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Careful Planning The best-laid plans get changed. Before you select your bus shell - think about your usage. What size coach do you really want? 35, 40 or 45 foot? Once you select the bus, get your measurements (take your own from inside the bus, do not rely on someone else's drawings). Then do some scale drawings. I use regular graph paper with 1/4" grid. 1/4" to equal 4" makes 1" per foot or a drawing size of 8" by 10" for a 40-foot bus. Show items that cannot be moved such as stairs, driver's seat, dashboard, engine compartment, etc. Make another drawing on graph paper to scale with your underbays laid out on it. Tape the two together and make yourself a couple of dozen photocopies. Now you're ready to do your layout. It helps if you've been collecting plans from other motorhomes and conversions. With those you should have a very good idea of where you're going with your design. You will change your mind on your layout a dozen times after you start construction. That's why it's important to have your wiring and plumbing done after you are finished framing in the walls and cabinets. One very important thing to remember is that your black water tank should be located below the toilet. Thus, the layout of the underbays and where they lie in relation to the living area layout. You might also ask yourself where you want to place your generator because it may be noisy or vibrate. Do you want it in the rear bay where it is closer to your bed or forward toward the living area? When will you be using it? Does it matter? Speaking of bays, try to layout all your things in no more than 11/3 bays. There is nothing worse than seeing a backyard conversion in which something is installed in every bay. You should be able to plan for your water tanks to be all the same height and length. By doing this, you can build a nice square box to install them in. Make sure you put the dumps and tills on the driver's side. Also plan to have your water hook-ups and other services on this side. It's best if you can fit them all into one bay so that you can open up one door and complete all your household exterior duties. (Check out diagrams of bays). Also draw out your aisle and walk way. If it's too narrow it makes the coach seem small and crowded. The wider the better. If your planning on a side aisle, do you have enough headroom to walk by? What about other people you may have on board? Can they walk by without hitting their heads? Are you installing roof air-conditioning? If you have not raised your roof, it might be cutting into your headroom. You can offset the AC's so they are not in the middle of your living room. Mount them 12" to 16" off to one side - maybe more over your sofa, so they will not interfere with anyone's headroom. The AC must be mounted level however, which may require you to build a little holding box for it on the outside of the coach. Other things that you might want to think about include how you will be handling your window treatment. This will determine how you frame in your window boxes...if any. After you've completed your layout, go inside the bus and tape it out on the floor. Then, make sure that you'll have room for the black holding tank directly below the location of your toilet. Get out a pencil and paper and jot down a list of your ideas. Now draw up some sketches of those ideas. They don't have to be blueprint quality but do try to render proportions. If you're having trouble with drawing or visualizing your ideas, as many people do, you can map out the floor plan in two dimensions right on the coach's floor, full size. To do this, use masking tape to simulate where the walls, doors, cabinets, furniture and appliances will be on the floor. Try to imagine yourself taking a shower or cooking dinner. Do you have enough elbowroom, convenient storage, and workable space? At this point it's easy and inexpensive to remove a wall. The tape can be pulled up and redone over and over again until you're satisfied. When you're done, you can transfer the masking-tape plan to a paper plan. When you're ready to buy materials, supplies, equipment and other necessities, don't be too hasty to buy from the first dealer you visit. If you're not confident about your plan, talk to people in the know. Most people are willing to share their knowledge, especially when there's that common bond of bus ownership. Modify your plans as you gather information - keep the ideas you like, discard the rest. After all, it's your coach. Keep in mind that not all companies supply all the components for your plan. Evaluate as many sources ax logistically possible. You may end up making, or having a craftsperson make, custom walls, doors, window frames and the like. Make sure you're matching these custom parts so they're compatible with the look of the pre-made cabinets. Again. good planning is the key. While you're waiting for the pre-made cabinets to arrive, if you go that route, organize your shop or workspace. It can be overwhelming when the first truckload of cabinets arrives and fills up your entire workspace. Having a safe storage place and an organized storage strategy is almost as important as good planning. 1) Read this book completely and do some research |
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