Alt1
Senior Member
Great work, keep it up. Mind sharing what panels you used? Are they full width a d held on with 4 brackets are are they half width only held by two?
84chevyguyid
Senior Member
Looking great!! I stared at my solar equipment laying on the board for awhile, moving things around and shaking my head. Eventually it all found a place I was happy with. Yeah its pretty cool after getting everything hooked up to pull it out in the sun and start sucking up rays! I just have the first group of four 380 watt panels on so far, waiting for warmer weather to get the other 8 installed and at least two more of the 24 volt 200 AH batteries. A trip to Yuma over the Christmas holiday gave us a good test for the system. With what we have in the bus so far it was always back up to 100% by 9:30 am every day. We have a toaster oven, portable ice maker, a Setpoint fridge/freezer unit, blow dryer, curling iron, she has her sewing machine going during the day and evenings we watched movies on a 50" screen and a surround sound system with one sub. The lowest it ever got was 65%, this is with one LiTime 24 volt 200 AH battery. I havent dared tell the wife what I have spent on the system. I show her the Cerbo screen then I have her lean her head out the door and listen... What do you hear? she replies nothing. I say exactly!
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nocoasty
Senior Member
Taking this as a huge compliment coming from you and knowing the caliber of work you do. Don't mind at all, these are 415W SunGold Power Panels. I read a lot of reviews in solar forums that convinced me to give them a shot. I've mounted them full width and 4 brackets holding each panel. The photos I took are missing brackets for end panels. I've since installed them.
I played around in photoshop for a few days and convinced myself I had the layout figured out. When it came to putting it on wood I changed my mind. So I took some measurements and designed the little 3D area in sketchup and found something I was also happy with. Just needed to mull it over long enough.
Hahaha my wife would rather just stay oblivious to the cost of all of this. Nothing worse than the sound of a construction generator banging away to spoil a beautiful location, right?
Haha awesome, I'll keep them coming. I film everything, so I've got a near endless supply of video to convert to GIFs.
That's possible, I might just add the extra panels. We had a deck on our first bus and used it enough. I used it more than my wife. She's terrified of heights.
Thanks so much. We're planning to have our bed full length side to side in that space with some drawers at the front section. I've still got to cut some sections out of the engine access doors and add the scoops back in to divert air into the bay. I'll do it before I decide to paint.
I'll snap a photo of it tomorrow. It's all been sealed in, sheeted over with metal, and spray foamed.
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nocoasty
Senior Member
Holy smokes it feels huge. It's the same size as our first but, but somehow feels much much larger. Even during the build we just seem to have more space to move around.
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nocoasty
Senior Member
Okay, so I've been MIA for a bit. We're expecting another baby and we've had a ton going on it terms of traveling for appointments and just family stuff.
I've been working slow, but working nonetheless and I feel like the bus is starting to come together. I also realized at this point that I don't have many pictures from putting up walls and ceilings, but I used the CNC to make almost every cut. Some I did need to use a jigsaw (ugh) for minor adjustments, but everything else worked so damn well.
I remembered to take a picture inside to share headroom down the middle and headroom at the skylights. Almost 75.5" down the middle and a bit over 78" at the skylight.
Here are a few pictures of the bus with ceiling, walls, and side transition strips. I went back through and made sure the panels were as even as possible with one another and then used body filler to smooth and finish off the joints.
Why body filler...? Why not. Truly though, I figured it's about the best solution I can use to give me the best shot at a smooth ceiling and one that won't crack easily. If it can withstand cracking on a lot of the junk on the roads that I've seen it used on, it should be fine in this bus.
So then the next step was trying to make this wood wall paneling smooth like gypsum board / drywall which can be a rather difficult task. We used a spray can product by Homax to add texture to our walls in our last sprinter van conversion to just see if it would work or not, and after many thousands of miles we never had a crack or a flake, so I think that was a success. Which brings me to buying a large mix-it-yourself box of Homax but not to add texture, but rather to give me something to smooth flat.
These next pictures show the process while drying, but this brings another issue because of the water in the mix. It pops the grain on the paneling that you'll need to sand back down.
Watching this stuff dry was definitely better than watching paint dry. I could at least see the progress. This morning it had dried much lighter than yesterday and I popped out some 220 grit on a RO sander and hit the walls, brushed the walls down, hit the bus with a leaf blower and got ready for primer. We're priming the walls and ceiling with the same paint.
After getting it clean, the primer was mixed and I started applying it. I realized pretty quickly I was going to need another gallon, so I paused halfway and picked up another can from my FLHS.
My buddy, his wife, and their baby surprised us on their way back from Florida to Canada and wanted me to put him to work, so he did all the trim and cut in painting, which was a huge help and time saver for me. The areas without paint are where I know for sure we'll have cabinets, which I've already mostly cut and installed, but I'm still designing the cabinet and door faces and then prepping them all for stain and then countertops.
Then of course after a few hours I had to back the bus out of the shop and take some natural light photos with the sky and clouds in view. It turned out fantastic and I really can't wait to get to the limewash in the morning.
We're "missing" a few pieces of trim, but they're not actually missing because my wife insisted we'd figure something out for the driver side since it will be the bathroom and the other side we're just trying to find the right wood to frame everything out.
So a little photo heavy and a bit delayed on the posts, but this is where I am as of today. I'm planning to install my mini-splits this week (maybe?) and start framing the interior and bed because it's just that time.
Until next time, cool kids.
I've been working slow, but working nonetheless and I feel like the bus is starting to come together. I also realized at this point that I don't have many pictures from putting up walls and ceilings, but I used the CNC to make almost every cut. Some I did need to use a jigsaw (ugh) for minor adjustments, but everything else worked so damn well.
I remembered to take a picture inside to share headroom down the middle and headroom at the skylights. Almost 75.5" down the middle and a bit over 78" at the skylight.
Here are a few pictures of the bus with ceiling, walls, and side transition strips. I went back through and made sure the panels were as even as possible with one another and then used body filler to smooth and finish off the joints.
Why body filler...? Why not. Truly though, I figured it's about the best solution I can use to give me the best shot at a smooth ceiling and one that won't crack easily. If it can withstand cracking on a lot of the junk on the roads that I've seen it used on, it should be fine in this bus.
So then the next step was trying to make this wood wall paneling smooth like gypsum board / drywall which can be a rather difficult task. We used a spray can product by Homax to add texture to our walls in our last sprinter van conversion to just see if it would work or not, and after many thousands of miles we never had a crack or a flake, so I think that was a success. Which brings me to buying a large mix-it-yourself box of Homax but not to add texture, but rather to give me something to smooth flat.
These next pictures show the process while drying, but this brings another issue because of the water in the mix. It pops the grain on the paneling that you'll need to sand back down.
Watching this stuff dry was definitely better than watching paint dry. I could at least see the progress. This morning it had dried much lighter than yesterday and I popped out some 220 grit on a RO sander and hit the walls, brushed the walls down, hit the bus with a leaf blower and got ready for primer. We're priming the walls and ceiling with the same paint.
After getting it clean, the primer was mixed and I started applying it. I realized pretty quickly I was going to need another gallon, so I paused halfway and picked up another can from my FLHS.
My buddy, his wife, and their baby surprised us on their way back from Florida to Canada and wanted me to put him to work, so he did all the trim and cut in painting, which was a huge help and time saver for me. The areas without paint are where I know for sure we'll have cabinets, which I've already mostly cut and installed, but I'm still designing the cabinet and door faces and then prepping them all for stain and then countertops.
Then of course after a few hours I had to back the bus out of the shop and take some natural light photos with the sky and clouds in view. It turned out fantastic and I really can't wait to get to the limewash in the morning.
We're "missing" a few pieces of trim, but they're not actually missing because my wife insisted we'd figure something out for the driver side since it will be the bathroom and the other side we're just trying to find the right wood to frame everything out.
So a little photo heavy and a bit delayed on the posts, but this is where I am as of today. I'm planning to install my mini-splits this week (maybe?) and start framing the interior and bed because it's just that time.
Until next time, cool kids.
nikitis
1994 International 3800 - Thomas, T444E 165HP
Turning out FANTASTIC! Keep up the good work!
ewo1
SR. MEMBER - 99 Amtran RE DT466E HT 250HP-Md3060
Your work is really inspiring me to copy cat your work.!!!!
Great job !
Great job !
Kentucky Dreaming
Senior Member
LOVE the skylight!!!!
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nocoasty
Senior Member
Thanks friend. It's definitely coming along now.
That's an honor to read. Feel free to copy cat away. I'm a big fan of how the build is turning out.
LOVE the skylight!!!!
Thanks! I've ceramic window tinted (at 35%) the skylights to assist with heat transfer and to maybe take the edge off of the sun in the summer if we choose to keep them uncovered.
Alt1
Senior Member
Always nice to have another set of hands to help out. The little stuff always adds up. And the CNC is like 10 extra hands. I can tell from your videos you are using Vectric and that's what I use as well. Great software, great support, and well worth the initial investment.
Body filler is what I would have recommended for your ceiling joints too. Just keep in mind, wood does move a lot more than metal. If the filler was sanded too thin it is possible it will still crack. Hopefully not, as the long length curved roof looks very visually appealing. Doing great work so far, keep it up.
Body filler is what I would have recommended for your ceiling joints too. Just keep in mind, wood does move a lot more than metal. If the filler was sanded too thin it is possible it will still crack. Hopefully not, as the long length curved roof looks very visually appealing. Doing great work so far, keep it up.
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nocoasty
Senior Member
You're not kidding! It's amazing how quickly I can make something a reality now. I designed and set my toolpaths for a 3 drawer pantry over lunch and had it cut, assembled, and installed in the bus within the first hour back in my shop.
Yep! I'm using Vectric Vcarve Pro. I researched about every program imaginable and ended up coming down to Pro or Aspire and the 3ish 3D specific differences in capability weren't enough to convince me to purchase Aspire.
I've really enjoyed learning the software, truly just enjoyed learning CNC in general. Wild to think that my first project on it was at the beginning of December and i've be using it almost every day since, for one thing or another.
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nocoasty
Senior Member
I started the week off building and staining our face frames for our cabinets. I'm eager to get these all situated so I can permanently mount them in the bus. I've had to move them in and out a bit too much for my liking. I'll need to move a few of them at least once more when I get to drain plumbing, but that's an issue for another day entirely.
In the first picture you might notice I have two different looking window frames going on. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do there and neither did my wife. So I came up with a hybrid solution of the two. Larger bottom trim/ledge, and the sides and top flush with the wall, then sealed to make the wall and the trim disappear together when we go to paint.
We had planned from the very start of the build to limewash the walls after priming and we picked colors out a few weeks back. The main color was supposed to have some browns in it, while still being fairly light colored, but it ended up looking pure white so we ordered another color, waited about a week, and spent the next day painting it. It's still hard to tell, but it's not stark white anymore. This color ended up with a hint of green that we weren't expecting either, but we'll live with it for now.
Our room along with the kids room ended up with the limewash treatment as well. We love the variation in colors the paint in combination with the painting technique produces. However, this color ALSO ended up being quite different from the images, as well as several other product reference photos. It's more terra cotta-y than it was supposed to be, but again we'll live with it until we can't anymore.
The green wall is in what's going to be our kids room. It was spot on identical to the reference photos, so we know we aren't crazy regarding the other two. Unfortunately we only have 30 minutes from online order for cancellations, but it doesn't matter because we wouldn't, and didn't, find out they weren't what we expected until days later.
We've yet to install our minisplits either, which is why the front and rear cap is unfinished and unsightly. It'll happen soon. Just been avoiding it as much as possible.
Here's another angle into the kitchen with the face frames and stain, as well as the window trim being completed. We're not sure if we're going to stain or paint the trim yet. I just know it looks a heckuva lot better than without it
Today over lunch I designed a base cabinet pantry for my wife. I set my toolpaths, generating gcode, to use my CNC to cut them out and within the next hour I produced, assembled, and installed this beaut. I still need to finish it with stain, face frames, and eventually a door front, but it turned out pretty great and my wife is super thrilled about it.
For door and drawer faces, my wife is really into reeded and fluted faces. So I cut an entire sheet of wood into .30" reeds, knowing I was going to use almost an entire sheet for the amount of cabinet and drawers we've got that'll be reeded.
To be honest, I wasn't sure how plywood would turn out for this, but I'm pleasantly surprised. I designed and cut 8 pieces of wood to assemble into a reed sander as well. It's been working well to remove the fuzzies left behind from my cnc roundover bit.
Eventually they'll all be conditioned and stained, then assembled into a drawer or door face. Photos will happen when we get there.
These three pictures are just to give you an idea of our appliances and the flow of our kitchen. We've got an oven/cooktop combo, a dual trash can cabinet system to keep refuse out of sight (we didn't think about this in our first bus). And we've got a countertop dishwasher that we're of course mounting in our cabinets below our countertop. To the left of it is a 30" wide sink that will also be undermounted.
The last picture in this post shows a quick look at our flooring. I put down a few pieces to get an idea of how it will look. This is the third time we've used lifeproof vinyl flooring, and we really like it. It has held up well for us and our pets, and it is straightforward to install. However, we are waiting to install the flooring until we have all the cabinets and interior room-separating walls in place. That way, I can ensure that the planks don't shift or separate when they are installed under permanent fixtures.
I also temporarily set our TV up so our little one can watch Bluey while we're both in the bus building, some days.
After I finish our drawers (hopefully tomorrow) I'll be designing an entertainment center to store the Frame TV brain, maybe a gaming console or two, and then getting our bed framed up.
Hope you all have a good end to the week and weekend. I'll be back soon with more pictures and updates.
In the first picture you might notice I have two different looking window frames going on. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do there and neither did my wife. So I came up with a hybrid solution of the two. Larger bottom trim/ledge, and the sides and top flush with the wall, then sealed to make the wall and the trim disappear together when we go to paint.
We had planned from the very start of the build to limewash the walls after priming and we picked colors out a few weeks back. The main color was supposed to have some browns in it, while still being fairly light colored, but it ended up looking pure white so we ordered another color, waited about a week, and spent the next day painting it. It's still hard to tell, but it's not stark white anymore. This color ended up with a hint of green that we weren't expecting either, but we'll live with it for now.
Our room along with the kids room ended up with the limewash treatment as well. We love the variation in colors the paint in combination with the painting technique produces. However, this color ALSO ended up being quite different from the images, as well as several other product reference photos. It's more terra cotta-y than it was supposed to be, but again we'll live with it until we can't anymore.
The green wall is in what's going to be our kids room. It was spot on identical to the reference photos, so we know we aren't crazy regarding the other two. Unfortunately we only have 30 minutes from online order for cancellations, but it doesn't matter because we wouldn't, and didn't, find out they weren't what we expected until days later.
We've yet to install our minisplits either, which is why the front and rear cap is unfinished and unsightly. It'll happen soon. Just been avoiding it as much as possible.
Here's another angle into the kitchen with the face frames and stain, as well as the window trim being completed. We're not sure if we're going to stain or paint the trim yet. I just know it looks a heckuva lot better than without it
Today over lunch I designed a base cabinet pantry for my wife. I set my toolpaths, generating gcode, to use my CNC to cut them out and within the next hour I produced, assembled, and installed this beaut. I still need to finish it with stain, face frames, and eventually a door front, but it turned out pretty great and my wife is super thrilled about it.
For door and drawer faces, my wife is really into reeded and fluted faces. So I cut an entire sheet of wood into .30" reeds, knowing I was going to use almost an entire sheet for the amount of cabinet and drawers we've got that'll be reeded.
To be honest, I wasn't sure how plywood would turn out for this, but I'm pleasantly surprised. I designed and cut 8 pieces of wood to assemble into a reed sander as well. It's been working well to remove the fuzzies left behind from my cnc roundover bit.
Eventually they'll all be conditioned and stained, then assembled into a drawer or door face. Photos will happen when we get there.
These three pictures are just to give you an idea of our appliances and the flow of our kitchen. We've got an oven/cooktop combo, a dual trash can cabinet system to keep refuse out of sight (we didn't think about this in our first bus). And we've got a countertop dishwasher that we're of course mounting in our cabinets below our countertop. To the left of it is a 30" wide sink that will also be undermounted.
The last picture in this post shows a quick look at our flooring. I put down a few pieces to get an idea of how it will look. This is the third time we've used lifeproof vinyl flooring, and we really like it. It has held up well for us and our pets, and it is straightforward to install. However, we are waiting to install the flooring until we have all the cabinets and interior room-separating walls in place. That way, I can ensure that the planks don't shift or separate when they are installed under permanent fixtures.
I also temporarily set our TV up so our little one can watch Bluey while we're both in the bus building, some days.
After I finish our drawers (hopefully tomorrow) I'll be designing an entertainment center to store the Frame TV brain, maybe a gaming console or two, and then getting our bed framed up.
Hope you all have a good end to the week and weekend. I'll be back soon with more pictures and updates.
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nocoasty
Senior Member
So I got my drawers designed, cut, and assembled today. Believe it or not, this is 8 drawers on the table. They're a lot easier to manage, move around, and they take a heckuva lot less space in this format compared to once they're assembled.
I got the undermount slide locks installed and the holes in the back drilled out as well. So everything on the kitchen side, sans drawer faces, is complete.
It was a really nice moment having them all pulled out and then pushing each drawer in one at a time to enjoy the smooth soft close action. We used undermount slides for the first time in our house cabinets and vanities and immediately fell in love with them. We've just had too many issues with side mount slides over the years that I was adamant to put undermounts in the bus this go around.
This funny little cabinet was designed per a request from my wife. She wanted a place in cabinet for a roll of paper towels and then some "out of sight" storage behind it. The only thing missing is the dowel that'll hold the roll of paper towels and for me to route a little section out for the dowel to easily slide in and out of when it's time to change the roll.
I'm feeling accomplished for the day and I get to check one more thing off of the list. So now, I'm about to close up the shop and run around with my daughter in the yard before the rain.
I got the undermount slide locks installed and the holes in the back drilled out as well. So everything on the kitchen side, sans drawer faces, is complete.
It was a really nice moment having them all pulled out and then pushing each drawer in one at a time to enjoy the smooth soft close action. We used undermount slides for the first time in our house cabinets and vanities and immediately fell in love with them. We've just had too many issues with side mount slides over the years that I was adamant to put undermounts in the bus this go around.
This funny little cabinet was designed per a request from my wife. She wanted a place in cabinet for a roll of paper towels and then some "out of sight" storage behind it. The only thing missing is the dowel that'll hold the roll of paper towels and for me to route a little section out for the dowel to easily slide in and out of when it's time to change the roll.
I'm feeling accomplished for the day and I get to check one more thing off of the list. So now, I'm about to close up the shop and run around with my daughter in the yard before the rain.
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nocoasty
Senior Member
When we were planning for this build, Mariajosé started putting together a design board for the interior. One of the first things that made the board was a photo of a bathroom vanity that she really wanted me to use as inspiration for our cabinets.
Here's the photo.
It's a darker cabinet with reeded drawer faces trimmed in half round. I've designed a few different types of cabinets over the last few years, but reeds and flutes are something I have no experience with but I figured it couldn't be that difficult. And if she wants it, I'm going to do what I can to make it happen.
I had already planned for the reeded fronts and cut an entire 4x8 sheet of wood with .30" reeds using a roundover bit. That way, I could just program my drawer and door face cuts in Vcarve and i could make sure the reeds lined up for the drawers and doors from top to bottom.
Then my project manager showed up. She was unimpressed, but just kept saying "bus." We'll find common ground at some point.
The coolest thing of all though... I got them stained, assembled, and they are beautiful. The only thing I'm missing is door pulls. My wife loves them. I don't know how our little one feels because all she'll tell me is "dada in the bus" and "dada poopooed."
The the cabinet doors are stained and assembled, but I don't have any hinges for the doors, so it'll be a few days before they go on.
Here's the photo.
It's a darker cabinet with reeded drawer faces trimmed in half round. I've designed a few different types of cabinets over the last few years, but reeds and flutes are something I have no experience with but I figured it couldn't be that difficult. And if she wants it, I'm going to do what I can to make it happen.
I had already planned for the reeded fronts and cut an entire 4x8 sheet of wood with .30" reeds using a roundover bit. That way, I could just program my drawer and door face cuts in Vcarve and i could make sure the reeds lined up for the drawers and doors from top to bottom.
Then my project manager showed up. She was unimpressed, but just kept saying "bus." We'll find common ground at some point.
The coolest thing of all though... I got them stained, assembled, and they are beautiful. The only thing I'm missing is door pulls. My wife loves them. I don't know how our little one feels because all she'll tell me is "dada in the bus" and "dada poopooed."
The the cabinet doors are stained and assembled, but I don't have any hinges for the doors, so it'll be a few days before they go on.
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nocoasty
Senior Member
We backed the bus out today to video and photograph some of our progress so far. It was an awesome opportunity to clean the insides and declutter the bus from a ton of junk we've accumulated in in during the build. (Just to get right back to junking it up though.)
For the first time in MONTHS the dash is clear of tools, gang boxes, and switch/outlet covers.
In this photo, you might be able to see at least one of my 2 diesel heater exhausts. We've got two Mini splits that do heat and air and 2 diesel heaters, because I prefer to use diesel for heat when traveling or off grid.
That said, I went a different route for exhausting them for this build using a thru-hole marine heater exhaust. They look better, in my opinion, than just having the exhaust pipe and muffler poking out awkwardly from the bottom of the side skirting.
Also a random thought, I'd be curious to have your input. When we bought our bus, the seating list and route information were left in the side arm pocket, lots of information there. Our buses driver's name was of course on this paperwork, and I've thought about finding him and sharing a few pictures of the bus when it's finished. If someone contacted me like that, I'd think it's awesome and get a kick out of it, but not everyone is like that so I'm teetering with the idea. Any input?
I've built one additional cabinet at my wife's request. She wanted something specifically to store baking trays and baking sheets, but it allowed me an opportunity to put a dimmer and a 3 way switch to control our kitchen lighting from the entryway. I can then turn it off from the living room wall on the way back to the rooms.
It's not completely finished yet, of course. We'll have a door that opens from right to left, and two drawers in the cubby on top.
I finally installed the first of the cabinet doors. I found some really nice soft close hinges that I think are going to hold up pretty well. Here's a few additional photos, including detail photos, of the kitchen looking like a snack and the cabinets.
I need to finish the other doors, but I've been really focused on wrapping up our heat and air situation first.
Which this is where I'm at with that.
Our inside units are mounted, but I've got to run the extended line sets to the outside units, mount and cut openings for the fans, and then pull a vacuum on the system. The diesel heaters are ready to go, except for me tapping into the fuel tank for each supply line.
The diesel heater below the tv will actually be under a piece of furniture I'm going to build. Like a media center... so it'll be relatively hidden from sight, but have good air circulation to heat the larger area pretty well.
Here are some photos of our finished window frames. I went inset/flush for the sides and top, but made an outset, more like a ledge, for the bottoms. They've turned out very nicely. We're still debating on a color, a color of stain, or a type of finish or lack thereof for them. Feel free to share input there.
And to bring us entirely up to date and current, we've finished framing our rooms. First, don't mind the spaghetti nest of wires to switches. I'm going to clean that up, but had just thrown them together to test my 3 way switches and my dimmers.
Our bathroom is the first room we framed and then to our room. Then kiddo's room ends up framed by completing both of those since it's sandwiched between the 2. We ripped some old 6.5" tongue and groove boards left over from the house build into true 2x2.5" boards. This way we know they're straight and we know they're sturdy. I framed ~24" on center as there's no need to really do anything closer together. I'll add some additional bracing where needed for the shower and for our shower mixer valves.
They ended up really nice and square and I'm really looking forward to getting sheeting and then color on them.
That's it for now. Hopefully more to share by the weekend.
For the first time in MONTHS the dash is clear of tools, gang boxes, and switch/outlet covers.
In this photo, you might be able to see at least one of my 2 diesel heater exhausts. We've got two Mini splits that do heat and air and 2 diesel heaters, because I prefer to use diesel for heat when traveling or off grid.
That said, I went a different route for exhausting them for this build using a thru-hole marine heater exhaust. They look better, in my opinion, than just having the exhaust pipe and muffler poking out awkwardly from the bottom of the side skirting.
Also a random thought, I'd be curious to have your input. When we bought our bus, the seating list and route information were left in the side arm pocket, lots of information there. Our buses driver's name was of course on this paperwork, and I've thought about finding him and sharing a few pictures of the bus when it's finished. If someone contacted me like that, I'd think it's awesome and get a kick out of it, but not everyone is like that so I'm teetering with the idea. Any input?
I've built one additional cabinet at my wife's request. She wanted something specifically to store baking trays and baking sheets, but it allowed me an opportunity to put a dimmer and a 3 way switch to control our kitchen lighting from the entryway. I can then turn it off from the living room wall on the way back to the rooms.
It's not completely finished yet, of course. We'll have a door that opens from right to left, and two drawers in the cubby on top.
I finally installed the first of the cabinet doors. I found some really nice soft close hinges that I think are going to hold up pretty well. Here's a few additional photos, including detail photos, of the kitchen looking like a snack and the cabinets.
I need to finish the other doors, but I've been really focused on wrapping up our heat and air situation first.
Which this is where I'm at with that.
Our inside units are mounted, but I've got to run the extended line sets to the outside units, mount and cut openings for the fans, and then pull a vacuum on the system. The diesel heaters are ready to go, except for me tapping into the fuel tank for each supply line.
The diesel heater below the tv will actually be under a piece of furniture I'm going to build. Like a media center... so it'll be relatively hidden from sight, but have good air circulation to heat the larger area pretty well.
Here are some photos of our finished window frames. I went inset/flush for the sides and top, but made an outset, more like a ledge, for the bottoms. They've turned out very nicely. We're still debating on a color, a color of stain, or a type of finish or lack thereof for them. Feel free to share input there.
And to bring us entirely up to date and current, we've finished framing our rooms. First, don't mind the spaghetti nest of wires to switches. I'm going to clean that up, but had just thrown them together to test my 3 way switches and my dimmers.
Our bathroom is the first room we framed and then to our room. Then kiddo's room ends up framed by completing both of those since it's sandwiched between the 2. We ripped some old 6.5" tongue and groove boards left over from the house build into true 2x2.5" boards. This way we know they're straight and we know they're sturdy. I framed ~24" on center as there's no need to really do anything closer together. I'll add some additional bracing where needed for the shower and for our shower mixer valves.
They ended up really nice and square and I'm really looking forward to getting sheeting and then color on them.
That's it for now. Hopefully more to share by the weekend.
Alt1
Senior Member
Great progress. I really appreciate the brightness with the skylight and lots of lighting. I plan to add bigger/brighter lighting in mine in short time.
nikitis
1994 International 3800 - Thomas, T444E 165HP
The side lamp posts is a nice touch.
syntaxterror
Senior Member
Very nice work. I like the smooth walls.
OP
OP
nocoasty
Senior Member
Thanks friend. I love the skylights, but I'm already certain I'll need to make some covers for them. It's hilarious because I'm installing my mini splits right now, while severely wishing I had them operational. It's been mid to upper 80s this week and they warm up the bus. I've been trying to work outside the shop as much as possible because we film our progress for YouTube and there's nothing better than that natural light, but I'm fairly certain I'm going to be stuck in the shop until I get these mini splits running.
Funny enough, my wife LOVES sconces like that, but everything "RV" is cheap quality, expensive price, and ugly as sin. So I pretty much avoid any RV fixture. So, I told her to find one she really liked, didn't matter if it was 110V or 220V and I just snipped the "ground" wire and bought some 12V light bulbs with E26 bases and wired it appropriately for 12V in the bus. Worked like a charm and I agree, I think they are a really nice touch. Our sofa will be there so it's essentially evening mood lighting.
Much appreciated. The Homax "wall texture" worked great to smooth the wood out and make it feel and look like a gypsum board and the limewash paint softened the look of it even more. I'm a fan.
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