Project Huckleberry

[hatchetman-SKO]

I'm starting my conversion after months of research on this site and others. Thank you for all of the helpful information that I have learned on this site that gives me the confidence to tackle this project.

:Thanx:

 

[hatchetman-SKO]

Yesterday I removed the seats. Here's a helpful tip on how to remove seat bolts.

http://www.skoolie.net/forums/f10/how-to-easily-remove-seat-bolts-17950.html

 

[Robin97396]

You're going to laugh at how some seats get removed from certain buses.

Good to hear you're progressing right along with the seats. Now start getting those bazzilian rivets out.

 

[hatchetman-SKO]

Yeah I'm not looking forward to that but I need to clear out that moldy insulation. I know I have a few roof leaks.

 

[Robin97396]

You'll cuss the process, but when you get to next winter you'll be glad it's done. It's amazing how much the insulation helps to even out the summer temperatures too.

I consider everything else done to buses to be fluff. Get the insulation in if you're going to live in it.

 

[hatchetman-SKO]

Had to cut away the floor of the underbody storage. Rusty and gross. Hopefully the box can be saved by moving the floor up a few inches to good metal. Fingers crossed.

 

[Robin97396]

That's the cool part about having a bus. You can do it any way you think works for you.

 

[WanderWoman-SKO]

That's the cool part about having a bus. You can do it any way you think works for you.

Yes!! And respect how others choose to do it [emoji4]
Love this Skoolie community.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[EastCoastCB]

Yeah I'm not looking forward to that but I need to clear out that moldy insulation. I know I have a few roof leaks.

That's the way I went. More work, but so worth it man!

 

[hatchetman-SKO]

Finally after many days of rain and otherwise busy weekends I swept out the bus and decided to post about my morning so far:

Gross things found in the bus

and

Money found in the bus

 

[hatchetman-SKO]

Spent about 5 hours today to remove the wall panels and upper wire chases, also had to remove and reinstall the 4 emergency exit windows.

I finished the day by starting to remove the first set of rivets on the ceiling. I was having a tougher time than I thought I should so on a hunch I changed grinding wheels. What a difference! Some grinding wheels are more aggressive than others and my dewalt wheel is doing great, easily chews through the rivets. The other wheel went in the trash. Shouldn't take too long to get the 400+ ceiling rivets out if my arms hold up.

 

[Robin97396]

You'll swear it's 40,000 rivets before you're done. My arms gave out a few times.

 

[hatchetman-SKO]

Started taking the ceiling down today and some of the insulation on the sides. The ceiling insulation looks like it is good shape so far but the wall insulation was nasty. I can only take two panels off before my arms need a rest but progress is progress!

Salvageable for wheel wells and other tight spots?

Yuck!

 

[Robin97396]

What, you can't take the ceiling panels all out at the same time? Guess what, neither could we. I'm good for about 20 minutes at a time and took out about two panels per day. Progress is progress.

Imagine how many times that sidewall insulation got wet. If you've stayed in your bus at all during cold weather, you'll notice a major difference once you get some real insulation in there.

 

[hatchetman-SKO]

All the sheet metal is out of the interior including the front and rear - insulation too. Next step the floors to check for rust. Man my arms hurt from grinding those ceiling rivets.

Good thing I researched removing the chair rail on this forum, I'll be leaving that alone after realizing how structural it was.

Time was about 20 minutes per seam of rivets resting for a few moments in between each river to restore blood flow :biggrin:

 

[Robin97396]

It seems like someone would come up with a better way to remove rivets, but then they weren't designed to come out. I took my rivets out last summer and I swear my arms are still sore. In some places there were rivets under the panels I just took off.

I thought the rivets were bad until I started trimming foam.

 

[hatchetman-SKO]

Cleaned up the inside of the bus today to prep for floor removal. Since it was nice and hot I decided to remove the decals and reflective striping this weekend. That was a lot of work - and razor blades, now to get rid of all that adhesive residue.

Maybe I should buy stock in the company that makes Goo Gone!

 

[Robin97396]

Or use gasoline on a rag and a wire brush.

 

[hatchetman-SKO]

The weather here has been unbearably hot and humid lately but I'm making progress on the gutting. The focus lately has been cleaning up the 12v wiring mess. After the cleanup I'll have lots of 12v wire to recycle to future projects!

 

[EastCoastCB]

Keep up the good work!
Its been extremely hot this summer. Went from record drought to raining almost every day. Between mowing and the weather my buses are at a standstill.
I think you need a hatchet man avatar, btw.