Bus Building Conversion

So just how do you turn a coach into a motor home. Well there are few basic rules. Have an endless supply of money because their will always be something you have forgotten. Make sure your marriage can deal with the inevitable I want it here, no over there, no this way ah stick the (beep beep) where you like. Yu will become on first name terms with “Jesus” so it s good for your religious prowess. Then make sure you leave your “Round to it” with the wife, don’t forget the bar, and music and what ever else take your fancy.

The bus started its life with us looking like this

So the first thing you have to do is rip the insides out. In fill your garage with even more junk, that one day you will get around to getting rid off. Then once you have what looks like a big hall or long corridor grab some masking tape and mark out floor plan, put everything on the floor to size where you think it will be. Once you’ve got a bus full of masking tape, smoked a couple of packets of cigarettes, drawn it up with Viso about a dozen times, looked in a few caravans, convinced the wife that the whole bus cant possibly be a kitchen or bed room, your probably about ready to give up. Oh one last point, stand a piece of timber up on your masking take where the walls are going to be and watch the space shrink.

Next you start from the back, and build your way forward something like this in our case:

Don’t for get to follow your masking tape, through in a few walls as go, add some mood lighting, you can use the excuse it saves power.

Think about what else might go in or around the area and then forget about it so you can pull it apart again at the end. Storage is important so don’t waste any space, after all you wont have a dog box to crawl into when your in shit. Put any wires and electrical work in as you go, you don’t want them all hanging around, or struggling afterwards. I our case the bus already had some teak in it, and being depraved, sorry deprived sailor we elected to continue with the teak look, non of this photocopy paper look that you get in today’s caravans, beside the work photo copy would do 8 x 6 foot sheets on timber.

Then moving your way forward you find your self working into the late hours at night, shortly your wife starts , if it’s not work, or the mistress its that blo.. bus, what do you do out there all the time. So don’t go ballistic, or your find your self permanently in the that storage space you so carefully utilized.

When it comes to fridge you don’t want to buy one from Caravan or camping place. The biggest one we could find wouldn’t even hold our coke for the Bourbon, and cost >$2k,( no its not y2k). So we bought what is effectively a farm, or out back household type fridge, new at about half the price, and twice the size. The difference was overcome in a few minutes worth of “Magiver” time.

Then comes your typical dinning area , nothing special here accept there is no room for the ill trained ankle bitters with wings during meal time. The lounge was custom built to suit those of us with long legs. A good lounge must be long enough to sleep on after a few, high enough to provide proper support under your legs, and strong enough to support those of us who are not so fortunate as you and I.

The women’s domain, no the other one. Hot water and gas systems

When it comes to the Galley ( kitchen you lad lovers) its important to make the most of it, otherwise you’ll never get dinner, least not on a plate. While storage generally is not an issue, it is not as convenient as in a house, so some planning is required. It’s a good idea to look in caravans and find out what she doesn’t like about it. As it turns out we mostly BBQ anyway. Hot water is also important, and we opted for a combination of instant and stored. Basically it means from a heating prospective you have plenty of capacity for those long showers she has in the morning, and you don’t have to have a cold one. The three gas bottles give us about 10 to 14 days per bottle depending on how much hot water she uses in the shower, and of course how often the oven is used.

More to come here soon stay tuned

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