2. Workshop

The Bus

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My roof paneling didn't come with the ends slotted for connections, and since I've got blue board behind it I wanted a little overlap, so I set up the router to cut a small lip on my boards and I'm cutting them each individually as I go.
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My roof paneling didn't come with the ends slotted for connections, and since I've got blue board behind it I wanted a little overlap, so I set up the router to cut a small lip on my boards and I'm cutting them each individually as I go.

  • On the aft side of the door I had to carefully carve a notch in the frame member there that would take the end of my drop bar. This wasn't a simple or pretty process, but it got done. I found that inside this frame member there's a post going the full height vertically that's wrapped in plastic sheathing, so I had to avoid digging into the with the grinder. I did a lot of the fine details with a dremel.
  • Removing my wheelchair lift left a huge space under the front end, and also took with it the first step. So I manufactured my own with sheet metal and some angled braces, and finagled it into place. It wasn't too sturdy like this, but once I stuck some 2x6s on top (treated because this is exposed to the weather) it's solid as a rock and just right.
  • I used one of the brackets that used to hold up the air ducts to manufacture a drop bar catch for the forward end of my drop bar.
  • My drop bar hinges on the doorknob, which is nearly all the way at one end. In order to counterbalance it some and make it less force on the doorknob hardware while turning, I packed that end full of lead and capped it off. It's not quite enough weight so I may wrap the bar in something too, but it's better than before.
  • Here's the completed door drop bar in place. It doesn't have a regular unlock mechanism on the inside, but you can manually raise the bar so that works. It's nested into the frame on one side and a catch on the other, and stops the whole door from moving. I'll be trimming out the door to make it pretty sometime in the future.
  • For the bedrooms I placed a removable support into the gap, and then screwed in bracing all the way around our bed (upstairs) and framed in the base for our back wall cupboards and the bed itself. I used 2x4s for the bed struts to keep airflow under the mattress because evidently you get mold if you don't, and I made them removable so that when we need to access the engine compartment we can just move all this aside and have plenty of space.
  • I finally got around to hacking out the old hydraulic system for the wheelchair lift. Removing these two components frees up my two outside compartments, at least one of which will probably be used for my house batteries.
  • To pretty up Luna's bedroom I used my handy hardwood flooring and covered up her back shelf. I'll also be covering the removable engine hatch to match, but that's a little more complex so I didn't take it on at the same time. I pretty much just glued the foam to the sheet metal and glued the flooring to the foam, and pinned it down to let it set.
  • The flooring went in smoothly in a day, and prettied up the interior significantly. This is basic vinyl paneling, which I prefer because it's waterproof and not easy to ruin. Luna loves her hammock, as long as the heating pad keeps up with the cold.
  • Taking a break from the slightly warmed interior I threw a few boards onto my roof deck. Lumber has more than doubled in price lately so I didn't do the whole thing, but I needed to have a spot to put a roof storage container I snagged off Facebook, so I built this much for that.
  • Tracy admires her handiwork in the upholstery of the bench seat. We have another bench seat that folds up, which is just visible behind the workbench. That workbench will be temporary until I get a proper permanent one built in.
  • After a whole month hiatus where we packed up our life into the bus and shipped it south and then flew to Seattle and drove the bus to my parents' house in Portland, we got back at it. Finishing out Luna's room's shelf, I kept the engine hatch accessible and matched it to the platform around it. I'll have to find a way to pretty up the holes for handles and latches, but it looks good anyway.
  • My roof paneling didn't come with the ends slotted for connections, and since I've got blue board behind it I wanted a little overlap, so I set up the router to cut a small lip on my boards and I'm cutting them each individually as I go.
  • The first ceiling boards are starting to go up in the bedroom. I'm gluing these with Liquid Nails and nailing them in place, and so far it looks like that is going to do the job.
  • Luna's room gets decked out with a cabinet set. I framed these with plywood and my birch flooring, and then covered the plywood with cedar and put some lids on the faces.
  • For windowsills in Luna's room I braced a strip of oak and anchored it in place to the metal window edge, and trimmed it out underneath with cedar. I also added a chunk to trim out the rear end of the windowsill on Luna's cabinet.
  • We built up our own duct to bring air from the bus' ventilation system forward into the main living area of the bus, and then covered that and the bus' wires with a framework in prep for covering it all with ceiling panels.
  • Here's the bedrooms mostly complete. Just a couple pieces of trim and a replacement power plug and then it's just down to less priority things like the giant ventilation intake screen
  • Luna's cabinet hardware is all unicorns and rainbows.
  • After trying out our bed in the bedroom we decided we needed something thinner, so we bought a California King mattress that's only 8 inches thick. To make it fit in the bedroom we had to cut about 4 inches off one side.
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