Follow Our Progress
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October 23rd
2003
Today was a good day for working on the bus. It was pretty cold
outside, so it was nice to be able to work hard on the bus and not get
too sweaty.
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We found a local supplier for some inexpensive 1/2 inch thick
MDF sheeting the other day, so we decided to swing by there in
the morning to pick up a few sheets.
While we were there, I came across a nice size bundle of
1"x2" pine remnants. I guess they were all the
broken pieces that were left over, so the store had bundled them
together and was asking $5.00 for the whole bunch. I
figure that there is at least 300 board feet worth of lumber in
the bundle, so I had to buy it for all of the cabinets and
things that I need to build in the very near future.
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We immediately started making use of the 1"x2" pine by
screwing pieces to the floor in the bedroom so that I could
finish the girls beds.
I have been promising them that I would get their beds put
together before I did any cabinets or anything like that in the
rest of the bus.
It took me about a half hour to decide how I was going to
deal with the access cover and make everything look nice.
I came up with an idea and started constructing.
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The framing was finished up pretty quick, but before I could do
any sheeting I had to put some insulation in.
The temperature was cool enough today that I could wear my
long sleeve shirt and managed to keep from getting too itchy
this time.
We used the 1/2 thickness of insulation that we had pulled a
few days ago. It was easy to cut and stuff in all the
various gaps along the engine compartment wall.
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Becky and I worked together to get some plywood pieces put up to
cover over the insulation.
There were a couple of pipes and some wiring that we had to
work around, but other than that, the pieces were easy to cut
and install.
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Emily helped me fit the last "puzzle pieces" of the
floor where I had removed the rotted out section earlier.
We had to chisel out a 1 inch grove where the fiberglass lip
of the wheel well went. I wish I had had a router to do
it, but it was kind of relaxing and both Becky and Emily helped
hold the wood steady while I cut, hammered and chiseled.
The final fit was really nice. We put a piece of blue
foam rubber insulation under the piece to protect the wood from
any further water thrown up through the cracks by the
tires.
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The sides and top of the beds went up really easily. The
frame we made for them was nice and straight, so both sides were
cut identically.
I still had to deal with the access hatch area (behind Emily
in the picture). I had a plan, but didn't know if it would
look nice or not...
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Becky and I built a box and table top to set over the access
cover area. It will eventually be hinged where it meets
the back wall so that you will be able to lift it up and out of
the way to access the engine hatch.
For now we tacked it in place on the hinge side with a few
long wood screws.
I think it turned out to be a good solution to the
problem. It does a nice job of finishing off the area and
gives the girls (and their friends) a place to draw and play
games.
I will be able to lift the whole assembly out of the way if I
need to get at the access hatch and it makes a useful desk for
the girls to draw on.
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I just had to take a picture of Becky's addiction
<grin>
She has managed to peel almost all of the vinyl stripes off
the right side of the bus. It's strange to see how
different it makes the bus look. |
I have plenty of 1"x2" pine, so I plan to start working on
the cabinets in the kitchen and bathroom. I think Becky and I have
decided to leave the back window in place, but treat it in the same way
that we did some of the side windows. We'll paint it black (Ha!
Ha! I will not have to tint that curved monster now), insulate, patch
the rusted area and fix any leaks that we can find, but leave the
outside basically looking the same. That will allow us to put
additional cabinets in the bedroom and give us more storage for the kids
things as well as a permanent and more secure home for their TV and
movie collection. |
