The Heaters Are Out - First Coat of Varnish Done

I have decided to stop calling the Bus a Bus,  because it is just not a Bus anymore.  I will call it a motorhome from now on.  Someone asked me the other day what I called the 'Bus' and truthfully I haven't decided yet.  From the inside all you can see is wood and its meant to rescue me from life generally,  so I though maybe the Ark might be appropriate.The only problem with that is the aminals went in two by two and of course there's just me.  Maybe 'Far-Kin-Off" because I have family so far away in WA,  but then again that might be misconstrued by some.  If you have any ideas,  I'd be pleased to hear them.

Well on to the progress today.  Lucy, a friend of mine took time away from her make-up and shopping for shoes to come up and give me a hand removing the bus heater units of which there were two.  They've been sitting there under the seats for ages.  Of course removing the heater units also meant removing the heater hoses that ran the full length of the bus from the radiator and back again.  The process involved climbing under the 'motorhome' and undoing nuts, which Lucy was very good at indeed.  I did make the mistake of climbing into the driver's seat while she was under the front of the 'motorhome' and very nearly crushed one of her 'chests'.  It was lucky because I might have popped the silicone if she hadn't been so quick of the mark and turned to prevent injury.  Anyway after much grunting and some cursing,  she managed to loosen the nuts, cut the hoses and I was able to pull out the heaters.  The pics below don't show much,  just the holes in the floor.

Removing thes heaters will not only provide more room,  but because of the amount of hose that we removed from the bus,  there is much less chance of heating problems.

Lucy also helped me measure the brackets for the water tanks.  We had intended to install them,  but as usual nothing is that simple.  I bought 40mm x 5xmm flat steel but it was too difficult to to bend so we decided to put the tanks into place and measure the size of the brackets which I'll get fabricated.  It all went well,  but I will have to get the tail pipe of the exhaust moved a little. Another job I'll have to pay for.  Lets hope its not too expensive.  The brackets will run avross the length of the tank not across as I first thought.  The best laid plans....

VARNISH

The first coat of varnish is is done on all of the woodwork, and it does look good even if I do say so myself.  I now have to rub the whole lot down with 240 grit paper and give it another coat.  That should be enough,  but if there is a need,  I'll do a third coat.

This one gives a good idea of how the whole thing looks now.  You can see the gloss even after one coat.  Tomorrow (Sunday) I am going to start on the cupboard doors.  I have a plan in my head on how to make them,  we'll see how it goes.  I'll do another post tomorow night.