Well, today begins a New Chapter in the bus build saga! This morning I brought my bus home out of storage permanently, in part to save money on the monthly storage rental, but also to give me regular access to the bus so I can begin to make steady progress on the build, especially on a number of smaller things that I can do immediately without spending anything on materials.

First, though check out the swankin’ new door I picked up off a Marketplace ad yesterday, which I’m thinking would make an excellent bathroom door!

So, here’s the short list of things I know I can get started on right away:

• Securing the rear door. Especially while the bus is here, exposed on a busy street with a decent amount of theft and vandalism, I want to make sure it’s harder for unwelcome visitors to get into the bus. So, either fixing the latch or installing the keyed padlock (or both!) are priority items.
• Disconnecting the starter. Again, in the interests of security, the last thing I want is to wake up one morning and just happen to notice that my bus has been completely disappeared. So, setting up an easy way to keep it from starting is high on the list. I think I’m going to put together a whole nother post at some point with tips and recommendations for securing a bus to discourage or prevent theft.
• Rearranging the stuff inside. I’ve got all kinds of building materials piled up inside the bus right now – all that free flooring I got on the coast, the materials I got for the subfloor, a bunch of Pex pipe for the plumbing, as well as all the bags of trash and metal scrap I need to go drop off at the junkyards. I want to rearrange a bunch of this to make it easier to get to what I need, easier to access the back door, possibly even to continue pulling out the walls and floor.
• Removing wires. There are so many wires running throughout the bus right now. They say to be careful which ones you cut because some are required to allow the bus to start. I disconnected ALL of them one day as a test, and the engine still started right up (though all the rear lights and signals stopped working). So, I don’t know. I want to be more deliberate about it, track which wires are what, and actually remove anything that I know I won’t need. It’s good wire, though, so I think I can still use a bunch of it when wiring up my 12v outlets and lights.
• Installing the rear-view cameras. I’d been putting this off in my head, thinking it should wait until after I’ve got the rear wall & door rebuilt, and the roof over the cab finished. However, there’s really no good reason I can find to delay this, I just have to go into it accepting that I’ll end up having to disconnect and move the couple pieces at some point in the future. It’ll be good to get them installed, prove to myself that I can do it, and feel more comfortable when it comes time to move them

Adam & Steph have the same brand of cameras that I have, and they made a great install video:

• Installing the tow hitch receiver. For this I will need to buy some mounting hardware, but it’s one of those pieces where there’s no reason not to install it now. I’ve got the hitch, I don’t have to make any mods to the bus in order to mount it, and it might even come in handy. Plus, the sooner I get the receiver installed, the sooner I’ll be able to measure how much drop I’ll need in the hitch to connect a tow-dolly.
• Re-sealing the windows. This isn’t going to all happen at once, probably as I’m able to rearrange stuff in the bus and get access to the side walls. I’ll also need to buy some butyl tape and more silicone sealant to really finish this job. But, rainy season is coming up, and I know that a number of the windows have leaks in the sides and bottoms, and I really don’t want all the OSB stacked up in there to get ruined.
• Sanding the bus. This is a long-term process, but it’ll be mostly free (minus the cost of sandpaper, of course!). The first step toward painting the outside. Not sure yet what color(s) I’m going to paint, but I guess I want to be ready to get started on it when inspiration strikes, or paint becomes available, whichever comes first. Also, scraping all the vinyl labels off the outside.
• Finishing the interior demo! I need to remove the metal sides underneath the windows, which I figure I can do as I’m pulling them out to re-seal them. I also need to figure out how to remove the rest of the metal from the inside of the rear wall, if I’m not simply going to just cut the whole rear off and rebuild it with wood, which has been my ongoing plan. And of course, I need to finish pulling up the rubber floor so I can start sealing & painting the metal and laying down my subfloor.

So, that’s all the stuff that springs to mind immediately. We’ll see how much I’m able to get done over the next couple days, assuming the bus is still there in the morning!