Tag Archives: Home renovations

Back to the fridge vents

01/12/2018 Bernie Cross

It Pay’s To Read The manual

Being a typical man I put some vents in for the fridge, but now after reading the installation manual I have found out that the vent’s are way to small. So off to the caravan shop to oder the right size vent’s as well as an extension for the flu so the hot air go’s straight out side. The post about putting the small vent’s Prep work for the new fridge. Not what to do !!!

Though’s vent just don’t make the grade.

Should have read the fridge fitting manual be for I started the job.

Time to make a mess & rip out the vent’s

So now is the time to start pulling the vents out, the only problem is I fitted them to well. This is not going to be fun at all, but lesson learnt and I’ll read every manual from now on.

Now that I’ve cut the bottom hole to size, next will be to bend up some sheet metal to fit in the gap so it will be waterproof again. This will be one pice at a time not like the first time when I made up the ducting in one pice.

Nice outlook And the side’s in place too.

The right size vents now

After fixing the bottom and top vent holes, now it’s only a matter of fitting the new right size vent covers. Now this was the best part as I know I’ve got it right this time!!

Now for the top vent

F!#k this is not fun as the top vent is even a bigger pain to get out, as I had timber all the way around the vent hole.

This one was even harder to pull out than the bottom one.

After grinding out the new hole in the fiberglass.

now the gas fitter will be able to fit off the fridge.

Now that job is finish for the last time I think I need a drink. But lesson learnt I will always read the installation manual first before starting another job.

Motorhome fit out

The last of the wall to go in.

15/08/2018 Bernie Cross 2 Comments

It’s so nice to finish off the wall at last.

After starting on the bedroom wall at the Bowen house sit, now at a house sit in Laidley Heights a year and a bit later it’s finally time to finish them. With the floor down and the front window in place, all that needs to be done is to cut the ply to length with the window cutouts. I’ve packed more insulation around the window with some 12v and 240v cables to go into place.

Just the NOT so much fun one to cut on this side now.

I’m glad that all the wires have been tagged both ends, otherwise I’d have a hell of a time working out what I have put where. On the passenger side window I have painted some of it black as I’m covering some of it up. I will be putting in insulation where I had painted.

Well that fitted like a glove, more ass than class.

Only one side painted as the other side of the coach has stuff everywhere.

Apart from where the new door will go in and around the driver’s seat all the wall panels are in place. We are still looking at different products to finish off the walls, but that will do for now.

Motorhome fit out

The last of the flooring

05/08/2018 Bernie Cross

The front floor

I’m so glad, soon the whole floor through the coach will be flat. The front 1800mm of the floor slopes down 165mm, which means that I will have to build up the floor some how. That’s after I rip up the old floor, at least this will be the last time on my knees making a mess.

As normal I’ve started ripping up the old floor and with head down ass up, I forgot to take photos again. This is after cleaning off the old glue and fixing the rust, then two coats of undercoat paint and three topcoats.

New sheet metal cover to go over the front passenger wheel.

I had a sheet metal workshop cut a sheet 2400mm x 1200mm x 1.2mm down to 2400mm x 950mm, then fold a 50mm lip down one side that will go up the inside wall. All I have to do is cut it to length and glue then using 5mm pop rivets fix it into place.

Yes I know it’s been one of though’s days, I keep forgetting to take photo’s. As you can see I’ve fitted the sheet metal into place as well as the ply over top. From here on I’m going to mark out the floor level on the side wall’s and start lifting the floor up.

I need to pick my feet up as I’ve snapped the string line so many times.

Nothing is ever straight forward, so I’ve had to plane every bit of timber that goes down. This side is a bit of over kill, but one big chair will be fitted here somewhere.

The driver’s side has a cut out area for the seat and down beside the wall the air-con pipes and power will run. I will have to make up some kind of cover for this later on. The next job is to set up for the step up onto the main floor level.

With the floor lifted up this should help.

I had an idea about moving air around the coach, so with a fan out of an old floor heater I’ll be able to blow air down the back of the coach through the floor cavity.

Setting up for a fan to circulate air down to the back of the motorhome.

Later on I will have to make up a cover with vent to finish off this part of the job, but now it’s time to put down some floor sheets.

There is always something more to think of, ….I’ve run some 12v cable for lighting up the stairs and to run the three stage fan. So after drilling lots of holes and pulling cables then putting in some insulation it’s time for the last sheet.

Insulation in place and some wires in for the lights for the steps.

Let’s hope it fit’s.

Some where for the air-con and power to run down this side.

Next will be to finish off the wall to the drivers seat and on the other side up to the doorway.

Motorhome fit out

The last window is going in.

31/07/2018 Bernie Cross

Another job finished.

This is the last window to be fitted and that means one less job that needs to be done. Just have to mark out where the window has to go first, then double check it to make sure it’s in the right place.

Now all I have to do is rip down some timber for the size to fit around the window hole. A little bit more gluing, screwing and that job is all done.

The window frame has been sealed and screwed from the out side.

Well that makes a big difference to the outside, now it’s starting to look like our home on wheels. It’s so nice to see the job list being ticked off one by one. Once I have worked on finishing the front floor and walls,… all that will be left to do is fitting out.

Motorhome fit out

Kitchen floor needs to be fixed.

27/06/2018 Bernie Cross

Ripping Up Kitchen Floor

One step closer to finishing the floor for good. After the kitchen floor there will be only the front to do. But now the fun bit of pulling up the old floor, they keep using too much glue on one side again.

Two side’s???

There are two side to every bus and on this bus one side the floor is glued down way more than the other. The driver’s side had always been the painful one to rip up. I’ve started on the easy side even though I know it’s better to do the crappy job’s first.

First off I’ll have to pull up the rubber floor.

Ripping up more flooring this time the kitchen.

Now the hard side

So I’ve had to cut the old floor ply into little pieces just to get it up, the floor that is!!! One bit at a time I had to pry up and scrap off the glue.

I’m having to cut the flooring into small bit’s to get it up.

New ply time

Next I’ll have to cut off the old seat rail that runs down both side’s of the bus so I can fit the new floor sheets into place.

Just have to cut off the old seat rail now.

Now all I have to do is cut the new flooring to size and screw and glue it into place. Yes glue and lots of it as I’m not going to be pulling it up ever again.

After this I’ll only have the floor down the front to finish, so I’m looking forward to that day. The next job though will be vent’s in the wall for the fridge.

Motorhome fit out

The trim around the fiberglass panels.

17/04/2018 Bernie Cross

Some finishing off bits on the outside

The fiberglass panels needed to be finish off by putting aluminium around them. So off to the shops again, I think I should have shares in Bunnings. I though this was going to be an easy job of just cutting the aluminium to length and gluing then pop rivet into place.

Prep time

To start with I had to remove the old pop rivets that held the old air-con fiberglass top in place. This was a job in itself as it was glued well in place, then clean out all the dust that had built up over 30 years.

Slow job cutting the old glue to lift the fiberglass out.

I’m glad I started this job early in the fixing as I found another place where water could get in that was hidden. This should be the last of them as there is no more places left to fix.

This back part took one day to free up, not happy.

I even had the reciprocal saw going to cut out the old glue and on this part, but the saw died with only 300mm to go. They knew how to glue things back then, too well. The only good news was there was more room under the coach now the saw was in the bin.

Aluminium flat bar time

Well now it’s out with the measuring tape and start cutting things to length, or just make it up as I go along. I made up a templet so they would all end up in a straight line, well that is the plan.

50 X 3mm aluminium flat going into place.

Working off one ladder is not the best idea, but that is all we have. So now the sequence was marking out the holes for the pop rivets, then pre-drill 3mm holes. I had to hold the aluminium in place with tape, and drill into the coach, then drill them out to 5mm C/S pop rivets to fit. Next was to take the aluminium down, counter sink the holes for the pop rivets, put Sikaflex on the back, to fit it into place. I had to put two pop rivet in at arm’s length, climb the ladder holding the aluminium by the pop rivets. This was difficult! Even allocating the pop rivets into their holes to fit the rest of the pop rivets in place was a feat! I had to buy a pneumatic pop rivet gun which made my life much easier 🙂 happy days.

Parked in a new spot for the other side.

The troopy came in handy with the side awning up to work under for the drilling and cutting the aluminium flat bar.

No leak on this side so shouldn’t be as painful as the other side.

So now it’s time to repeat the same process on the driver’s side, I even have some shade from a tree too this time. Life is great some times.

Motorhome fit out

Time to fix that roof leak

29/12/2017 Bernie Cross

Leaking under the top deck

Thank goodness that I’ve been able to park the coach undercover for this job as there has been raining on and off. The Showgrounds have let us use one of the sheds for three weeks, thank you.

Now the fun begins

After trying to get the decking up and failing to do so, as I’d done a too good of a job gluing it down. Great! I had to come up with another solution.

Going over the top of the deck and sealing it instead, this way I can lay down some tiles to finish it off.

Time to seal it up

For some reason the Sikaflex didn’t stick between the decking boards. So after scraping it all out I troweled in some bitumen putty to take its place. The next step was three coats of bitumen paint to go over the decking boards. After the bitumen paint had dried the next day I got the fire hose out and flooded the area for one hour with no water leaking any more.

Now the tile underlay goes down, after cutting it to size. A box of nails later it’s all in place ready for the wet area under tile waterproofing.

The deck painted with bitumen waterproofing paint.

Next will be cutting the reinforcing bandage with bond-breaker for the edges. This will stop any damage to the waterproofing membrane if there is any movement.

Reinforcing bandage just to make it boom proof.

Now to start wet area tile waterproofing.

The under-tile waterproof membrane just paint on nice and easy thank goodness, so after going over the bandage and nail first. Then it was time for the first coat of three.

Next blog will be about the tile set out and the gluing of them in place, with all the other fiddle bits to finish it off.

Motorhome fit out

It looks like coloured spaghetti

19/12/2017 Bernie Cross 2 Comments

Too many wires !!!

The engine’s brakes had not been working properly since I bought the bus and I didn’t have to use them anyway as it was so flat in South Australia and the Northern Territory. This is going to be a job the will take some time as I will have to trace the wiring loom from one end of the coach to the other. The main problem is info, I’ve have most of the manuals that I need to be able to fix most things but finding out the colour codes for the wires is not so easy as nothing matches what is on the drawings that I have. I have searched the internet for more wiring diagram but to no avail and I can’t seem to find anything that looks even remotely the same.

So with a multimeter in hand, I thought the best place was to start with power to the switch, then start tracing the wires from there. Well the good thing is I’ve got 24v at the switch, the bad news is now people have been here before me modifying the wiring loom.

The main board outside, below the driver’s seat.

Looks nice and tidy in here, but somewhere in there may be the problem of the J brakes.

Mmmmm some one has been here before me, lot’s of cut wires.

Doesn’t look so nice now as there are lots of wires that have been cut or have never been used. The fuse holders that have been burnt out (3 of them) after being moved, as well as modifications over the years to fix or been up graded.

This job just got bigger

So now its time to trace all the wires not being used and tagging both ends of them, this will help find where they go. After making a 9v system to clip onto the wires its just a matter of finding the other ends of the loom.

Now the fun begins, just have to find out where they are going.

Sub board down the back of the coach in the battery bay.

Somewhere in here is the wires for the J breaks that are not working.

Look more wires behind the dash. Ahhhhhh!

Some switches work and some will not be needed any more.

The J breaks will have to wait

I’ve just been told that I can move into the equestrian shed so the wiring will have to wait for now, as the main problem is the roof leak under the top decking. This started after we move up to Toowoomba, it may be a small pop rivet as it’s not a big leak more like some capillary action going on.

Just a small shed 🙂 Makes the couch look small.

Motorhome fit out

Some new running lights for the old coach

10/12/2017 Bernie Cross 2 Comments

Upgrading time for the running lights

It was one of the jobs that was started down at Leigh Creek, but I ran out of time before heading up north to Yulara. The old running lights did make it to QLD with a quick fix up here and there. We are waiting to move under cover in to the big equestrian indoor arena at the Toowoomba Showgrounds to start fixing the roof leak found on a good down pour while up here.

We have been in the Toowoomba area now for four weeks and I must say it’s quite a nice place. Apart from having to move out of the Showgrounds for one week as the place was booked out. We decided to stayed on a farm for that week at a farmstay called The Chookhouse. It was great, the owners were very nice, it was the first time for them having a 12m motorhome parked there.

LED light time

The old running light had seen better days and as the front of the coach had already been fix in S.A , we now thought it was a good time to finish them.

The former owner had already fitted new LED indicators/reflectors which made the old running lights at the side of the bus look even older.

Just a little bit stuffed, how where they even working?

I’ll have to patch up the holes later before the paint job.

More soldered and insulation under the coach.

That will do for now

Until the inside is finished, the outside will have to stay looking like someone does not love it. I’m really looking forward to the outside being all painted, it’s going to make such a big difference, that will have to wait for another day.

Motorhome fit out

Time to clean up from Chuwar

05/11/2017 Bernie Cross 2 Comments

Our first house sitting 6 month stay

With the bedroom done to a point that we are happy with it’s time to clean up. The house sit has been great! We looked after two dogs, Lexy and Kingston. The cat, Charlie who had a swagger about him strutting around like he owned the place. Walking the dogs every day kept them happy and me a bit fitter.

A bit of a mess

The rubbish bin’s were full for about 2-3 weeks as we cleaned up and set up the trailer for a tip run to get rid for more stuff …..that we really don’t need.

We need to sort out if we store it or get rid of it ?

Setting up for a kitchen

For the time being (as we will be living onboard again), we need a make shift kitchen again. This time it’s going to be a bit bigger then last time with more storage and bench space.

This will do for the time being, on this side.

Still have a lot more to set up, but for now this is stage of the cleaning up, a lot more will be done later. I have to cleaning out the bins under the coach so we can start packing the tools from the shed away.

Where is the drivers seat?

Think the driver’s seat is here some where ?

Sometimes I think we are mad fitting out a motorhome on the road while at the different times living in it. It has had it’s moments, but life is good and we are having fun most of the time. But now it’s time to head off up the range to Toowoomba. Charmaine will be much happy with no more having to sleep in the troopy for a week at a time.

Kingston

Lexy

Charlie

An interesting next 12 months

The next 6-12 months are going to be more interesting as we will be living and working on the coach at the same time, not sure how that’s going to work out at this stage, but we are thinking of how we are going to manage it.

Toowoomba Time

Living back in the coach for now, it’s nice to be back on the road. I am thinking about looking for some part time work while still working on the coach. I’ve fortunately found a small water leak on the roof with all that ran we got the last few weeks, so will be fixing that first. I have some sparky stuff in and around the coach that’s needs a good redoing and rewiring, then onto the water tanks with some plumbing work.