We’re an Australian family currently converting our 1998 school bus into a house on wheels. In this episode, we take a look at our floor plans, and our progress with the installation of windows and insulation in the bus.
We’re making little videos of our bus conversion project Tales From The Wild. Here’s Episode 3. The seats are out. The bag racks have been removed. The floor heaters are gone. We’ve started planning the layout. And removed one of the fixed windows, ready to install the first custom sliding window (we’re planning to add 4 or 5 of these).
Note: After initially planning to leave the ceiling alone (you’ll see that we actually started painted it in this video), we have since decided to rip the ceiling out and put some insulation in. It is just too hot in the bus for our liking (despite top hopper windows that open). To my dismay, I have discovered that the metal ceiling panels are not only riveted but glued to the framework above the window line (making the ceiling extra fun to remove). The rivets are no worries. But the glue has formed any incredibly strong bond between ceiling and frame (particularly one long bead above the windows). Has anyone got any tips for gaining the upper hand? I’m currently using hammer and chisel, stanley knife, multi-tool and reciprocating saw to try and prise the ceiling panels from the frame.
Let the work begin! A quick progress update for Bronte the bus. The seats and bag racks have been removed. We’re ready to start building our new house on wheels!
Buses, lighthouses and Harry Butler. The background story to our bus conversion project. Find out why we are taking a leap into the wild and embracing #buslife.
Meet Bronte. Our 1998 Hino bus. We’re about to embark upon a project to convert Bronte into our travelling home! Bronte was a school bus in country Victoria for her entire working life. She has a 230HP turbo 7.9 litre diesel engine with a 6 speed manual. The body is a PMC/Austral Pacific Starliner and is 12 metres in length. Over the coming months, we will be sharing the progress of our bus conversion project via social media and this blog. Stay tuned for updates!
We bought a bus! After months and months of searching for the right bus, we found just what we were looking for in a small country town called Alexandra in Victoria. It’s a 1998 Hino RG230 (230HP turbo, 6 speed manual) with PMC/Austral Pacific Starliner body. It’s 12 metres in length, has hopper windows that open and luggage bins underneath on the nearside. The headroom is approximately 197.5cm (which leaves me with about 2.5cm clearance above my head).
I flew down to Melbourne (from Brisbane) yesterday to pick up our new bus and future house on wheels! It was a long day of travelling with two trains, a plane, a bus, another train and another bus journey required to reach the Fallons bus depot in Alexandra. After a good look over the vehicle, I was very excited to be driving out the front gates in our new bus!