| Author |
Message |
Christopher Goodwin (Cgoodwin)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, November 20, 2005 - 3:07 pm: | |
I just spent all day glueing and nailing bamboo flooring down in my Neoplan. What a nightmare, I have never felt so old. While the work is not technicaly difficult, it is back breaking! Go out and get the piece, go in and test fit it, spread the glue, place the piece, using a block of wood and a 6lb hammer, set the piece into the previous piece (nostly done on the knees), now stand on the piece and bend down with a nailer and toe nail the tounge. Repeat over and over and over.... A whole day and I am 1/2 done with the living/dining/kitchen area.
The glue is made of some material from outerspace and does not clean off easily with anything known to man, I think my hands will be black until the skin wears off! I will say that after taking a break, cleaning up the tools, trying to clean my hands and having a beer with the friend who had promised to help but showed up in time to help only with the beer. It looks GREAT!
I choose vertical grain engineered bamboo flooring with a rubberwood core, in a carbonized color, it is a little darker than light oak with thin strips of bamboo running the length of the 6'X 4 1/2" plasnks.
Now to do the difficult side which has several access hatches in it, I plan to lay the floor to the holes, router the openings clean, then take apart and rebuild the hatch covers with the bamboo and retain the factory aluminum trim... More back breaking knee work.. |
Robert Wood (Bobwoodsocal)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 21, 2005 - 2:30 am: | |
Sounds like fun, Christopher. Hang in there, it will be worth it! Bob |
chris
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 21, 2005 - 12:12 pm: | |
i would only glue every other one so in the event you need to replace one it will be easier enough
chris |
ChuckMC9 (Chucks)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 21, 2005 - 3:22 pm: | |
Hey Chris, good to have you posting again after a long absence.
Working on things on the floor is one of my least favorite tasks as well. |
Christopher Goodwin (Cgoodwin)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - 1:23 am: | |
Finished this evening! I hope to never do a floor in a bus again! I ended up making a hook for a 6lb slide hammer to get the planks which fit under the radiators to lock into the others, I used a glue called "Bostic's best" whihc is a lot like spreading half dry silocone, it sticks to everything and once hardened in like solid rubber. The floor looks GREAT and at the end of the day, this one at least, was well worth it.
The walls are skinned in birch as is the cieling, the kitchen counter has stainless uprights and a stainless top, sink is welded into the top so the counters can be wiped down into the sink, there is a Jenn Aire grill and two under counter stainless refers, the drawers are faced in black laminate and I found thewe really nice German drawer slides whihc have spring pressure keeping them closed whihc is relieved after about 2" of opening to slide freely. When closed they slide to the last 2" then stop and pull themselves closed slowly ($30 a set).
The bus looks nicer than my home now. I spent saturday night completely disassembling a set of Japanese Shoji screens, cutting them down 12" and replacing the rice paper with translucent plastic. These will form sliding doors on the bunk for my daughter and another set will form the shower door which will also slide. The shower is going to be set 6" below floor level and have a step 10" above floor level in the entrance so I can fill the bottom 14" deep to make a small tub for the little one.
Now I just need to get the shower done and begine on the plumbing and electrics...... Will it ever end?
Chris |
H3-40
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - 6:44 am: | |
Chris do you have any pics or contact information of those slides you used in the kitchen? We are about to install cabinets in our bus and those sound pretty neat! No latches to hold them in and nothing to pick up off the floor as I "sportscar" around those curves! LOL
Thanks
Ace |
Christopher Goodwin (Cgoodwin)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - 10:30 am: | |
Sure ace, I will post it today. Being a mecahnic I had to take one apart, they are held closed by a small gas cylinder, when you pull the drawer out you extend the cylinder against the gas, compressing it. at a certain point in the travel a small latch locks the cylinder to the track and releases the drawer to slide freely on it's bearings. Closing is the reverse, the drawer slides free until it hits the latch, this locks the drawer to the cylinder again and as it expands to its resting position it pulls the drawer closed with it. Nice effect, my daughter (or wife) can not slam the drawers and there are no latches required to keep them closed. Will post the info when I get to work.
Chris |
Christopher Goodwin (Cgoodwin)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - 1:49 pm: | |
The slides are made by Mepla-alift their site is at http://www.mepla-alfit.com/english/products.html but is pretty lame, best to find a high-end hardware store and ask if they carry Mepla-alift and go have a look.
I have posted some new pics of my project at www.frybrid.com/bus.htm
Chris |
ChuckMC9 (Chucks)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, November 22, 2005 - 8:18 pm: | |
I gotta have some of those Melpa-Alifts. Oh, but I guess I need drawers first...
Nice work on your coach Christopher. I expected nothing less. |
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