999 ITEMS TO GO

Progress continues on the interior. I've got plenty of items on my to-do list to keep me inside until it's comfortable working outside; although, today was pretty nice by noon. So, what's been happening? I got the shower put together. That was a 5x project! We bought a four piece shower kit (base and three walls), plus the door. The three wall pieces had to be cut down to fit the curve of the roof. Had to cut 13” out of the middle of the back panel and Tiger Hair it back together again.  I've decided that hand mixing and application works best. Then cut the side walls to follow the roof curve, except I screwed up on the second panel, and

cut the curve the wrong way. Damn! Had to Tiger Hair the pieces back together and then cut the curve again. On the second try I cut the wrong end! Double Damn!! Tiger Hair again and then a THIRD try. Got it right that time. I could have made one more mistake before being forced to make the correct cut. I have the same issues when cutting compound miter joints. So now I have three cut lines in the white gel coat to deal with (“with which to deal” is the proper grammar, but sounds so snooty). The solution will be to add blue gel coat accent lines along the cut lines. It'll

actually look pretty cool. Then came the shower door... It took me half a day to put the thing together and get it properly mounted. Horrible instructions and illustrations so tiny that I had to buy an electron microscope to make them out. Fortunately, they had one on sale at the Level Park Hardware, just down the road. Speaking of Level Park Hardware, I do a lot of business there since they're only about 8.5 minutes away. I've invited Barry and Marge (the owners) to come out and tour the Bus several times, but they're so busy they've never made it out. So, Teri and I had to pick up some paint, construction adhesive, and saws-all blades and I decided to take the Bus! Pulled right up the the front door an took up every parking space they had. Then, being the considerate soul I am, parked further down the street. Barry and Marge used to be an over-the-road trucking team, so we started with the engine and proceeded from there. Marge is going to teach me how to shift without using the clutch on my four speed non-synchro tranny.

Drove up to Zeeland to buy a washer/dryer combo Teri found on Craigslist. It was used by a little old lady who only washed her Sunday going-to-church clothes in it. At least that's what the seller told me. It is like new (except for the little ding in the lower right) and was half the price of a new one. I built the cabinet for that next to the shower, and Daryl helped me lift it up onto the shelf.  Will fix the ding and paint it silver.

Installed the furnace next to the washer cabinet. 
Wired it and plumbed the propane line. Fired it up and
now that winter's over, it's nice and toasty in there.

We bought a 9 cu. ft. frig from Home Depot. Two young guys (20's) delivered it and when I told them we where we were taking it, they just looked at each other. Once inside, they were totally freaked. “This is like a traveling time machine”. We did a complete tour after we got the frig in (barely) the Bus. Very tight squeeze. Jerome, you reading this? So now that the frig is in place, I can build the rest of the closets and cabinets on the passenger side.

Wired the wiper switch. Now instead of flailing, air driven wipers, I have 2-speeds with two delay settings, auto-park, and new wiper arms with integrated WASHERS (tank, pump, and tubing). Wow!  Talk about the latest technology!  

Started the 110v wiring with the goal of completely finishing that system in a couple of days.  The first day got outlets installed for dishwasher, clothes washer/dryer, frig, passenger side receptacles, and engine block heater.  Left to do are the air conditioners, driver's side outlets, bedroom, and hooking into the Multiplex controller.  I got tired of wiring, so switched to working on the bedroom.  That's the great thing about this build; there is so much to do, that if I get unmotivated with a certain project, I just switch to something else and come back to it later.

click to enlarge

Walled off the back of the bedroom with a sheet of 3/4" Maple veneer plywood for a smooth finish.  Insulated the entire space behind the wall with fiberglass batting, then mounted the plywood on 1" dense foam used for gym floors to isolate it from the bus structure.  Used 3/4" plywood for density to help deaden engine sound.  Then foamed around the edges to sand and fill to the contour off the interior.  Built the frame for the bed.