Missing in *Bus* Action

I haven't posted in a long while because we've been busy working on the bus!  Michael took a hiatus once it started getting hot.  I continued a little bit getting some plywood walls to resemble smooth gyp board, but I easily gave up when Michael suggested we work out instead of working on the bus.  It wasn't that I was eager to exercise - I wasn't too keen on exerting energy in the humidity, battling mosquitoes and no-see-ums.

But 3 weekends ago, we installed the walls for the back bedroom which will be Michael's and mine.

As seen from the front of the bus.

As seen from the back of the bus where the master bedroom is.

Michael then took a week off work and we focused on the kids' bunk beds.

The template we've been using for the curve of the ceiling

Simone is eyeing Max's bed

The kids' drawers! 

Max is going to try out his new bunk bed.

As soon as we finished the bunk beds, we started working on the shower.  Michael had 2 days left for his vacation and he was going to be as efficient as possible.  

Step One: Drill a hole for water to escape the shower

Step Two:  Add walls

Step Three:  Pretend the plumbing is already installed

Despite our hiatus, we are now full-blast into working on the bus.  During the day, I have a variety of things to do, both on the bus and at the big box home-improvement stores.  At night, Michael comes home and we work for as long as we can bear the bug bites (there are still no-see-ums roaming about).

Welding Projects

Before we could insulate the bus, we needed to finish several tasks. Michael ran conduit, we ran extra wires in anticipation of future lights, and Michael welded some metal support that we will need when we build the kids' bunk beds and the bathroom walls. Here's Michael explaining the top brackets that were welded to the bus.

Click to play V I D E O: Welding Top Brackets

The corresponding bottom brackets are shown below:

Michael had tried using the stick welder that Uncle Frankie had, but didn't find it to be much more of an advantage so he went back to using his Mig / Flux welder so that he could weld in and onto the bus! I think Michael caught a welding bug because he kept thinking of more things he could weld. For example, he realized that now would be a good time to put in supports for our future overhead cabinets.

Click to play V I D E O: Welding Cabinet Brackets

I was fearful to try the welding, but overcame it one morning and asked Michael if I could try. It turns out he was fearful for me to try welding too. At least on projects that were going to be on the bus. He responded, "Sure, but maybe on some scrap metal ... later ... not now." Michael didn't feel he had time to show me a tutorial because we were feeling the crunch at this time. We still had so much to do and our deadline of June 30 was fast approaching. It looked as if we would have to leave by July 4th.

Remodeling the Roof, Part 2 - Entertainment

Before Michael painted the roof, he attached the base of what is to be our future observation deck. Yes, we are going to use ALL of this bus for traveling. No, we won't be on the roof while it's traveling, but when it's parked and secure, we'll have the option of going up top and viewing air shows, stars, whatever.

We didn't have time to construct the deck, but before we painted the roof we had to put on the brackets that would hold the deck. With 4" metal sheets, Michael constructed these brackets all by himself!

The only things he didn't construct were the stainless steel nuts, bolts, and washers. The picture above shows them spray painted with the same gray primer Michael used on the sides of the bus.

We located these brackets along the bus's existing frame. Michael grounded out the rivet heads and popped out the stems. Then we laid the bracket plate over the roof's holes to get the location of where we needed to drill new holds. As Michael was up on the roof holding the bracket in place, I was underneath with a sharpie placing a dot in the middle of the hole. Once we had marked the metal, we drilled the appropriately sized holes. Then we tested all 16 pieces.

Again we didn't put any sealant until all pieces dry-tested well. This time, we didn't use the black tar-like sealant/adhesive. Instead it was a WHITE goop that was only slightly less sticky than the bath fan's adhesive. But we were prepared with wet and dry towels and ruined just small portions of my shorts. When I wash Michael's socks, I still find hardened goop holding on for dear life. Well at least we know the brackets will stay up there!

Another project we did on the roof was to reverse the swing of the escape hatch. To get onto our observation deck, we will go through the emergency exit located in the master bedroom. It originally opened so that you would exit onto the rear of the bus. After switching it over, we will now exit closer to the middle and right onto the metal deck!

Michael wasn't the only one that got to do metal work! The following pictures are the new brackets we had to make for the altered escape hatch door. Uncle Frankie helped me out so much on this project. We sorted through his pile of scrap metal pieces and he showed me how to use the drill press & bench grinder! 

An open letter to my dad. "Dear Dad, Yes, the deck will have railing all around so that we will all be safe. This railing however will collapse when not in use so as to maintain our incognito stealth look."

After all the prep work was done, we were finally able to paint the roof. Well .... More like Michael was able to paint the roof. We used this fancy stuff called BusKote. It's similar to the paint used on roads to deliniate lanes. Within the paint are crystals. When the paint dries, the crystals surface and increase the reflectivity of the paint. This will help insulate the interior of the bus from attracting more heat! But this fancy paint has 3 parts to it. The Primer, the Reflective Paint, and the Clear Coat. And Michael did several layers of every one of those parts!

The roof, sanded and primed to be primered!

2 coats of Bus Kote

1 coat of Flexi-Clear sealer

We had a lot of excess paints and gave them to Dick. Michael totally overestimated how much we needed that we had a whole gallon of BusKote! But it was worth because it gets hot in that bus with the sun beating down on it.