With three girls and both of us serving as leaders in multiple activities, spring is always a busy time in our house with camping, soccer, and awards. However, slowly but surely, we are making progress. Here’s what’s been going on:
February
It was time to start working on the inside of the bus now that the outside was complete. We can do a lot of things on our own, but one thing we cannot do is a/c work! We brought it to Saviors Repair in Pearland (www.saviorsrepair.com) to raise the evaporator unit at the back of the bus. Once raised, they would also install new hoses that are long enough to bridge the additional distance of the roof raise.
Shortly after we dropped it off, we got a call that there was no Freon inside the unit. It must have leaked out somewhere. Besides that, this will cost quite a bit of money since Freon is expensive. It also means we could have done the actual evaporator raise ourselves. But at Saviors, they not only supplied brand new hoses, but they also did trouble shooting for the leak. Within a week we had the bus back in our storage. We were very happy with the service!!
From there we spent a lot of time preparing for spray insulation. Taping everything off and putting plastic down to cover every square inch, because spray insulation does leave a mess.
March
This month we installed the spray foam. We started at the back and worked our way to the front. Spraying the foam itself goes fairly quick. We just ran out too quickly resulting in time lost while waiting for the next order to come in. The worst part of using this type of insulation is the very messy shave down. Some spots expanded too much and had to be shaved flat to allow the walls to be installed. After all was cleaned up it looked pretty good!
April
In April, the brother came for another visit. We had two 100-gallon water tanks sitting in the dining room waiting for his arrival. Due to the type of water tank we could afford, we had to change the layout of the bus a little and place one tank burden. This will affect the location of the bunks for the girls. With the tank burden, there will be a bit of free surface movement during the drive when the tank is half full. We will have to wait and see how that works out, but I think because the bus is 32000lbs and the tank filled with water will be 834 pounds, it will not affect the driving conditions too much.
We opted for the convenience of PEX fittings for the installation, as they are simple “slip-on” couplings that streamline the process. After investing considerable time at Home Depot to determine our requirements, we had to make two additional trips for extra fittings. Our initial task involved cutting a hole in the side of the bus for the fill port and assemble the various components (such as pumps).
We then secured the water tank with a wooden 2″ x 4″ frame to ensure it would not move while we were driving.
May
With the water tank in place, it was a matter of having a long weekend to start building out the inside. Some things can be done in storage, but building frames and cubbies just works easier with the bus in the driveway. As soon as we had the bus at home, we filled up the water tank and fixed the one hose we had forgotten to connect 😊 The remainder of the pressure test went without issues.
Starting at the back of the bus – the evaporator filter frame was re-painted and hung, more R24 insulation was added around the unit before closing it up with finished plywood, the bench was built up with plywood and the air conditioning control unit was encased.
This took a lot longer than anticipated! Due to travel, we had to return the bus to storage early. We will continue in June when we have our next weekend available.