Bus Update: A Timeline of Recent Events

Summer 2020: Bed Build + Plumbing begins

In Summer 2020, we installed our bed frame in the back of the bus using scrap lumber that we sourced from construction dumpsters. To create easily accessible storage space under the bed, we added a gas piston lift mechanism to the frame. The bed frame is Queen sized and has space for storage at the footend. Underneath the bed, we secured our two 30 gallon freshwater holding tanks.

I was also desperate to be able to prettify something, so we finished the back wall with a piece of plywood and painted it “Countryside Blush.” (Color visible at top of the photo below).

Our bed build with water tank storage underneath.

We also began doing just a wee bit of plumbing. Primarily this involved installing a water intake hatch and attaching pipes from said hatch to the freshwater holding tanks.**

** I promise to elaborate on this in a standalone post later.

Me peeking in through the hole we cut for our freshwater intake hatch.

September 2020 - February 2021: Obstacles Appear

How do I make this long saga as short as possible? Let me give it a shot in list form…

Emmett and Dylan troubleshooting our mechanical issues.

• In Summer 2020, we realized that the bus no longer started. After saving up, we bought two brand new batteries.

• New batteries attached, we tried to start the bus again. It still did not start. We removed the starter and took it to get cleaned up, only to find out it was perfectly fine. The issue was somewhere between the ignition and the rear engine compartment.

• In September 2020, after several weekends of troubleshooting, our good friend Dylan helped us figure out how to start the bus from the engine compartment.

• In November 2020, we had an appointment at a diesel shop in Ashland, VA to get help rewiring the ignition. We had finally determined that we had disconnected a wire at some point way back during our original ceiling removal. We also requested a state inspection in order to be officially roadworthy.

• In early December 2020, the diesel shop completed rewiring the ignition! They were understaffed and overbooked so said our state inspection might take a while.

• Every week in January 2021, we called the diesel shop to get an update. And every week the diesel shop said they had not completed the inspection.

• In early February 2021, we got frustrated with the diesel shop and their evasive answers. In-person, they admitted that there was something wrong with the defroster and they didn’t know how to fix it. We were frustrated and disappointed.

• For one week in early February, eager to do something on the bus build, we spent our days installing four 100 watt solar panels on the roof.

• During our solar panel install week, we scheduled an appointment with the regional Bluebird Bus distributor in Petersburg, VA to get our bus up to inspection quality.

• In mid-February, we took the bus to Petersburg. A week later, we were given some unsettling news. The man we’d bought our bus from had completely ripped out the defroster and all associated wiring. (Obviously he had not disclosed this to us when we purchased it). The Bluebird shop was going to have to order all the parts and completely rebuild a new defroster for the bus.

Emmett and our freshly installed solar panels during our one week of bus work in February 2021.

February 2021 - September 2021

For seven months, our bus was at the shop. For seven months, we had to put our tiny house dreams completely on pause. For seven months, the shop struggled to get all the necessary parts due to pandemic-related breaks in the supply chain.

In the meantime, a lot went on in the rest of our lives. We moved back to the Shenandoah Valley to be closer to both sets of parents. We rented a new apartment, started a raised bed garden, Emmett got a new job, and we celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary.

Our cat Bailey enjoying bird watching at our new apartment in the Shenandoah Valley.

October 2021

In September, we received a call from the Bluebird shop with good news - they’d finished the defroster and replaced some lights that were necessary to pass inspection. We could pick the bus up at any time!

So, we picked the bus up and brought her to our new town. We got her inspected and she passed! Then we mentally prepared ourselves to pick up a project we’d had to drop nearly 8 months earlier.

We were so eager to get back to working!

Painting the bus with a weatherproof rust-protecting primer was the first task on our agenda. Since it was already starting to get cooler, we figured we would paint as soon as possible. It was time-sensitive and weather-dependent; most paints need to be applied when the temperature is above 50 degrees.

After removing old stickers and smoothing out any rough or rusty spots, we were ready to paint! And we managed to get the whole thing primed in just one day with the help of Emmett’s mom, Katrina.

A progress shot of our primer paint job.

November 2021 (Now)

Now we are undergoing two projects simultaneously: installing our pine tongue-and-groove ceiling panels and wiring in our overhead LED lights.

See the picture below for a sneak peek and stay tuned for a full ceiling install post later!

Emmett using a nail gun to attach pine boards to the studs we had previously installed to the ceiling.

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