Snowbound

hairyneil

Guest
Last night when I pitched up, the wind was howling and rocking the bus, making me think I must get some hydraulic stabiliser legs installed at some point. Anyway, it snowed in the night. Only about an inch, if that, but the wind caused the snow to attach to the side of the bus, rather than settle on the roof.


001-86.jpg



002-80.jpg


I had driven four miles by this point, which is why the cab windows are cleared. The driver's window slides open and has been frozen shut for over a week. This morning it slid, but left a complete wall of snow standing vertically in place...

A spare gas cylinder suffered the same fate...

005-51.jpg


Anyway, driving in the snow made me think of this....


Drivers face £60 fine for snow on roof | Mail Online

I understand the warnings about fixed penalty for driving with snow on the roof was a hoax but...

Rule 229 of the Highway Code states, in a section entitled 'driving in adverse weather conditions', that snow should be removed from your car.

Fine on your car, but what about when you have a roof that is 29ft long, 8ft wide and 11ft high off the ground....
 
So all lorries must park up when there's snow and ice. Clearing it from a 40ft box trailer, 16ft high is a non starter. Health and safety legislation would definitely forbid it even if access was possible to the roof. Impossible I say.
 
Never seen a Swedish lorry driver clear snow from the top of his truck. ;) To be fair, their trucks are huge compared to UK ones.
 
Might work for those that return to the yard every day. A great many overnight in laybys and at truck stops.

Switzerland have a law where they can spot fine a lorry driver for having a dirty lorry. However they have the infrastructure in place to allow drivers entering and driving in the country to comply with the legislation. No point having the laws if it's impossible to comply with them...
 
phillybarbour said:
Like the bus would love to see the interior.
Click to expand...

stromtrooper101 said:
very nice....any chance of some internal pics bud?
Click to expand...



Main Bedroom

005-34.jpg


Half of dinette

004-41.jpg


Kitchen

003-43.jpg


Toilet/washroom cubicle

002-49.jpg


I don't appear to have a picture of the cab area. The enginecover encroches into this quite prominently. It's based on a lengthened wheelbase, Iveco Ford Cargo lorry chassis.

As you can probably see, the current interior has been transferred from a caravan. I'm planning a major refurbishment and internal refit as time and funds permit. For now it has to be habitable as it's also my home...

Most of the 'bus' windows are going. I plan to move two with vents to the foremost holes and panel over the holes left for the rest. The N/S window in the main bedroom will be replaced with one of the redundant plain windows, though rotated through 90 degrees. The entrance door is going too and will be replaced by a new door where the sink drainer/fridge is currently positioned. This will allow the bulk of the side walls to be insulated. All that glass currently hemorrhages heat at an alarming rate. Smaller caravan type double glazed windows will be installed in the kitchen, washroom and probably a small one in the rear panel.

The front step area will be turned into a locker accessable from outside, probably housing the leisure batteries. These batteries are currently located in a locker which will be displaced by the proposed door. At the moment the only forward facing seat is the driver's. New seats will be sourced to suit the cab and a second row of three will be fitted behind. These will probably all swivel, captains chair style. Will make seatbelts a problem but not insurmountable. It has to have belts as a class 4 motor caravan. As a bus and were it a race transporter type 'living van', it would be exempt from belts as it's a 7.5 ton gross vehicle.

The kitchen will either be moved a couple of feet towards the rear or to the other side of the passage, or perhaps a combination of both. At some point I'd like to squeeze a washing machine in.

The washroom cubicle currently has a Thetford cassette toilet and a small vanity unit, both ex caravan. I plan to dump the vanity unit and install a shower tray in the area not occupeid by the Thetford. A fold down basin will finish the job. An alternative possibility is to move the wardrobe and install a stand alone shower. However, to do this the Carver boiler will also need to be repositioned.

The main bed is currently across the rear but I plan to turn it through 90 degrees and position it to the O/S of the vehicle. This will allow me to develop and under-bed locker with access from the O/S rear of the vehicle. The existing locker door here will need to be enlarged to suit and this will make a 'shed' suitable for bikes, picnic tables etc. Currently, that locker houses the Webasto heater, which will be moved into the similar locker on the other side.

The current water tanks are mounted outside so are not suitable for year round living. Indeed, they've been a problem these last couple of weeks (the sink waste froze solid for a week too). I intend to move them into lockers under the dinette so that they will be kept warm by the heated interior.

I'll be looking to fitting solar panels to the roof to keep the leisure batteries charged up. These supply the lighting and a 1Kw inverter. It also has 240v hook up and a built in generator.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who viewed this discussion (Total:0)

Back
Top