The bus with no name....Yet

[JahBus]

We purchased this bus in November 2015 to convert into our mobile house. These are a few pictures that I have so far.



This is the bus before any work had been done. First days home





All the seats out and where properly disposed of.




Beginning to rip up the floor. We bought an old cast iron wood stove and man it's heavy! It will not be leaving the bus again. The spot where it is in the above photo is where it will live along with a hearth.



Ripping up the floor revealed some rust that was taken care of with ospho. Great stuff.



Using a wire brush and grinder to bust the rust. It was the worst around the wheel wells but luckily it was only surface.



Ready to prime. We used Rust Stop from the local ace here in gunnison.




Someone got carried away and forgot the tops of the wheel wells.




All done and now ready for the subfloor to go in. We have 1 inch foam board for insulation and on top of that will be 3/4 in plywood. I am 6'4 so headroom is a must. When it is all said and done with the wood floor put in I figured I will have just under a 1/2 of room before I bonk my head.

 

[CaptSquid]

Try spray insulation UNDER the floor as well. I'll be doing that to Brunhilde after my brother sell's Dad's house.

 

[human being]

looks good, that's about where I am on mine right now

 

[JahBus]

The spray foam from underneath is a great idea. I will see how this holds up before we do that.

It has been warmer than usual in Gunnison the last couple of days so we have been getting some work done on the subfloor. We used furring strips and self tapping screws to frame around the insulation.



After that we laid down the plywood which will be our flooring until we do the wood floor this summer.



Stephanie scribing insulation




Up to the wheel wells done yesterday afternoon. Hopefully will be done with the subfloor this afternoon.

 

[lizzabus]

Very nice looking! How tall are your ceilings? I'm 6'1" and if I stand up VERY straight I'm touching the ceiling. I have NO room to add insulation to the floor. Rats!

I will check into spraying insulation under the bus like you mentioned.

You guys are cooking right along. I'm envious of the sunshine! (winter in Seattle does NOT equal sunshine)

 

[JahBus]

They are about 6'5 from the sheet metal. I am 6'3 so when I am done with the wood floors I should have just shy of a half inch. I understand that up in Washington. Lived in the Seattle are for a bit. How about this last summer though. Super dry! We went to the Olympic peninsula in August and it rained for about 3 minutes the whole two weeks there. Nothing like I remember the Pacific Northwest. It was in the 30s the last couple of days here in Colorado so I thought I'd better get some work done.

 

[rognyt23]

My Blue Bird is in the 'Springs. I've made about as much progress but in over a year. I'm disabled so my energy is limited to a few hours a week. I lucked out getting a 40' with chair lift. If you are ever in the area, I'd be glad to give a tour.

 

[eyedeal.ink]

that steel floor is gonna stay the same temp as the outside of the bus, nothing you can do about that, not even spray foam underneath. That being said, we added 3/4" foam insulation, 3/4" plywood and 1/2" cork flooring, floor stays pretty comfortable but slippers are a good idea in the winter...I'm 6'3" and that's what I ended up with height wise.

 

[JahBus]

Think I might come out with about a 1/4 of head room after floor. We have finished the subfloor and moved onto rough framing. The bed is a queen sized with walk around and two night stands. The compost toilet will be over the wheel well backed by a 30 inch closet. We also found a pretty nice couch that will fit behind the drivers seat. We plan on making a trip to Moab UT in the coming weeks for our first trip after registering the bus.

 

[CaptSquid]

That "convenience" seat seems to be a mite close to the floor. Do you anticipate raising it a bit?

 

[JahBus]

Yes I did raise it up this afternoon. Room for a 5 gallon bucket and a side stash of saw dust.

 

[Docsgsxr]

Great spot for the commode! I would have just used more floor space for mine, and built a closet over them. Might steal that idea.

 

[JA Savage]

We put our sawdust commode over the wheel wells also. The only thing we did differently was we put the commode over the driver's side of the platform over the wheels and used the backside of the platform for a bedroom closet.

 

[JahBus]

Eventually there will be a full closet behind the composting toilet and also one on the opposite wheel well. They will somewhat separate the living space and our bedroom.

We finally got it titled as an rv last week so we took it to Moab and Silverton this last weekend. The only problem we had was when the coolant loop that I made after taking the rear heater out burst. Only took us a few hours to clean up an fix to get us back to Colorado. So now I will ask how did all of you loop your coolant heater lines?

Here are some pictures from the build and trip!
Just enough to get registered


Waking up to snow in the mountains outside of Durango, CO. It got to be 10 degrees in Silverton.



Dog friendly arch



Sunny day in Moab



Hole to the sky



It was a good first trip with the bus because we wanted to get out of Gunnison. We will be buying a 40 gallon water tank, on demand water heater, and a generator next. First comes a coolant flush and fill though.

 

[PoolRoom]

My Blue Bird is in the 'Springs. I've made about as much progress but in over a year. I'm disabled so my energy is limited to a few hours a week. I lucked out getting a 40' with chair lift. If you are ever in the area, I'd be glad to give a tour.

I am in the Springs... would love to see what you are doing!!!

 

[skoolie_n00bie]

Great progress!

...and great pictures!
Once our skoolie is ready, we're definitely taking a trip towards your area!

 

[cowlitzcoach]

Why/where did the coolant loop fail?

A lot of times coolant lines never have a problem until you mess around with them for whatever reason. And then when they get good and warmed up they will burst for no apparent reason. The break is usually close to where you messed around with them. I have had them burst almost at then end of the hose right by the end where I had removed it from a heater core.

I generally cut several inches off of the end of any disturbed hose before I re-install. I have had fewer problems if I have done that.

 

[Tango-SKO]

Over time hoses tend to get a bit crusty. Fine until you go moving them around or bending them. New hose is cheap.