Alan's Bus Conversion progress
Brenda @blsmss2 you asked how it was going, thank you. Creating a seperate thread for it.
I'm actually making progress on the conversion of the bus. Budget is killing me as I have to get all the parts needed 1st. I have almost all the stuff for the inside, including the kitchen sink which arrived last week. Still need to get a pressure bladder though for the water pressure, but it's not very expensive.
I'm currently pulling up old carpet and installing insulation and such for the Electrical compartment. I have all the aluminum back panels for it, all the parts, battery, etc. and it's been running in test/design mode on the floor of the bus for a while. Once I get a big project off my workbench (for a NPO here on the island).. I will move it all to the bench to finalize the layout.
Once that is done and then installed, I can actually start building the cabinets / workbench on that side of the RV. Since I do so much design and engineering work, a normal RV layout is just not useful to me. I'm more about utility than glamor.
I'll be taking some photos along the way and posting to this thread.
Alan, can’t wait to see. My husband and I are thinking about purchasing a tall transit van and modifying it into a small RV. We are somewhat like you, more conveniences than glamor. We can use it for our longer hauls and if we just need a quick trip. Still debating tho, as we are getting to an age where we will do less traveling. Enjoy your time.
Well I was interested in a tall Transit as well, but I needed more width .. and when I went to buy one it was when the prices were +$5,000 because of the demand.
A transit is nice though rather than the bus because you can use it as a daily driver as well and it will fit in a parking spot. Not so much the bus. Also a van is less conspicuous if needs be. I really wanted to get a Transit and get rid of my Camry so I only would have one vehicle to deal with.. but it was not in the budget.
You can see some of the work / info on my website for the bus: https://Aparcado.com I have not done an update on the posts in a bit because I'm in the messy stage of things. But I will be posting more there (and here) soon.
Will be checking on that to see what you’re up to. The Transit we were looking at was not a camper, but cargo and wanted to revamp it into a camper just for those trips where we didn’t or couldn’t bring out large one. Many are cheaper than a van, currently. Enjoy what you can and will check on your work.
Alan, just checked out your page, it’s looking good and boy you have a lot of work to do. The black really looks good, can’t wait to see the rest.
It would be a lot simpler with an empty Transit cargo van, trust me. Most of my grief is all the windows.. I would recommend getting a Transit with none. A couple of friends did, and only put on the roof vent. It stays WAY cooler, you have more storage, and you can just open the doors for a view.
We have many windows in our current one, we get more heat from the walls then we do from the windows. Like looking out at them, especially with the view like you have. We still now sure what we are doing , will know more after our Lippert inspector comes Wednesday. One day at a time.
The windows might be double pane (some are triple) with ceramic tint which is good (and visible to the buyer). If the walls are hotter, it means there is not enough insulation in them, and as a buyer you have to "trust them" which I don't. I used to audit a company that built truck camper backs. Every unit failed, in multiple ways. That's when I decided that when I got around to getting an RV, I would build my own and KNOW what was in the walls, how it was wired, etc.
Oh, we know that. Our windows are suppose to be triple pane, but doubt it my husband says. We know the walls are thin, unfortunately they all are. We have things we use to help with some of the heat, such as we put tint on our windows, our curtains are long to help with the heat on the walls, we use fans more then AC, we keep our home dark. It usually stays cool if it’s under 85 degrees. The only thing we should do, but do not, is park under trees. We hate parking under trees due to branches may fall. We do what we can with what we have.
We keep thinking of what we would do differently if we decide to do the van. Walls would be better insulated. Waiting to hear from insurance, then we will decide.