So you have yourself an awesome bus that is ready to take on those dirt tracks and mountain passes….now what? Time to get comfy!
11000ft up in Rocky Mountain National Park
Interior
A couple of years ago, on our first weekend away to Cornwall in our old bus Daisy it didn’t take long to realise that the interior really wasn’t functional. It drove us nuts with the lack of storage and cumbersome full width bed. We totally redesigned it not long after that trip!
When we were looking for our second bus we were super lucky to find Rocky as he ticked so many boxes. A solid early bay with an original late Berlin interior……a match made in heaven! The storage you gain with a 3/4 bed and a late layout for us made the difference between having not enough space for a weekend away to being able travel full time in our bus!
Our advice would be to try out your interior, look at other buses and get inspired! We went to the Just Kampers Open Day, Stonor Park and Volksworld and did lots of camping trips, we got so many ideas and picked up lots of bits.
Replacing a throttle cable somewhere in Pennsylvania
What did we check?
We checked that everything worked as it should, from window and door seals to cupboard doors and electronics. The main concern for us was that the bed worked properly and was comfortable as getting a good nights sleep trumps so many other things. It had recently been recovered in mustard vinyl with memory foam and was super comfortable. It also folded out and returned to its upright position with ease. One thing we would highly recommend is an original 3/4 westy bed. There are plenty of companies out there remaking them but in our experience nothing can substitute an original, if you find one buy it!
Upgrades / Replacements
Interior :
⦁ Stock front seats (we restored and recovered the driver’s seat as it was too far gone)
⦁ Buddy seat from Madmatz – great for storage on the move or an additional seat inside or outside.
⦁ Twin gas hob and sink (outlet only)
⦁ Waeco cr50 fridge freezer
⦁ Propex heater
⦁ Electrical hookup with RCD, 120 amp Leisure battery with cut off switch, VSR, battery charger, to feed 3 pin plug outlets, 2 x usb and 12v adapter
We needed to make our electronics USA friendly, all that was required was to change the battery charger for one of the same type in 110v. As we only planned to charge camera and laptop batteries it was pretty straightforward. We also added a 100w flexi solar panel which is connected directly to the leisure battery via a solar controller. In terms of lighting we have the stock westy interior lights wired in to the leisure circuit and changed to LED bulbs to save a little power.
⦁ New front seatbelts
⦁ Boxed in propex heater and installed permenant heat outlet and controller.
⦁ Adjusted and greased sliding door.
⦁ Cavity waxed all arears after adding sound proofing and insulation.
⦁ Wax oiled arches and exposed areas.
⦁ Added elastic nets from Just Kampers everywhere we possibly could for storage.
⦁ Put in copper gas lines from heater and hob to area that gas bottles are kept.
⦁ Added hidden Bluetooth Amplifier so that the door speakers will play our tunes from our phones.
What to take and what to leave behind
When working out what tools and spares to carry there are many things to consider. As we were already taking the kitchen sink, we came to the conclusion that there would be certain things we’d have to leave behind. Our working theory on this was if we had a major issue that we could not resolve ourselves we would not carry the part. For example, if we had to get towed to a garage we could order a clutch, release bearing, new engine, gearbox etc.
We brought a selection of tools and spares in our hold baggage. There were certain tools and spares we had to leave behind, due to two factors, a) Its FAA law that any used spare part or tool cannot have any trace of oil, grease or fuel, this applies to your personal baggage and sending items via airmail b) weight.
I left certain used parts that could not be cleaned behind, the rest I used a pressure washer on and ran through the dishwasher several times! Things like spare rocker arms that you can’t buy individually, flywheel locking tool I already had etc.
Gerneral tools can be bought anywhere so to save on space and weight I decided to only bring specific vw tools with me (including torque multipler for rear hub) and leave everything but my short 13mm spanner at home.
*Bulbs
*Front and rear wheel bearings
*Wire & crimp kit
*Fanbelt
*Service kit, Oil, rocker gaskets, strainer, sump plug washer, spark plugs, dissy cap, rotor arm, points and condensor
*Fuses
*Carb linkage parts
*Carb rebuild kit + gaskets
*Jubilee for hoses
*Fuel filter element
*Vacuum pipe/ fuel pipe/ breather pipe
*Fuel pump
*Coil
*Ignition leads
*Throttle cable
*Clutch Cable
*Valve adjuster + rocker shaft end clips + feet
*Ball joint
*Brake line / flexi
*Grease and brake Nipples
*Wheel cylinder
*Drum springs
*Cv joint + bolts
*Beam converters (several sets)
*Indicator Relay
*Small selection of nuts and bolts, springs, washers, circlips, split pins
Consumables
*Spare fuel can and oil can
*Head Torch
*Cable ties
*Gaffer tape
*Insulation tape
*JB Weld
*Grease
*Gasket cement
*Sand paper
*Rag / cleaner/
*wd40
*Wetwipes
*Brake fluid
*Oil funnel + catcher
*Gasket set for engine.
Once the road due to issues I also purchased :
*Clutch alignment tool
*Timing strobe light
*Low and high rated torque wrenches
*18mm long reach socket for new type of spark plugs
Summary
What works for me might not work for you. I know people who carry a handbag size amount of tools and reply on a recovery service, I also know of a guy that carries a spare transmission! I wanted to be able to get out of virtually any situation quickly and safely and be self sufficient. Knowing that we would venture to places that would be out of phone signal range and miles away from the nearest person its what worked for us.
On my next post I will go through in detail the issues we have encountered and how we overcame them.