| Author |
Message |
Michael Lewis (67.160.12.18)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, August 02, 2004 - 1:55 pm: | |
We are at the point of finishing the new stairs and installing hardwood (bamboo) flooring in the front of the coach (MC9)and still have not found an elegant and sturdy resolution to keep momma from slipping into the stairwell from her "buddy seat". Since we also do not have the seat yet, I thought this might be the time to work on this a bit...
The simplest solution seems to be a fold down or hinged cover, which at best seems awkward, a slide out footrest which does not fully cover the well, etc, etc... I know the high priced Prevo conversions have an air/hydraulic/mechanical zippy system, but have never actually seen one in action and am not anxious to drive down to Coburg, Oregon...by the way, their lot is _packed_!
Who has solved this problem and is happy with the results? Better yet, is SHE happy with the results?
Michael |
James Maxwell (Jmaxwell) (66.81.212.125)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, August 02, 2004 - 2:46 pm: | |
My Neoplan has a 2 level front floor. The driver's seat sits 2" above the level of the floor where the co-pilot seat sits, which is the front center since I have a side stepwell design. I will raise the co-pilot area up level to the driver's area utilizing a raised, steel plate floor for solid mounting of the co-pilot seat and a slide floor will go under it on full extension slides rated for 400#/pair. When extended out the end of the slide mechanism will rest on supports. For now it will be manual but could easily be converted to air. It will fully cover the stepwell and line up on the level of the 2nd step from the coach floor level. I have it designed on paper but have not fab'd it as yet. |
John that newguy (199.232.240.247)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, August 02, 2004 - 2:59 pm: | |
Isn't it a pain to have to ask the passenger to get up/move every time
anyone has to come or go?
I can't count the times I had to stop for info, pick up something
quick, or check something outside, after we thought we were all
settled in to roll.
And I'm impatient as all hell. I'd hate to have to wait two minutes
for anyone to move, to go out for what's going to take me 1 minute to do.
How about a swing or sliding seat arrangement that has it's own
base that covers that opening? It'd have to be propelled at about
90mph to keep me happy, though. Hit a button and it snaps out
of the way at warp speed. ssssSNAPPttt
(I can see -this- is gonna' pee off the wife, for sure). |
ChuckMC9 (Chucks) (69.3.74.198)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, August 02, 2004 - 4:12 pm: | |
Didn't one of the James Bond cars have an ejection seat!!?? LOL
I've seen some Custom Coach conversions that had a very nice (air powered?) hinged floor which laid up vertically up against the cockpit AC return air vent when not deployed. I sure wish I knew if there was a supplier for that whole assembly. |
LABryan (63.198.141.130)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, August 02, 2004 - 4:16 pm: | |
My Prevost conversion has that air operated slide. First time passengers always think it's cool because it snaps out, but a manual one would be less hassle to build. Mine is basically a carpeted plywood floor that extends like a drawer in two simple wooden tracks at floor height. The tracks are made of nice hardwood, so they blend in with the bus interior when the slide is retracted. Because the door has a slight curve, there is a gap of about four to six inches between the end of the slide and the door. The slide retracts under the floor at the top of the stairs, under the driver's feet. The straight trim piece at the end of the slide rests flush with the back of the top step when retracted and is almost invisible.
Push/pull air pistons must be available, as they are used commonly on generator slides. A less elegant solution might be cable pullies in the tracks. If you go that route, be sure to include some sort of spring or retention mechanism so the slide locks when extended and then fully retracts into its slot and locks when not in use. You will probably want to finish the end of the slide to match your stairs or the trim of your bus. By the way, the slide on my bus is too flimsy for big adults to stand on. Recommend you use at least 3/4" plywood, or maybe more. You will be spanning a distance much greater than typical floor joists. Also make sure the tracks at the front and back of the well are very strong and very firmly attached. Take steps to prevent the plywood from warping. Good paint on all six sides should do the trick.
Having said all that, my buddy's Eagle has a hinged fold-up floor that works just fine. By far the simplest solution. But that air slide does solve patience problems for those like John.
Good Luck
Bryan |
Jack Conrad (Jackconrad) (204.193.117.66)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, August 02, 2004 - 5:00 pm: | |
I installed a footrest attached to a pair of HD drawer slides that are mounted under the co-pilots seat. I fabricated 2 angle brackets for each slide that are welded to the slide and attach to the seat pedestal base. 2 more angle brackets were welded to each slide to attach the footrest. When slid out for use as a foot rest(14"), it leaves enough room for me to get by if I need to get out of the bus to fuel,etc. When slid back under the seat it is hidden by the seat skirt. You can see a few photos of the sliding footrest at http://members2.clubphoto.com/jack217421 Just click on the Bus Projects album |
RJ Long (67.181.236.27)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, August 02, 2004 - 6:48 pm: | |
"And I'm impatient as all hell. I'd hate to have to wait two minutes for anyone to move, to go out for what's going to take me 1 minute to do."
John, John, John. . .
If you've got momma sittin' over there ridin' shotgun, she's gonna use it on you if you don't learn VERY QUICKLY to slow down and take your time. So what's a couple of minutes in the overall scheme of things?
You've gotten into this hobby to enjoy ownership of a coach conversion, which you'll never get to do if you're so impatient you give yourself a heart attack.
Remember the children's fable about the Tortoise and the Hare??? Remember who won??
Enjoy the journey!!!
RJ
PD4106-2784
Fresno CA |
TWO DOGS (63.156.216.72)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, August 02, 2004 - 7:31 pm: | |
yeah....no hurry....I have people ask me how long it takes me to get to the Rio Grande Valley...tell them a week,sometimes two...If I'm payin the diesel...I stop when I see Bluebonnets,...or deer, or junk shops, or blondes. I've been thinkin' about putting a passenger seat on the floor with passengers legs down in the stepwell |
John that newguy (199.232.240.167)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, August 02, 2004 - 9:44 pm: | |
Funny, but the wife and I were just talking about my post here.
She agreed, that it can be a real pain in the seat to have to move
out of the way each and every time I decide to jump from the
driver's seat and go outside to check something. With my memory,
checking that I put the water hose back in could take....say...
35 trips. That's alot of moving.
So with her brown eyes (that I've grown to love more each day
of the 41+ years worth we've been together) staring at me, she
asked me "why can't you leave the stairwell and banister alone
and let me sit where the passenger usually would sit?"
"Because I wouldn't be a true busnut". I said. No, I didn't say that.
She had a great idea. I never had trouble talking to a passenger
that sat there, to my right. And I never had trouble hearing them
scream out of fear from my driving habits either. Besides, it's safer
sitting there. That driver's seat is the one and only suicide seat in the
house; why would I put a loved one in that area. And if she's
happy there, why should I complain? That stairwell assembly
and banister looks nice just the way it is. Kinda' 60's look, even
though it's a '79.
So, it's case closed for now, anyway. You guys can outfit the
bride with that sliding do-fangled seat apparatus and do-hickey
foot-rest thing. I'm gonna' keep that area just the way it is.
Maybe I can get her to wear short skirts... Like my front row
passengers used t............ oops. |
James Maxwell (Jmaxwell) (66.81.48.203)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, August 03, 2004 - 1:08 am: | |
John: My wife does not have to move in order for me to exit. I simply step between the two seats, where there is 11" of open space, step up the 8" to the coach floor, cross behind her seat to the stop of the staircase on the side, and down the steps I go. I'm actually installing the slide floor to prevent one of the dogs from falling off the seat platform area into the step well, which is nearly 4' deep, and also to prevent my wife from accidentally exiting on that side of her seat into an open stepwell. Additionally, her seat has a 360 degree swivel to faciltate her just stepping out of her seat onto the coach floor. This puts her close enough to fetch my coffee and ice tea with no more than a mere whisper and she can light my cigarettes for me, operate the CD deck, and feel a little more secure like there is a road under her on those 8' lanes in Mexico (keep in mind that both my buses are 102 models) with relatively long front overhangs and when I swing a tight corner on an 8' roadway with no shoulder and a 500' drop off the side, a right mounted, front of the tire, passenger seat actually leaves the road just a bit.
And as others have said, what's the hurry. Hell, the only reason to even go back home is so you can get ready to go somewhere else. That attitude comes from 30 years as a Professional Retiree! and the seat arrangement comes from the fact that my wife was a little uncomfortable with her view of the roadway in the Grumman. Now, if Wifey ain't comfortable, you're not going to be for long either. |
Thunder Coach (198.81.26.45)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, August 03, 2004 - 2:07 am: | |
I am use the power tailgate window system from a FORD Wagon to move the floor out over the stairs and back under the Seat(one from a Gray Hound)that is flush with the stair's...have been useing a peice of plywood as a proto type working well...Ron |
Jim Stacy (209.247.222.81)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, August 03, 2004 - 4:16 pm: | |
I built a "PI" shaped sliding step from some scrap aluminum extrusion I had laying around. It retracks completely under the passenger seat, one leg on each side of the seat post. I held it down with four brackets I formed from .062 aluminum strap stock. When slid out it only covers half the stair well width, allowing me to exit at fuelup time without disturbimg the copilot. It stays in place (in or out) by friction, requires no electric or air or hydraulic pressure to operate.
The copilot moves it in or out with a touch of her heel, and in six years it has never slid out on its' own. I can bounce my 200+ pounds on the extended end with no problem. Simple is good.
Jim Stacy |
mel 4104 (216.148.246.134)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, August 06, 2004 - 10:26 am: | |
we use a piece of 3/4 ply wood covered with carpet that is app. 2 ft. wide and reaches from front to back of the stair well with the grab rail still in place we mounted a piece of Al. angle on thfront just bbelow the little compartment door and one on the rear side of the stair well to hold the ply wood in place. when not needed it is stored behind the drivers seat. when we are traveling the dog sits on it as the wife slides her air ride racaro seat forward and puts her feet on the dash. i think that she uses her big toes as a gun sight as when she cannot see pavement between them she yells. this system has worked well for us for 25 years. |
John Rigby (24.174.238.253)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, August 07, 2004 - 8:03 am: | |
Wow, 25years I thought 18 was pretty good, but 25. Mel thats great.
John |
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