AU Bus & Coach sales
UK Bus & Coach sales
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Introduction
It is the dream of many Australians to one day travel this great country in a big old bus. Most people leave such plans until retirement, however almost all of the people we have met on the road wish that they had 'taken the plunge' years earlier. Being just under thirty years of age (in 2003), we have joined the world of travelling bus gypsies a little earlier than most - although the trend does seem to be slowly changing. More people are discovering that building your own 'house on wheels' can be relatively inexpensive and very possible - if you simply put your mind to it! |
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The Challenge
Where ever you live around Australia, chances are that you will often pass the rusting remains of a once magnificent plan. In our travels, we have seen dozens of either half-completed or never-actually-started bus conversion projects simply wasting away. In fact, when we first decided to investigate the idea of buying a bus, I was terrified at the number of half finished projects we discovered sitting around the suburbs and countryside. Would we end up with a similar dilemma? |
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Finding The Bus
Once we had decided to commit to the unknown world of converting your own bus, the next big challenge was to find ourselves a bus. Our requirements were fairly straightforward. The bus had to be cheap (and I mean nothing over $5000, as that's all we had in the bank!) and it had to be in a basic roadworthy condition. Obviously for the price range we had in mind, the bus was going to be a few years old! |
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Planning & Design
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. |
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Walls & Insulation
Having pulled poor Alice apart inside - to remove some of the windows, replace some of the framing, and treat the rust - our interior decorating adventures began with the complete re-lining of the bus walls inside. We wanted the walls to be as soundproof and 'heatproof' as we could possibly afford (cheap methods needed!!). As an experiment, we decided to try and completely finish the rear section of the bus first (bedroom and study) before doing the rest! |
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Bedroom & Study
Once the painting was completed, the serious business of furniture building began in the bedroom and study area. We decided to build everything ourselves (a 'fun' learning experience). In the bedroom, we built a queen sized double bed frame and used the slats off our existing bed. We plan to use the space under the bed for storage, so having slats will give us another access option. Unlike many conversions we have seen, we did not wish to have overhead cupboards hanging just above our heads in the bed, so have built only bedside tables near the head of the bed. |
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Kitchen & Lounge
The original plan for our kitchen was to find one of those kitchens someone was throwing out and stick it together in the bus…. Somewhere along the line, things changed - possibly buoyed by the success of Keiran’s homegrown carpentry in the bedroom and study area, or moved by the lack of ‘cheap’ kitchens being advertised in the trading post. We ended up building the entire kitchen (from the ground up) ourselves, with our enthusiasm for carpentry flowing on into the lounge area too!! |
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Electrical
With a limited budget for the entire project, it was decided early on that our electrical system would be simply the ‘basics’. Although we plan to ‘upgrade’ our electrical system down the track sometime, for now we have a simple 240V circuit and a separate (pre-existing) 24V bus lighting circuit. We plan to investigate some options (including solar power) for future installation. We have already decided that we will not be purchasing generator (either now or in the future), and argue that if we are ‘bush camping’ or ‘free camping’ then we can do without some of the creature comforts! Why spoil a quiet little spot somewhere with the drone of a generator? (yeah, even the ‘quiet’ ones do make an impact). |
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Gas Installation
The installation of the Gas was one of the few challenges partly beyond our capabilities. We have installed a second hand upright Chef Gas Stove/Oven which was already configured for LP gas. It was a great little purchase and fits well in our full-sized kitchen. This is the only appliance at this stage that we are running on gas (except for our little outdoor BBQ). We have no need whatsoever for a gas hot water system. With no permanent shower, the need for hot water is reduced to the kitchen sink only and it is all too easy to boil either the electric jug or the billy on the gas stove top when we are washing up. The only addition we may make in the future is an extra line from the gas bottle to a 3-Way Fridge (when we get around to buying one). |
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Bus Exterior
The most obvious work undertaken on the exterior of the bus was the removal of 7 (out of a possible 17) windows. Although originally we had planned to retain all the windows (for history’s sake - yeah, I confess to being a huge sentimentalist when it comes to these things) but it soon became clear that we needed to remove some windows for better insulation (heat and noise). The removal process was the easy bit - you just had to slowly drill / angle grind the hundreds of rivets out and with some gentle nudging (a sledgehammer would have been handy) the window frames were removed. Each window frame was surrounded by steel framing, which we then grinded back and treated for rust. |
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History of Alice the Bus
Alice the bus is a 1971 AEC Swift. She was born in England (in components), the chassis put together by MTT/STA in Adelaide and the body built in Adelaide by Denning & Co. for a large order by Adelaide’s State Transport Authority (STA). The Denning name continues today (still with Alan and family) and has now also ventured into the luxury motorhome market! |