Starting from the back of the coach to the front is the only way to go. Under the bed area is where the motor is, so the floor has a raised part, this is a great place to put in bedroom cupboards. With nothing being square or plum apart from the floor I was making it up as I went along. It’s nothing like building a house!
The back bedroom wall before we startedLots of flat pack cupboard boxes to make up from Bunnings.Plains? Who needs plains….First one done and lots more to go.The bed should fit between the two bedside draws.One bit at a time, this cover goes on so more draws can go on top.These two tall ones will have shelves.Back to Bunnings for more stuff.Time to put some support in place and insulation before I go too far.One more box and this level will be done.The fun of making boxes up.With the black timber in place it only just fitted after shaving the back edges off the side boxes.One more level after this one.They only just made it in after Shaving off some timber.No turning back now time to screw it in place.A very tight fit.More boxes to make up for the top levelAlmost there.We are getting closer.
Time for some sparky stuff
At this stage it was time to run some 12 volt cables for the LED lights as well as some USB chargers on either side of the bed. We need some speaker cables put in as well for the stereo that was going to go in later on. We are not running 240 volt in the bedroom as there is nothing we can think of that we need it for down this section of the bus so 240 volt is it .
All the power cables for the lights, USB charges and the stereo speakers are in. Lets hope that is all of it.
Time to fit in the down light before I go to far.Holes are in place.LED Lights are in place.12v cables are in place as well as the insulation.You can turn the LED lights any colour you like.Now the led light strip in place and all powered up.
I have some fiddle bits of trim around the cupboards, which will be done later on when we get some other work out of the way first. All we have to do now is fit the draw runners on before putting the draws.
We have not decided what we actually want the walls to look like, there has been some ideas floating around but nothing that really makes us confident to want to finish them now. So I will be tidying up the bedroom walls with more ply where all the power cables run and then painting them till we find what kind for finish we are looking for.
We had already done the first part of the work on the bedroom ceiling, but to finish that job. We had to rip the rest of the old air-con off the roof. I started with getting the sola panels off first, then remove the cover plates.
Now time to remove the solar panels again.This will be the last time the roof looks like a coach roof
This will be the last time it will look like this.
The finished look of this project we will have a roof top deck up here, but not now that is a job for an other day. Now it’s time to remove the evaporator, heat exchange radiators and blowers. Stripping out the copper pipe, heat exchange radiator pipes as well all the electrical pits.
Stripping all the sparky stuff and back grill to accessing the pipe work.Old air condition control unit in the ceiling.One side of the evaporator, heat radiators and blowers to be removed.Heater units and evaporator removed.
More Stuff For The Scrap Yard
I did a trip to the scrap metal yard with all the copper, brass, evaporator and the heat exchange radiators. It’s always good to get some money back, that lot gave me $145 to put back into the project. Next will be cutting out all the aluminium  that we don’t need off the roof air-condition area. I all ready have some that we have removed so that we will have an other trip to the scrap yard soon.
All the fans are out now,Time to start cutting out all panels.Almost there.Let’s hope it doesn’t start raining.
Did I see rain?
Well it did start raining on and off for a week, lucky we could put the covers over the holes and with some buckets inside it didn’t get too wet inside. This means I went back inside to do some more work on the bedroom/bathroom ceiling, while it rained but thats an other blog.
From the start the old coach air conditioning never worked at all, the gas was gone and Des had already fitted a reverse cycle air conditioner into the coach before it ever became our project. I started to remove the old air-con in Leigh Creek S.A. in my free time.
The old compressor pump was the first thing to go.One less thing we have to drag around. No more compressor pump.
The coach is getting lighter.
After taking out the compressor pump, which almost made me blow a pooper valve. After the compressor out it was onto the roof to remove the condensers and fan system. Now the coach is about 120kg lighter, every bit counts the lighter the better.
Condensers and the fan unit are no more.This is where the condensers and fan came from.
Now Time To Pack Up.
It was starting to get to hot to be working on the roof at that time of the year in Leigh Creek S.A.  So before I put the panels back on we used this area store the spare set of wheel for the Toyota land cruiser. The next stop was to Yulara N.T. to do some camel farm work  which was great fun especially getting to race at the end of May in the camel races.  Curtin Springs Cattle Station was a six day a week job so not much could be done on the bus when we were there, until Zac came up for a trip to do the outside just before we left there in November 2016.
One of the main reasons we decided to head back to Brisbane was that we realised we could not both work and get the bus built properly. The other reason was that while in Yulara we bought a gas strut storage bed that costed us $500 and by the time we got it out to us at the farm it costed another $480. This was way too expensive, so on to Brisbane it was as we found out it was the cheapest way to get the parts we would need for the fit out on the bus.
The bedroom ceiling is the lowest overall in the back of the coach, so it just touches the top of my head. The old ceiling carpet had already been removed by Des, so all I had to do was grind the toilet ceiling panel off then scrap back the foam underlay that was glued to the ceiling.
Old Toilet ceiling, it had a 10mm step down made out of sheetmetal.Toilet ceiling after removing the sheetmetal panel.
Time To Remove The Underlay
With scraper in hand it was time to start scraping back all the old underlay. This might sound like an easy job, but it had been glued up there very well. I thought it wouldn’t take to long, but I was wrong again as the bedroom ceiling end up taking around 8hrs just to get the foam off.
Stripping the foam off.Last of the foam off the bedroom ceiling.
Now To Get Rid Of That Glue
With the contacted glue still all over the ceiling, the only way that I could think to do was to put a sanding disc on a grinder and go for it. Well… it worked, I had been covered in glue and dust. Thank goodness for a dust mask and safety glasses as once I was finished the job there was crap all over the place.
Now time to get covered in crap.Almost there.All the old glue has gone with most of it on me…
I’ll Just Keep On Going
Now that I’ve started on the ceiling, I’ll keep on going and finish it all off inside the coach. The next project will be the bathroom then onto the kitchen ceiling area, so once I have cleaned all that up it will be ready to glue and pop rivet some white Colorbond sheet metal that came with the coach from Des. The ceiling is a good job to do when the weather is wet and raining so while its nice and fine I will go finish removing the old air-con on the roof above the bedroom, they are the wholes in the ceiling you can see on the photo.
With so much stuff we need to fit out the coach, as well as tools, it was time to fix the bin doors on the coach as well as the diesel tank. I don’t need to lose 1000 Lt of diesel, so I got to work. When we were at the Sarina Ranges house sit home of Larry and Elaine.
Are they in the right place?
After marking out where I thought the locks should go, then realised  it won’t so it was time to mark them out again. I’m glad I didn’t drill the hole before double checking my work. Remember the rule measure twice cut once…., as it would not have been the first time I’ve stuff up.
Pilot whole to get started. (See punch mark in the wrong place below hole)I used a whole saw to get the right size.An a big hammer made the latch bar the right shape.Barrel key alike so that the 1 key fit’s all locks.Lock fitted in place just need to clean up.
One less job to do
So many small jobs to do when building a motorhome, you finish one and there are so many more to work on. At least all the bins are now locked up (six of them) and two diesel fill points on either side of the coach. If you ever start working on a project nothing ever go’s to plan, modification has become my middle name.
Now with the roof fixed while in Bowen, it was time to start on the bedroom. The first thing was the windows…. I had to remove the old toilet window which Des had put in, because for us it was in the wrong place.
Time to remove the old window so we can fit the new one’sReplacement toilet window.Old window out, now to patch up.Des had kept the old panel he cut out for the window he put in.Old panel back in place.No more whole.
Time For Some Walls
With the window in place it was back inside to fit the insulation and wall paneling 16mm ply the we got when living in Yulara N.T. Â First thing was to remove the old aluminium sheetmetal so we could put in the new insulation.
Removing old sheet metal to put the new insulation in.Aluminium sheetmetal off
With the inside panels going on its starting to look more like a bedroom, later we will be putting some kind of lament over the ply to finish it off.
Right side insulation and paneling going on.Charmaine doing some OH & S, Insulation in and starting on the timber paneling after fitting the bedroom window on the left side.One side done one side to go.Bedroom ready for the trip down the Queensland coast from Bowen.
So with the bedroom side walls in place it was time to set up the new sleeping area for the next part of our trip down the Queensland coast. We also had to re pack all the stuff we moved into the shed while house sitting in Bowen.
One step closer to having a motorhome, so the dream’s getting their slowly but we are on our way.
The condenser unit was fitted in the front bin on the drivers side and only had an out vent so if the bin door was closed, things didn’t work that well. This should have been one of the first things  that I should have fixed, but as we were not on the road much I didn’t think about it at all. Now after driving from S.A. to N.T. and now into QLD, it was defiantly time to fix it.
Only one vent that didn’t work to well.Air-con that was fitted.
Time For Some Modifications
To start with we had to seal the air-con unit to the outside bin door, so off to the hardware store for some sheetmetal. Ended up getting some flashing which would mean I would not have to bend any 90 angles. So out with the tin snips and pop rivet gun to make some ducting.
Made up some ducting to get the air out.Rubber seals in place so the hot air only go’s outside.
Time For Some Intake Vents
Now all we had to do was the intake vents,  I thought three would do for a start and thats all they had at the hardware. So back to the coach I went to start fitting the intake vents. First off was to mark out the holes for the vents then cut them out.
Marked and cut out ready for the new ventsNew vents in place so no more over heating while driving down the road.
One Cool Motorhome.
Now that job is done It’s so much cooler inside when driving down the road. Also when we stay somewhere I don’t have to open up the air-con’s bin door again, now that all the hot air is blown outside.
The only time it’s good to have a leaky roof is when their is nothing to get damaged inside. After a year thinking the roof was ok in Leigh Creek, we started having problems with the roof again. Mainly because where we moved to rained a bit more. To start off we thought it was only the fiberglass panels that were replaced from the old original bus windows that Des had fitted.
Thanks to Zac for his great help in getting the huge job started by cutting out the old Sikaflex. I was working six days a week @ Curtin Springs Station N.T., all I could manage was regluing after work. It did stop the water coming in around the fiberglass panels.
Fiberglass panels before we reglued then back in place.Panels from inside
Its Still Wet In Here.
Our first house sitting job was in Bowen for Michael and Michelle. We had no rain forecast for the next few days so Charmaine and myself started on the roof to fix the rest of the leaks. The first job was to remove the solar panels and hatches from the roof.
Time to take the sola panels offRemoved the Solar panels now the hatches.Time to start sanding back the roof.
The Fun Starts Now …….Not !!!
The fun of sanding back the old paint job as well as getting rid of the surface rust around the hatches. It was one of those jobs you love to hate, but had to be done, so with buckets of water and sanding paper in hand it was head down & ass up and off to work we go.
Rust all goneRoof all sanded back and cleaned.
I Do Like Painting
Time to undercoat….. we had been so lucky as it had been raining all the way around us and only that a couple of rain drops on the coach. So after I Sikaflexed all the joints it was time to undercoat using  some Infrared Heat Reflective Primer.
1st undercoat.Second undercoat, ended up with three coatsInfrared Heat Reflective Primer
Now for the topcoat, the best part of the job as it’s almost done. Des (the bloke we got the coach before us), had already paid for the paint, so now it was time for three topcoats.
Topcoat Solar Reflective Elastic Ceramic Membrane.The roof finished with three topcoatsNo more leaks on that area now.
A Job Well Done
So after four days we had finish painting the roof and the inside temp had gone down at least 4 degrees. The paint was a polyurethane membrane which meant no more water leaking when it rained and would be a lot cooler in summer. We just have to remove the old air conditioner unit which is now under the solar panels. This is way down the back of the coach once done the roof will be totally finished off, in time this back area will also have a deck for us one day.
Leaving Leigh Creek S.A Â on the start of our new life, We had to be in Yulara to start work in five days. With a smile on our faces the next stop was port Augusta for the night, then head north on the Stuart Hwy. The coach was packed full with only room down the front for our bed and some were to cook on the road.
On the road camping in the coach all packed up.
Too Good To Be True
All was going fine, then I started to lose a little bit of power we were only 150 klms  down the road and almost to Hawker. Just an other 140 ks to Port Augusta I thought, then the gauges on the dash started flutter around. Thats when the coach started to drop the RPM of every 30 klms…. I was losing around 100-150 RPM, it looked like some electrical gremlin had raised it’s ugly head. We made it into Port Augusta but just at a max speed of 60k/h, fill it up at the first servo we came to. After a 750 Lt hole in my pocket an 1000 Lt tank sounds great till you have to fill it up.
Let’s Sleep On It
After a good nights sleep it was off to the truck work shop across the road. They just so happen to have someone free to start working on it there and then… Â How good was that? Â So off we to the shops to stock up on things you can’t get in the middle of nowhere. ( Yulara NT).
Back at the workshop they had found after 3 hrs it was not an electrical problem at all but a fuel supply problem…..in particular the in tank filter. Bugger I’d just filled the bloody thing up and now It has to drain the hole lot, so 5 x 205 Lt drums later it was 5pm on a Friday night and the filter was out.
Who puts a filter inside a 1000Lt tank?Diesel Tank out put
Back On the Road
So by Monday afternoon, the filter was clean, pumping the diesel back into the tank, we’re back on the road.
Curtain Springs to Alice
But about 9 months later driving into Alice Springs….. Oh bugger it’s happening again! Â With only 450 Lt in the tank and some drums from a caravan park, Â we drained the tank again. This time it was modification time because that filter was not going back in again. Some more shopping in Alice and a movie it was back to fix the filter system for good.
New fuel filter train.New diesel filter on the outside with ballcock valves so I can have it cleaned in 20min.
We are still getting sludge out of the tank I’ve cleaned it out about 5 times now, but the tank is slowly cleaning it’s self out. I just have to remember to turn the valves back on after I clean the filter, Â yes I did forget the first time and had to bleed the diesel pump to get it going again. You only ever do it once..
Currently we are on our third house sit and this is our longest one yet….it’s for 6 months. This is really good for us with such a big project, as it give us time to work on finishing off the bedroom and start on the bathroom. When the weather is good, I am get to pulling out the rest of the old air-con unit on the roof too. There are still holes to patch up, plus a bit of  water proofing, since we are putting a roof top deck some time later on.  Having a shed a the house to store our stuff makes it so much easier than trying to work around all that crap you still need.
We didn’t think we had so much stuff still, but every time we stop there is less to move.
Pets in all shapes and sizes…
The main part of most house sitting is looking after the family animals both big and small….. so far it’s been from cats to cattle. Our first sit was in Bowen for Michael & Michelle they have 13 acres about 20Â mins out of town. We looked after their property for three weeks through the Christmas /New year time so they could go on a family holidays with their son, Jay. Â They have two lovely and very affectionate Border Collies, Buddy has long hair and Rosie has the shorter hair. They have two outside cats, one ginger in colour called Tom and Timmy is grey, all of them warmed to us very well.
Our February house sit was in Sarina Rangers, QLD,  in a  peaceful place that has a lovely running (all year) creek that is great for swimming and a cool down in the heat. Which we did almost everyday. We looked after Tyson and  Tommy Tigger, four cow + one bull. This was a different house sit as we stayed in the coach half parked in their shed. Elaine and her partner,  were in the middle of building their new house. Our blog top photo was taken by her, it was such a good photo we had to share it! It will be nice to pop in an visit them on our way up north next time.
The coach didn’t make it all the way in, at least the solar panels still got the sun.The house was being built so it’s really a shed sitBest friends Tyson (L) and Tommy Tigger (R)We look after all kind of pets when your house sittingOne happy bull to have 4 cows to look after.
Then you think it couldn’t get better we had our own creek to swim in every day.
It’s a hard life house sitting at Sarina Range, QLDWe had to take Tyson for a swim or did he take us every day. lolThe creek in motion.
Chuwar near Ipswich is our new house sit at the moment, we are here for 6 months.  We are looking after two dogs, Kingston and Lexy as well as  Charlie the cat.
This is Kingston, still missing mum and dad, some days more than others.This is Lexy (sexy Lexy we affectionately call her)This is Charlie.
In addition we get to eat all the fruits, herbs and veggies of other peoples labour, how good it this!
Just one or two Paw Paw, so sweet an delicious.We will be dehydrating most of the bananas and giving some to family.Chuwar house sit Dragon fruit.
House sitting has turn out to be one of the best ideas Charmaine’s come up with. We have pets to cuddle and love part time, as well as meeting some loverly people on our adventure around Australia. So click this link to go to aussiehousesitters it is a great way to get out of the motorhome for a short break or long one, whatever suits you. Housesitting has given us time to keep fitting out the coach, one house sit at a time.
