I put it off as long as I could...

Then I crawled or rather rolled under the bus to measure the space available for my battery compartment as being 13.5 inches. Then I set to work.

The first thing was to shovel the sugar I dumped from my abortive sugar blasting attempt away. Scooping it up in a shovel set hoards if wasps that had been clustered thickly over it, buzzing around angrily. Clearly using sugar has hazards!

For the next hour or so, the steel for the compartment was measured and cut. The space needed is only 7x11 inches per battery but the compartment will be 19 inches deep - just in case more space is needed.

The next thing was to balance it all together and I must say, it looks pretty decent. After that came the drilling and bolting...

The plan is initially to have a plywood floor on the compartment as it'll initially solely be a cable compartment. Later, I'll replace the floor with something more suited to batteries.

Looking at the cross members underneath the bus, they seem to largely be closed box section with a few c section beams. That's not very welcome as it looks like I'm going to have to get my box welded onto the bus. On the other hand, having it welded on means that at the same time, a stouter floor could be added, stouter sides and my sections could be tack welded for extra security.

I plugged on until I was overcome by mosquitoes and darkness. Looking at my construction it appears the steel of my angle bracket is not a true 90° as the steel section is slightly wedge shaped. Given this is steel from the bedframes the hillbillies installed, I'm not surprised its not quite right. Nothing they used or did was right. I'll plug on and see if I can at least get the front square. It really doesn't matter too much if the back is angled.

That's what it looked like when I finished work for the day. There are still several bolts to install plus lock nuts. I'll have to go over all the bolts with a wrench later, just to make sure everything is tight. It's looking like the bottom will be held on by between 24 and 32 bolts. The top will be held together by a similar number. I think I can defy 1000lbs of battery to cause that lot to sheer. The extra long bolts will be trimmed after the lock nuts have been installed.

I had a casualty. One of my 4.7mm drill bits broke. Perhaps I should say I broke it. I'd drilled through a metal section and the section moved when I was drilling through the second piece. Needless to say, the drill bit objected. Fortunately I had a spare.

Unless I can get a lot done tomorrow, this underbody compartment looks like it could drag on for a couple more weekends. Having said that, its getting ever closer to completion.

In Tractor Supply yesterday I saw some very interesting U bolts. Those could come in handy for my water tanks. That is, of course, if I can bolt through C or I section rather than box section.

I'm beginning to think that I might have to investigate welding. The same nuts on the bus forums advised against Harbor Freight gasless wire welders but then they never think much of non premium solutions. This is of course typical of forums!

After completing the basic compartment construction, the next stage will be to investigate attaching the compartment underneath the bus. I'm expecting to have to trim some of the girder sections. Honestly, I can't wait to be rid of the hillbilly compartment. Left to my own devices, I'd have simply not put an underbody compartment. If I'd had the bus straight from the depot, there are a few things I'd have done differently. One thing is, rather than simply laying plywood over the central walkway, I'd have removed the central walkway!


As it is, the floor has a slight arch in the centre because of the walkway. As it had to be removed as one section, I couldn't do much about it without ripping up the entire floor. Having said that, I suspect that might have been a better option.

Lol. What a load of plonkers!

Out of interest, I had another look at the bus conversion forum online. Yup... They're still mostly plonkers. I put a simple question about paint and had answers from the outlandish to the ridiculous. Not one could name a barrier primer nor the best value economy top coat yet they all claim to have busses and all claim to have repainted them!

Today I visited Tractor Supply. I didn't buy much. In fact I spent less than $10 but in addition to 100 10-24 nuts and two M4 bolts. I got some 1\4x20 bolts, nuts and lock nuts. Thinking about it, I'd probably have been better off buying all my nuts and bolts from Tractor Supply as they sell them by the pound!

The 1\4x20 bolts will carry way in excess of 1200lbs before sheering. Again, looking for the sheer strength online produced very dubious looking figures. My usual go-to source of The Handbook of Chemistry and Physics didn't have anything bar a definition of sheer strength. Perhaps my engineering handbook would but at the moment it cannot be located.

The 4mm bolt did the biz. This screws into my electro magnet nicely. The bolt is a shade too long but I can always space it off with washers or even trim the bolt a shade with my angle grinder. All I need is to bolt one to a steel bracket and the other to the underside of the latch and the bracket to the bulkhead beneath the latch and its a very simple electro unlocking mechanism. They always say to keep it simple!

If the dual electro magnet affair works as hoped then it would be possible to add remote unlocking. Remote locking could be more challenging, however.

Thinking about a pull on the front door to close it, I realised that as I have a penchant for large size keyrings, I could put a small hook on the outside of the door and use my keyring to pull it shut. Thus I would also be more certain of not locking my keys in the bus!

Entertaining asininities

Over the past few weeks I've been hugely entertained by one or two people on school bus conversion forums. It all goes back to the reliability of forum posters. Most seem to know some of the basics but once they're out of their depth, everybody with a different opinion is wrong.

The latest entertaining nonsense is a discussion of my developing electrical system. Apparently I'm all wrong because I have put so many safety features in. Sockets intended for use with 15 anps are rated for 20. That's 5 amps to the good. Wiring intended for 15 amps is actually capable of and rated at 30 amps. A main cable intended for 30 amps is rated at 55 amps.

Apparently I'm so wrong because I put a 10-2 cable rather than a 10-3 which could carry 50A on each leg for a total of 100A. Somebody missed on my saying I was designing for 30A but building in excess for safety.

Having told me that a 55A 10-3 (4 wires including the earth) cable can carry twice as much current as a 10-2 (3 wires including the earth) they then claim my solution of using two 15A cables in parallel is dangerous! It's actually better than 10-3 as it has two neutrals as well as two hot wires as opposed to 10-3 which has two hots but only one neutral! In any case, with each cable going to a 15A dual breaker, there can be no problem not caught by a breaker! I'm going to call baloney on the dire warnings from the uneducated.

So, it looks like these forum dwellers just don't know what they're talking about when it gets beyond basics! Apparently my 30A 4 prong socket is incapable of carrying 30A, according to them. I think school bus construction forums though interesting in the basic stages of construction have just become a pit of asininity.

Honestly, if I quoted the claptrap and dire warnings that aren't based on any semblance of reality then you'd laugh for a week! Sadly, actually quoting what was written might be seen to lend it a misguided air of respect that it absolutely does not deserve.

I have no way of knowing whether I am dealing with misguided people that need education, liars that don't even have a bus, deranged individuals or people on a mission to confuse and infuriate others. Heavens, they could even be ISIS members or Chinese agents on a mission to confuse and disrupt! I rather suspect though that they're rather unimaginative people that can't think beyond "buy this premium object to solve this problem".

Interestingly, the members of that forum started discussing the cost if their school bus conversions. Mostly the price paid for their basic bus seems to be $4,000 which oddly is exactly what I paid yet I have seen them going for $2,500. Then add in the cost of conversion. I haven't totalled my costs yet but members quoted up to $20,000. Honestly, if somebody buys an old school bus then converts it they don't have the money needed to pay $20,000! More so when a really good camper trailer or 5th Wheeler can be had for that money! I'm going to call baloney on $20,000! Honestly, if my conversion tops $3,000 over purchase price then I will be utterly amazed.

The justification many use for building a schoolbus into a motorhome is they can't afford $250,000 for a real moitorhome yet when I look at the motorhome sales places, they seem to be below $70,000. All very strange. I can guarantee the facilities on their bus conversions aren't as good as those on a ready made motorhome. I know my facilities are fairly basic but that suits my lifestyle.

And now back to the bus conversion.

The electrical system is almost complete to the point of entry. Remaining to be done is to rebuild the hillbilly cable compartment under the bus, install underbody water tanks and install extraction fans. The sole reason for an electrical system is to run the microwave. I can live without a fridge. I just prefer to cook with a microwave rather than with gas.

There are little things remaining to be completed - window blinds and drawer locks plus a rail to stop the microwave from sliding. Then there's a handrail and a way of unlocking the front door from outside. There's a little paint touch up to be done plus some personalisation things.

Aside from that, there are other things I want to do such as adding a trailer hitch, fixing the reversing horn and the rev counter, rewiring the schoolbus flashers as brake lights and turn signals, replacing some of the worn out switches, adjusting the angle of the backup camera screen etc. Nothing major.

No work on the bus today. I did have a quick look in Lowe's out of curiosity at cables. 10-3 was about $2 a foot. Online it was 92c a foot. Given that I'd possibly need 30 feet that works out at $60 from Lowe's or $30 approx plus $20 shipping. Hardly any benefit either way. I'm going to have to look harder. Truth be told, this 110v ac system is such a pain in the rear that I'm wondering whether I would have been better putting a small gas cook top with a couple of 12v batteries to power fans and chargers and maybe a couple of flexible solar panels on the apex of the roof.