'll say about that
FYI - the easier-maint list includes wireless TPM systems, primary air-tank quick connects for emergency towing, air-tank drain valves with the corded release, and replacing certain fuses with breakers.
FYI - the repairs we immediately budget for are new turbo, new air compressor, 6-pack fuel injector, and UVC gasket replacement.
This list will obviously carry forward to my skoolie.

I recently undertook a project to replace all of our old rubber coolant lines on the fleet (and their cheap junk hose clamps) that kept causing expensive coolant leaks with new silicone hoses (and ridiculously priced $10/ea constant-tension worm-drive clamps). I did this mostly out of frustration this winter, one of my buses had its second coolant hose failure in 3 months and each time dumped about 10 gallons of antifreeze on the ground. At $15/gal that adds up not to mention the customer impact, time to fix, and the headache with fixing road-side in winter conditions.

I've read up on registration challenges. I may have said this before but Iowa has a stupid 5-years continuous registration rule before they'll convert title to RV (even once you meet the 6/8 criteria to be an RV rule. Iowa has a lot of stupid rules - as a commerical for-hire operator I'm familiar with most of them but that's a rant for another day . Anyway, I am now leaning towards Vermont-method at purchase, run on Vermont plates for 1-year during conversion with "private use of commerical vehicle insurance", before transferring title/tags to Iowa to get full insurance. Still reading, but that's "the plan" for now as opposed to my original plan of "OK Kimmie (Iowa Gov Kim Reynolds)... go ahead and screw me over because I want to do things *the right way*" I'm holding off on having my insurance agent talk to his underwriters to get some specifics as I have them working on a couple other personal insurance policies and don't want to raise too many questions all at once.

One new series I've found intriguing is "adam and steph" on YouTube. I giggle like a pre-pubescent teenager everytime they say "out" with the Canadian accent but I'm intrigued by some of their engineering and the fact that their bus is almost an identical twin of what I'm looking for.

In particular I'm giving some consideration to their "partial" roof change for their shower. As I mentioned in my original post I'm not planning on a usual roof raise for a variety of reasons... my bus will have a 6'4" ceiling (I'm only 5'10"), insurance issues, lack of confidence in my metalworking skills, and my independent DIY nature and lack of friends/family to help me tackle the project. This video though made me think that the roof height at the windows is significantly shorter than 6'4" and the shower is really the only place where I'd need to stand along the side. So I'm strongly considering copying their config in my plans.

I actually gave the handicap bus at Midwest Transit that I had previously eliminated from consideration second glance to see if that might work for me with the new shower-height consideration.

However, upon visual inspection the added height of the handicap door is pretty insignificant and with the other factors that led me to disqualify this bus initially (fuel tank size, rust, overall length) it wasn't enough to change my mind. After reading about insurance and "significant structural modifications" I'm hoping that doing this "shower skylight" and not an overal roof raise will still keep me within the insurance underwriting acceptability list and would be simple enough that with my soon-to-come "beginner/professional amatuer" welding skills that I can pull it off.

I've added some tools to my shop and been practicing some new woodworking skills with pocket screws and different attachments to my circular saw for more square cuts and assemblies on my latest party bus build. Things like accounting for the width of the blade in cuts that any experienced woodworker would roll their eyes at me about I'm figuring out on my own... and with the help of YouTube university

 

[Dbacks2k4]

Finally got a bus!

Anybody watch the YouTube channel Emma Builds Birbie? Her tagline is more or less "hopefully it's fine" - I may have to adopt that. I won an auction on Public Surplus tonight for a bus in Arizona, site unseen, and with known engine issues. I must be crazy

On the plus side someone was bidding against me and quit $100 less than the max I was willing to go. So someone else out there thought it was worth what I paid for it... if usn5326 is on this forum thanks for quitting when you did

It met all my criteria...

2006 IC CE300
DT466e 245HP
Allison 3000PTS
Air brakes
Factory A/C
100 gallon fuel tank
Air ride suspension
Even has 4 undercarriage storage boxes.​

I had corresponded with the district about the "loses power" issue - I'm 80% sure the problem is the infamous IPR pigtail connector separation issue. I've seen the exact same symptoms twice on my fleet that was that problem. It's a fairly easy and inexpensive fix once you get over the pain of spending $100 on a stupid socket just to remove and install the old one (facepalm).

My plan is to head out to AZ next week and get her started and to a nearby storage lot that I'd already found. Get my diagnostics software on it and confirm whats going on. If she won't start I guess I'll have her towed out.

The only thing I'm not thrilled with is the odometer. Was hoping for something in the 150-200k range. This one is 250k. As I mentioned in another thread I'm sitting on a midwest rust bucket that has a perfectly good DT466e that I could swap in. Or maybe just do an in-frame rebuild sooner rather than later? Was already planning on a pretty exhaustive re-seal up front anyway, so maybe just go for the gold? Will see what the ServiceMaxx data looks like when I get it.

I figure since the weather here in the midwest is still pretty crappy I'll spend a little time down there... fix whatever engine issue is going on and make sure she's roadworthy... maybe even get started on the demo and exterior sanding/priming. I'll probably get the tow-bar installed on my car and get a hitch and wiring done on the bus, then tow my car back home behind the bus... that gives me some flexibility if I do run into issues on the road.

Wish me luck and stay tuned for actual build posts going forward rather than just planning and scheming :biggrin:

 

[RamRod4]

Great find. Sounds like it checks all the boxes for you!

 

[fo4imtippin]

Nice find! AZ buses are nice. Treat her nice in the rust belt. Its so nice to have a platform you are familiar and comfortable working on. Interested to hear more about your off grid internet. I just got on the starlink list because my comcast has been so spotty ill use it as a backup home internet and offgrid on the bus. Theres some pretty elaborate bus networks out there.

 

[Dbacks2k4]

Interested to hear more about your off grid internet. I just got on the starlink list because my comcast has been so spotty ill use it as a backup home internet and offgrid on the bus. Theres some pretty elaborate bus networks out there.

I do IT infrastructure for a living. I've cobbled together a mobile solution made up of used Fortinet gear from eBay. I could've done cheaper with some ubiquiti and other mix-matched solutions like I use at home; but like the idea of simplified single pane of glass management for on the road, especially balancing so many different potential uplinks.

-Fortigate 60D POE for primary firewall using SDWAN. SDWAN rules will allow me to prioritize connections and filter traffic (e.g. updates) or throttle traffic (streaming) when on cellular or slow wifi uplinks. Also has a few ethernet ports in a software switch if I need to connect anything that requires a wired connection over wifi like a printer or Samsung SmartThings. I do a lot of automation at home but haven't decided if I want to do this on the bus yet (not a lot of supported low-voltage devices, mostly 110/120 for home use obviously). Gives me future flexibility regardless.
-fortiap 421e for in-the-bus Lan-side wifi. This is 802.11ac wave 2. Powers off the firewall built in poe port. Everything inside will connect to a consistent single ssid...my laptop, tablets (I'm working on a fairly elaborate digital drivers dashboard supplement), victron equipment, etc. Separate ssid for guests that'll be restricted from cellular use.
-Fortiextender 60D with a Google Fi data-only SIM. I use Fi for my phone already so this is free and gets me 50GB/mo unthrottled for $65 on tmobile's network. I can Hotspot from my phone with Wifi as a Wan (more on that in a sec) on US Cellular's or sprint's network in a pinch. The extender is powered by poe off the firewall and stays in the bus. I've ordered an external MIMO antenna to connect to this.
I can also buy another fortiextender and sign up for a Verizon or AT&T plan if needed. Extender will monitor my data use and notify me at preset intervals to avoid running out of data. This model is 4G LTE capable only, so In the future I may upgrade to a 5G capable model (or use a different 5G modem) but that technology is still pretty new and not exactly standardized. For now I can do most of my work from a hosted vdi instance so LTE is good enough to allow me to work when wifi-as-a-Wan and starlink isn't an option
-fortiap 224d in client-mode mounted externally for wifi-as-a-wan. This will allow me to uplink to other wifi networks when available... L McDonald's, truck stops, campgrounds or my phone's hotspot in a pinch. This radio is 802.11n (not concerned about newer protocols - haven't seen too many free wifi connections fast enough to outrun 802.11n lol). It's designed for outdoor mounting with no additional antennas or weatherproofing needed. Poe powered on dedicated injector through a gland up to the roof. Since my whole in-the-bus network uplinks to the wifi I don't have to join the free wifi from every device in the bus. They stay joined to my internal wifi and treats the free wifi as a generic internet connection. There's a clunky workaround for public wifi networks that use captive portals - those web pages you have to accept terms and conditions before it lets you access the interwebs - but better than burning cellular data.
-starlink. Dishy is already in my shop, I will use as primary when I can connect and get service roaming. The new dishy has a permanent cable so will mount down through the floor into a storage compartment that I can then set dishy out in a clearing or on the roof when parked. May also swap out for my old dishy at the other shop that uses a more generic ethernet cable... The service address is set to my storage spot so when I'm not traveling I'm guaranteed service to keep tabs on the security cameras and victron equipment.
-independently switched pdu with surge protection. Allows me to easily turn off devices that aren't active or the whole thing overnight to conserve battery power or available inverter watts.

 

[Dbacks2k4]

Bus pickup is now scheduled for next Thursday. A lot of back and forth with waiting for them to get confirmation of the wire transfer, waiting for her to get the title from the district office, waiting for her to figure out what days she was available, no I can't do Monday, takes 2 days to drive... oh you're out for two more days, guess it's Thursday then.

I updated the list of everything I need to remember to take with me and the list of things I want to accomplish in the short trip. Mostly just get the diagnostics off the engine so I can order parts and then take detailed measurements with photos.

In the meantime did some bench testing with my new toys. Results not quite as expected. More new toys ordered courtesy of eBay

The 60D POE is working well for powering POE to the various devices. The strip PDU I bought is awesome and looks great. Need to make some little black labels to cover the "CH. 1" labels with my own custom labels.

Learned a couple things. The 60D can only go to FortiOS 6.0. Really need to get to 6.4 in order to have all the SDWAN features I want (the joys of trying to remember which features were in which releases then matching up the older hardware with their supported software....). So new 60E ordered.

The Extender isn't connecting to Fi at all. It's not directly supported by Fi but I figured it might come up with a stock Tmobile configuration since the Fi Data-only sim runs exclusively on Tmobile. No dice yet. I'll keep playing with it as it doesn't even appear to be trying to connect to anything even though it does recognize the SIM. Worst case scenario I abandon it and go with a Netgear LTE router - it'll still plug into SDWAN all the same.

The FortiAPs cannot do the Wifi-as-a-WAN. It can only be done on a FortiWifi unit. Even slaving a FortiAP to a FortiWifi it won't put the external AP in client mode, only the local radio. I had an old FortiWifi 80CM laying around so configured that up as a test and its working beautifully. Will order a newer D or E generation and an external antenna to make that do what I want.

The FortiAP 421E is broadcasting out my new BusFi SSID just fine though with good signal.

Yes, I could order a pepwave and have it natively "just work" but since this is what I do for a living it's much more fun this way :biggrin: