Category: Stage 2 roof raise

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Stage 2 roof raise

Week 12 and beyond

It’s been awhile

Our last update left us having just finished the transition of the roof. Spring season was upon us with soccer, camping, awards, etc. Weekends were quickly filled up, not allowing much time to work on the bus. However, Ivo still managed to squeeze in an afternoon here, an evening there.

Sealing and protecting

With the transition in place, steel conservation was the next challenge. We had to make sure that with all those screws, all the holes and gaps are watertight. We used flex seal to achieve this. Flex seal is a rubbery coat that we spray on overall the areas that could potentially leak.

Next we had to get the little door extension completed done. We cut some sheet metal to size and welded it in place We added some corner strengtheners to ensure its sturdiness.

Cleaning again

Before applying any paint to the side of the bus, the roof had to be cleaned. It had gotten very dusty after all the cutting, grinding and welding. We first vacuumed the top and then wiped the entire bus down on the outside, top to bottom. Followed by placing masking tape where needed. All around the various activities of our girls (meaning this was a several week process)

In between all this, we went dumpster diving at our church since we noticed they had disposed of some mighty fine plywood and lumber that we took home and were able to obtain the wood necessary to build our beds.

We applied flex seal and primer on the inside of the bus, just in case the outside application proved not to be sufficient, then began painting the black section of the outside. Cleaning, sanding and painting took several more weeks.

More painting

We also repainted the rain gutters as well as the side support rails since they had faded. when we went to install the side rails, it appeared that due to roof raise they now were almost 6 inches too long. The unexpected things we run into…. So, we chopped a section off and welded the end back on to make it all look nice. Then we coated it with more black paint. After all the black paint was done, we added the white striping.

Then it was time for the maroon. In the pictures it looks quite red, but in real life it looks really sharp! The black took only two coats, the white took three coats and the maroon took four coats(!). We used paint brush and rollers since we are not experienced enough for paint sprayers. (plus we need to return the storage unit back in the same condition we found it in.)

Last but not least we started the grey. This paint just did not want to adhere properly. Even with all the hardener it simply would not go on. That said, the heat and humidity in Texas went through the roof by now so that may have been part of the problem. I just hope the paint won’t come off in sheets once we run a power washer on it in the future….

The little details

Next we put the little door back and added the new driver side window, those were two person jobs for sure, but it worked out! This was followed by a recleaning and re-installation of all the bus windows.

Finished up roof

 Then we needed to close the roof of the bus back up so we could change storage units. The one we painted in was becoming more and more expensive and out of our price range. We turned the forward emergency hatch into an electric fan location. This involved cutting new steel, removing the old hatch gasket, a lot of goo gone and more flex seal. Then we installed the fan.

At the same time, we removed the old roof vent and closed it up, so that in the future we can put a solar panel in that location. More flex seal followed by paint.

Then it was time to clean out the storage unit. We deposited another 260lbs of steel at the scrap dealer, which all in all should mean that the amount of steel we took out has now pretty much been replaced with the same quantity of steel we purchased new.

And then finally… we could drive out! Connected the batteries and she started up just like that!

The bus looks AWESOME!!! The yellow roof stripe in the picture will turn white once we install the solar panels. It was alot of work, but so worth raising the roof. It cost us exactly 6 months to complete this portion.

Next on the list after vacation:

– we need to find a way to raise the evaporator without loosing all the freon

-Install the rack for the solar panels we ordered

– put the roof deck brackets in place

– then spray insulate the bus and

THEN we can work on the inside completion!

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Stage 2 roof raise

Week 11 of 2023

Milestone Week

We hit a milestone this week! The transition is complete! Finally all the skinning is done!!! It sure was not easy to get the transition in place. We first tried to make a paper mold. That blew everywhere and did not deliver good results. Then we tried to hoist a piece of plywood up there. That did not do any good either. Lastly, we cut one of the sheets at 65 inches, hoisted those 60 pounds of steel up onto the bus and marked it with a 1 ½ inch piece of steel at the bottom, following the curvature of the bus. We took the steel plate back down and used the electric scissors to cut that curvature and one side of the sheet to make sure it would lay straight along the center support. Then we hoisted the sheet back up there. Quite the exercise I must say. We used two ratchet straps to make the steel curve over the supports.

Making it fit

Following we screwed down the bottom of the sheet, letting the steel fold itself over the transition supports. Then we screwed in the side above the drivers window. In the end, there was so much curve in the steel that we had to make an angled cut to release the pressure and then continued screwing the plate down. We then made several vertical cuts on top of the bus and folded all the little steel flaps over the existing roof and screwed them down as well. Then we welded all those cuts back together in the hope to prevent future water leaks.

We repeated the process for the passenger side of the transition, which turned out a lot better. I guess we learn by doing. Murphy’s law dictated that we ran out of screws just before completion. Since we already emptied the Alvin and Pearland Depots of the steel screws we needed, a trip to the Bay Area Home Depot was necessary to deplete their stock as well.

Accidents happen

Having learned from our past rust-mistake, we wire wheeled the steel, vacuumed all the steel remains and dusted off the bus roof. While doing that, I lost my balance and proceeded to crash down with the ladder, shopvac and cleaner liquid bottle in hand. I really noticed that additional 20 inches of air space we created with the roof raise when that happened; it gave me that additional few hundreds of a second to realize that the landing after an 11 foot drop was really going to hurt….

So we had to fix the ladder, re-assemble the vacuum and re-clean the storage space since there now was dust everywhere. Then we could get back on task and wipe the rust remover on the steel followed by degreasing the steel using the now broken bottle of cleaning liquid and then we put on a first coat of primer. Quite satisfying I must say…

One more coat of primer and then we can slowly start to put the bus back together!

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Stage 2 roof raise

Week 10 of 2023

Finishing up from last week

This week we finished the framing for the RV window. Of course, one of the verticals was just 3” too short, so we pieced two pieces together. In the end it turned out nice. Always a challenge to weld in the driver seat area since we set the steering wheel and blinker on fire before…

Driver Window

We also welded an insert above the door so we could mount the new steel against it. Then we added the drip rail and welded it all together. Little paint on it and it looks decent. On the driver side we did the same thing above the window.

Insert over driver window

Time is not our friend

Then we had a few days of not being able to go to the bus. When we came back, we noticed a very unpleasant surprise. We decided to wait until the entire bus was covered in sheet metal before painting. However, as everything tends to do with all the activities we are involved in, it has taken much longer than anticipated to get all the steel in place. Being on the gulf coast, bare steel is a bad thing. Though we are in an enclosed storage, it is not climate controlled. Bare steel + gulf coast humidity = RUST!

Especially where we had touched the steel with bare hands quite heavy oxidation had started. This resulted in a lot of additional work. We had to buy and apply a rust remover, then wire brush all the sections of steel, followed by more rust remover and then a degreaser. After that we applied two coats of primer. Would have been so much faster if we would have cleaned and primed right after installation….

Driver’s side

We hope we got it all the rust removed and cleaned properly so the paint won’t be peeling off in a year. Now all that is done, we can go back to our transition piece. Keeping a timeline seems to be very hard during this project. I am starting to wonder if the skoolie converters that claim they converted in a month actually did the work themselves….

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Stage 2 roof raise

Week 8 of 2023

Light at the end of the tunnel

Another week of skinning, but the end is in sight! We skinned over the to-be-shower window and nicely enclosed that.

We re-installed the engine air inlet and discovered how steel paint is very unforgiving; every scratch and blemish under the paint can be seen. So we will have to do a LOT of work to get the bus paint-ready later.

Family work day

Saturday was another family work day. M worked on the wiring. The wiring to the external side and roof lights was cut for the raise. They will need to be reconnect to be road compliant, so M went around and reattached/lengthened the wires. Meanwhile, R and N cleaned the side supports so they are ready to be painted and put back.

While they were busy with that, we put the window skins at the back end of the bus in place, as well as the big horizontal piece of skin that now makes it look like the bus is wearing a hat.

Can’t even see that we had to cut off 2” length wise to make it fit. That two-inch strip we later used to cover some unused screw holes where the disability door used to be. Last but not least we mounted the corner steel, which even though amateuristic, look pretty fancy in our opinion. All in all we have covered up three of the windows by now and we think we will leave it at that.

We have now reached the point that we only have the roof transition piece left. With three weeks left in our current storage unit, we are hoping to get that completed so we can downscale to a smaller, cheaper unit. Saving $100 a month would be welcomed!

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Stage 2 roof raise

Week 7 of 2023

Skinning Continued

This week we continued skinning the bus. Since it is a two person job, we can only do this when we are both available at the same time. Saturday afternoon after archery and Sunday afternoon after church it is!.

First sheet going on the back of the driver’s side

Definitely a marriage builder….

As of now, we have the sheets on both sides of the bus in place. It makes it look so much better on both the inside and the outside!

Need more steel

It looks like we are slightly short of plate so we will have to get another sheet. We skinned a few of the window openings as well; one on each side of the future bedroom and one where the shower is going to be. That will leave space to install a fan so we keep the humidity out of the bus when we clean ourselves up.

We finished the door frame of the little door. Whenever we have a small sheet available we will put the extended door in place.

We welded two more bars inside of the bus to attach the top of the sheets that are covering the disability door. It all looks nicely closed up now

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Stage 2 roof raise

Week 6 of 2023

First sheets!

This week we managed to get the first few sheets of steel on the side of the bus. We figured out that all those strengthened supports now won’t take any of the said-to-be self-tapping screws from China due to the thickness of the added steel. If it’s not too thin, it’s too thick. Looks like we will be returning the screws to China.

Raise the first panel

Family work day

The girls came out on Saturday and started to clean the bus window frames so we can put everything back nice and clean after we are done with the siding. Even N helped sweep up to keep the storage area clean. Meanwhile, R dismantled some of the strengtheners from the wheelchair door that we will put back on the bus.

Getting the sheets in place is a two-person job. Blinding off the (former) wheelchair opening gave us quite some trouble. Lining up the steel without leaving gaps was not an easy task. On top of that, the adhesive sealant made a big mess on the steel as well as on us.

Luckily, we won’t be able to see it when it is all painted on the outside and covered up on the inside. The first corner transition was added at the door as well. It seems that the bending brake we bought is not suitable to bend 18 gauge steel, so we went one size smaller. This won’t affect anything since the corner sheets are merely covering the gaps and don’t really have a structural purpose. Slowly but surely, we are putting the bus back together.

Installed corner sheet
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Stage 2 roof raise

Week 5 of 2023

More welding;

We fixed the door frame on the driver’s side on the bus and lengthened the door. Hopefully it all fits when we put the door back in place. The wrong sealant was used when we put the gasket back so we may have to redo the gasket later if it proves not to be watertight.

Next, we cut back the fiberglass on top roof at the very front of the bus. Talking about a major fiber glass dust cloud! Can’t be too healthy but it was the only way to get our front transition into place. We cut back about 2 inches so we can lay the transition steel on top of it and tie it all together.

Then it was time to weld the longitudinal transition supports in place. We managed to get three of them in.

Unfortunately, because of some welding drops, we damaged the steering wheel and window washer/blinker in the process. Sigh.

 Next we can start skinning! Although lifting up the AC would have been nice, we have no solution for it yet so we will have to change the order of events to make sure we don’t lose too much time

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Stage 2 roof raise

Week 4 of 2023

Slow and Steady

This week we finished the air inlet and the remaining insets at the back of the bus.

A few of the items completed this week:

  • welded a frame for the wheelchair door that will be covered up.
  • cleaned up the glue from the inside back of the bus and welding a support frame to put behind the AC unit.
  • welded the back corner supports to make sure we can fold the sheet metal around it and added brackets on the inside to make sure everything is solid and cannot move.

A/C Unit struggles

We now could lift the AC unit back into place, if it wasn’t for a small snag: The hoses that lead to the evaporator are now about two feet short. And we are not sure how to either cap or drain the freon while putting a hose extension in between. If there is anyone on here who knows how to do this – the assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Short hoses need to be replaced to raise the A/C Unit

Main door problems

Meanwhile, we also re-straightened the main bus door. Apparently, the doors were out of line to start with when we got the bus.  Once we got the doors aligned top and bottom with seals closed, the locks on the doors no longer aligned. We will have to shift one up 1/4″ to be able to place the lock through it. It’s merely a small inconvenience that we can fix at later date.

Next on the job list is to fix the door frame and door on the driver side of the bus. We have to make the door and its frame two feet longer than it is now. After that we can work on welding the transition frame on the front part of the bus. Still a few days to go before we can start with the re-skinning,

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Stage 2 roof raise

Lots of Welding

2023 Week #3

This week we started strengthening the frames on the driver’s side of the bus. A little tricky around the driver’s seat since there are a lot of wires in that location and one weld drop could ruin a whole lot of electrical equipment. After noticing what grinding sparks had done to the glass of the front door, we took our time to ensure everything was properly covered.

Covered Driver’s seat

After reinforcing all the frame

By end of the week all but four frames were completed. Basically, the point where we should have been one day after the roof raise.

Completed reinforcement

Back four frames

These we had cut in the wrong place and thus the inserts did not fit. We ended up cutting the bottom part of the frame where they should have been cut in the first place. We then welded flat steel inside them to fit them back together followed by cutting the new insert to size and welding the strengthening plate on top.

Back Frames
Back Frame fitted in place

Part of the challenge for fitting the back frames came from the wiring going to the air conditioning, lights and engine components. Extra care was used to protect all of the wires. Until now there has only been an insulation fire, a blanket fire and socks on fire. The last one was my own fault since I had forgotten to bring my safety shoes and was welding with Crocs on. There are a lot of holes in those but I did not want to drive all the way home to change shoes again, so I figured I’d just cover them with a rag. Don’t try that at home because it does not work…. Between insulation rash, fiberglass marks and burn marks, I am starting to look a little battered.

Meanwhile, we are slowly staring to think of a paint scheme, since once we fit the new skin on, we want to paint as soon as possible to prevent rust.

We have a little more welding to do before we are at that point though. More next week.

Categories
Stage 2 roof raise

Steel reinforcement

Disability door

This week we removed the disability door frame on the passenger side of the bus. It was located where our kitchen is going to be located, so not needed. A structure will be welded in place and cover it with sheet metal to complete that side of the bus.

Disability door opening

More steel

We ran out of steel, so we went by several steel suppliers to pick up new steel. At Triple S, we picked up the new skinning steel and some square tubing. At the metal warehouse, we picked up the reinforcement steel that will go on the outside of the inserts to strengthen them. We also picked up more flat bar to put on the inside of the remaining inserts. Having disposed of 500 pounds of steel at the scrap yard the other week, we now have 550 pounds of steel to put back in place.

Then we proceeded to cover the inserts with steel plates and full vertical welds. The way we calculated it, with the flat bar on the inside and the additional plate on the outside of each support we now have 12 gauge supports where 14 gauge supports used to be. Better over-do then under-do.

Door Frame

We used the square tubing to weld a frame insert next to the door. Then we also added the door supports back in place. All back to normal. Or so we thought. Until we closed the door. Seems we are now a quarter inch off from being able to lock the door… Problem for another day I guess.

Still a lot of welding to be done. Contrary to this week, let’s hope we won’t set any insulation or blankets on fire in the coming week.

One side of the bus is complete, the driver’s side still to be done.