WELCOME to the photographic tour (circa March 2016) of our bus in its tons-of-work-ahead, semi-overwhelming yet promising state. Our next step, which we're actually REALLY excited about is to gut the entire thing. Here it is in all its original glory.
The bus was 110% designed and outfitted to function for it's past life purpose as a mobile command center, not for two people, a cat, and a dog to live in full-time. Once it's fully gutted, we will add back features from its former life that we can still use for our full-time bus living needs.
We visited the bus yesterday to take some measurements, and take photos of the exterior and interior. It was great to see it on a clear, blue-sky day.
The bus is currently equipped with the following interesting elements from it's mobile commanding days. They somehow all still function. This bus was WELL taken care of:
Air ventilation units on the roof (2)
A really solid commercial grade generator - Cummings Onan 8000 series
Baseboard heat that runs off the generator
A scary water heater/radiator (which makes weird steamy noises) doesn't require the generator to run, just the engine.
A 30ft. pneumatic antennae - Located on the back of the bus. This is the only thing we haven't tested yet. There's a label on it that says "DANGER, YOU COULD DIE..." so I just stopped right there since we don't know enough about it yet.
An interior and exterior intercom system (YES! Fun.)
Upwards of 50 electrical outlets. I'm not kidding. Most are setup on strips you'll see below. I don't know what kind of heavy equipment was setup on these tables and whatnot, but wow. Mobile commanding requires a lot of outlets.
An electric lock shotgun holder right by the entrance door. Ben's favorite feature on the bus. We haven't found the secret button that unlocks it, yet.
Will we use all of the above items in our bus to tiny home final product? That remains to be seen once we dive into the demo. Ooooh, I just can't wait.
Along with the major things we discussed and discovered during our visit, I also found three post-it pads (score!), an old Virginia parking ticket, and vehicle service receipts from the 90's. All in all, I'd call this a successful day.
Enjoy the photo tour, and don't forget to subscribe below the post or in the sidebar to follow along this journey! 🙂