Dealing with sunken aisles? And raising the roofs?

Discussions regarding bus to motorhome conversions are welcome here.
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Denv12
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Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2013 3:17 pm

Dealing with sunken aisles? And raising the roofs?

Post by Denv12 »

As there are a lot of buses and coaches that were built where they have a low aisle/sunken aisle below the seat floor how do you convert the floor so you have 1 level? Does the aisle get filled in to be at the same height as the seat floor?
Has anyone used the aisle space as a low height storage tank for water?
Vehicles made by PMC,Denning,Austral and many others had the sunken aisle.Volgren built coaches like the 12.2 and the Twin Decks with flat floors excpet the Twin Deck had a raised floor from about the 8th row back.

As for raising the roof,I noticed that there's a trend to cut the window posts all at the same point.This makes the point of weakness throughout that join.I've seen conversions where the posts were cut at different points so that the point of weakness isnt focused in 1 spot which makes the raising the roof stronger.Its covered in this book:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Bus-Converter ... _lmf_tit_1

Thanks.

I added this link to an American bus conversion magazine.
http://www.busconversions.com/magazine.html
Last edited by Denv12 on Wed Jan 22, 2014 1:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
kelvin12
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed Dec 01, 2010 6:58 pm
Favourite Vehicle: Austral, King of the Outback
Location: NSW Mid North Coast.

Re: Dealing with sunken aisles? And raising the roofs?

Post by kelvin12 »

On my Austral I did some framing down the isle with 4"X2" length ways and let in some 3"X2" as cross bracing where the 2400mm X 1200 ply sheets joined so as there would be no floor sheet sagging when you walked on them. The void created is going to be heater ducting for the diesel heater. Pretty useless as a storage space or water tanks.

Have you bought that book yet, can't believe the price. Pretty useless for our busses though. There are some better sites for bus conversions on the net. Send me an email if you want to borrow the book.

Dirk
Denv12
Posts: 1112
Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2013 3:17 pm

Re: Dealing with sunken aisles? And raising the roofs?

Post by Denv12 »

kelvin12 wrote:On my Austral I did some framing down the isle with 4"X2" length ways and let in some 3"X2" as cross bracing where the 2400mm X 1200 ply sheets joined so as there would be no floor sheet sagging when you walked on them. The void created is going to be heater ducting for the diesel heater. Pretty useless as a storage space or water tanks.

Have you bought that book yet, can't believe the price. Pretty useless for our busses though. There are some better sites for bus conversions on the net. Send me an email if you want to borrow the book.

Dirk
Hi Dirk.

I like the ida of the heating ducting idea.

I bought these Dave Galey books:
The Bus Converters Bible"
"Bussin' Bits"
"The Motor Coaching Bible",
the Ben Rosander books and Larry Plachno book.They're all listed there.
kelvin12
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed Dec 01, 2010 6:58 pm
Favourite Vehicle: Austral, King of the Outback
Location: NSW Mid North Coast.

Re: Dealing with sunken aisles? And raising the roofs?

Post by kelvin12 »

Sounds like you are all over it. There are quite a few good web sites worth a look, http://www.motorhomeconversion.com.au/ http://hobohome.com/index.php http://www.buses101.com/Index.htm and finally this one. This is the site that got me into all this madness..... http://www.mammothmotorhome.com/

I did hear of someone, 2nd or 3rd hand who fitted long lengths of PVC down the isle as fresh water storage. worked Ok until they hit the brakes in an emergency and the caps flew off the ends of the pipes and flooded the floor. Couldn't see the vale in that as you still need other tanks for black and grey so not much of a gain to make it worthwhile.

Dirk
Denv12
Posts: 1112
Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2013 3:17 pm

Re: Dealing with sunken aisles? And raising the roofs?

Post by Denv12 »

Thanks for the Links.I like the 101 site.I'm going to spend some time there.I bought those books ages ago.Not much here in Australian in the way of books.Collyn Rivers wrote a few books too.He's up in WA.
http://www.caravanandmotorhomebooks.com/
This is an interesting site.
http://philcooper.com/
Or this one:
http://www.coachconversioncentral.com/
Last edited by Denv12 on Tue Jan 21, 2014 3:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.
kelvin12
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed Dec 01, 2010 6:58 pm
Favourite Vehicle: Austral, King of the Outback
Location: NSW Mid North Coast.

Re: Dealing with sunken aisles? And raising the roofs?

Post by kelvin12 »

Those American sites were my downfall. As soon as I saw them then the budget went south and I just had to have slide outs and more. Something that started out as a quick tart up and hit the road turned into a 4 year full rebuild project, full re-frame, fibreglass cladding, roof raise, new footer and header. Endless list of things that got completely out of control..... but its been a rewarding nightmare of fun. I have loved it.... bride doesn't think the same as me though.

Dirk
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makeminea2stroke
Posts: 99
Joined: Sun Nov 02, 2008 10:27 pm
Favourite Vehicle: Denning Landseer

Re: Dealing with sunken aisles? And raising the roofs?

Post by makeminea2stroke »

Hi Denv12

If you don't want to have to worry about dealing with the sunken isle and raising the roof you can buy my Landseer shell already done. It is for sale.

My roof raise was 400mm and the isle is just empty space. I was thinking of using it for a heating duct like Dirk and for running cables and plumbing etc

Cheerz
Glen
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Denv12
Posts: 1112
Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2013 3:17 pm

Re: Dealing with sunken aisles? And raising the roofs?

Post by Denv12 »

makeminea2stroke wrote:Hi Denv12

If you don't want to have to worry about dealing with the sunken isle and raising the roof you can buy my Landseer shell already done. It is for sale.

My roof raise was 400mm and the isle is just empty space. I was thinking of using it for a heating duct like Dirk and for running cables and plumbing etc

Cheerz
Glen
Hi Glen.

Thanks for the reply.Its an interest thing of mine after reading those books.I always woindered what use the sunken aisles would provide.

Your conversion looks great.The proportions look like it could have come from the factory like this.

Thanks again.
MJR
Posts: 16
Joined: Thu Jul 11, 2013 8:19 am

Re: Dealing with sunken aisles? And raising the roofs?

Post by MJR »

Hi all.

Many of the dennings and australs are cut at the horizontal frame below the windows and full sections added from there. Using a 50x50x 4mm post that runs up to the roof frame. That is how I have seen most done. Glen, I saw your vehicle in its raw stage, and through its completion. Doug and Lynn are close friends and I have worked with Doug over the years. He does a great job on them.
Denv12
Posts: 1112
Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2013 3:17 pm

Re: Dealing with sunken aisles? And raising the roofs?

Post by Denv12 »

MJR wrote:Hi all.

Many of the dennings and australs are cut at the horizontal frame below the windows and full sections added from there. Using a 50x50x 4mm post that runs up to the roof frame. That is how I have seen most done. Glen, I saw your vehicle in its raw stage, and through its completion. Doug and Lynn are close friends and I have worked with Doug over the years. He does a great job on them.
Thanks MJR.
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