Planning & Design

[Taken from the original 'The Alice Project' bus conversion and motorhome website 2002-2003]

Introduction

The design of your bus is all about fulfilling your own needs and requirements. There is no best way to fit out a converted bus, although many people do seem to follow a basic formula: lounge/dining area at the front of the bus, followed by the kitchen area, then the study and/or toilet/shower area, and finally, the bedroom(s) at the rear of the bus. The basic formula is just common sense, but that's not to say that it's the best fit for your needs. Everyone is different and your bus conversion should be too.

One thing we did not spend a lot of time doing before or when we built our bus conversion was looking at other people's bus conversions. The benefit of this was that we designed our bus conversion according to our needs and didn't try to make it look like other buses we had seen. The downside to this was that we probably could have saved ourselves a little more time and money, by speaking to more people about their projects and learning from their successes and mistakes.

The biggest obstacle to effectively designing your new house relates to the long and seemingly narrow shape of a bus. The challenge is to create the feeling of 'space' - without leaving the entire bus empty! If you are planning to live in the bus for more than a year or two, then you don't want to feel like you are trapped in a shoebox, with no room to move.

Naturally, efficient and plentiful storage is a must, but very often, the normal living space becomes cramped with too many 'clever' storage compartments. You don't want to spend all day hitting your head on overhead cupboards intruding into the lounge area, nor do you want to be continuously bumping into walls of endless furniture all over the place…

The trick is to find a balance between creating storage areas and leaving a nice feeling of 'space' throughout your home. Make a thorough list of exactly what you need to take with you in the bus - you may be surprised with what you don't really need to take!

Designing it for your needs

Long before we had even found our bus, we had already worked out roughly what we wanted inside the bus and where. We made a list of what we thought was necessary for our circumstances:

• we enjoy cooking good meals (and eating them), so we gave top priority to a large kitchen area with plenty of benchtop space, a full sized stove and fridge, decent cupboard and pantry space;

• music, reading and television are all interests to us, so we wanted somewhere to be able to sit and enjoy these interests or simply relax indoors.

• we were both studying and also use the computer on a regular basis, making a study area with desk for our computer and bookcases for all our reference books a necessity;

• we like to wake up everyday and see what sort of day it is outside… so the bedroom had to have windows and not be too cluttered with cupboards and compartments.

One notable requirement missing from our list was that of a bathroom/toilet area. Although we intended to use the bus for travelling, we believed that the space required was better utilised for a large study area. We always planned to stay in caravan parks once or twice a week, so could utilise their facilities then. And most Rest Areas are equipped with the basic toilet facilities these days. People always ask us when they look through the bus, "But you don't have a shower?" - to which we reply, "Yes, we actually have two of them…" (and show them the Solar Bush Shower bags in the cupboard). Having a limited budget for the entire project, we didn't want to spend time and money mucking around with complicated shower, toilet and waste facilities. We simply have a very basic 'Porta-Potti' for those night time visits!

The other consideration for not including shower/toilet facilities was that we intend to base ourselves somewhere for a number of years, for the purposes of work. The place that we have in mind has a staff caravan park with an amenities block, so why waste the space in something we plan to spend a number of years living in?

Putting your designs to paper

Once we had decided on what we actually wanted in our 'house on wheels', we then had to put our plans to paper. This was the easy step for us, as I love drawing and spent many years in my late teens planning to be an architect! But putting your designs to paper is not always as easy as it seems.

The first step we took was to draw a rough rectangle shape of the bus (with guess work only) and fill it with some very basic plans of what we wanted. We did this over and over again, changing things around and getting a feel for where we wanted things.

Once we had a rough idea of the design, we then spent considerable time measuring up the bus and drawing it to scale on a good piece of paper. We included all the information that we could possibly measure, like where the wheel arches were and where the step up to the rear section was and so on. We included the correct position of all windows and roof hatches. Any engine floor hatches were also put into the plan as well. The basic idea was to include everything that mattered to the building of our bus conversion into the plan of our empty bus, so that we could identify any problems before they arose in the building stage.

Once you have completed the plan of the empty 'shell' of your bus, the best idea is to make a number of photocopies of this 'Master Plan'. You can then experiment with different designs and not have to worry about messing it all up. Be creative and don't worry too much about what other people's bus designs are like. This is something that you have to live in, not anybody else.

The best way to get an idea of furniture sizes and shapes is to measure the stuff in your existing house. I spent half a day wandering around the house, measuring kitchen bench tops, cupboards, the bed, the fridge and stove and other items before drawing them to scale in my designs. I also took the plans back out to the bus and paced around 'thinking' and attempting to visualise where things would go best in the bus.

We planned to draw up several 'final' designs and then choose the best one, but liked the first design so much, that we didn't bother drawing up any alternative plans! We made the odd change to it over a week or two, but the first 'final' design that we drew up pretty much 'stuck'.

Once we had drawn up our official plan, we then had to include other various items on paper, like the electrical circuit and plumbing for the kitchen sink. Including the electrical circuit on our plan was relatively straightforward. We discussed at length (and made a number of trade-offs!) where we thought the power points should be located (in relation to the furniture) and also where we thought the lights and switches should go.

The 240 volt electrical system is covered in more detail in the Electrical section. However at this stage of the project, we only needed to know where the various components would go. As far as 240 volt lighting was concerned, we did not wish to have an elaborate or extensive system of lights. We much prefer the subdued lighting of small lamps and reading lights (which can all be plugged into power points). The only 'fixed' lighting that we planned was in the kitchen (a pair of halogen spots on both walls) and outside the front entry door (an external bunker light).

Included on the plans were the positioning of the power inlet and also the power box (for RCD/circuit breaker). For more details on the requirements of the electrical installations in motorhomes, refer to the Electrical Systems section in the Project Details menu.

From paper to the real thing

Once we had sorted out the final design for our bus, it was time for the enjoyable task of marking out the floor plan in the bus. One of the first 'physical' tasks we undertook after buying the bus and bringing it home was to rip out all of the seats. This proved to be quite a task! Most of the bolts holding the seats down to the floor were completely rusted.

Having eventually ripped all the seats out and removed the unwanted passenger hand rails and the 'Next Stop' passenger buttons and cord, we gave the bus a big clean out. As the floors were covered in non-slip rubber matting, we decided to hose the entire bus out and get rid of 30 years of dust and rubbish! Then we could begin the task of mapping out our new design.

The best way to get 'a feel' for your final design is to mark the entire plan out on the floor of the bus with masking tape. This allows you to 'walk around' the new design and see if everything works to your liking. We discovered a few minor problems with our design when 'walking through' it and made a few modifications to the benchtop measurements and other areas which proved a bit 'tight' for walking around.

Some people actually take the process a step further and use cardboard boxes to mark out the location and height of all furniture. This requires a little more effort, but may assist in providing a more accurate impression of how your design works in the bus. We didn't worry about this step and felt happy enough with our design taped out on the floor.

Our design in Alice the Bus

The design of our new 'house in a bus' is a little different to most we have seen. We have tried to create a feeling of space and relaxation, yet we needed to accommodate a large kitchen area, a computer study and a fair haul of personal belongings. Our design is no where near perfect, but we have been extremely happy with the results and would change very little if we did it again!

The entry at the front of our bus leads you past the two matching driving seats (free out of an old Holden Camira) and into the lounge area. On the left is the couch (seats 3-4, with heaps of storage space underneath) which also conceals the protruding wheel arch. On the right is the entertainment unit (housing storage cupboards in the base, the television, video, stereo system and keyboard) which is also built over one of the front protruding wheel arches.

From the lounge area, you move into the kitchen, walking off centre (to the right) to avoid the L-shaped raw timber benchtop (with two bar stools around it) where we prepare and eat meals. On the left, the L-shaped bench extends along the wall to the full-sized gas stove. This is beside teh full-sized fridge, with cabinet built around it for holding in place (and power box on top). On the right, a shorter raw timber benchtop extends along that wall and contains the small kitchen sink. This is connected to the pantry cupboard, which is nearly ceiling height. All benches have extensive cupboard storage underneath them.

A cheap dividing door and one step up a level separates the kitchen area from the study area and bedroom. On the right is a study desk with computer. There is some storage space under the desk, above the beginning of the rear wheel arch. Above the desk, two bookcase shelves extend the full length of the desk area. On the left of the study area is the dressing cabinet and mirror. This is a general area for various things and is also where the 'Porta-Potti' is stored and used.

The Queen Double bed is positioned lengthways, with the head of the bed against the rear wall of the bus. The mattress is on a slat base, allowing access to the engine hatches if required. We can simply take the mattress and slats off the bed frame and access the engine hatches in the floor. This design also allows for plenty of under-bed storage. The internal head unit of our split system air conditioner is positioned above the bed on the rear wall of the bus (perfect for sleeping in the heat of Central Australia!). At the foot of the bed (on both walls) are cupboard and hanging space for clothes.

(Keiran Lusk 2003)

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