The Final Answer to the Insurance Question

Today I had been hoping to be off on my next trip in the bus. I’d had to book to see the HR people about my 401K so I’d booked early and asked if there was space in the parking lot for my bus as I felt I’d be pausing in my bus on my way somewhere. That’s not quite how things happened though. Let’s run back a few days...

I normally work from 5:30am til 4:30pm with just two two hour breaks. That means overtime every day. Anyway, there was a hurricane that swept through the state on Thursday so on Wednesday they announced work would be cancelled for Thursday. Friday was already a day when work was not scheduled. Thus I’d arranged to go to HR on Friday morning. Well, Thursday came and the hurricane swept through. The rain was pretty intense and managed to enter the bus through the roof vent that Carpenter put at the front of the bus. Normally water does not enter. It was not entering majorly but it was entering and probably soaking the insulation inside the roof cavity. It was dripping onto the door opening handle in the centre of the console and water was dripping over the instrument cluster and in other places under the console too. This is not a very happy state of affairs!

So, I set out on Friday to my HR meeting and got there in time despite not really knowing the way and having left my GPS in the bus. Speaking of GPS mine is fine for my car. I need one that will avoid steep downgrades and very low bridges for the bus. I gather Magellan might do one. Mine is a Garmen.

The meeting went well and I left the HR guru after a good chat about busses and motorhomes. From there I went to Tractor supply as on the way I’d decided that since both my Harbor Freight and Duracell 35AH batteries experienced rapid voltage drop when a 3.92A load was applied then an instant voltage recovery when the load was removed, they were both probably not ideally suited to a load greater than 2amps.

Having decided to put an extra battery hanger on with (at the moment) my Harbor Freight battery paired up with my Duracell, assuming the Harbor Freight battery still has a decent voltage when I check it, I went to Tractor Supply for supplies. I got the nuts and bolts needed to secure the battery but all of Tractor Supply’s steel was hidden behind a thick layer of rust that I had no wish to deal with. Let somebody else brush all that rust off and leave the steel soaking in vinegar for 4 weeks!

Moving on I went to Harbor Freight for some more batteries and there I saw the usual arrangement of tools crying “buy me now”. I held firm in my resolve and exited with just the batteries. These were D cell for my shower, AA for whatever and the big coin cell batteries for my Harbor Freight meters.

Home Depot was the next port of call. There I would have purchased four adjustable chain links and two turnbuckles as well as some steel angle. I got the steel angle with no problem. Two 4 foot lengths. I failed totally to get the links and turnbuckles because the aisle was blocked off while somebody was up on a great big electric lift, grabbing merchandise off the top shelf. Not feeling too much like waiting, I bought my angle steel and moved on.

Back at the ranch I procrastinated a bit then pulled out the angle grinder and cut the steel to fit a new battery. This time I cut the steel big enough to allow half an inch all around the battery. That’ll solve problems with batteries that are quite oversized.

I cut two approximately 12 inch lengths. These will attach to the ribs under the bus. I cut four exactly 10 inch which will act as the vertical hangers from those two bars. Then I cut two approximately 8 inch lengths to go along the sides of the battery and two approximately 5 inch to go along the ends.

I simplified the design of this hanger from the previous one considerably. Now the battery is supported at the sides only. The end pieces are just there to stop the battery from sliding. The end prices on the old hanger also support the battery.

At the end of the cutting, I had just 3 1/2 inches of steel angle left. I’ll use some to make my attachments for the turnbuckles and will weld them onto the base later. The older hanger also had a piece keeping the top pieces a set distance apart. I’m not really sure that’s strict necessary.

I was defeated when the strange glowing orb in the sky vanished for the day. I’d got almost to the end of the welding on the main body. As can be seen in the photo, the base is done and one side is complete. The other side needs the other bar to be attached then the two sides welded onto the base. Then I have to make and fit my attachment points for my turnbuckles. I don’t need a top bracket as I already have one that will do perfectly.

Tomorrow, assuming sunny weather I shall complete my battery hanger, including painting it with anti-rust primer. Then it will be time for topcoat. At some point I shall go under the bus to install the battery. Cabling is next but I need two more self-resetting breakers. I might have these set at 5A each with each going off an individual battery. I also need another battery connector like the other one. Yet more 8 gauge wire too.

Now I missed a bit. I drove past my insurance agent today. I popped into State Farm to find out about insuring my bus as a motor home. Chatting with them I found my existing car insurance was poor. It was expensive and poor. My bus insurance is collision only and is poor. State Farm offers fully comprehensive bus insurance for the same as I’m paying Progressive for just collision. All they needed was photographs of the interior and exterior to show that there were no passenger seats remaining and that I had a permenantly fitted bed and permanently fitted cooking facility. That’s no problem whatsoever! They didn’t even need me to retitle the bus as a motorhome. That saves me hassle if at some point I have to insure it as a bus.

The totals for the bus came to $609. The lady couldn’t type it into the computer but had to work everything out manually. Thank Heavens for people that can think! My car insurance will rise, which is unfortunate but I’ll have adequate coverage.

It strikes me that the problem people have with getting bus insurance is due to their laziness. I went out and met an agent and she came up with a quote. She knew how to get a quote together. None of these online things actually seem to work. Not insurance quotes and not the search for insurance. My quote is for a product that is not sold online. I’d not really been ready to talk insurance before. Now, I am.

I can say that Progressive only does bus insurance, collision not. AllState did not offer anything for motorhomes that weren’t purpose built by the original manufacturer as a motorhome. State Farm seems to offer insurance and doesn’t really care too much about what they’re insurring. They dont even want the bus titled as anything but a bus.

So I sent off photos of my bus interior and exterior and will now await my responses. Meanwhile tomorrow I shall complete my battery hanger and shall paint it. I’m not sure whether I’ll put the holes to hang it from yet or whether that’ll be something for another day. Whatever, things are looking up!