More than
11 years ago, I said goodbye to my original schoolbus. That E350 was the start of this entire adventure, but its spirit has continued strong ever since.
As one would expect, the itch to build another bus did eventually creep in. This time, though, I had my sights set on a larger, more professional build. One that could be lived in fulltime, replacing the permanent brick and mortar home that my wife and I currently live in.
I'd chosen to keep the project somewhat of a secret until some major progress had been made. Although I'd purchased the bus this past summer, the warmer months got away from me and I'd accomplished only a few of the steps necessary in outfitting the 2011 International PB105. I decided I'd kick the project into high-gear over the winter months, scheduling one of the larger tasks, a roof raise, for the Christmas holiday when my coworkers would be out of the shop and I'd have a suitable shelter & tooling to accomplish the rather daunting undertaking.
On the Thursday before Christmas, I pulled the bus into our shop and began the process.
The next week was a whirlwind. 4am-4pm work days resulted in reconnected hat channels and caps on the front and rear transitions. The Saturday before returning to work, three friends helped me slide the new sheet metal into place and the following day I was cleaning the workspace and moving the bus back into its place in the parking lot. All that remains is probably two days of grinding, seam-sealing, bondo, and riveting.
The next phase will be a solar & electrical consult with Chuck Cassady of
Chrome Yellow Corp, before strapping the walls (for hanging interior walls & ceiling) and routing the wires behind them. Once those are in place, I'll have the walls spray foamed before mounting the interior panels. I hope to have that next phase complete by Spring, allowing the rest of the projects to be organized into "bite size" tasks.
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