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R. Terry (152.163.205.72)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, May 11, 2001 - 7:21 am: | |
It is tough trying to live in a room that requires ducking down or hunching over to get from one end to the other while not tripping over the big humps in the floor. Obviously, the bed was going to have to go. For me, this turned out to have several benefits. First, it gave the bus better MPG and caused it to be faster off the line, which is always a big help. This was because the mattress, having been soaked time and again for many years by water leaking through the roof, weighed so much, the top of the bus had to be cut off and the mattress lifted out by a crane! Yes, it was that heavy. And secondly, with the mattress gone, there was so much space that we held a rodeo right there in the back of the bus. Yeehaa!
Having tossed the big nasty bed, it became apparent that there was another way to get more headroom in the bedroom without raising the roof. Three inches of dead old carpet and multiple layers of rotten padding got dragged out, along with the vinyl-covered fiberboard masquerading as a ceiling. Suddenly, the room became much bigger, the ceiling a little taller, and it began to look more like a bus rather than a travel trailer.
It is doubtful that anyone else could appreciate this new (old?) look. There is something not very luxurious about the original, commercial-duty ceiling installed at the factory. In fact, if you look at the ceiling for a minute then close your eyes, you can almost visualize a driver, circa 1955, sitting there behind the wheel in his Greyhound uniform, staring dead ahead at the endless two-lane road. So, by throwing out the fake ceiling, I got extra height and a dose of nostalgia in the process.
The bathroom (a loose interpretation of the word, in this case) was the deciding factor in how the bedroom would be reconfigured. It all came down to one thing: Who the hell wants their knees sticking out in the hallway when sitting on the potty? Not me! Who designed this thing, anyway??
That's right, you could not shut the door to the bathroom while sitting there doing what we all do—ah, reading, of course. Here again was a good case for starting from scratch. Short of that, I felt the best solution was to turn the bus into a side-aisle arrangement, gobbling up the hallway and the storage closet on the other side for a roomier, more practical bathroom, one in which you could actually dry yourself off without...without... lets see...where did these people dry off? You could stand sideways in the hall, go out into the kitchen, or...stand on the bed? It was a nifty compromise; I lost that big closet, but did not give up any precious space in the bedroom or the kitchen.
Then I did something else we all do. I sat in the middle of the empty floor in what used to be a bedroom and thought about the bus. I thought about how much I liked the spaciousness of an empty room. And how cramped and innavigable it had been with that queen bed and all those cabinets. Small. Tight. No elbow room. The answer seemed obvious— either stretch the bus into a 45-foot model and stay out of California, or go with bunks and keep extraneous stuff in storage bins in the baggage bays.
I will give you until my next installment to figure out which way I went. But I will give you a clue: There are never going to be any 45-foot 4104s. Ever.
RT |
FAST FRED (63.215.239.138)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, May 13, 2001 - 6:17 pm: | |
"It is doubtful that anyone else could appreciate this new (old?) look. There is something not very luxurious about the original, commercial-duty ceiling installed at the factory. In fact, if you look at the ceiling for a minute then close your eyes, you can almost visualize a driver, circa 1955, sitting there behind the wheel in his Greyhound uniform, staring dead ahead at the endless two-lane road. So, by throwing out the fake ceiling, I got extra height and a dose of nostalgia in the process."
The orig coach overhead looks loads better than some dopey rug glued up there ,
and better than car naugahide { even tufted rolled and pleated}!
Best part of the orig interior is;
IT WAS DESIGNED TO BE CLEANED
Really hard to scrub overhead carpeting ,
after having too much fun with the WOK .
There ARE loads of things to rip apart on a conversion ,
bit the interior overhead isn't one of them.
My Opinion Too,
FAST FRED |
jmaxwell (66.42.92.50)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 14, 2001 - 3:11 am: | |
Side isle in a 4104--You're going to look like a pretzel or the Hunchback after a few trips back and forth. Did u ever see a side-isle Airstream trailer? Let's face it---u have roughly 1250 cubic feet of space in that bus and I don't care what u do, you're not going to get any more out of it. Also, be careful what u cut and hack on in a 4104. People have been known to hack the wrong thing and over-stress the skin, which has already been subjected to millions of miles of stress across our great, well-maintained national system of hiways, which in any condition, are better than they were when your 04 1st used them. Also, put the ceiling carpet in and vastly improve the acoustics. Forget the WOK and eat American dishes, like BBQ steaks, done on your roll-out gas BBQ down in the bay. |
FAST FRED (63.215.238.164)
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, May 14, 2001 - 5:45 pm: | |
A shower stall from home depot is 32 in square.
IF you sit facing the shower stall , its easy to keep the center isle.
IF you need to jitterbug in the toilet room ihis will be tight .
IF all you need is the Throne , for some reading time , there is loads of room.
FAST FRED |
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