Mistakes made when planning your coach

[Cary and Don]

1.  Not running enough wire for future use. Thought we ran enough extras. Wrong!

One the new bus, all the electrical chases will be easy to access with removable panels.  One will be along the floor and one behind the valances.  Pull cords area a real pain.

2.  Not rewiring the entire bus, GMC 4107. It had been butchered by a number of people along the way.  A lot of the breakers and panel positions could have been used for usefull things, if we only knew where the wires went.  Most of the removed items had their electric just cut loose.  Fixing things would be a lot easier if only we knew what they had done.

So we live with it, and make new wiring diagrams as we figure it out.

Don and Cary
GMC 4107
Neoplan AN340

[Devin & Amy]

We have a new "bad" word in our family lexicon--LAYERS
It is really hard to determine what will be in the way.
We lived in the bus for a year with under powered electrical system, a garden hose for water supply, and only stovetop hot water.
We rebuilt the inside to reflect the use of the coach for a fulltime family of six. It is very helpful to write down complaints while using your coach and then be able to implement the changes.
In our case some of the improvements were done in the wrong order, layering over the top of things which had to be changed.
The bays don't get enough credit for their usefulness in everyday life.
Needs:
    Plugs in bays, and in the engine compartment. extension cords suck.
    heat your water supply areas or they will freeze eventually.
    If you pull the OTR A/C be ready to put in a lot of cooling power.
    INSULATE!!!

It is not feasible to fix an insulation problem after the fact. although I am trying.
Also, It is hard to determine what wiring you will be adding later, so make sure you can get to the chases for new runs.

Devin


   

[white-eagle]

i bought mine almost fully completed, just a few adjustments.  now i find out i've been listening to all these experts that made all these mistakes to make mine better.  Go figure!!   

[gomer]

The biggist mistake I made was Planning to retire and travel.Now I have to keep working to pay for the things that my wife wants in it.  Maybe my biggest one was buying it to start with LOL..  Wouldn't have it no other way.  !!!

[pete81eaglefanasty]

The most unforeseen mistake I made was not knowing where the air conditioner blowers were, before I put all the holding tanks and plumbing in.  When the blower motor was giving us problems we had to remove all the tanks to repair it.  It was a lot of work putting them in and taking them out.


Picture 1 & 2 will show the holding tanks on both sides of the bay
Picture 3 shows where the motors are at, oh what a good time we had doing it all over again. yea right!!!!

               Pete & Jean
                  Fantasy

[rcbishop]

Nick...could be wrong, of course, but seems if you have access to an exterior outlet, from inside the coach,  it could be easily expanded to include all of your under floor space.....OR?

RCB

[bounder39]

Hello The main thing that bothered me was not taking the time to choose my bus properly and taking the word of the person I purchased it from. I don't know if this is inline with what you want but a person can not afford to trust anyone when purchasing a bus or anything else for that matter. That is what I would change the next time it will cost a lot less. All the best and we will see you at the rally.

[Gary LaBombard]

Mistakes I made before I got my coach but fixing her up now.
Going on 6 years nearly now!!!!

(1) IF you did not have your bus inspected before purchase for bad situations you will find when you get it home, shame on you.  I didn't do that either!!

(2) If the previous owner hands you the keys with one hand to the bus and takes your money with the other hand knowing you did not inspect your bus properly says, ("Just load her up and head her for California with confidence")!!! NOT!!!!!!!!!!! I have no more to say on that as you all know by now what situation I got "myself" into and try very often to prevent others from getting into.

This thread will make for some great information all in one package when published Jack, now lets all bone up and tell jack what you really wish you had done to your coach after getting her home for your conversion from day one, this could get lengthy but real informative. 

Gary

 

[TomC]

Because of my pocket book at the time, I chose an AMGeneral Transit 10240.  It was a more difficult conversion but even with the engine/transmission being completely rebuilt, new tires, etc, the conversion has stayed at the $85,000 mark-compare that to what you can buy new-gas powered Class C?
The mistake is that my bus will not pull what I want, even with the bigger power now-mainly because the trailer hitch is mounted to the engine cradle.  So now I'm in the process of designing a Freightliner based (do figure since I sell them) coach/garage.  I want to find a used Argosy cabover with 101" cab, owner/operator specs-especially the powered entry steps, with either autoshift or Allison (not picky on engine) and convert it to a 40ft with garage in the back for a Mini with the master bedroom above.  Then I can pull a big 27ft trailerable cabin cruiser to float on the many inland waterways we have across our beautiful country.  Advantages- truck based-anyone can work on the drive train; make the living space with square walls so store bought cabinets can be used for a faster conversion; tandem drive axles for maximum traction and braking; if buying a new truck, will have up to date smog devices.
I'm designing the coach to be a full 13'6" tall so that even with 82" interior headroom will have 24" of tween space between the frame and the floor for actually more storage space than any bus could have (I'm including the garage space also). 
But-in the meantime, I'm still using the AMGeneral-which is a joy to drive now that Don Fairchild has bumped up the horsepower and everything in the engine compartment has been either rebuilt or is new.  Good Luck, TomC

[ulaff]

Plumbing!!! We had the coach gutted and had spent two weeks and prob. a dozen rolls of painters tape trying to find the perfect floor plan.After it was all said and done the shower drain was centered perfectly over the bulkhead in between the baggage compartments.This required a complete redesign setting the entire project back causing massive hair loss high blood pressure and the spilling of a beer

[NewbeeMC9]

DON'T VENT GREY WATER TANK INTO BAY
also,

DONT USE PVC

I bought mine this way so another one of the things i gotta fix.

[travelingfools]

[size=600pt]DON'T VENT GREY WATER TANK INTO BAY [/size]
also,

DONT USE PVC


I bought mine this way so another one of the things i gotta fix.

Can I ask the problem w/the pvc ?

[NewbeeMC9]

Can I ask the problem w/the pvc ?

Freeze protection is not forgiving at all,  the PVC in my bus is so brittle that I couldn't even repair it.  Luckily i could use it for conduit to slide pex in behind the cabinets etc.

I know pvc is cheap and that makes it attractive.  But if you make a list of what you need to plumb your whole bus and price it out at the lowe/depot, the total with pex will only be a couple hundred dollars if that.  Less than a tank of fuel to plumb the whole bus. For the difference in quality, freeze forgiveness, and flexibility, (and pretty colors), I'd say its worth it.  But I've had to do repairs, YMMV   And there are many that use pvc and i guess don't have problems.  I am also suggesting using the slip fittings as opposed to the brass fitting and fancy tool. Then you can take your joints apart and put them back together. ( like when you change your mind on something else. )

I would also tend to pex being more forgiving to vibration and bouncing down the road. 

I have no scientific data, only my bus and my opinion.

[TomC]

Ulaff- I had the same problem with the shower pan, but in a different way.  Right where I wanted the shower is where the floor slopes upwards a bit towards the rear.  So a standard 36 x 36 shower pan with the drain in the middle of the pan would not work.  What I bought was a Kohler 36 x 36 shower pan with the drain in one corner with the pan sloped to that corner.  I would think that you could use a similar shower pan for your problem.  Good Luck, TomC

[poohbear]

   I think my biggest Problem was measuring and remeasuring trying to get everything to fit and that i didnt hit the frame running plumbing and wiring down to the bays. measure twice drill once .Also the furnace duct work was a night mare .