After deciding to try living in the bus full time, we made a list of needs and wants in order to make bus life sustainable. We’d certainly need more storage, a sink would be nice, and meeting our power needs was very important. Again, the goal was sustainability, which meant even when some systems were “adequate,” we wanted to make them “easy” so that we don’t have unnecessary struggles.

I’ve been increasingly unhappy with the color of the interior. We first installed these cabinets in 2016, and since then the stain/polyurethane has darkened up to this orangey color. While painting the interior seemed like a poor use of my time (considering the length of our to-do list!), it was the first thing I did. We both LOVE the results.

We added two bus cabinets. Technically one is a real cabinet (plus a sink), the other is just a center console / drawer. We built these the right way, making the drawers and then adding drawer fronts. When we initially built the camper, we cut corners on those types of things to reduce weight.

We used wood glue in the seams of the cabinets, then brad nailed them together and let dry for 24 hours. After that, I reinforced the seams with epoxy to add strength (especially the center console, which I will probably step on when crawling into the back of the bus).

After 24 hours, the epoxy was fully set, so then I painted the bus cabinets. 24 hours to let that dry too! Then Kyle cut the hole for the lunch counter, and the hole for the sink, then we had another round of sanding, painting, staining, polyurethaning, etc.

It seemed like it took us two weeks from start to drawer installation. Once the drawers were installed, we attached the drawer fronts and I did my final round of painting.

But then it still needed a little something, so I took it all a step further with a mandala painting on the cabinet! Since this cabinet is right in the doorway, it’s highly visible, so I made sure it was worth seeing!

The sink itself is really just a basin, there’s no drain and no graywater tank. That way, we can pull the sink out and toss the water, or move the “sink” to the exterior counter and wash dishes outside. Also, the faucet is a sprayer on a hose, so we can pull it out and use it as a shower or wash off our feet, etc. When we did the initial build in 2016, we included a water tank / water pump, so adding a sink was simply a matter of plumbing the water lines and adding a water filter so we have delicious drinking water.

Lastly, we kept that same clean look with these bus cabinets, no drawer pulls. The soft-close drawer slides have enough friction to keep the drawers from opening while in transit (come on, we’re doing 0 to 60 in like ten minutes, it’s not like there’s a lot of acceleration force!). The center console drawer has regular drawer slides and is already coming open as we accelerate – much to our surprise! We’ll have to come up with a solution to secure that.

That’s it for the visible upgrades, the most exciting additions aren’t as photogenic! We upgraded our old sketchy inverter to an inverter/charger, and added shore power! This means we can now hook up to electric power at any camp site. We added more solar panels, bringing our total up to 450W (if boat life taught us anything, it’s that you’ll get much less power out of the panels than you expect, especially with the lack of daylight in the winter!). That also meant adding a solar controller. Our house batteries were past their prime, so we replaced those as well.

These upgrades weren’t strictly necessary, we could have done less solar or a more simple inverter. When we discussed what power changes we needed, we decided if we could sustain ourselves longer off grid, or be more comfortable in campgrounds, it would end up as a cost savings compared to relying on hotels or airbnbs. In total our upgrades (including the bus cabinets and painting) cost a hair under $2000. Part of our justification is that we can utilize these same units in an RV if we decide we need more space than a microbus can give us.

We’ve officially been on the road for three days now. We’ve almost hit three animals (two squirrels and a weasel!), but fortunately no fatalities. We met a semi on the road in Illinois yesterday and there was a very loud BANG. For a split second I thought we blew a tire, but that would have caused us to swerve. In reality, something hit the sheet metal in front of our knees. We pulled over to take a look, and there’s a big ding / chipped paint right in front of the bus. All the paint in between the two chips is loose. I knew this trip would add some wear and tear, but it’s Day 3 and I’m more bummed out about this than I thought I would be. I have a very low opinion of semis right now.

Oh, and within hours of first using out our brand new white comforter, we already got some stains on it. I knew it wouldn’t be pristine forever, but after using it the first night, the morning condensation combined with a very old window seal basically turned into black paint. I wiped the window seal down a few times and it was still coloring everything black. We’ll have to add some rubber sealant to that, and eventually replace the seal.

It will take a few weeks to adjust to our new normal. But first, we’re chasing warmer weather!