Tumbleweed - the bus build project

General Discussion
1

Its always been a dream of my wife to live in a bus and be free from
debt to anyone.  I on the other hand always had the dream of owning my
own house, having a verandah with 2 surfboards leaning agianst the
house, a rocking chair on the porch plus kids and a dog, much more
traditional.

As life progressed for our family it didnt quite follow my script, I
never sought after material possesions or assets and this attitude cost
me, the banks now will not give us a loan due to age for assets.  I
finally saw and understood what my beautiful wife was talking about.

We’ve now sold most of our stuff that we thought took up room, bought
a 37 foot bus, have started renovating it to live in full time.  This
bus will now be our special place of solitude, we will travel in our
bus one day, watch our kids grow through home schooling and experiences
that money just cannot buy.  The journey begins now.

2

we had been hunting for a while for a decent bus to convert, we finally
found one at burliegh heads, a leyland tiger, spring suspension, 2 door
school bus, it has a flat floor and is very clean and tidy.  It drove
beautifully to get it home, and was well looked after with a good
mechanical record, always maintained due to being a school bus.  A great find for my family.

It has 670 000 on the clock, rides just awesome, cruises nicely on 90 kmh, 4 speed sequential gear box, like a auto but not, just no clutch.  It pulls a little to the right but its no problem at all.

448×600 77.3 KB

3

once we got our bus home the first job to do was to remove the seats,
the kids got stuck in straight away.  This was not a easy task as we
were to find out once we reached the back of the bus.  Kids and wife removed most of the seats apart from the back seats due to my work hours.  I had to tackle the back seats as it was much harder than expected.

728×544 60.4 KB

728×544 47.5 KB

4

bugger, the pitures are lopsided, oops

5

At the back of the bus there was 3 bench seats, two of them were
running down the side and one was the traditioinal back seat.  They were
bolted in, pop riveted in plus welded in and were near enough to
impossible to get out, this job alone took me a few days as I could only
attack it a bit at a time due to limited free time. 

Below are a few pics showing me trying to grind out the seats anyway possible.

728×544 61.4 KB

448×600 36.9 KB

6

bugger, cant work out why the are coming out sideways, oh well

7

the two side seats are out and the back seat partially out, more grinding, hitting with my large pacifier plus a little extra more, it nearly took me a week to get ride of these buggers, dont think that buses are made like this anymore, no rust, solid as a brick and no way these seats could move, just buggers to get them out.

448×600 36.1 KB

8

back seats all out, panels removed at back due to the struggle to remove the seats, but this in one way was a advantage for us, we planned to add insulation for the bedrooms, so we will need to buy some wood pannelling to fit in, we researched what sort of insulation to use and discovered the best insulation for a bus was simple polysterene.  It does not hold water, does a great job and can be cut to fit, easy to use.  Fong supplied me with heaps of eskys from hospital so the insulation did not cost me a cent, thanks tim.

448×600 29.2 KB

9

note the heater on the left hand side, we may remove this as it wont be used, but it is linked to the motor and with the tubing going back to the radiator it might not be worth the struggle as we will but the bed over the top of it.

10

Cool!

Thanks for sharing.

Looking forward to more progress.

11

In this shot there are a few things to notice, the back window has been insulated plus the back area, and both sides of the bus up to the end of the kids double bunks which will be going in.  The other thing to notice is how cheap I am.

I bought a scream mask from a 2 dollar shop for my facemask, used flannos plus a long sleeve t shirt over my head to protect from sparks, put on safety googles underneath and wore gardening gloves, still got burnt on the forehead, ahhh, my cheapscates rule the earth.  Funny bout the get up, when I was grinding on the windows overlooking the streets people would stop and stare, so funny.

448×600 42.7 KB

448×600 35.2 KB

12

We bought a 90 dollar kitchen for the bus, its in a L SHAPE, plus have decided to make box seats, a 3 seater and a 2 seater up at the front of the bus.  On the kitchen I will fit a sink and leave the rest as bench space.  The bus has now been moved to mates place where we will start working on the build for the next step, that is putting up walls, building the queen size bed plus double bunks and wardrobes and room for the toilet.  The toilet itself will be a chemical toilet as we are avioding plumbing and carrying useless weight that is not needed.  This bus will be built for travel and simplicity, not for show.

 

One more pic then no more till next part completed.

 

In this pic you can see its a mid mount engine, leaving plenty of room under the bus at the back to make some storage area to possibly care shaping stuff plus tools and wet gear.  Will look at possibly make up some folding stands or something for shaping when the mood hits me.

448×600 49 KB

13

Interesting build!

 

Just to understand your story better: Which country do you live in?

14

Australia, im in queensland.

ive also placed the build on a blog on tumblr under tumbleweed the bus project.  im thinking of advertising on the bus to allow us to get more solar power for the bus, just a thought, a large company may like free advertising on the outside of the bus whilst we own it and travel around showing my kids this big beautiful country.

15

plus surfing in places Ive only dreamed about, im goin lifg to blog and film the lot, plus what life on the road is like for family life in a bus and homeschooling at the same time

16

Living the dreAM Di99er. I’ve always thought that the tumbleweed life would be worth pursuing but have never had the guts to just do it. Fucking good on you. I’ll watch your progress with interest (and no small amount of envy). Let us know if you’re ever in SA and need somewhere to park the Leyland…

17

[quote="$1"]

In this shot there are a few things to notice, the back window has been insulated plus the back area, and both sides of the bus up to the end of the kids double bunks which will be going in.  The other thing to notice is how cheap I am.

I bought a scream mask from a 2 dollar shop for my facemask, used flannos plus a long sleeve t shirt over my head to protect from sparks, put on safety googles underneath and wore gardening gloves, still got burnt on the forehead, ahhh, my cheapscates rule the earth.  Funny bout the get up, when I was grinding on the windows overlooking the streets people would stop and stare, so funny.

[/quote]

 

zsafetygear.jpg

 

this is the money shot , so far , mate ....

 

  where's the CHAINSAW ?

 

  you'll get UNCROWDED  waves for sure , wearing THAT as you drive the bus, and surf your way round oz.

 

  "I will survive" has NOTHING  on YOU ,  Digs ...  NOTHIN' !!!!

 

  Keep up the GREAT work , mate ...

 

this will be a long-term project / inspiring thread , like Oldy's 'journey of a quad' was !

 

 yewwww !!! ....  Sways , where creative people DO stuff ! [and , thankfukly , SHARE the STOKE !]

 

....CassS's signature says it ALL ! [for the journey ahead , AND for swaylocks , and for LIFE !!]

 

cheers mate !

  ben 

 

[ p.s. - maybe if you can get a few of THESE , for bumper and window stickers , too ? ....waddya reckon , mate ?]

 

keepontruckin_zpse3952408.jpg

18

Awesome to see someone aspiring to live the dream! I can't wait to see more and track your journey :-) We're planning a similar build but on a smaller scale, both vehicularly and pragmatically; I am planning to convert a fullsize contractor van into a surf-safari weekender. Just need a little money to get the donor vehicle.

 

I wish you all the bliss and smooth waves that await you off the grid and out of the rat race.

 

PS. don't neglect the chemical toilet, you'll regeret it! lol

19

Hi great thread mate

Always dreamed of doing the gipsy thing. I work full time

as a bus driver so see the potential. Ill keep tuned in!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0nr12u-sWU

20

Nice work digger, keep it up!