Category: Busventure

Here are some promised photos of our progress on the bus. You would think that with our wildest child at school we would be charging ahead, but it doesn’t seem to be like that. I suppose it’s like when you’re a new mum and you finally get your kids off to sleep and you can finally sit down and do what you have been wanting to do for ages, but instead you take the chance to do the dishes, hang out the washing, clean the bathroom, sneak in a cup of tea and before you know it your darling baby is up and demanding your attention again.

It is sort of like that. I myself am adjusting to the routine, so I must just keep positive and not kick myself too hard and simply accept what I can and can’t do.

Still, here’s where we are up to with the bus so far.

Since these pictures were taken we have been running cables through the roof and attaching the roof panels to the front part of the bus. We’ve cut a new hole in the roof and covered over an old one (making room for solar panels) and we are almost up to putting the curtain pelmets on. Once these are all on and the roof is affixed and bogged smoothed it will be time to paint our bedroom walls and roof, the kitchen/dining/lounge walls and roof and the outside of the bus – we are hoping to do these all in one hit.

First, let me introduce you to our bunks. These are the star of the bus at the moment, one of our few completed pieces (almost – just a few more coats of Estapol and, voila!) Thanks so much to our friend Carl for helping us with this – I don’t think we’d have got so far without the boost he gave us!

 

In a clever moment of design inspiration we have extended the bottom of our cupboard into the hall cupboard to act as a useful shoe storing area. There are a lot of clever little storage solutions like this all over our little bus-home.

 

 

Here are the beds again in full profile, in front you can see one of the three Aluwell doors which we constructed ourselves (I have phone pics to prove it and might show you when I eventually get them off of my phone). More on this door in a minute.

Here is some of the bed detail. I like plywood cross section and so we have used that on our bunk beds. These plywood strips are cleverly concealing the aluminum frame which supports the bed.

 

So, back to the door/s. We needed some kind of catch to hold the door open (for when we are driving, and just because it’s handy). So Henry put to use a latch and a drawer catch on the door. It works a treat. Push to open.

 

 

And here’s the roof pre-cabling while I was involved in replacing the fairly useless pink batts with foam for insulation.

 

 

 

And the back half of the front of the bus which has been glued down:

You can also see the back of the shower wall and the long red strip on the RHS is the back of our pantry – yet to be installed. And that window into the shower will be covered up and become our shower shampoo holder.

 

Here is the inside floor of the shower. Shower receptacle/tiny bath on the LHS, small patch of floor in the middle and on the RHS will be our composting toilet.

 

 

 

Our bathroom windows – because I like natural light in the bathroom and windows yet to be silled up with ply. That’s a tricky job so we’re stalling on that one.

 

 

 

 

The inside of the red shower wall, still covered for protection.

 

 

 

 

Our bedroom, which has already undergone a few redos and still another to come. Henry was not happy with some of the use of ply and we have discovered a material V-Lite (by the Laminex company) for new drawers and are now using marine ply on the bed as the normal ply warped. The base has not yet been decided on.

Here you can see we have taken the back window out. We removed it to replace the seals and then once we experienced the effects of having a draught blow through the bus on some of the stinkiest hot days in the year we just had to make it openable and so Henry is working on that. It’s a good thing he is so handy and so clever.

 

 

 

 

The other side of our room (a wall is now covering that door on the RHS).

 

 

 

And a window frame we made ourselves, once bogged and painted you would not even know it’s a fake!

 

Here’s Henrys handy work on the window. Welding, welding, lots of welding to be done.

 

 

And much thanks to ‘Bobie’ for scratching his name on the window of his old school bus, it will now be appreciated on the windows of our little home.