I feel like I'm on one of those reality hot rod shows like Chop, Cut, Rebuild. You know, they've got a car they pulled out of a field and they've got a three week deadline; and they squeak it out at the very last minute. My goal was to get The Bus operational / livable by April 30; not completely, but livable with maybe the exterior left to paint and some minor interior items to finish. We're getting close, but it ain't gonna happen by the end of May, so June 30 is my new reset.  Now that I think about it, I should have made a video.  I could have starred in my own reality show - what else - This Old Bus!

Click picture to enlarge

So, what's been happening? My house batteries arrived via Con-Way Freight.  A very large and polite driver called ahead for delivery instructions.  I asked him what he was driving - a 40' tractor-trailer!  When I told him I had a 700' driveway, there was dead silence on the phone.  I told him just to park on the side of the road and I'd bring Kate Enn (my 1952 Ford 8N tractor with front end loader) down to unload them.  Four 8D AGM (absorbed gel mat) batteries rated at 247 amp, hrs. each. Almost 1000 amp hrs. and 670 pounds! The advantage of these batteries are:

(1) the acid is in gel form, impregnated in a fibrous mat, so it can't spill

(2) they are sealed, forcing the normally formed hydrogen and oxygen to recombine into water, eliminating the need to add water periodically

(3) they can be stored in poorly ventilated areas (more flexibility on locating the batteries) because, the dangerous production of hydrogen and oxygen gas is essentially eliminated. Remember from high school chemistry H+O2+ SPARK=BOOM! The downside is they are twice the cost of your common "wet" lead acid batteries, but in our application almost essential.

After soldering up lugs on six 12” and four 48” cables, a total of 16 lugs, I linked the four batteries in parallel and connected them via a 400 amp fuse to the “magic box” - a Victron MultiPlus energy management center (blue box).  The MiltiPlus is a battery charger and true sine wave inverter all in one. It charges the house batteries in four stages to prolong battery life. It also trickle charges the start batteries. When AC power is needed for the refrigerator, air conditioners, etc., the MultiPlus converts DC to 60 Hz AC to power these units. It also senses the amps coming in from an outside power source, like at a campground hookup, and automatically switches to that power source. If there's power left over, it begins recharging the batteries, or if there is insufficient amperage to run all the AC appliances, it will add AC current via the inverter, in phase, to the incoming power to meet the demand – automatically! I love technology. It also connects to a remote LCD monitor, or my laptop, so that I can monitor the electrical distribution and make modifications, if needed. It is now completely operational and all its circuits are functioning perfectly.

I got all the cabinet bulkheads cut and installed on the passenger side, then ran all the heat ducting from the furnace just in time for warm weather! 

We located the mini-split air conditioners, mounted the interior units and positioned the compressors in a lower bay. We wound up placing them differently than I had planned, but they just took up too much space the way I had originally planned it. This eats up some storage space, but is much better looking and makes the "living room" more spacious.  Barry at Level Park Hardware gave me the name of an HVAC guy.  I gotta give him a call to hook up the lines and pressure / leak test the system. 

I also got the second alternator wired up. 300 amps for charging the house batteries while going down the road and powering the four radiator fans. It took two days to wire it all up. Each has a temperature sensor that switches it on at a preset temp. When all four are running, they'll suck an eight legged fly of a dead goat's eyeball at fifteen feet!  I installed a separate volt meter for the second alternator and a mechanical water temp gauge at the engine to verify accurate temp readings.

Meanwhile Mark has been finishing the ceiling in the front and back of the bus.  I tried to upholster these sections, but the compound curves are too extreme and the Naugahyde wrinkles, so we tore down some of the ceiling upholstery and underlying plywood and replaced it with aluminum sheet (no small task). The entire bedroom ceiling will be painted with a textured, flat grey paint as well as the driver / copilot area  in the front. Teri will come up with some Deco Art to add some flash to our Art Deco themes.  
Speaking of - check out the head.

Also started on counter-top install!












And finished the dash! (almost)