New Skoolie in Atlanta!

[BRAGeorgia]

I recently purchased a 2002 Thomas Freightliner with a 5.9 cummings. Bought at auction from a school district in NY and drove it 1,000 miles home to Atlanta. Great condition and everything works! Only 110,000 miles. Recently used it to get my CDL so now I'm legit. It's getting painted as I write this and I'll update with photos as I go. Next stop is removing seats and flooring.

I'll be using it as an occasional camper, and promotional tool for my business the Bicycle Ride Across Georgia. Eventually want bunk beds, trundle, sink, shower toilet, kegerator with outdoor taps, large roof patio (as seen on RAGBRAI Buses), and seating for ~20.

Any advice from seasoned skoolies is welcomed and appreciated. I'll make video's and take plenty of pictures of the conversion.

 

[BRAGeorgia]

 

[RoadRanger2015]

Congrads

Sounds like a steal from NY. How is the rust? I am looking around for a southern bus with little to no rust.

As for your project. Include a good bath configuration. The Black tank and grey water tank will be a project in itself.

Keep the pictures coming.

 

[EastCoastCB]

Congrats. Driving a bus through Atlanta is pretty brutal!

 

[BRAGeorgia]

The bottom of the bus does have a good bit of rust. I plan on getting a few guys with wire brushes to scrape the underside pretty good, then apply POR-15 which should prevent/slow down the process. That POR is meant to be put right over the rust (Paint over rust) and create a hard shell. Frame and everything is still in good shape with lots of metal left!

You can see below from the picture of the new air tank I installed the amount of rust.

View image: 20150914 155226

 

[RoadRanger2015]

Sweet Air tank. Rust looks reasonable for that age.

What are your priorities for the remodel?

 

[nat_ster]

The bottom of the bus does have a good bit of rust. I plan on getting a few guys with wire brushes to scrape the underside pretty good, then apply POR-15 which should prevent/slow down the process. That POR is meant to be put right over the rust (Paint over rust) and create a hard shell. Frame and everything is still in good shape with lots of metal left!

You can see below from the picture of the new air tank I installed the amount of rust.

View image: 20150914 155226

Por 15 Will not paint over rust. It will just fall off in no time at all.

The por 15 system is composed of 3 chemicals. De greaser, rust converter, and the paint.

The more rust, the more converter it takes. I'm talking gallons of the stuff. To make matters worse, it will not penetrate the rust on the bottom of the bus due to gravity. It will simply drip off and only wet the outside layer of rust.

To convert something as rusty as the bottom of a bus, you would need to drive it into a bath of the converter chemical, and soak for a week. The longer you keep it wet, the better job it will do.

Also don't spray the rust converter chemical it hot dry weather. It will simply evaporate, and do nothing. I had the best converting of the rust when I sprayed it on in the evening just before dark. The night time dew would keep it moist till morning, and I saw great conversion of the rust.

The only time por 15 can be painted directly over rust is when it is fresh surface rust with no scale.

So basically it is a marketing farce.

Now oshpo is 10 times the product as the por 15 rust converter, but all the same things still apply. It needs to stay wet as long as possible.

If I was to paint the underside of a rusty bus, I would sandblast it lightly before rust converting.

All information I have posted here is based off experience with the products listed.


Nat

 

[BRAGeorgia]

Paint is going on!

 

[RoadRanger2015]

Wow!! Remembering the Partridge Family Sitcom with this one. I can't say anything bad. I am still in the shopping mode. What did you do to the bottom?? The RUST?

 

[EastCoastCB]

Paint is going on!

VERY groovy!!!!

 

[BRAGeorgia]

Wow!! Remembering the Partridge Family Sitcom with this one. I can't say anything bad. I am still in the shopping mode. What did you do to the bottom?? The RUST?

I haven't done anything yet. What I plan on doing is hiring a few guys to scrape all the rust they can off, spray it with a rust remover/conditioner, then do POR or some other rust inhibitor/preventive.

Paint isn't done yet, should be done by Thursday. I will post pics when it's done. Then it's seat removal, new floor, and walls. I've been reading the Good News Bus blog and find it really helpful. Will use a lot of his ideas.

 

[BRAGeorgia]

More paint going on in between rain:

 

[RoadRanger2015]

I'm gonna need my Sunglasses!

 

[Tango-SKO]

Groovy Baby.

 

[Kalinicoled]

Paint is going on!

loving it!