Bus Conversion: How we fit a living room, dining room, office, guest bed and storage in 20 square feet.
Designing a bus is a lot of work, and one of the hardest parts is deciding which things actually get to the fit in the bus, which parts of the build get precious inches added to or subtracted from them, and which things get eliminated all together. It's all [...]
Bus Conversion: Kitchens, Bathrooms and Miscellaneous
It seems we are due an update. As these things go - in this case blogging the conversion - the momentum has waned, but fear not, the conversion itself carries on as strong as ever. Since we last spoke, a lot has happened. The kitchen is pretty darn far [...]
Bus Conversion: How to make an awesome kitchen countertop from a door
We spent a lot of time trying to decide what to do for our kitchen counter top. There were two primary requirements - it needed to be light and it needed to be durable - and for a bonus we were hoping it would be cheap! Once you start [...]
Bus Conversion: Power Up
We spent over half of our initial budget on a top of the line power system from Victron Energy. And by we, I mean I. You know what they say about initial budgets anyway, "It's like that unicorn you thought you saw.. turns out some guy just glued a [...]
Bus Conversion: Getting Decked
When converting a bus, one must prioritize the order in which things get done. Without a doubt, building a rooftop deck is one of the highest priority steps on the path towards a safe, comfortable and livable bus. Right? Actually, we ended up prioritizing this step early in the [...]
Bus Conversion: Getting Tanked
In this episode of the Vicaribus bus conversion blog-a-thon we will go over the Vicaribus water system and installation. You'll not want to miss it, because it includes bonus footage of slow motion awkwardly positioned welding by our good friend Chad at C-Squared Studios. When adding a water system [...]
Bus Conversion: Insulation and More – Floor, Walls and Ceiling, Oh My
Before Michelangelo could craft a masterpiece, he first had to create a blank canvas. As it goes for Michelangelo, so goes it for Vicaribus. After the teardown was complete, the next step was re-insulating and boarding up the floor, walls and ceiling so that we could have a nice clean medium in [...]
Bus Conversion: Tearing down the house (Part 2 – Getting floored)
Part 2 of the teardown did not prove to be as hard as part 1, though I'm not sure if I feel this way because it was entirely true, or if it is because I waited so long to write about it here. Time distorts the memory. Lucky for us, [...]
Bus Conversion: Tearing down the house (Part 1 – The walls of tribulation)
Bus Conversion: Tearing down the house (Part 1 - The walls of tribulation) Before you can make something beautiful, you really need a blank canvas for which to work your magic on. I mean sure you can put lipstick on a pig, but is it beautiful? Most people would say [...]
Bus Conversion: Remove the really cold dual A/C systems
Why on earth would one remove two - yes, two - very cold, very working, custom A/C units from a bus that one also plans to live in? The answer is very simple, and two part. They took up too much room, as we have a very small bus. And, [...]
Bus Conversion: Make engine’s presence less known inside
This one was a quicky that went way better than I expected, though I haven't really tested to see if there is any actual improvement. The situation: the engine on this bus sits further back, pretty much in the cab of the bus. This provides some benefits, such as visibility [...]
Bus Conversion: Replace rusty old fuel sender unit
About 100 miles into my first ride in the bus, I realized the gas gauge hadn't moved. For the next 2200 miles or so I just guessed as to how much gas I had, which didn't always work. (See 2000 Mile Shakedown) The first hunch is always that the fuel [...]
Bus Conversion: Make the instrument panel work more than 50% of the time
About 3 miles after I finalized the purchase of the bus and drove away from the seller I noticed something funny, and further more, something that was not disclosed at the time of the sale. Sometimes the dash just stops working completely! No wonder it had "low miles". Right now [...]
2000 Mile Shakedown
Hey folks, it's me Vicaribus. I'm gonna let my driver, Nick, handle this update for me. I have much more important bus things to do... It started in Daytona, Florida. It ended in Denver, Colorado. The ol' D to D shakedown, as they call it. To be quite honest, [...]