I’m focusing on the bus here. With running water and better batteries, hanging out in here is a wonderfully pleasant experience. I’ve just eaten and showered after using this here spot upon which it rests as my trail head for some days.

Every day the bus has to be run to recharge the house batteries that mostly serve to power the fridge and don’t forget the precious pump too which makes the blissful act of showering possible. A pair of cheap 6 V flooded ponying up 215 AH from Sams Club. So the fridge over a sunny day can get the voltage to the high 11s. They’d last longer in life with another pair. It was an experiment to see if the two would suffice.

No solar? WTF right? For starters it’s rare for there to be no driving at all, and even 20 minutes will charge up everything with that 170A alternator. It is lame to sit there idling on those odd days I don’t move. The bus is already so tall too, meaning it is common to hear some scraping with trees nearby and maybe in no time the panel would get pummeled. Then all the mining, manufacturing and shipping costs on the planet. Packaging too. And don’t forget the wiring and charge controller. What do you think? What would you do? Should the same logic be applied to the proposed second pair of batteries?

The layout has mucho room for improvement, mostly centered around moving the bed back so the fridge, sink and stove could be accessible without climbing over the bed. Plus the switch which powers the pump would be right by the shower and incoming cold water supply line. The bureau would go from the front to the way back. I’ll draw it out sometime.

The bus rolls with a small Thetford portapotty and while infinitely better than having a shovel in the pretty urban and very arid soil combo there is room for improvement. I mean there are folks on foot, horseback and of course bikers. Plus vehicles. The full truth is dumping it out is absolutely not a favorite chore. So how about a composting toilet? Yes, that is a no brainer upgrade.

Wouldn’t hot water be nice? I started thinking about routing the engine coolant through a water tank. That’d be cool! Add to that more water storage. There’s a great place in the back and engine coolant lines already for the back heater so wow! Then I see online this idea is hard at work, apparently often found in boats and is actually a manufactured product. It’s an expense as the thing itself is $400 and then I’d pay someone to reroute the coolant.

Also nice and for which I have a plan is to move the spare tire back under the bus from laying there under the aft starboard corner of the bed.

The real big ticket item is getting a diesel stove. This is about having what is without a doubt a way to cook safely inside and could also serve as a heater. Another win is the reclaimed space used by the propane. Diesel has more BTUs / volume and won’t spontaneously combust unless I’m somewhere over 140 F. And there’s a reliable gauge. It can safely double as a heater because the air used in combustion comes from inside the bus and is exhausted to the outside. This keeps the gasses out along with eliminating any condensation. Thus cooking for hours is possible, putting delectables such as stews or beans back on the menu. I thought about a rocket stove and then got serious about how it’d be difficult to have confidence the bus won’t catch fire in what is a small space with already so much.