July 17, 2008

More of the dinette...

Do you ever start something, intending to do just an "okay" job, but then that little something in you takes over and says, "Go ahead, kick some butt!!!". Well, I think that is what happened here.
It only has to be a simple table, but this has turned into much more. A sturdy, fashionable piece of work for the dinette. Mitered, biscuit joined, and about to be stained mahogany on the edges. The tops of the backs of the benches will be stained to match. Stylin'. And both benches almost completely complete.

Thanks to David Hawkins, friend and owner of Hawk Custom Floors, for stopping by to help us figure out the order in which to install carpet and parquet flooring (kitchen area only). He suggests to carpet up to furniture, but never under it, so that when you need to change flooring, it's easy peas-y.

July 16, 2008

The Dinette Set

One chair down - studded with 2x4s (and 2x3s). Something the kids won't break.


Figuring out the dimensions of this thing was time consuming, man! Four pieces of 4in. foam that will fit together when the table is down to sleep a 6ft. person/people. Tall enough to sit in with a good distance between the seats and the table. How tall are chairs anyway? And how deep?Should the back slant back slightly for comfort? No, then you lose sleeping length! Ergh.

For the geekier readers:
Chair Depth + Chair Depth + Table Width must = length of all 4 foam pieces
2 (23-1/2) + 28 = 2(14) + 2(23-1/2)
...which must equal something you would actually WANT to sit in or sleep in, plus we only had so many inches to work with overall (stairwell to wheel well).
We finally came up with an accurate sketch and cut list!


Our friend and upholsterer, Kathy Richards, is ordering and cutting the foam for us! Thanks, Kathy!

July 15, 2008

A Welded Bunk


We had a welding company down the street, ATP Welding, weld together a bunk bed and weld bars across the filled-in windows for added girth. Also, they welded in strips in the to-be kitchen area so that we have something sturdy and square on which to hang the upper cabinets.

The area to the right of the bunk will be a closet. The bottom bunk will be a couch/bed. We plan on putting the kids' car seats on this side since they can attach to the bus frame (where the original seats were attached).

July 14, 2008

Sawing away at the moon

Sort of Bethlehem-ish, don't ya think?

July 13, 2008

Sub Floor, Windows and a Wall

...and a bugle boy.

So, Marc finished the sub floor and cut out some luon to cover one of the walls. All of the walls will be done like this. Then, he cut out some "airline carpet" , as we call it to cover the portion of the wall that will be seen.


Also, notice the two back windows (on each side) have been covered over. We didn't want to lose any of the emergency windows, so we replaced one of the front non-emergency windows with one of the back emergency windows. Hey, if this thing blows up - we want a way out!


See carpet below.

July 11, 2008

Materials

MATERIALS ~ Have you ever heard of Asset Recycling? Man, that place is our kind of place. We bought 35 yards of fabric (for the seat cover cushions and the "airline" walls) and the carpet for the entire bus for around $50! Woo-hoo! They sell all kinds of seconds and leftovers; cabinets, caulk, doors, tiles, marble, paint, etc, etc, etc. We highly recommend them for the bargain shoppers.

Asset Recycling Inc

assetrecycling.org

701 N Holt Rd # 1
Indianapolis, IN 46222
(317) 635-7774


What else have we purchased recently?
- wiring
- cover for wiring
For the dinette set:
- 1/2 in. and 3/4 in plywood for the seats
- 2x4s for inside seat support - we're going for sturdy!
- table top laminate from a place down the street
- table posts and drink holders from Tom Raper, RV (they ship fast!)

- bead board for the ceiling

July '08 - Back to the work

We are finally back to working on good 'ol Maybelle. I'll post pictures soon, but it is amazing what can be done when you stay up until like, oh, say, 4am every night working like a dog, don't you think? (Marc, I mean.)

July 8th 2007

Another day bites the dust...

This is what we've got at the end of Serious Day 2, and then some. the black flooring is out and ALL of the side walls are out. We're leaving the back wall.

Looks like, the sky is the limit. Ten steps backward it seems....but just watch what'll happen in the next few months (or years)!

Marc, tearing out the covering on the steps. Rusty.

The plan as of 7/8/07

The plan....

Floors - Put in a new 1/2 in. layer of sub floor on top of the existing floor for added stability.

Walls and Windows -
Remove some windows and patch them in with fiberglass and metal studs. Our friend Danny can take care of this part for us, but first we'll chalk in the floor plan and see which windows will need to be removed. We do not want to build OVER the windows, because this is for the long haul, baby.

After the windows are patched, we will insulated the walls, cover them with luon (a thin plywood), cover the luon with carpet and cut in new smaller windows...and vents for the stove, microwave and hood. (update: we did patch four side windows, but left the other four as is - no new windows - although it still technically could be done if needed).


Propane -
Weld in a box for the propane tank and water tanks. We are brainstorming the best location for these things. Can we build storage under the bus??? Everything is an option, when nothing is what you've got.

Rust

Lots of this....

means lots of this....

and, also, black snot.

July 7th, 2007

The sun setting on our work.

I am so proud of us today. A Saturday. And we busted what we came to bust.
A wall and a half, gone.
Half the flooring, also gone.

Wanna convert a bus? A whole lot of this going on.....zzzt, zzzzzzt, zzzzzztt. Some of the screws were stripped out and a few were rusty. We're likely to toss the whole bunch and start fresh. (update: we filled in four side windows and had enough screws to screw the other four back together)

Whew, one day down!

Floors Step 1

Bye, bye black floors.


We made a monumental decision to GUT THE THING. Everything that can go, must go.
A little more work, but in the long run...it'll be well worth it.

I was very happy to see the yucky, dirty black floors go. It feels like throwing away bad memories - very cleansing. I think this must be part of Conversion Feng Shui - rid Maybelle of her past.

Kudos to the WONDERBAR crowbar!
Now, we can put down a new layer of subfloor on which to build our dream machine.

Walls

Ever wanted to see the inside of the wall of a shuttle bus?????

These walls are an exterior fiberglass with some sort of insulation sprayed on them. We found some rusty studs which leads us to the source of any sealing problems.

Bye, bye walls.

Step 1. Send the kids far, far away.
Step 2. Look at other conversions to make sure we can't buy our way out of this project.
Step 3. Unscrew all screws around each and every window and remove inner window frames (luckily, we did not have to remove the entire windows...yet).
Step 4. Unscrew all other things holding the walls to anything else.
Step 5. Rip out the walls and the plywood.

AIR CONDITIONING
(uncovered)

From this air-conditioner, we'll run vents throughout the bus.
We're putting in a drop-ceiling, lighting and vents later on.
After the last post, we did another mini-conversion for a week of camp. Unfortunately, we have no photos of our gypsy ride with futons and long mismatched drapes over the windows, a kids table and a port-a-crib, but you get the idea.

The bus broke down on the way, so we never got to sleep in it anyway. Apparently, some goop around the oil filter that they use in place of a gasket came loose and clogged the oil filter. If I have said this wrong, I can always edit later, right?

Prep for Air

Marc removed the panels up top to expose the wiring and such.
Eventually, we will build cabinets over this part, making sure we always have access to the pipes.

If you've ever wondered what it would look like behind one of the lit up shuttle bus signs (you know, the kind that displays "Downtown" above the front winsheild?) , well, here ya go. Now isn't that exciting.

Bye, bye, bye.

-2007-
Bye, bye chairs. Bye, bye ceiling.

view from front and view from back.

The Temporary Bus Home 2006

The Temporary Conversion - July 2006

Notice the cool DVD players for the kiddos (all rear-facing)
and the built-in potty room.

For the temporary get-us-to-TN-and-back conversion,

we left in 8 of the original seats and traded the rest of the seats out for parts and labor from Earl's Garage and junkyard. Danny Earl is the bomb and let Marc go junkyard diving. In 90 degree heat, ratchet in hand, he scored a great seat/bed for the back where you see Cory and Bryan and a nice captain's chair (not yet installed).

We strapped in the three car seats with heavy duty moving straps and they worked so well, we thought of using them in the van. The rest of us do not have seat belts.

We were on pins and needles the first hour or so of the trip (this is a much larger rig than we're used to) then settled in to an easy time - for those of us who weren't driving anyway.

We're there already?!?!

The temp rig included DVDs and Playstation for the rear passengers.

We really had no reason to stop on a 10 hr. drive to Tennessee other than for the driver. I think we made one stop.

No need to stop for gas.
No need to stop for food.
We brought a cooler and PB&J.
No need to stop for a restroom.


Time seemed to slip away in the heart of our Maybelle, traveling like a white bullet down the high way.

The Temporary Lieu

Marc built in a fabulous potty room, complete with accordion fold door.


















Who could resist the comforts of a self-flush port-a-pot and homemade curtains? Don't forget to wave to fellow travelers before you wipe!