Building the 102DL3 phase four

[Jim Blackwood]

The last three phases dealt with:
1-researching and deciding what bus to get
2-shopping, purchase and delivery
3-destruction, cleanup, prep and assaying

This thread begins the construction phase.

Phase 3, "Building the 102DL3 (continuation of "Bumper" thread)" can be found here:
https://www.busconversionmagazine.com/forum/index.php?topic=33655.120

More soon,
Jim

[6805eagleguy]

Maybe you should start a project thread??

[Handyjim]

I think this might be the start of the project thread!!🙂

[Geoff]

If one scrolls down on the topics box, the second topic is bus projects.

[Jim Blackwood]

This forum has very little in the way of specific information about the DL3. If you guys don't want the information I can provide just say so, I can quit any time. I've made a serious effort to link everything up in a way that if someone wants to go down this path it's at least been blazed for them. But I can stop right now if that's what you want. What I will do is target specific issues that come up in this conversion and stay away from the choices that are made more on the basis of the owner's preferences, that way the information should be applicable to most DL3 conversions and there will be less of what you might refer to as filler material. When I get to the point where because of the personal choices I've made on my coach I can no longer be objective about other options, maybe that will be the time to change.
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The most important decision to be made in converting this bus to an RV is where to put the toilet. That is, first because the toilet should drop directly into the black water tank, and second because the HVAC bay limits your options by taking a huge amount of floor space out of consideration. To start with the bay is 56" deep and you can add to that the 29" required to swing the door open on the rear of the bay to access the evaporator and the blower. That's 85 inches or just over 7 feet taken out of consideration starting at the front edge of the fourth window from the front of the coach, or a little less than 24 ft from the rear bulkhead. So you can go forward of that point and put the black water tank at the rear of the middle bay, or you can put it behind the 17 ft mark and put the tank in the rear bay. This might be a good choice, particularly if you plan to build an office into your coach. You have 63" of usable space back there which essentially puts you between 12 and 17 ft from the rear bulkhead, some of which is easier to use and some not. (allow for the diameter of the discharge of course) At 17 ft you are dropping just behind the bay door latch which might not be the most convenient but if you plan your tanks well it certainly can be done. About the last foot and a half is behind the panel to the rear of the bay door. So if your floor plan can take advantage of a toilet in this position it can be worked out. Mostly it depends on how you want your bedroom(s) arranged.

The forward position has some merit as well. With a bit over 39 ft of usable inside free space the 24 ft mark puts the downpipe between the 3rd and 4th windows back and leaves 15 ft forward of that mark. This is enough room to fit a large couch and refrigerator and maybe an end table or two. Opposite there is room for sink, stove, and dinette or whatever, with maybe a rotating recliner at the front. Or maybe a small office space, whatever. It's more room than a lot of decent sized S&S's can offer. Which of course leaves much more room to the rear for closet space, a large bathroom, more room around the bed, 2 bedrooms, whatever.

The point is, you have to work around those locations, and then everything else flows from those decisions. It's been recommended that weight be concentrated in the rear bay, and it's certainly large enough to allow that. It will easily accommodate upwards of 200 gallons of tankage exclusive of the waste tanks. Taken to extremes you could fit a single tank capable of holding 600 gallons through the bay door, slide it rearward, and still be able to access the HVAC. Not that you'd want to, the weight just of the water would be 5000lbs exclusive of the tank. And though you have about 15,000lbs to work with that is a huge chunk of it to dedicate to one purpose. It does however illustrate the maximum limit rather well.

The forward location means that one or both waste tanks must be farther forward. At 835lbs per hundred gallons the weight of these while significant isn't going to be enough to make it particularly difficult to weight balance the axles, and some owners will use smaller tanks than others. As a guideline, if for instance you used full height tanks and ran all the way across between the latch brackets leaving 5" for fittings, a 20" wide tank would have a total volume of 200 gallons which you could divide between gray and black as you choose. That 20" width can be conveniently divided to get lesser volumes. Total weight 1670lbs exclusive of the tank(s).

That should be enough information to base decisions on. I will be using the forward position and that will influence my other decisions going forward.

Jim

[richard5933]

May not be much information yet about the DL3, but I'm sure that others will follow you down this path and find the information useful. I've read through threads years old to get information posted long ago, so you never know who will need it later on.

Sounds like you're thinking through every possible permutation on the black tank issue. How do these options play into what you want to do with the inside plan?

[Geoff]

I believe the subject of toilet placement belongs in the bus projects section.

[Jim Blackwood]

 >How do these options play into what you want to do with the inside plan?

I just did a fairly extensive analysis of this but then lost it all to an errant keystroke so I will try to summarize. You have 6 feet of length in which to locate your toilet drain. 5 at the back and 1 at the front, basically. If you locate your bathroom forward you must deal with issues of weight transfer, 1/3 of the center bay being used for tankage, and relocation of the overhead side A/C units, plus the galley/entertainment area is limited to about 12 or 13 ft. It does however allow a large workroom/office area either in front of or behind the bedroom. If behind either the bed must be sideways to the wall or the isle width is only a foot and a half.

If the bathroom is in the 5 foot range above the rear bay a rear bedroom can be quite roomy with generous closet space (up to 12 ft of wardrobe, 6 per side of a 4 ft center isle for instance). The desk/office/work area must then be combined with the galley/entertainment area which is a challenge for the  more tool oriented and makes for a much smaller work area. The more practical plan putting the work area behind the galley and the water heater under the desk or work bench so it can be close to both the kitchen sink and the shower.

Jim

[Jim Blackwood]

I'm going to quit posting on this thread now. Beyond location of the toilet drain just about everything else depends on item placement which also depends on owner preferences and selected components. The common issues of wire, water, air runs etc pertain mostly to getting across the center duct and/or the HVAC bay and avoiding obstruction of access panels and such. There are some good ways and some bad ways of dealing with all those things but I'll not claim to be an expert. I think I've accomplished all I set out to do here and this is a good place to end it. Obviously there is much more to do but I don't think I want to do a project thread although I might reconsider at some point. I'm sure to have questions but using the manuals and some common sense there shouldn't be that many that I need help with. I guess we'll see. And if I spot a particularly special way to do something I'll try to point that out.

Jim

[buswarrior]

Excellent bunch of thinking, and thanks for sharing.

Applicable decision making for any chassis.

Wait until a busnut gets a hold of an "E" model and posts questions about multi-plex and computer controlled suspensions...

Happy coaching!
Buswarrior