The last of the windows
The week started with the bus in storage and three more windows to clean. We washed one a day during the week to finish them up. However, Ivo noted that the wording on one of the already re-installed emergency windows was facing the wrong way. The words “DO NOT BLOCK” should be read from the inside, not the outside. We want to keep this little bit of the original bus feel to our RV, so we took that one window out again. Ivo disassembled the frame, turned the pane around, and reassembled it. That was about a 10-minute job. We did shift the emergency window over one pane from the original position so there would still be access once the beds are installed.
With the last three windows also re-installed we finally can drive around without plywood in the windows. It looks a lot less trashy.
Flooring
We brought the bus home Saturday afternoon after soccer. The first project consisted of screwing down the plywood subfloor with the 2″ screws that finally had arrived. This made about 150 new holes in our pretty clean and filled floor. Ivo checked the bottom of the bus to make sure we would not hit anything delicate, but the length of the screws was just perfect. We used coated screws so they won’t rust away in the future.
The next step was taping the approximate layout of our bathroom walls to make sure we knew the location of our future shower pan and toilet.
In the section where the shower will go, we have the option of removing the plywood and rigid foam to create a little more overhead space when showering. We did not want to put screws in that section only to have to remove them later. While discussing this matter that evening, we once again tossed with the idea of just raising the roof where the shower will go. Which got us searching for a good and affordable MIG or TIG welding machine. But that is for later date.
More cleaning
Last but not least, the wheel wells needed a thorough cleaning. You may wonder if it would not have been smarter to do that before putting the plywood floor in? We wondered the same thing ourselves. And absolutely it would have been easier. But at some point, we just wanted to see some progress over the spring break and thus focused on the floor first. Cleaning the wheel wells went surprisingly fast, and in the end, it only cost a full day. Most of it was waiting for the Goo Gone to do it’s job.
Once the wheel wells were clean, Ivo put a bead of caulk around them and then installed the sound and heat barrier material that we purchased. It is basically a foamy cushion with super sticky glue backing.
You can also find the same stuff inside the hood of a vehicle engine compartment. With that installed, the bus is starting to look pretty spiffy! The bottom section of the rear bench (which is basically the engine compartment cover) is the only section left to be cleaned before covering it with the same padding.
And just when you think all is well….
By the time all of this was done, it had gotten dark. The bus had to be returned to storage, so we started the engine (yes, we, too, now cringe when we have to write that, because you just know something is going to happen) and heated it up, then switched on the lights and….. saw flashing lights!?! Why were the top lights that we had re-wired flashing?? Not supposed to do that! Seems like we did something wrong in the connections; we forgot that at night those lights are also used as running lights and thus need to be wired accordingly. So as a quick fix, we just disconnected them and drove to storage. That is a problem for another day…
This coming week will be occupied with traveling and AHG camping so we will have to skip a week of the renovation work.
One reply on “Week #11”
[…] After that, we spent a few hours with Goo Gone to clean the never-ending amount of glue residue that remained on the rear bench. The bench was then covered with the same sound barrier that had been placed on the wheel wells. https://sixwheelsofadventure.com/week-11/ […]