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Bus # 1 | Temp Conversion Update

20161106_040421Texas Tiny Homes bus # 1 is still for sale, but in the mean time, it’s undergoing some temporary conversion stuff to ready it for some camping, road trips. The conversion is providing learning opportunity for future bus conversions and all that is involved with it. It’s giving us ideas for future bus designs and finish out.

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This temporary, under bus shelving storage area, was built to mainly carry generator fuel and propane tanks to camp sites. The generator will ride inside the bus, but be placed on the shelving during camp. The shelving is a prototype design to show one of our welders what we want, they can now rebuild it with iron, and weld it to the bus, and waterproof it on two sides, the rear and the bottom of the compartment. Once that’s completed, the generator could then ride there too, if fastened in place first.

We have a line on multiple buses we can buy right so if you’d be interested in us custom converting one for you, send us an email from our “contact us” tab.The advantage to Texas Tiny Homes, Inc doing one for you verses you doing one yourself, our bus conversions to RV’s are insurable. Getting bus insurance is one of the most difficult parts of this tiny house option.

Bus # 1 | Off Grid Generator

We just ordered and purchased some off grid items for the bus; including the Generac iQ2000 Portable Inverter Generator 

  • Quiet, smart, long-running inverter generator
  • Smart LED dashboard shows fuel level, run-time remaining, wattage usage, and generator status
  • PowerDial integrates the start, run, and stop functions into 1 simple-to-use dial
  • Generac OHV engine provides long life
  • Low oil shutdown safeguards engine from damage
  • Parallel ready outlet allows you to connect 2 inverters together for more power (parallel kit sold separately)
  • Select from 3 engine speeds (turbo, standard and economy) – to save fuel and reduce noise

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The generator will be used to charge the 4 deep cycle batteries we special ordered today, as well as provide power on days it’s raining or the sun isn’t shining, preventing the new solar panels we also special ordered from doing their job to charge the batteries. The generator will also be use to run the future ductless 9500 BTU A/C unit we plan to purchase as soon as possible. Right now the generator could provide temporary power to run 1600 watts worth of lap tops, phone chargers, TV, LED lighting in the bus, and pretty much everything the bus will feature in the temporary conversion being done to the bus for some camping, plan designing and some off grid fun.

 

Our First Bus | Temporary Conversion Progress

school bus conversions, skoolies, tiny homes on wheels, live in school bus, tiny houses, tiny homes, This is our first bus (which is now sold) as a school bus, but we are also open to custom designing and building it out as per your specifications. Right now, it’s undergoing some temporary camping, road trip conversion items so we can sort of get the idea of what it would be like living in a bus. By doing some temporary conversions things to this bus it’s giving us some conversion experience and some ideas for future bus conversion projects.

school bus conversions, skoolies, tiny homes on wheels, live in school bus, tiny houses, tiny homes, Above is the current layout for the temporary conversion. If it were a full conversion, all the interior siding, flooring and seating would be removed/gutted and then construction would be done similar to a new home. The work being do so far would work as home, but it would be best, but its more expensive to gut the bus first.
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I plan to do some camping in it, brainstorming for bus conversion ideas, writing in my book, songwriting and just enjoying some scenic mother earth. If you are interested in purchasing the bus click here contact us or in the menu bar and send us an email.

Our First Bus | A Temporary Camper

school bus conversions, skoolies, tiny homes on wheels, live in school bus, tiny houses, tiny homes, Our first bus is for sale (SOLD), but we are open to doing a custom design and build for the right clients with the bus. Or you can purchase it as a school bus.

In the mean time, since the weather is getting nice for camping, we decided to remove four of the rear bench seats and are going to build a temporary bedroom at the back of the bus. We will be doing that this coming week, as well as will be making some temporary drapes that are secured over each window with magnets. This is being done in preparation for some trial run, camping as to see how the bus works out for that sort of thing. 20161015_170810

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Texas Tiny Homes | A Seat In Our New Bus Needed Repair

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A corner seam on one of the seats in our new bus came undone so Saturday I drove it over to a local upholstery shop to see what the options were to get it repaired, and prices.

One option was to hire the shop to remove the entire bench seat out of the bus, and then remove the seat from the bench seat, and then remove the cover from the seat, sew it back together, and put it all back together. The price for that option would run $250.00. The owner also said if I wanted to remove the bench seat and the cover and bring them the cover the price would be $37.50 to sew it back together.

I decided to do the second option and Sunday I began the process of pulling the bench seat, which would require unbolting about 15 nuts and bolts, 8 of which penetrate through the floor of the bus, and bolted underneath the bus, which would be a two man job. One person would be inside to remove the bolts and one person would be under neath to remove the nuts.

After realizing what a job it would be to remove the entire bench seat from the bus I decided to look at other options and discovered a way to remove only the seat portion of the bench seat, and did just that.seat-4

The above picture reflects the seat portion removed, but the bench is still bolted to the bus. Below you can see the clamps that connect the the seat to the tubing pipe in the bench. The two end clamps swivel which are the key to installing or removing the seat only.  seat-2

Once the seat was out, I began prying out the staples that were stapled into the thin sheet of plywood that was attached to the bottom of the seat. seat-7

Once the cover was off, I got out a large needle and doubled up the thread and began sewing it back together. I ran the needle through the existing holes, which took about 20 minutes to do to complete the sewing portion. Once the sewing was completed, I reinstalled the cover to the seat and reinstalled the seat as shown in the last image. seat-5seat-6

For someone with zero upholstery repair experience I found the job to be pretty easy and fun, and it turned out just fine. You would not be able to determine which seat was repaired, and my bank account is out zero dollars for the repair. Until next time, be safe and blessed!!