Development plans

As the bus was full of rodent excrement, clear rodent urine stains and had a possible rodent nest in one of the drawers, it seems prudent to  condemn the interior woodwork and definitely the mattresses. Two of the windows have been jerry-rigged with plexiglass instead of the original windows. That's OK though as most of the windows will be blocked off anyway. It did afford me a way to examine the windows without removing any. Thus far it seems a pretty straightforward caulk and rivet task with sheetmetal.

The bus drives pretty well. The speedometer might not be as accurate as it could be though as the highest speed I attained was 65mph downhill yet apparently the chase car clocked me at 70. I'll have to check the GPS for actual ground speed. Thereby hangs a minor problem - there is no 12v socket to plug the GPS into.

Faults discovered so far: One of the two fans that keep the driver cool needs to be replaced and that entails opening a panel that a previous owner has bolted a 110v cable across. Two windows are plexiglass bodge jobs. The indicator won't stay locked up for right-hand turns. Clearly it needs a little adjustment or a replacement. Given that the manufacturer went out of business in 2001 and it's now 2014, that could be interesting to find.

Step one will be to gut the bus completely. Step two will be to replace the windows. Those might sell since they're specific to Carpenter busses. Step three will be to put in the new interior. To the left of the back door will be a shower. To the right will be a toilet. There will be a partition wall between the cockpit and the living quarters in order to retain the temperature within the living quarters. immediately behind the partition will be the eating, dining and living area. The beds will be to the left and right of the walkway as bunks with overhead storage. There will be storage the entire way along from floor to ceiling, mostly drawers and all with locks so they don't open in transit.

Under the bus there is already a compartment put in by a previous owner. That might have to be reworked but looks an excellent place to put deep-cycle batteries. There might be solar panels on the roof or a low profile wind generator. I've not made my mind up on that one, suffice to say that wind generates more power than solar. There will also be a storage space for my bicycle and at the back, a tow hook so I can tow a car.

Needless to say, outside the bus there's a lot of work that needs to be done. There are screws to be removed and the holes filled from where a fold down table was installed and where there was an awning. The rear shelf needs to be removed. There's a fair bit of work involved but the good news is, it's all work I can do by myself.

Plumbing is going to be an adventure. It's probably best to have a grey and a black tank but they're going to have to be situated forward of the rear wheels for stability. When it's all done, I'll get the bus weighed so I'll know how heavy it is. As a private bus, I don't need a special license but might get a class A just for the heck of it.