NOMADICISTA

I'll be metal tent camping until about November. As much as I like trucks I don't miss driving for an occupation as much as I thought I would.

I've reached one of those milestones when I can sit back for about 5 minutes and admire my work, then get on with more stuff. Actually I reached it a few days ago, I was going to move the bus out to take unobstructed pictures, but I removed some steering hoses , starting to move the power steering reservoir so I had to wait until I got that project finished so I could take some proper pictures. Still some minor things left to clean and put back on, but the outside is close enough I'm going to call it done.

Before and after.














Generator project is already started, fresh water tank mounting is next.

I didn't like the transition between white and blue. I found some cool reflective tape that almost exactly matches the blue in the daytime.
Here is what it looks like at night with a light shining on it.

Now that's what I call transformation. Can't wait to see more of the build.

I finished the door stop and stay, As is usual, I didn't like any of the commercial things I found. It had to be on the outside because of the way my screen door mounts on the inside. It may look a little funky, but it does the job quite well. It still needs a spring on the bottom of the stay, but that requires yet ANOTHER trip to town.

Again, it seems like forever since I had something to post. I finally have the fresh and waste tanks installed. It seems like every time I think I have a problem solved, three new ones arise.
Here are the fresh tanks, nestled up inside the frame in front of the storage bays.
Total fresh capacity 97 gals.

Two rear tanks looking forward.Steel for the fresh tank metal work is recycled seat frames, cross pieces top and bottom are highway sign posts.



The third tank is in front of those two above axle squeezed in beside one of the air tanks. I spent one entire day moving that
air tank for more clearance. Total gain 3/4 inch, but it was enough to make things fit without anything touching.

This is the front tank showing tight fit.



I put the waste tanks in the storage bays. Total gray 106 gal. Black about 35 gal.
My original plan was to just put them in on the floor crossways. That didn't really work out because of plumbing problems. This way I gained a lot of storage space, even though
It looks like I built an erector set in there. I also had to add braces to hold up the floor. The plumbing isn't in yet, but should be fairly straight forward at least for the drain part.

Left side showing one gray and the black tank. Dump valve is just sitting in position.



Right side, if you notice the outer front leg on both sides is also holding up the floor from the extension that goes up and has a bolt from above that spans two of the floor joists.


Not shown is the pillar between the bay doors, it's just a filler that bolts to the front leg.

I didn't like any of the fresh water fills that I could find in/on any RV, partly because I wanted to mount it above the rub rails, I also don't like those plastic boxes
I did some searching and found this from the boating industry.



The vent beside it is also a boat item.
Showing fill on side of bus.



As soon as the waste plumbing is done I can get started on the fresh water plumbing including the plumbing for the hot water heat. Most of that is inside so cold weather shouldn't be as much as a problem.

Darn fine. You gonna take any trips after the plumbing goes in?

Cheers

Rufus

Probably not 'till spring, I have lots to do to the inside.

Great great job

I like the way in which you hung your tanks.

A friend of mine has a sticks and staples 5th wheel. He had to take it into the shop to get the waste tanks rehung. According to the tech at the RV repair shop, the tank hangers are not designed to hold the tanks up when they are fully loaded and sloshing them around while traveling down the road.

I ask you, what is the point of of having waste tanks if you can't drive down the road with them full?

I know the weight factor can become important. But seriously, if you are out boondocking, how are you going to dump your tanks without first traveling some distance?

I guess it's about time I added to this. I've been working away, I seem to take more time thinking about it than actually doing it.
I've been working on getting the boiler installed for the hot water heat. I've pretty much gotten the water supply to the boiler done. The exhaust
is done. Most of the fuel supply to the boiler is done (I'm old, and not going to lay in the snow under a bus when it's only 15 degrees out ).

Boiler assy with cover off.


Detail of exhaust out of the boiler. It came with a flimsy looking bendable pipe that I didn't like. The blue tube is air intake. Square adapter
is to go around the intake.


Detail of exhaust out the roof.


Boiler water supply. It's a closed pressurized system with expansion tank.


Water supply system open for water fill and maintenance.


All closed up. Note extensive use of seat steel. The swing arm is part of an old cattle feeder.


The gray box just forward of the boiler is a marine water heater. It is a heat exchanger so that the boiler will heat domestic hot water,
it is also 110v for when hooked to shore power. There is also a heat exchanger that will take heat from the engine and heat the boiler/water heater
loop. Pictures to come later.

I like the install.

I assume you have installed this in the area above the engine compartment and accessed through what used to be the emergency exit at the back of the bus.

Are you using diesel for fuel for the boiler?

There have been many motorcoaches that have burned to the ground due to malfunctioning fuel fired water heaters. I hope you have some good smoke/heat detectors to let you know when things are not working correctly.

Mark,
Yes it is in the area above the rear engine Diesel fired.

There have been many motorcoaches that have burned to the ground due to malfunctioning fuel fired water heaters

I've SEEN a lot of burned out hulks along side the road due to LP fires. I will nave NO LP anything, I really don't like having to mess
with propane,tanks,filling,etc. As far as the diesel part, I don't think it is anymore dangerous than a fuel oil furnace, which is what it is.
I will have detectors in that compartment though, just in case.

I'm getting ready to leave for my first event in the bus at the end of the month. While I have been working steadily a lot of things don't show. A lot of things will be just "dealt with" I didn't want to just set the printers in on the floor. I got the printer cabinet far enough done so I could mount them in their permanent location today. Computers will just have to sit on the floor I guess, and if I don't get busy, I will too.

Stowed position



Working position



Fully extended for maintenance



I'll have to spend the next week getting construction debris out and things kind of stowed somewhere.
There is the small problem of going to Wisconsin and NO heat of any kind, but I'll just have to deal with it. Hope it doesn't get too cold. For this trip I will have a nice warm bed at a friends house.
I was hoping for another month, but the event organizers advertised that I would have printers for those "instant gratification pictures"

Hey Somewhere, Your project is comming along nicely. Given a little more time and you will have the most comfy bus in the fleet! Good luck with your first application of the bus for its intended use-I'm sure it will do just fine. When you say "no heat at all" do you include the bus heater and defroster or are those still operational? Jack

Thanks Jack,
I haven't been working on it to the point of getting tired of it. After all I have gone dancing the last four nights. The stuff I've been working on is all of that stuff that needs to be done before you can do something else,before something else, before something else, etc. Most of which no one but me will ever see. By no heat, I really mean no heat. Everything, including original heat and defrost is tied into the new hydronic heat. I work outdoors and run into a snag when one of my pipe connections leaked. I'm just not up to crawling around in hard to reach places when I know I'll get wet when the temp is hovering somewhere around *&%#**.