Progress on the Crown (A.K.A. POTD)

[etinhidesert]

Hello Sharkey,

With winter fast approaching, I was wondering if you were able to have enough done in the Crown to move in. My project is moving slowly, at least not backwards. Hope all is well,

Elden in Hesperia

[Carl]

Hey Sharkey, I am new to the site but want to comment how wonderful it is to see this work going on. I don't have a bus conversion but have a motorhome..I know, don't throw things, too old to get out and do that work anymore. One question. How do you get it registered to be on the road, or do you have to have it checked by DMV before going on the road? I have been thinking of lengthening my motorhome a little, any special requirements by DMV? Carl

[Sharkey]

Elden, the last meaningful progress on the Crown was back in May. I tinkered a bit over the summer, but as usual, other projects and hot weather got the better of my time. Now I'm involved in building a new radio station, which is eating up my days full time.

Carl, Welcome to the forums and web site. Inspection/licensing varies by state. Here in Oregon, the bus (or truck) needs to be modified to the degree that it can no longer be used as a passenger bus (or freight-hauling truck), with at least some indications that it's on it's way towards being a motor home. You pay the fees and they license it. Simple, the rest is up to you.

I've heard that other states require you the have it professionally converted and inspected. If you do the work yourself, a certified RV shop has to sign off on the work performed. Some require that LPG systems be installed with a permit only by licensed pipefitters.

Your best bet is to get ahold of your state's Motor Vehicle Department and find out what they are going to require. Around here, if you throw an old mattress and an ice chest in the back, you can license it as a motor home.

[jerry75Crown]

Hi Sharky,
Just wondering what kind of Station are you putting together.
Jerry KB7BKN
Patty KB7BKM

[Sharkey]

Jerry, the station is KCGR, FM 100.5, 10.5KW ERP with a fill-in translator at 94.9, 90 Watts ERP. I started with bare walls at the studios and bare ground on the mountain top for the tx site. It's on the air now, but needs a lot more work before it is finished. We're playing xmas music 24/7 until the end of the year when the new format starts.

This is my last project, I'll be retiring when it's done. The sale of my property has produced enough income that I'll never need to pick up work to pay the bills again. Might even have enough uninterrupted time to finish the bus.

[jerry75Crown]

Now that sounds like a fun project. I'm sorry I missed it.
I know what you mean about the last big project. I'm 61 and feel the writing on the wall.
What a wonderfull thing to take the edge off the money side. I'd like nothing better than to spend the next year working on the bus. I think I could get done. I just don't think the rest of the world is going to let me.
Oh well, I've got a few more years. It is most certainly the journey and not the destination.
See Ya
Jerry

[dadeo]

Sharkey,
do you have any pre-"archive page one" pictures?? Maybe of chopping off the roof, or other first stages?? Perhaps a archives page 0????

[Sharkey]

Damn, do you have any idea how much scanning that would require? Oh well, I got half of it done in the first session. Here's the beginning of the "Early days of the Crown"

[dadeo]

cool! thats exactly what i meant, thank you!!

[Sharkey]

<table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="#FFFFC0"><tr><td>So, what's this, some progress on Christmas Day??? Yes, and no. A tiny bit of progress, but it's actually from last weekend.

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Sunday last weekend was a small ice storm, so I stayed home and tried to catch up on a few houshold chores, which isn't all that productive without water. The plumbing, you see, was shut off and drained because of the freezing weather.

Anyway, one project I have on my plate is a small electronic construction for one of my radio station clients. Since the Housetruck was all closed up and I really didn't want to produce any solder smoke in the truck, I thought that I'd heat the bus and work out there. Since last winter, the front wall of the bus has been open to the cab, as I had taken down a couple of curtians of sheet plactic to work on the wall and electrical. I considered trying to put them back up to help the bus heat faster, but a better plan would be to install the insulation in the wall that separates the bathroom from the rest of the bus. Took me about an hour and a half, after which I got distracted by someone towing their broken down car over to my place to get help having it fixed, but what the hey, it's movement forward.

This weekend, I've decided to resign from the job I've been working for the last 90 days, and wrote the owner of the radio station a "Dear John" letter (Dear Steve....I Quit!). It's time for me to start paying attention to my life again, and the fact is, I don't really need the money due to some other things going on right now (more on that in another topic on New Year's Eve). The short version of the story is that I have a very limited time to work on the bus before some heavy changes come up for me, so I hope to put some work into it in the next month or two. If I put even close to the same amount of time into bus construction that I have working for John, er, Steve, then I should have some progress to show. Then the other shoe drops. More later.

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[dadeo]

cool. cool...drink some dew and get fired up!! it looks like its comming along nicely.

[Sharkey]

OK, so much for the 2005 version of this topic, go click over to the New POTD Page

[Oybus]

Wondering if there have been any recent developments?? Amazing project!
oybus@aol.com