bus to RV conversion

[crockett]

anyone here ever do a bus to RV conversion? A friend of mine happens to have a RTS bus like this one. I can get it pretty cheep, it runs like a champ and it's in very good condition. I'm thinking of taking up the challenge to turn it into a RV.

[thekingofpain]

Looks like a great project if you know 100% what it will entail and are good with your tools...pretty cheap is a relative term---how much we talkin about???

[crockett]

well he has 2 of them... the nicer of the two I could probally trade him my 92 camaro and some cash for it... the other is a lot rougher in shape but still really not that bad, he said he would take $1,500 cash 4 it. (it also runs fine but needs batterys, a wind sheild and paint). I'm kinda debating on which one to do if I get either. 1 option I was thinking is if I bought the cheeper I could sell the camero and put that cash into it...

I allready have quite a bit of the stuff I would need to convert it, I have a new diesel generator from a boat, and lots of other odd and ins such as the fridge, stove an so on.
Just a lot of work.

[bigblue77]

Sounds like a fun project to me. A lot of work, but fun anyways. As long as you can afford it. I know someone that did the same thing to an old city bus, and now he uses it as a Nascar race chaser.

Jer

[BBA]

It does sound like a good conversion, those busses are built way better than any RV I have ever seen. RV's are not made for stop and go traffic like that is...and they drive like crap, where the bus is designed to be safe in heavy traffic.

Have fun

[krusty the klown]

I'm sure plenty of folk around the world have done this

You might want to get some books about fitting out boats (I'm just thinking that there may be more resources available). Many of the ideas that folk use in fitting boats out are common to RVs & caravans... and you have a similar structure and limitations: a long & fairly narrow space.

Certainly things like the electrical and water / heating systems are exactly the same principle and you have exactly the same descisions to make: generator or inverter and battery bank? Gas or gas-free? etc.

A couple of links:

http://www.dickinsonmarine.com/

http://www.wallas.fi/INDEXEN.HTM

http://www.12volts.co.uk

http://www.mayasolar.co.uk

http://www.traceengineering.com/

http://www.sterling-power.com/

http://www.eberspacher.com

You'll have to give plenty of consideration to the electrical system... and with more and more electrical items finding their way into boats and RVs, a dedicated generator, or engine-driven generator ( http://www.sterling-power.com/230v_alternator.htm ) is becoming the only solution, especially for running washing machines!

Ah yes, the joys of chemical toilets - all this and more awaits you

Good luck!

Oh... here's one more link: http://www.adverc.co.uk/technical/technical.htm

[CujoRbd]

An old teacher of mine converted a couple buses into RVs. I remember she told us a little bit of what she did. Basically, she tore most of the seats out, stuck in a queen bed (screwed down, of course), added a plumbing system under the bus, built a separate room in it and put a toilet and sink and jacuzzi and shower into it. It was pretty fancy, as I remember, but I don't know; it's been quite a few years.

[crockett]

Originally posted by krusty the klown

Certainly things like the electrical and water / heating systems are exactly the same principle and you have exactly the same descisions to make: generator or inverter and battery bank? Gas or gas-free? etc.

yea that's one area I'm not 100% on how to do.... is the electrial.... it's a desiel powered bus, and I have a almost brand new desiel generator that came off a sports fishermen boat. I was planning on using it, however dose anyone know if I would still need to set it up with battery power aswell? I'm taking a guess and saying I will just because a generator can be noisy and that my not mix in campgrounds

[krusty the klown]

If it comes with a diesel genny, that's great. They cost a small fortune to buy (the ones designed for the leisure / marine market, as opposed to those designed for a building site).

You're right, you don't want the thing roaring away late at night... for your own peace and quiet as well as everyone else's! Besides, running a ~10kW genny for a couple of hundred watts of TV and lighting is not at all economical! Also, if you have a standard domestic electric fridge (mains powered), you don't want the genny kicking in in the middle of the night to run the fridge compressor (some gennies have autostart & load sensing)

I'd recommend that you get an inverter-charger. This will charge your batteries when the genny's running and provide silent mains power when it's not. The charging circuit's very efficient and can charge your batteries to a higher capacity than an alternator (unless an alternator controller's fitted).

I almost bought one myself, but having decided not to have a genny (landline hookup means that I'm not that bothered that the batteries don't get optimally charged) I saved the money.

Have a look at the products offered by Trace Engineering (both marine and RV). The DR series is quite reasonably priced for the piece of kit it is. They are an auto-sensing inverter-charger and may be more suitable than the ones specifically tailored to RVs, it depends on your generator - there's no point in having one designed for auto-start gennies if there ain't an auto-start, for example

There are two types of inverter - true sine wave and modified sine wave (MSW). Most equipment will run off MSW - my computer and TFT screen are fine - there's a slight bit of rippling on the monior, but nothing irritating. Some printers can object to MSW. Regarding anything else - it's a bit of a gamble - I don't have any other experience than that. There is quite a big difference between the cost of a true sine and MSW inverter, so if you can find out whether all the equipment will run on MSW, you'll save a good few hundred bux

If you plan to fit aircon (electrically driven compressor) then I reckon you'd either need the mother of all battery banks, or just run it directly off the genny. Ditto for anything like washer/dryers dishwashers - they just use too much power for battery banks!

I've got another link for you:

http://www.heartinterface.com/

I think, once you know what kit you'll have in the vehicle, you'd do well to contact one or more of the inverter manufacturers and see what they recommend - ask em about battery sizing, too

[krusty the klown]

If you can obtain these http://www.elecsol.com batteries in the US, then I'd recommend them. They use a new carbon fibre technology that claims to practically eliminate plate sulphation (major cause of failure in deep-cycle batteries). They are not a great deal more expensive than standard flooded lead acids and come with a 5 year guarantee, as opposed to the 2 year guarantee that's more in line with standard deep-cycle batteries.

They are cheaper than gel batteries and claim to considerably outlast them!