#19 BUILD PAGE SIX - CHANGES, REDOS, PRICES & PHOTOS !
WHAZAMMO AND THE GILLIG #19 (Click the "MORE POSTS" link at the bottom to find Post #1)
One of the requirements of hand-building (anything), is patience, and to not beat yourself up or create self-doubt when changes and mistakes" in design, materials, or appearance, have you into repeated tear-downs, redo's, and redesigns. "I" am there... cabinetry is always a multiple take-it-apart, refit, put-it-together, take-it-apart, refit, put-it-together, refit shuffle, what's new here is the ego-damaging toilet/ABS out pipe battle between the "Low floor GILLIG" and "Whazammo the plumber".
Both finally got sorted out, but my alcohol-free status was REALLY challenged, it proved that GILLIG Low floor busses were never (ever) thought to become "live-ins" by their designers, they may even have been intentionally designed for NON-conversion (to anything) other than transit bus, then the scrap yard. Impossible to explain, and only the "after" pictures could be taken, but it is over, it necessitated splitting the grey and black water systems, then (next up) trying to remarry them extra-bus somehow in the hose connections.
The gym floor rubber idea is fine for the berthing bath area, but, will not be used down in the galley saloon area... too soft for static loading/ok for walking-standing, but it compresses with constant loading (under cabinets/toilet, etc.). Rivet removal is a job for someone else... anyone.
Hacking up cabinets made for another purpose (another installation), and re-fitting them together is a puzzle, some shelf extensions had to be added, cabinets cut in half, re-sectioned, doors reversed, and there is a lot of custom fitting, the galley cab was turned sideways and the doors rehung to swing sideways with piano hinges, the aft storage was cobbled up from units obtained at a local remodel (we mentioned earlier)... now stacked, and yielding "lots" of storage (remember there are no underfloor compartments).
The aft storage is immense, another extender deal, but now, the electric has to go in the side... it was moved to starboard after being designed for the "other" side, (another change), I will revisit this aft cabinet again when the electric ordeal begins.
GIILLIG used the same pop rivets throughout, some AI robot installs them with special tools, they were never intended to be removed, all steel (not aluminum), with carbon steel (drill point killing) plunger shafts, the "steel" heads cannot be side-chiseled, so its air hammer the shaft, then drill out the head. If you do not know how to sharpen a drill bit, you had better buy a gross of new drills.
Access (manual or visual) is in some areas "impossible" to achieve, I am not one just to start cutting view holes to lay out, or determine what is behind a panel that you cannot see... and as compressed as this underfloor is with wires and angle supports it could turn into a disaster.
When working fiberglass and aluminum boats, if you can use mirrors, or a flashlight, to find and "see" a hidden open space ... you can tape a magnet to the end of a long straight edge or dowel rod, then have a spotter with another magnet on the other side, and try to do a long blind reach, or "touch" to determine where you are for a drill, saw, or cut... this is how we laid out the skin cut for the access hatch to the sewer valve (in between air hoses, wire bundles, and the fuel tank).
It was a 10 foot long 1 x 1, a flashlight, magnet, and much luck for two people yelling at each other for 1/2 hour. The ABS toilet out pipe misses the airbag by 1/2 inch, and sits 1" above the fuel tank and 1" below the floor, the new side hatch allows room to open/close the slide valve horizontally and store the sewer pipes atop the fuel tank... pretty trick, very hard/dangerous to cut, it messed with tying in the grey water... (at all)... we will revisit that idea later as well as the "specialty" pipe I designed.
The short respite of good sunny dry days are over, for the next week it will rain again... time to work inside on plumbing and wiring, and starting on countertops. About which... I have done a reversal, prices on 8-foot Home Depot Formica preformed countertops are around $175 for an 8-footer (I will need two-plus), the problem is color, you have eight choices, brown, tan, brown, or tan.
Usually, I do my own counter tops, 3/4 particle board-plywood prices are insane, and "custom" sheet formica is now in the untouchable price-range, I came up with estimates (not including my labor), that easily blow a $650 dollar bill !
Down in Australia, back around Y2K, Harris Floors got in bed with Tarkett (always my choice for anything they make), they made an 'all-wood" T & G floor plank 8 foot long, 8" wide, sort of like adding a 1/8" Hard Rock Maple door skin atop 3/8" marine plywood, the precursor to full plastic 5/16" thick flexible, 4 inches wide, 3-foot long plank flooring of 2024.
They added that magic Tarkett over-cover top-cover stuff, and the end result was a product so expensive almost no one could afford it, and no one "did"... it came and went back in 2002. Wandering into my local RESTORE for pieces-parts, I find two boxes, still wrapped and sealed, at "get this 22-year-old, obsolete crap outta' here pricing"... so, countertops it is ! (at 5% of preformed Formica cost).
I cannot warn-emphasize-caution enough about what a special build this low floor is, it challenges you at every turn, and is very unforgiving, it "is not" for a first-time, or novice builder !! this is not for guessing.
Looking ahead, with the toilet exit-dragon slayed, the electrical will be the next "REAL" issue... but, its a short financial May, so, I am working labor jobs, and detail work (to of sequence), I have plenty of parts inventory to install, and counters, the dinette, and,
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