Back After a Long Break

I have finally got around to doing another post on the bus project. I have had a break of a couple of weeks due to illness. I developed a bad chest condition which has finally begun to ease after two courses of strong antibiotics. Anyway, I have been working on the bus as and when I've felt able to and this post will bring you up to date with progress so far. It's going to be a bit of a marathon, so here goes.

My last post showed the overhead cupboard frames and shelving almost completed. The next most important thing was the completion of the rear bed/lounge. I had intentions of using the bus but being sick put pay to that.

At this point I had to start panelling with the tongue and groove pine along the front of the seats and the backrests. The pic below shows the finished job. There is still some trim to put around the top of the backrests.

The pic below shows the 'bed board' in place. this goes between the seats and makes it into a bed. I used 12mm plywood for this and strengthened the front edge with a 20mm square piece of pine and screwed this into place. The edges of the plywood have also been trimmed with pine to make a snug fit.

The 'bed board' stores neatly against the back wall of the tall cupboard as the pic below shows. I had intentions of using smaller pieces of ply, for ease of storage, but a couple of clips will keep the board in the cupboard nicely. See pic below.

The next job was to 'face' all of the cupboards and the toilet/shower. The most difficult part about this job is cutting the planks to conform with the shape of the roof. To help, I cut a template from plywood and used this. This is the wall behind the shower and shows the tall cupboard.

The pic below is one of the front wall of the shower/toilet and how the panelling had to be cut to the shape of the roof.



The next pic is of the front overhead cupboard which had to be faced and cut to conform with the shape of the roof. This turned out OK I think. Cutting out the panelling for the cupboards was made so much easier with a little trimmer router that I bought for the job together with a trimmer bit with a bearing on the bottom. This meant that I did not have to be super critical with the lengths of the T&G pine and I could trim them to a neat finish after the glue had dried.

This is the dinette seat behind the driver's seat. The backrest panelling has been extended beyond the seat for the sake of neatness and also to provide a mounting point for the fire extinguisher which is a must. I was lucky and a good sized one was provided with the bus.

One of the issues I had to deal with was how to obscure the glass that sits over the shower/toilet. Even though the inside will have panelling all across, I was worried that it would look awful from outside. I had contemplated painting the glass, but my advice from the experts was that it is very difficult to get paint to stick to glass for long periods. Instead, I went down the path of a product by White Knight paints which comes in a small spray can for about $15. It is glass frosting and is easily applied and is designed to stick to glass. I applied the whole can in about 4 coats to the windows. The pics below show both the interior and exterior finished job. Lets hope it sticks like it's supposed to.

Interior View

The pic below shows the completed dinette seat on the left side of the bus. In front of the seat is a small cupboard which will house the power supply for my HF radio and also provide a handy shelf to rest an arm on or sit a drink on. The bottom part of this cupboard has been cut open to allow access from behind the passenger's seat for storage of jumper cables or similar. I hope to change both the front seats to something more comfortable. The current left side seat is skinny and uncomfortable and will not tilt forward. Hopefully I can find some suitable replacements from a car/4WD etc.

This is a view from the rear of the bus looking forward. As you can see, I have put a top on the cupboard. I went down the path of 19mm melamine particle board for two reasons; The melamine provides some increased resistance to moisture and also prevents the underside of the panel being open to the air. The chemical stuff that they put in the particle board is not good to be breathing 24/7. By the time Laminex is stuck onto the top of this and a pine edging placed around it, the panel will be completely sealed again. I know that the Laminex should not be placed onto the melamine, but I am assured that if I attack the surface with the belt sander, the glue will stick just fine.

The following two pics are self explanatory and give an overall impression of the stage that the conversion is at at the moment. I have priced all of the fittings including the appliances and will order those this week.

What's next? Well I think that its time to start getting serious with the 12 volt wiring, solar panels, fuses etc then start looking for an electrician who will run the 240 volt wiring for me. I have to have a 15 amp system installed together with an earth leakage detector. I am going to get a power point placed at the rear near the bed and one outside where the awning will go. You never know when you might need it.

There won't be much done now for at least another week. I'll try to keep the posts more regular from now on. Thanks for reading.