FAIL! The War with Flex Seal ... and Caulk

We were wanting to replenish the flooring and cover up the holes from the seats at the same time. So, we had an employee of Home Depot recommended Flex Seal. Keep in mind that, one can costs about $90.

It comes out thicker than latex paint but thinner than oil paint. It stinks, so have a mask if you use it ... it rolled on with a regular roller and was quite easy to install. One can is not enough to completely do the 71 passenger bus and it did not fill in all the holes. The larger holes required me to go back and caulk them ... the fail was several days later, the caulk had not set. It was gooey and a waste of time. I had to go purchase a small can of Flex Seal and brush each hole slowly ... the second coat worked.

This stuff does not clean up, so do not plan on saving the paint brush or roller. If you get it on the side walls of the bus, you can use a scraper to remove it, it peels off with a little elbow grease.

Tools Needed:

• regular paint roller
• paint brush for small places
• one regular roller pad, two if you don't complete the process in one day
• an extension pole of some sort, it'll save your back - dove used a telescopic paint stick 
• 2 cans of black Flex Seal
• and a full 48 hours of drying time

The end result ...

Happy RV'ing!!

The In-Between - Alternate #1

I decided to add a very large square to make my and Daddy's extra special afghan  ... here is Moon's Shadow square ... (you can purchase it here)

Alternate #1:

Happy Hooking!!

Layout Attempt #2

The first attempt at planning the layout was with rough estimates of cabinet sizes, eyeballing the shower space and going with a smaller refrigerator (we did decide to upgrade to a bit bigger Magic Chef).

We will have the final layout once we have the cabinets, toilet and shower completed. For now, this is a great representation of what we're wanting ... the green tape is if we place the cabinets in a straight line, the blue is the L-shaped. Think I'm liking the blue tape ...

What do you think?

Happy RV'ing!!

The Dreaded Heater

It's time to get the floor going. I am supposed to seal all of the holes left by the seats ... but had to remove the HUGE, useless heater in the back. Each line has antifreeze in it and while you can turn the valve off on the radiator ... you cannot close off the line that goes to the engine ... what fun!

This was not a project that I could do by myself, so I had to bribe my son, Nathan, to come over ... it was promise of dinner LOL I was glad he came to help cause I knew it would be a mess but didn't anticipate that much of a mess! 🙄 A-N-T-I-F-R-E-E-Z-E every where ... literally!

Nathan and I were working along when I almost messed up the whole project by trying to by-pass the antifreeze lines under the hood. Daddy 💕 wanted to make sure that the heater by the driver worked ... OOPS! Glad I caught it before it was too late ... well, good thing we had lots of extra hose ... shhh! Don't tell Daddy 💕!

During the whole process, we ran to the auto parts store like 100 times trying to find the right parts to by-pass the heater in the back but maintain the drivers heater ... yikes! After cutting, removing and getting literally drenched in antifreeze ... we called it a day and I ordered the special 90º brass elbow we needed (I was able to find it here).

Once the elbow arrived ... it was time to get this part of the project completed! It only took 2-days to get the part! YAY!

There were lots and lots of hose ... but thankfully Nathan is smaller than me and can fit under the steering wheel .. LOL Here he is being a doll and getting under the steering wheel to work with the hoses ...

Tools you will need:

• exacto knife to cut hose
• wire cutters to cut power lines
• 90º brass elbow
• replacement hose clamps incase any of yours are damaged or missing (we didn't have to replace any)
• 5/8" ratchet/socket
• philips screw driver to remove the control panel under the steering wheel, there's two of them
• patience
• a small person ... LOL it's tight under the steering wheel
• and replacement antifreeze, you're going to lose some

So ... what did we do?

• turn the shut-off valve to the off position; under the hood that goes from the radiator to the heater box
• disconnected the heater and lifted the hoses so that the antifreeze would not run out onto the bus ... oops! That still happened because the hose fell out of the window ... it didn't get tons of antifreeze on the bus but it was enough to be annoying!
• cut the power lines and wrapped them up for Daddy to remove from the main control panel later (still waiting for that to get done LOL)
• drag the heater off the bus into a safe place, lots of people are looking for those! Might be able to sell it
• remove the main two hoses
• the return hose from the heater unit is what required the 90º elbow; we had to reconnect it under the hood on the drivers side
• refill lost antifreeze
• turn valve back on

That's it ... if we had the 90º elbow ... it would've taken only a few hours to complete the job. 

Happy RV'ing!!

Layout Attempt #1

Daddy 💕 and I have been speaking non-stop, nightly (over the phone of course, cause Daddy's back in the field) about the layout of Freedom. We know that we want a decent sized bathroom and a cuddle couch ... which is the most important part of the project to us both! It will be an easy day, I have been working hard to get to the subfloor!

We have decided we're using pre-made cabinets from Home Depot. Yes, we know they will be heavy but we will be losing weight in other areas so it's not a huge concern. We worked out a L-shaped layout ... I used blue painters tape to lay it out on the floor to get a better feel for it because I was having a hard time imagining it ...

We will be using a 24" and an 18" drawer base with a corner cabinet that has a lazy susan in it. This should give us lots of space in the kitchen!

Up close ... it's on the right side (or behind the driver)

From the front looking to the rear ...

So we'll have Daddy's "office" or desk on the left side ... and on the right you can see the L-shaped kitchen, the spot for the refrigerator (Magic Chef 9.9) and the layout for the shower ... it's all work out!

Tomorrow we take out that pesky heater you see in the back ... stay tuned for that mess! 

Happy RV'ing!!

The In-Between #2

It's that time again! Here's the second of 24-ish squares ...

Square #2:

Happy Hooking!!

The In-Between #1

I always has tons of projects I'm working on, I call them WIPs (work in progress) LOL During the time I can't work on Freedom, I am creating a afghan just for me and Daddy 💕 in our new home. 

I am  working on the Moogly CAL 2016 (if you'd like to participate too, you can go here). Every two weeks, Moogly releases a new square and people all over the world participate ... I will be displaying each square as I completes them and will title the post The In-Between! How much fun is that?!

Each square will be wet blocked and connected around December ... can't wait to see it all laid out!

Square #1:

Happy Hooking!!

Rain Rain Go Away ...

It's been raining for days since the Cinderella Ball ... and I found a leak on Freedom ☹️ It's right around the escape hatches, so I'm not too worried! So instead of working on Freedom herself, I spent the day working on a layout ... Daddy 💕 loves it! How about you?

Things we plan on doing:

• We will be using 2x2 lumber to build the walls and the sub-floor with 11/32 plywood. We don't want to lose too much head room as we will not be raising Freedom's roof. 

• There will only be lower cabinets for now as we'll be add the upper cabinets after we move into the Skoolie. 

• We are keeping the original roof, not adding any wood accents or new insulation, it seems to keep it's temperature fairly well. We will be replacing the leaking escape hatches with a skylight in the rear and an a/c unit on the front one and using a sealant called Henry 289 and then coating that with Henry 287 - Solar Flex. This coating should reflect 85% of the sun, thus protecting it.

• The only windows we plan on covering prior to painting is the 2 directly behind the shower. We don't want anyone spying LOL All the other windows will be covered with the beautiful fabric dove picked out.
  

• There will be a wall behind the drivers seat and a short wall just above the stairs to attach the assist bar too.

• As the couch is very special, we will either DIY or have it custom made in the upholstery fabric I found at Hobby Lobby. It has to be large enough for Daddy 💕 and myself to comfortably cuddle on ... oh and Io'lana too!

• The fresh water tank (46 gal.) will be housed under the bed at the rear of the bus. The front half of the bed will have space for storage boxes for more storage. The black water and gray water will be connected under the bus directly under the toilet area. We've decided on a Revolution 310 RV toilet that we can purchase from Camping World for around $130 USD.

• The water heater (we have decided on using a on demand system from Girard) will be housed in the shop area at the very back of the Skoolie. This will also be where Daddy 💕 puts his electrically box and other stuff He needs to make the Skoolie function off grid. The batteries for the solar system will be housed under the bus with compartments that we purchase and add in later. For now we will be on shore power.

• We've decided on a beautiful glass bowl for our bathroom sink and the vanity will be a cabinet that we purchase from Hobby Lobby that was designed for another purpose but will look fabulous on Freedom. This will be placed over the tire well on the passenger side after we complete the "floor".

• We will have a countertop stove and a Nuwave© Cook top that we currently use and love. This way we don't lose a bunch of cabinet space. We will also be purchasing a small farmhouse sink designed for a bathroom to place on the counter top in the corner. It'll be lovely!

• The desk area will be a re-purposed captains chair and the table will be a small table we found at Hobby Lobby as well! It'll be cut in half and mounted on the wall beside the chair. This chair will serve two purposes; one for the desk and a place for dove to sit when Daddy is driving!

•  The bed will be a full size queen bed. We opted to lose a bit more space in order to have a full size bed, this will save us from having to purchase special RV sheets later and leaves plenty of room for Io'lana to sleep with us too! At the end of the bed, will be a bed designed just for Cody ... we can't wait to see how happy our fur babies will be too!

Tomorrow I'll lay out the tape to see if everything fits the way I think it will according to my drawing! Can't wait!! *cross your fingers*

Happy RV'ing!

Taking a Break from the Skoolie - it's the Cinderella Ball!

It's the day of the Cinderella Ball ... we have to drive for 2 hours to get there but we were Über excited!! I'll be taking my darling granddaughter ... and we are both dressing up!

Sadness ... But Saved the Day with Color!

Daddy 💕 had to go back to work today! So all work on the bus will be slow and up to me for now ... that's ok! I'm up for the challenge 😃 So ... instead of actually working on the bus, I went looking for color!

I spent a few days trying to decide on the color scheme and decided on this:

I will be making big throw pillow for the cuddle couch and the bed. I'll be crocheting the tops and sewing fabric to the backs. Daddy 💕 and I are going for a 1950s farmhouse feel! I am totally in LOVE with these colors!

To continue the color scheme, I picked out fabric for the curtains, upholstery and found the perfect flooring - all with Daddy 💕 on Facetime© of course! These are available at Home Depot and Hobby Lobby ... the yarn was too ...

So what do you think? Can you picture all these lovely colors together? I sure can!! 

Happy RV'ing!

We Found Our New Home!

Yep! You read that right! We found our school bus right here at home! We were searching Craigslist.org and there she was ... a 2000 Blue Bird!

Isn't she beautiful!? She is a 2000 Blue Bird that was originally commissioned by the Carroll ISD and labeled #76. She is gas powered but doesn't seems to have any power issues! She's hauled around 1000s of little people safely for 16 years! She still has her working lights, stop sign, school bus on the side and all - did I mention ALL - her seats?

That's ok though! We got her home and began right away removing all those seats! Daddy 💕 was underneath and I was up top with an impact wrench. It took all of 2 hours to get them all removed! Not bad for just two people!! All in day one and that's enough LOL

In all fairness, we did have a helper, our service dog Cody! Well ... he supervised! Io'lana was camera shy and disappeared every time I tried to get a photo of her...

All this hard work makes for happy couple!

PS Thanks to COWS, we were able to get rid of all those seats in one move!