Bus hacking

[Dreadbelly]

Dread when I retire he wife and me are going to travel the canals of Britain. Fix the hole in the floor and we all could go together tug 'n' butty style.

Sounds like a new reality show comedy...

The Coast Guard Guy and the Pirate.

Sort of the new Odd Couple.

[brandycr]

Lol the odd couple kilted !Dread be on top of the bus going down the road like in teen wolf dancing away kilt flapping in the wind.lol

[Abax]

I don't know anything about hacking a bus but in 1967 in Alaska during the sesquisentenial, we met a man who had hacked a bus.

I don't know that much about hacking busses either, although I had a friend that lived in one for about 5 years here in Alaska. It was tough to keep warm in the winter because it didn't have enough insulation or a big enough stove.

He also gave us some sour dough starter. I got mine from my Dad and he and I have restarted each other's starter ever since. Doesn't taste the same though - been contaminated by too much local flora so it really isn't the same starter.

Now that I know about. If you keep starter at room temp, you'll need to feed it every month or so (add flour and water, let it grow for about a day or so, then pull some off . . . using it). If you keep your stuff in the refrigerator, you can get away with not using it for several months at a time.

The biggest discovery I made many years ago was that the chlorine in city water also eventually kills the bugs in your starter. I didn't figure this out until we came off a well and went to city water. Now I use water from my filtered water tap - that pulls the chlorine out and keeps things alive.

Sourdough waffles in a bus . . . that's good stuff!

Abax

[Dreadbelly]

Warmth seems to be a mixed bag from what I have read. To have a well insulated and warm bus, you have to seal off most of the windows and remove the glass. (And make sure you fill the holes with something strong that preserves the rollover rating) Then you insulate the walls... And in especially cold climates, the ceiling. Make sure you have a wooden deck up top in especially snowy areas, as cold ice and snow sitting directly on the metal roof leach out the heat. And then there is properly insulating the floor.

Basically, it all comes down to insulation. This is why so many converted buses have wood burning iron franklin stoves... You don't need electric heat if you have all of the right insulation.

[KiltedKnight]

Back in the seventies I drove a 1957 Pontiac Hearse...what a great ride! But I eventually traded it for an old Sara Lee bread truck, (large step van), and I went to work on it. The MPs were VERY happy that I got rid of that old hearse as most of them thought it was very sacrilegious.

I had to rebuild the engine and repaint the INside but left the outside as it was, all weathered and faded paint. It had a door just behind the drivers compartment so it was private and over the rear axle there was a partition with just enough room for a double mattress behind it. In the middle of the van I was able to put lights, paneling and carpeting throughout and a convertable sofa, two recliners, a stereo setup and a small ice box. This was many years before the custom van days. It was almost like being in a living room in a home and since it looked like a beat up old delivery truck from the outside no one ever bothered it.

I miss those good old days.