TheSamba.com :: View topic

Tue Jul 01, 2008 9:17 am

Our custom bus started life as a regular Transporter. The kids & I gutted it and hand-built everything inside according to what felt right to us. All materials and supplies were freebies or were bought as "seconds" to keep the cost to almost $0.00! Hey, "One man's junk, . . "

"Pepsi can" alcohol stove

Holding tanks

Da fridge!

Tue Jul 01, 2008 10:08 am

Holy smokes!! Excellent stuff man!! =D>

Tue Jul 01, 2008 2:12 pm

That is REALLY cool man. I love your carpet. what is the roof made out of? it doesnt look like the stock headliner...

Tue Jul 01, 2008 5:32 pm

hey where did you get your drivers seats from?? like the set-up, how is it to cook inside the van like that?

Tue Jul 01, 2008 6:01 pm

What is your microwave hooked up to? Can I get more details on how to do that!

Tue Jul 01, 2008 7:51 pm

c-mack: The checkerboard carpet was a gift from some friends who lay carpet professionally. I have a one-piece rubber mat cut to fit the floor that I put down when camping. The ceiling was insulated and then I used 1/8" Masonite from Lowe's. Bought it unfinished for $5.?? a sheet and then painted it high gloss white.

theizzardking: The front seats were discarded middle seats from a minivan. I cut the pedestal off the bottom and welded up custom mounts. The built-in arm rests are really nice. Cooking is no problem. I have an 8" rechargable fan i set on the counter behind the sink so it blows out the vent window. Next best thing to a range hood! The stove was made to mount in the countertop when the storage lid is up (this also holds the curtains back away from the heat when cooking at night), but the stove can be used anywhere. My table (seen covering the spare & tool compartment in the trunk) can also be set up outside, and this is often where I cook when it's warm. The stove burns alcohol (I use Heet yellow - no smell, available everywhere). Its a cool alternative to the regular propane stoves and is 100% reliable!

fisheggs: The microwave is regular 120v (discarded by a store that renovated). When the bus is connected to shore power, it's automatically in the circuit. While rolling along or boondocking, I just switch a plug in the electrical box beside the rear seat from the 120 outlet to my power inverter (800 / 1200max). It might seem like cheating, but a microwave is really nice because it doesn't make much heat and allows more cooking options. Yes, it draws some juice from my aux.battery, but its only run a few minutes at a time so no problem.

Tue Jul 01, 2008 8:07 pm

Vdubadm and I got our buses at the same time and he is so much further along then me! (Mine's so much lower :P )
Lookin good man.

Wed Jul 02, 2008 6:17 am

Got any pics of the inverter set up? I'm thinking about putting one in.

Wed Jul 02, 2008 8:59 am

Klaussinator wrote:
theizzardking: The front seats were discarded middle seats from a minivan. I cut the pedestal off the bottom and welded up custom mounts. The built-in arm rests are really nice. Cooking is no problem. I have an 8" rechargable fan i set on the counter behind the sink so it blows out the vent window. Next best thing to a range hood! The stove was made to mount in the countertop when the storage lid is up (this also holds the curtains back away from the heat when cooking at night), but the stove can be used anywhere. My table (seen covering the spare & tool compartment in the trunk) can also be set up outside, and this is often where I cook when it's warm. The stove burns alcohol (I use Heet yellow - no smell, available everywhere). Its a cool alternative to the regular propane stoves and is 100% reliable!

does that mean you can run your stove on some jack daniels if you forget fuel ha ha ha! good stuff! i`m trying to do the junk yard find thing right now to for some seats, sounds like you just grabbed anything and fab`ed it to work, i was hoping you managed to find somthing that used the same railing system as oem. oh well back to the junk yard i go~

Wed Jul 02, 2008 9:28 am

Man that is nice....I love "tha fridge"...I just noticed that it is a cooler with wood screwed to it... Makes me love it even more. Your bus is like an "I spy" game. Tell us more...

Wed Jul 02, 2008 8:50 pm

Yes theizzardking, my stove will burn drinking alcohol! (Never tried Jack Daniels, though) The higher the actual alcohol content, the cleaner the flame and that means less soot on the pot or griddle. A good all-around alcohol for camping trips is Everclear. Sure you can drink it, but you can also disinfect cuts or injuries with it, and my stove burns great with it. When in full burn, this stove looks really cool at night. Instead of lots of little flame jets like your propane stove, each burner has 6 large jets like some commercial gas stoves. Delivers more heat to the pot, and since it's pressure regulated with a penny, it burns consistant at any altitude and has no parts to break down or go bad.

My design was kind of a strech of the imagination from the basic Penny Alcohol Stoves you can find online, but it's well suited to the simplistic, lightweight ideals that us V-Dubbers live by.

Wed Jul 02, 2008 11:28 pm

Klaussinator,

Your interior is really nice. It's really clever. I like it also because it's different, modern with inspiration from actual home design, really very nice. A lot of excellent ideas, very well thought. =D>

Pierre

Wed Jul 02, 2008 11:39 pm

jim928 wrote: I kept all the stock cabinets and redid everything with black formica. I also peeled off all the yellowing contact paper from ceiling and covered that with white formica. I wrapped the stock wall panels with some thin foam and black vinyl. I ripped out all the plaid redid the back seat and top bed with some heavy duty automotive upholstery.

That one is really clean too. Nice inspiration. I like the color combo : black formica, white formica, black vinyl. Bravo too.

Pierre

Thu Jul 03, 2008 12:22 am

Made by Calypso Campers in UK :D

Thu Jul 03, 2008 7:49 pm

Thanks Pierre G . . .

Hey jim928, I like your color scheme - nice feel!

Thu Jul 10, 2008 2:04 pm

i decoupaged the inside of my 71. it cost about $15 and five hours of my life .

Thu Jul 10, 2008 3:17 pm

never heard of decoupage, is that like wall paper? please provide link, sounds like a cool cheap way of covering the inside shell, looks slick thanks!

Thu Jul 10, 2008 4:29 pm

thanks!. yea its kind of like wallpaper . its pretty much just clear drying glue also known as mod podge

Thu Jul 10, 2008 10:47 pm

hey klaussinator, did you build the rear shelving or did you rob it out of a westie?

thanks

colby

Mon Jul 14, 2008 7:10 am

c-mack, All the cabinets were built by hand, based on cardboard mockups that I played with for months. All cabinets exept the kitchen are plywood covered with fabric (used spray adhesive) and painted inside. The kitchen was an old fold-down table from the church with a laminated melanine surface. The edges got busted up, so they threw it out. I was able to make all the front faces for the kitchen and side storage compartment from this tabletop. The counter tops are a VERY lightweight but tough PVC with a whiteish woodgrain finish. These were commercial store shelves made to be used with adjustable rack arms. Used PVC cement to glue two shelves togther back-to-back to get the depth needed at the kitchen, and hinged part of the front edge for a storage area.

I just worked with what I had, and made it fit for our purposes. Funny thing, it feels right to us! :wink: