Is it legal to drive a DL3 without the back bumper?

[Fred Mc]

What is BGM?

[luvrbus]

Sorry BCM

[Jim Blackwood]

Haven't been to BPM or BMP yet but I'll get there one of these days. So far you guys have kept me pretty busy.

Tomorrow I'll ask for the maintenance records, see where that goes. Can't imagine it being much of a problem, at least I hope not. So while I'm waiting for delivery and worrying at the title knot, I seem to recall having a bit of graph paper out in the workshop so I think I'll go get that and start work on the layout. First round will be much guess work, refined in later iterations but I already have a good idea how it's going to go. Thank god the lavatory had already been removed as I'm not tempted to make that work. Another place where an RV item is preferred (ceramic toilet).

Anyway I'm thinking of maybe an 8x9 or 10 room in the back for a work area, left door into MBR with closets fore and aft of the bed, headboard to the right, then left door to tub/shower/toilet (right) and center door to kitchen, BR sink to left. Then conventional sink/stove left, fridge right, etc the rest of the way forwards. Make the center door swing right to close the toilet/shower. One twist might be to lift the head of the bed with a 12v linear actuator to get more room to walk around the foot, with just a simple wall switch by the door. Should be good for at least a couple feet of extra space and I think maybe that makes a king sized bed feasible, though a queen is probably more practical. For the couch, maybe just find one that is very comfortable to sleep on and not worry about converting to a bed, that seems to make more sense to me as it will only occasionally be used that way. Then maybe a relatively small round table for breakfast/dinner and relatively conventional comfortable chairs to go with it, possibly if room is tight making the forward one a mounted co-pilot's seat. Doesn't seem to be a lot more to the inside other than construction and finishing detail.

I will evaluate all available means of heating/cooling based on the equipment in the bus and its existing configuration and make my choices, but I'm leaning towards retaining as much of the stock system and ductwork as possible, adding new components to add flexibility. We'll see where that goes.

Leaning heavily towards stainless tanks but would consider plastic if the configuration and price is right. Location of basement items will depend on what makes sense for routing, bearing in mind the weight balance, and trying to keep as much of the bays as possible open for storage without creating maintenance headaches. On the plumbing, it does not have to run uphill all the way as long as there are drain valves at all the low points, both sides of the pump, the traps, and of course the fresh water tank. Those need to be easily accessible and have the locations marked. I'm thinking some sort of decal icon by the bay door for each one is a good idea. And just out of curiosity, has anyone ever used a dump valve on the fresh water tank? Not saying I will, I'm just curious since they are cheap and seal well. Then too, I'd like to stack the tanks and leave the bottom one elevated enough for the dump plumbing to all be inside. Have to run some calculations to see if that's feasible but it's complicated because I want the fresh tank at the top. Less chance of contamination that way. I won't know until I have the bay dimensions.

Jim

[bronson]

Jim, I forgot where you live but you did come by my house so you cant be too far. There is a place that makes custom plastic tanks about 10 miles north of me in martinsville. I had them make a couple tanks a few years back for a boat I had. Over Christmas I plan on going to shipshewanna/Elkhart. Will scout it out for you if you haven't made it up there yet.

[Jim Blackwood]

Thanks for posting Gary. I wanted to get in touch but somehow I misplaced my notepad I was using on that visit and lost all my notes. Depending on logistics I could see possibly tagging along on your trip if that was any sort of possibility. If not that's OK too. Considering the bus won't get here until the middle of next month, a scouting trip would probably be a good idea just to get the lay of the land, and if I see anything I can't pass up I'm sure I can make arrangements to either ship or pick up later.

So I did a very rough preliminary floorplan and it looks like I will have plenty of space for everything I want to do. I need a more accurate interior measure of the actual usable space, particularly lengthwise, but on my current 1/4" = 1ft scale (roughly: engineering graph paper) it all seems to fit with room to spare and ample places to steal length from. The layout works. I just have to decide on a way to get the foot of the bed out of the way a bit more. Plenty of options, just have to settle on one. I sort of like the one where you just yank the entire bed up to the ceiling but that may not be the best way to do it. Not quite enough space for a full Murphy bed but but not far off. The idea has some merit.

Jim

[luvrbus]

A lot of people just buy a wrecked motorhome or travel trailer and use the components .I know this guy that paid $4000.00 for one he got a diesel generator in it with 41 hrs showing ,he got tanks,inverters,electric fridge,slides the whole ball game and sold the tires and wheels for $2000.00.LOL I tried giving a 3 tanks away one was a 110 gal fresh water,the other 2 were grey and black tanks in 3 months all I got ask was for photos and I made it clear they were free for pickup and still got asked if I would ship.I gave the tanks to guy that was here for work and he sold the tanks in 2 days on Ebay     

[Jim Blackwood]

The genset is likely to be the big expense and probably the item I'll spend the longest looking for. Ideally something like a 2 or 3 cylinder diesel 7 or 8 Kw should do nicely and it doesn't have to be new as all the moving parts are replaceable or rebuildable, but otoh I don't see much sense in buying something that is totally ragged out and the repair costs would be the same as buying new. Biggest problem with buying a wreck is that I might not want some of the pieces. For instance, plastic toilets are very common but not what I want. The tanks will fit awkwardly at best. The genset will probably be gasoline. The sink will likely as not be different from what I want, and so on. I agree it should be a cheap way to go, but there are certain advantages in buying the right pieces and having new, like making things fit like they should. What I'm shooting for here is to leverage my fabrication and repair capabilities to achieve a middle of the road conversion with bargain basement expenditures. So far I'm on track, and if I can do as well on the other major purchases as I've done on the first one I believe I can achieve that. I'll be using the usual major sources like craigslist and fleabay plus new ones as I come across them but I'm also not afraid to splurge on items where it makes sense, particularly if it is a key component of a larger assembly. Like paying 1/4 of what the coach cost to have it transported for instance, replacing a bull gear, or installing a granite counter top or a ceramic toilet. But by extension, a durable, attractive and reasonably priced floor makes more sense than going all out with marble and embedded LED lighting. Yeah, that looks super cool and might last forever but engineered hardwood is a better choice for me for instance. Some of these newer materials are probably better still.

I can make cabinets and drawers, that is particular work but not difficult. Overhead bins are already there in excess. Partitions are fairly easy. plumbing can be below and inside cabinets, but I do need to spend some time considering the best way to provide outlets. In one or two spots an outlet strip may make sense. Most places a cabinet or bin should make a good location provided routing the wires isn't too difficult, and I don't know how much the bus construction helps or hinders that effort.

Anyway I want to jump in and get a good start on it, enough to make it comfortably usable, then I can spend more time on the detail work on more of a pay-as-you-go basis.

Jim

[Jim Blackwood]

Just scored an 8Kva Winco residential propane genset with automatic electronic transfer switch for $700, it was 1/2 hr away. Looks to be hardly used. Briggs and Stratton OHV twin engine, enclosure, auto start, battery and a fresh oil and filter change. Seems like a hell of a find to me, and a real good start on the parts acquisition program. Just happened to check Craigslist and there it was. Guy got it from a buddy who got it in exchange for some construction work for the householder. Should slide right into the bay.

Jim

[chessie4905]

I hope the engine gives you trouble FREE service. Some Briggs and Stratton ohv engines had problems with valve guides moving in heads, bent pushrods and camshaft breakage. Actually more than some. Google it to determine if your engine is one of the series with these issues. Fingers crossed

[Jim Blackwood]

Thanks. I don't plan to go courting trouble, if it runs OK I'll be a believer.

Cabinet is 28-1/2" tall, hope that will fit in a 102DL3 bay.

Photos attached,
Jim

[richard5933]

Seems like a winner of a find.

Biggest thing now is to fabricate adequate ventilation to keep the thing cool during operation. Looks like it's an air-cooled unit, unless the radiator is just not shown. If so, it will need lots of air flow to keep its cool.

[dtcerrato]

Well said BW!

[DoubleEagle]

At the risk of sounding like a downer monger, it will not have enough power to supply cooling for a 45'er with windows in the summer while going down the road. 

[chessie4905]

At least that will get him started.

[Jim Blackwood]

At that price I couldn't pass it up. Ideally I'd get a 10 or 12Kw unit but this one will run a couple or 3 A/C units depending on what they are. Supposedly the OTR A/C works and I intend to keep it. I'd like to find a way to switch in an AC powered compressor but that probably would mean evacuating the entire system and I understand that involves a lot of freon so it could get complicated. Luckily I have time to work on a solution to that. May have to pump out the freon to a tank, make changes and then pump it back in. That can be done if required. I might have to set up a compressor especially for that job. Anyway, since the compressor uses what are in essence check valves in the head you could have two compressors in parallel and whichever one was not pumping would not backflow. So at least in theory all I'd need is a motor and pump that will circulate a comparable amount of freon. Realistically that means something that can be flow controlled for temperature regulation, and since it is 110 or 220 powered (yes, I know, inexact quoting of voltage values. So sue me.), it's entirely possible that there is a sealed compressor of some type that will work. (What would be the tonnage of the OTR system?)

Anyway the particular information that I need right now is the dimensions of the luggage bays, particularly the height. (I just found some A series dimensions so it looks like there's plenty of room.)

I was sort of sweating this part of  it and feel I've gotten off easy. Tomorrow I'll measure my big stainless tank and do some calculations to see how hard it would be to make that work. May use that as is for fresh water (weld a top on it) and add black and gray tanks but I'm afraid it will carry too much water and is probably too tall, so it will have to be cut down. That may not be a bad thing, ending up with two tanks instead. Or possibly three as it has a rear section that will almost certainly have to be separated. The numbers will tell though. Shouldn't be much cost in materials to make the modifications, but a not insignificant amount of welding. Fortunately I have the equipment and the skills.

Beyond that I'm not sure how much I can do before the bus gets here. One thing I would like to have is a compact combo washer/dryer. I've heard that they are less than ideal but think that the convenience is most likely worthwhile and should be planned for. Also wondering if a garbage compactor might not make sense. But those two items are low priority. In fact now that I think about it, I just wonder if there might be a way to put a chute to a compactor in the basement? Something to ponder.

But the best thing? Space is not a problem. I swear I believe that I could just buy all the bits and juggle them around so they fit right and then say, "Yep, that's the floor plan."

Jim