Wood being added to cover the insulation in the side walls of the bus.
Today’s progress:
• Paint is being stripped from around the windows prepping for repainting.
• Chose interior paint color (for around windows, dash, etc.): silver.
• Air horns are being repositioned from between isle frame rails off to the side.
• Hidden storage between isle frame rails at entrance has been planned out.
• Entry door latch/lock removed (it would latch every time the door was closed, which made the handle/arm built on to the dash useless). It will be replaced with a deadbolt.
• Fuel lines repositioned so they can be accessed from underside of bus.
Larry and the gang at Paradise coach are experimenting while I’m in Seattle on a business trip. They’re trying to figure out if a fold down couch will fit above the wheel wells in the front of the vintage bus. I can’t wait to see it to see if that mechanism will allow two sofas to easily combine into a bed.
We figured out where the roof airs, vent fans and tank vents will go as well as how I might be able to fit 700watts of solar on the roof. We also spent a good amount of time refining the interior layout.
We figured out the layout of Karen and my computer workstations today. It will be in a dinette-like setup with two 27″ displays mounted above a riser above the table. This is a iphone panorama shot of the mockup that Larry made today. You’re also seeing an equipment storage closet to the right of the booth.
Today, I figured out where any interior recessed LED downlights might be located so they can run the wires and then finish foaming in the insulation. Also figured out that we can trim some height off the front wheel wells in order to allow the sofa to be at proper height without requiring a riser for our feet!
Also figured out design of front single-arm sofas so they have three settings: 1) seating, 2) lounging for movie watching which makes it wider, 3) combined with sofa across from it to make a sleeping area (or movie/snuggling area)
The shop started to installed flush-mounted fuel filler doors, rewired a bunch of stuff from the previous shop that worked on the bus because it wasn’t setup for access from under the bus, or wasn’t wired in an ideal way.
So far today:
1) we’ve figured out where the shore power reel and exit location will be.
2) Figured out a great place to store the waste dump hose and an extensions as well as any fittings.
3) Talked about bay door design and how to keep it stealthy so the locks and hinges aren’t overly obvious.
4) Decided to remove the huge rub rail the runs the length of the bus to clean up the look (why knows, we might end up adding a smaller one later)
5) Decided to use conduit to run to the roof for the Wifi and Cellular booster antennas so we don’t have to purchase the gear now and can always upgrade in the future instead of having wires that aren’t easily movable.
All that and it’s not even noon yet!
Fridge showed up earlier in the week. It’s an Italian model from Vitrifrigo that features one drawer for freezer and one for fridge, as well as the upper fridge area. It offered the largest storage volume within the limited height/depth of the vintage bus.
All the engine-to-dash wiring has been cleaned up and mounted to the side wall to keep it out of the way.
The overly large rub rails that run down the length of the bus have been removed. They don’t go with the paint scheme I have planned, but might be replaced by small rub rails that are more similar to those found on Flxible Clippers and Visicoaches.
Some of the lower body panels have been removed so that bay doors can be fabricated to allow access to dump valves and other systems.
The front wheel wells have been trimmed in order to lower the height of the sofas that will be installed above them. We tested the suspension and heard from other people who had Custom Coach converted Flxibles to learn how much was safe to trim.
