Plans and ideas

Remaining to do on the bus are:
1. The front door unlocking system. A quick and dirty solution would be just to add a standard door lock and wedge something under the door locking flap to stop it locking the door. That would allow me to lock it from the outside on my way out. Ideally though I'll continue with my plan for an electromagnetic solution. There's nothing to say that I can't use both solutions.
2. Waste water system. The bucket under the bus is a temporary measure that will work just fine though the goal is to plumb in two 15 gallon waste water drums. Even a single drum would be just fine though.
3. Fresh water system. Now here I had a brainwave. I clearly cannot trust used chemical drums for fresh water nor any kind of secondhand drums. The 5 gallon buckets from Walmart are a little small but several plumbed together could well provide enough water for a couple of days. I saw a video on YouTube about how one woman put leak-proof plumbing into a 5 gallon bucket. That gave me thoughts though securing such a small thing as a 5 gallon bucket will not be easy.
4. Carrying on with the 5 gallon bucket idea, it would be possible to put a copper tube looped through the bucket. Air could be blown through the tube. The bucket could be filled with water that's allowed to evaporate via the inlet. This would have the effect of cooling the air slightly. That could be useful for air-conditioning. Pouring water into a barrel will have zero cost. Blowing air through a tube using a CPU fan will use negligible electricity.
5. Ventillation in the bedroom is planned using a CPU fan to suck air from ceiling level to blow it out underneath the bus via an existing hole made by the hillbillies.
6. The cooking extraction fan will have to go through a hole in the side of the bus. Again, a CPU fan will be used.
7. The lights still need work to turn the school bus flashers into brake and indicator duplicators. The front reds will just be removed.
8. The reversing horn needs to be wired to a switch on the console. I'm not a fan of horns coming on automatically.
9. The drawers need padding and separators in those intended for crockery.
10. The breaker box compartment needs to be built.
11. I'm going one way and another as regards batteries. Currently I'm thinking that since I'm using solely 3 fans - maybe 4 if I put one in the bathroom. Other than that, all I'm using battery power for is charging phones etc. At most in terms of power I'd be using 20AH a day. That could easily be handled by 60 AA NiMh cells. I spotted 100 NiMh cells of 3000MaH on eBay. That seems to be better value than lead acid deep cycle batteries. NiMh have other benefits too in that they can be totally discharged with no ill effect. A battery compartment below the bus means the batteries performance might be adversely affected in cold weather but inside the bus there's a risk of fire left unattended while charging from solar panels. Thus, a small battery compartment under the bus could be ideal. Such a self-built battery would probably be best housed in an old metal ammunition box. That could even contain the charge controller and a voltage regulator.
12. Given that I'm now using gas, fitting a further compartment where a 20lb gas cyliner might be fitted could be interesting.
13. The bathroom vanity - now that I've decided not to use the vanity as a site for a gascooktop - does need a sink but I am still against plumbing in a standard sink. I'm considering a drop in-lift out enamel bowl with handles. If necessary, I could weld handles onto a standard enamel bowl.

The good news is that I should imagine I shall soon be able to work on the bus in the evenings on a weekday. The evenings are drawing out now to the extent that at 6pm, instead of barely being able to see my hand in front of my face, I was greeted by this scene as I left work.
Of course 15 minutes later it was pitch black but that'll change fairly rapidly. Currently we're gaining another minute of daylight every day. I predict that this will be the amount of light left when I get home by around the end of February. By then I hope I'll have done everything needed with the bus including getting the alternator belt changed.

More problems!

Rather than work on a toilet that had me boiling with frustration yesterday, I worked on probably the last big thing in the bus - the front closet door. I wanted to see how much hardboard it would soak up from my supply. Stupidly, I measured it at the top and in the middle, concluding that it would be the same width at the bottom.

Having completed my usual ladder frame for big doors, I tried the frame in the doorway. Whoops! It fitted in the middle and at the top but not at the bottom which was 3\4 of an inch narrower. Inspecting the doorframe carefully, I could see the problem. The bottom of the 2x4 is more of Lowe's banana wood. It's warped and must have been warped when I used it. Now I know why the bottom of the front partition looks a bit off.

So, having ripped Lowe's a new one via Twitter, I trimmed 3\4 of an inch off the bottom cross member and screwed the frame back together. Then I attached the hardboard after cutting it to size. Sanding it to perfection outside the bus, I disappeared in a plume of brown dust.

Sadly I didn't manage to fix the door in place but I propped it up and took the best photo I could.

Maybe it's not visible in the photo but there is a definite curve for the last two feet of the 2x4 beam.

My attention turned to the toilet and without getting quite as irked as yesterday, I took a fresh photo. Clearly I'm going to have a problem opening the lid!

As can clearly be seen, the handle protrudes three inches into the path of a lifting lid. I'm going to have to give this more thought. Right now I'm wondering whether one of the $70 flush toilets would be a solution. Having said that, I don't want to make this $60 into a $70 toilet that cost $130!

There are two obvious solutions. The first is to leave the toilet as it is and open the door every time it needs attention. That doesn't sound too promising! The second is to split the lid, add two more hinges and only need to open the door when the grit bin needs work. Access to Hershey's Pot of Gold can be achieved anytime.

My hardboard supply turns out to be more than I need for the remaining cupboard and for the door but less than I need for the toilet unless I used two smaller pieces joined together. I might leave the additional piece off the toilet for now.

Looking at the bus, there's a bit left to do but its mostly small stuff. The big construction is over inside unless I add overhead lockers and other such fun stuff. I have to:
Hang a curtain at the end of the bed. This might need an upright and a cross beam.
Put up the closet chain.
Build a cupboard door and 6 or 7 drawers for the kitchenette
Put a second coat of purple on the kitchenette and redo the white.
Paint the bathroom white and green
Fasten the shower base in place.
Add shower curtains.
Paint the cockpit blue using primer and paint.
Clean the bus thoroughly. The cockpit is very bad.
Build a table for the bedroom.

After that, there's plumbing and electrical as well as bus maintainance.

Thinking time, drinking time, planning time

Astonishing temperatures recorded along the length of the bus today of 120.5 in the bedroom, 118 in the dinette and 125 in the cockpit added up to a bus that was just too hot to work in. Outside temperatures of 100F meant even filling holes was a non starter.

It was a day for drinking copious quantities of fluids of the non alcoholic variety and a time for planning and thinking. The end of the woodwork phase approaches and should be completed by the end of June.

The remaining woodwork needed is to complete the kitchenette and dinette. The dinette just needs the drawer I started to be completed, a top put on and paint. The kitchenette needs several sets of drawers though I might put a cupboard at one end and a fridge space at the other. I built the kitchenette to accommodate one of the dorm fridges. I'll also build a small closet at the front of the bus. All of that'll need painting.

For paint, I fancy lavender or purple and white for the dinette/kitchenette and yellow and white for the bathroom. The bathroom needs a comode. I'll probably build one similar to the first one I built but I'll build it better. The shower base will either be a tin bathtub or a black rubber horse trough. I'm not keen on tin because the rust issue on my white PVC floor. The black trough doesn't go so well with the decor but seems more functionally better. Both will need drain holes to be installed. That's a good thing because I can put them where its convenient but could be tricky to seal though the black rubber should be easier.

There's only going to be one handbasin in the bus. A little shocking but practical. Everywhere I've ever lived, people have done therir dishes in a plastic tub that they've placed in the handbasin. Why not just do away with the the handbasin? Just have one in the bathroom since I already own that one and port the clean water in a jug and simply empty the used water into the handbasin or the shower.

Tied to water disposal are other ideas. If I have a dry toilet which is going to cost next to nothing go build then I will have to put waste water in a grey tank. The general rule goes that grey and black waste can only be disposed of at authorised sites. My thought is that grey water can be used to flush the toilet if a flush unit is in use. Otherwise, water in the grey tank can be evaporated via forced air ventilation. It follows that the black tank where one is in use could also be force ventilated in order to reduce disposal volume.

For the dry toilet, essentially the comode is a seat over a bucket with a lid into which cat lit or compost is placed, covering the fresh deposits. It's pretty much the same as the old earth closets.

Water and holding tanks can all be of the 15 gallon variety. The 15 gallon tanks won't show under the skirt around the edge of the bus. Multiple 15 gallon tanks for fresh water can be used. Thinking about hot water, I could out a 10 gallon hot tank under the bus. I honestly cannot fathom needing more than a couple of gallons for washing.

Batteries and electrics need not be complex. I'm thinking of a single flexible solar panel glued to the roof to start with. That will charge two deep cycle batteries mounted under the bus. The clever bit is surplus power will be used to heat the water. The only 110v appliances will be the microwave, fridge, kettle and slow cooker or steamer. There will be a charging station for electronics and possibly some internal lighting but the lighting will be 12v or less and LED.

Ventilation is an interesting issue. I could put a minuscule AC unit or I could put the modified swamp cooler I wrote about a few days ago. I might need a dehumidifier too but I'm not sure yet.

There are other things that I have yet to touch upon but this is basic gist of my thoughts. Most of this won't change. It's just going to take a while to do all on my own.