Lessons Learned from Building a Bus

[wanderingturtl]

Here are some things I've learned. What do y'all think? Did you find these things to be true? What else have you learned?


Lessons from Building a Bus

• Don’t expect to finish a build while you live in it. It’s not that easy to do.
• Finish all of a part before covering it up. You don’t want to go backwards to fix or finish it later.
• Inventory what you’ll need for a part of the build and order or procure parts ahead of time, before you plan to work on that part. If you don’t know what parts you’ll need to finish an area, get as far as you can and inventory what you need to proceed, and order or find the parts as soon as possible.
• Plan on everything taking longer and costing more than you expected.
• The bus walls are often not perpendicular to the floor. Do not plan on building next to vertical walls, unless you checked and your bus has vertical walls. They often lean inwards a little. The area of the floor at the bottom is not necessarily the same as the area 3’ or 6’ up.
• Build your framing and walls as square as possible. It’s a lot harder to build up to stuff that’s out of square; having square walls makes it easier.
• The plastic roof hatches will eventually leak or break. Be prepared for this, and don’t leave anything vulnerable to water damage under stock plastic roof hatches. The older the bus, the more true this is. Water can also run down the ceiling and drip somewhere else.
• Don’t expect to do everything yourself. Get help with sections that you aren’t good at, like plumbing or wiring.

 

[Ronnie-SKO]

Great start. I would add especially for the first time builder to build only the basics then use it. then build more and use it again, so on and so on. You will often find what seemed good on paper did not work out as planned. Build so things can be moved if need be. As you become happy with what works for you then set it permanently.


Be sure to leave access to vital equipment, electrical, water etc.

 

[Stovebolt-SKO]

Ditto to Ronnie. Keep it driveable and useable. Tackle discrete projects as you go. It will keep you motivated. It will keep the project fun.


Lesson learned from 3 frame-off restos and plenty of other projects....

 

[cadillackid]

make it serviceable!!! a couple people this cold winter have learned the hard way why you dont build complete wooden structures around all of your front heaters... a couple motors went out and I was asked to help.. when i told them we needed to take all the wood trim pieces down so i could disassemble the units they were rather astounded to realize theres no under-floor access to replace heater motors and you cant get to them under the hood..



all of the wood had been shot together with nailgun and the nailheads puttied in rather than leave exposed screws.. so either they drive in subzero weather with no heat or we tear the wood apart.. there only other means of heating is the wood stove which you cant use on the road.. havent heard back...

 

[Iceni John]

Further to cadillackid's post about covering over vital things, one of the main reasons I wanted a DIY bus conversion instead of a factory RV was because almost all RVs these days are made with little (if you're lucky) or zero accessibility to important things, like water pumps which are guaranteed to eventually fail at the worst possible time and place! An RVer told me of having to disassemble most of his new Winnebago's kitchen just to deal with a leaking water pump. So, when designing and making a bus conversion, accessibility should always be a non-negotiable priority; just assume that everything sooner or later will need to be repaired or replaced.

John

 

[AlphaHare]

Have a plan. Chew on it for a while. Make several versions of the plan and chew on it some more. Don't touch the bus until you know where you're going and why.

Learn and understand the codes. There are a couple building codes for RVs, both the NEC and NFPA. Find them, read them, understand what they are trying to prevent. For the life safety ones, if you don't follow them - well - it's your life. And the lives of the people in your build.

There are more bad examples on YouTube than good ones. If you want to know why it's hard to get insurance for homemade RV skoolies check out all the propane tanks under sinks or attached to rear bumpers, sketchy woodstoves, wires going through metal holes, poor crimping, lack of circuit protection.

 

[AlphaHare]

Keep it driveable and useable.

Great advice.

 

[Diverdude0075]

I’ll add that if you’re looking up how to do something, try to find multiple sources to learn. Different videos, write-ups, etc. and determine which works best for you. I personally watch Chuck Cassidy for build out tips. He’s very knowledgeable and good at explaining. Cheap is rarely the best answer when buying materials or the bus for that matter. No such thing as a good deal on a rusty bus.