The other thing I've been wrestling with (I think I mentioned it elsewhere) is the floor in the bus. That shouldn't be a major hurdle but for some reason I just couldn't quite figure out what to do about it. Too many choices I suppose.
I took a break from the bus (mostly due to running out of larger chunks of cash and the research necessary for the trailer thing) and one of the things that happened in the interim was a motorcycle trip (on an '88 KLR650) to the Oregon coast with 3 other biking friends. One of the places we stayed had Knotty Pine wide board (6-by) flooring and I absolutely loved it. Previously Shelley had wanted hardwood flooring but I hadn't seen anything I liked (too dark and too narrow and busy looking) and I had wanted cork flooring for it's sound and environmental insulation qualities and because it's kind to bare feet. I think the wide-board pine floor is going to be a perfect compromise. So now that the decision has been made I can move on with the floor (with the influx of some more cash that is).
1 March 04 - Today I stopped and looked at some Wells Cargo trailers; it turns out they (or something like them) are going to work perfectly for us. I measured the Jeep the other day and it's 13' long; so with a 16' cargo trailer (that's the box size; the overall length is 20') I can install a base cabinet across the front of the trailer, cupboards above it and still get the Jeep in with no problem. I'll have some flip up (or down) work benches along the sides of the trailer so once the Jeep is out of the way I'll have a nice little 8'x16' workshop. And the trailer is much lower than the bus so putting racks on top of the trailer for an aluminum boat, or storage carrier or whatever will work nicely.
I also spent a couple of hours in the bus today just brainstorming. I've decided to move the bus door from the standard location (at the front right like all school buses; at least U.S. buses) to father back on the side. I'll leave the first three windows on the right side of the bus as is and the new door location will be where the 4th window is. That will put the entrance opposite the "L" in the kitchen (that's on the left side of the bus). It will do two other nice things; it will allow me to install a passenger seat up even with the driver's seat (makes for friendlier conversation) and it will give me a nice outside accessible storage area where the entry stairs are now (but won't be). [Note: This idea didn't work out in the long run and the front door is staying in its original location.]
I also thought a lot about exactly how to do my walls and how to run the wiring down the side. There will be more on that when I get there.
I've also decided the bus' interior lights can stay as they are; in a stroke of good luck they're ending up in good locations for general overhead lighting. Not the kind you'd use for the evening but they'll be nice when we really need some light when we come home late or when we're trying to find something or when we just need the brightness.
Next step is to get the two under-seat bus heaters pulled, remove the plumbing for them and get the flooring material. Until next time...
24 March 04 - Whoa! It's amazing how much time slips past when you're busy with life!
I gotta tell you, I love my CAD program; I'm using Delta Cad which is very easy to learn to use and amazingly inexpensive. A Google search for Delta Cad will turn them up. Not only has the CAD program let me layout the bus 99 different ways without redrawing everything, and layout my electrical and plumbing systems, but is also lets you get a 'feel' for how everything goes together.
Here's an example...earlier I mentioned that I decided to move the bus entry door; this came out of my mind and I envisioned exactly where it needed to go in the layout and how it would work. I sat down at the computer and got Delta Cad fired up to redraw the plans with the door. After about 15 minutes of moving things around I realized just how big an impact that decision would have on the floorplan; all sorts of things I hadn't thought of became abundantly clear when I had to move them around on the CAD plan.
As it turns our, for our particular layout, I lose more than I gain by moving the door because I'm essentially gaining a seat but I'm giving up quite a bit of cabinet and counter space; not a good choice for us. So the door will stay in its original location. This will save a fair amount of work too.
I'm still working on the bed and bathroom layout. I'd really like to have the bed running lengthwise and centered in the bus (an island bed) as that would allow access from either side (albeit tight) so that one of us (me) doesn't have to crawl over the other (Shelley) to get in an out of bed. But that impacts the rest of the floorplan way too much. So the bed will stay across the back for now. I'm messing around with Delta Cad trying to come up with a bit better bath and shower arrangement and it looks promising so far. I will post the drawing when (if) it works out right.
