I agree. Just makes it even harder to heat and cool. Not to mention the eyesore all those windows create.

@@allenh7835 i like natural light and i need fresh air - i can't handle being packed in like a sardine in a can lol

We opted not to do a roof raise because we will get away with just enough headroom in the centre of our bus. The only area where we will need to stand on the side is in our bathroom, which we built up a skylight for more headroom there! That’s in our latest video we posted last week! :) We wanted to spend out time and money on a lot of other things and didn’t think an extra 6” of headroom was worth it for us because we are able to stand straight in the bus no problem already :)

@@AdamandAtlas - LOL! I understand, BUT those are famous last words! I'm following you guys now, so I want you to remember this comment and give us an update AFTER your bus is done and you have lived with it for a while. You remind me of this other couple who did a bus and didn't raise the roof. Take a look at their video on the top 5 things they wished they changed -- kzfaq.info/get/bejne/Z66qYNJ1prvcgZs.html. You may not regret that decision, but time will tell you what works and what doesn't. I love the way you guys are doing your videos. Make sure you sign up for Patreon. As you make progress on your build, and more people follow you, you can release special little snippets in your Patreon to drive interaction and make money from people who want to support you. I'm excited for you both and I wish you the very best!

Thank you so much! That was exactly our thought process

@@AdamandAtlas Your welcome, the people not replacing those windows never had to ride a school bus in the winter. Cold as sh#t, windows all iced up. ; ) I subbed.

@@farmtruck9885 hahahah yes the childhood memories of getting rained on or getting cold wind on ur face from the windows that are jammed and can’t close lol 😅 thanks for joining the fam!

Thank you!

I’m glad you found it helpful! Enjoy your bus build! It’s very exciting :)

Thanks so much! Join the party :)

Thank you!

Thank you!!

Thank you so much!!

Thank you so much! Glad you’re enjoying our videos

Glad it could help! :)

@@AdamandAtlas would 20ga work instead of 16ga.. 16 is pretty expensive. (I'm cheap)

Glad we could help!

Thanks for watching! Good luck with ur build!

@@AdamandAtlas thank you! Quick question for y’all, did you run into any concerns over the weight distribution on the axels? I’ve got an 80gal freshwater tank, and (10) AGM batteries, all going in the very far rear of the bus. All of that nonsense (and tools/other stuff) is like 3,000lbs all sitting at the very rear. I’m wondering if I need to change the floor plan for that weight distribution

@@bmxican1023 depends how much weight you’re putting in the front. The engine in the front counters most of the weight, but 3000 pounds is quite a bit to have in the back.

@@AdamandAtlas yea exactly, and I’m looking at the 40’ Thomas ones so that can be pretty far away from that rear axel. Have you guys happened to take your bus to a certified CAT scale?

@@bmxican1023 no we haven’t!

Thank you! Glad you found it helpful!

Thank you so much!!! The sheet metal we used is galvanized, so it’s got a coating that prevents it from rusting! Hopefully that should do the job.

Thank you!

Thank you so much! Happy you joined the fam!

Thank you very much! We got it from a local sheet metal place in Sudbury called Taylor sheet metal!

Thank you!

We thought about that but it wasn’t a matter of lifting the sheet metal into place, it needed to be forcefully hammered in between the ribs and the drip rail up top. Its a very tight area that obviously isn’t designed to have sheet metal wedged into.

We covered both sides completely and after painting the bus we are going to install rv windows where we want!

@@AdamandAtlas Looks awesome! Was going to ask this question, but you just answered it! I was thinking of doing something similar. Thanks for the info!

LOL I wanna see u play

@@AdamandAtlas I’ll be drunk two minutes in

@@bridgetwiens1324 if u drink wine like at the cottage 😂

We thought of that while struggling but didn’t have access to such suction-cups. Hopefully someone who does have access to them can chime in

www.princessauto.com/en/3-16-in-air-riveter/product/PA0008843708. That is the unit we used. Any nematic riveter that accepts 3/16 rivets will do the trick tho! Glad you are finding the video useful!

We used a bit of polyurethane sealant on the seams just for aesthetics. we did find that the rivets were leaking a little bit so we put polyurethane sealant in a syringe and filled all the rivet holes just to be safe.

If you look closely at the original rivets (half the ones we didn’t take out) they’re just buck rivets and they don’t stick out much at all. Probably only 1/8”.. so we were able to sneak the sheet metal in past the rivet line to install every other rivet with a new one! With sealant and it being shingled under the drip rail, there’s absolutely no leaking at all. Hope that was helpful!!

Keep trying! We used 1/16inch (16guage) sheetmetal.

Preparing the area is always the worst part lol. Taking off the old window sealant was the biggest nightmare for us!

@@AdamandAtlas you had so much more window adhesive than I did. Now that makes me worry about my bus!?!? Haha. I removed all the windows and actually put in vinyl house windows. Hopefully it will help with keeping the warmth in the bus in the winter

@@braun3659 yeah anything dual pane will help with insulation for sure! What kind of bus do you have?

@@AdamandAtlas I have a 98 Blue Bird TC1000. It’s a cool mid-size flat nose bus. I was blessed with the “million mile engine” and Allison transmission.

@@braun3659 amazing! Ours has the same engine and transmission. Ours is a 2005 international! Maybe because ours is a bit newer that’s why it has more window sealant still? Who knows

Yes we used both. Sikaflex is more expensive but one we would recommend more. The DAP product works great for this job, but I think we will use sikaflex for when we install the windows.

The sheet metal drops down in behind the bumper bar maybe 3 inches. Your sheet metal can only be the amount it can drop down bigger than the open gap. 6 inches bigger on top ajd bottom would never fit. You only need enough overlap to securely rivet the metal in on the top and bottom.

The rivets on that top row only hold the folded over metal that make the “rain gutter” together. It does not a-fix the metal to the framing in any way.

It took maybe 8 hours per side. The biggest slow down was getting the sheetmetal up into position.

We aren’t sure anymore.. it will differ with every bus though. When we measured, we just measured from each seam line that’s already existing on the bus, so our sheet metal would match. Just add a few inches (~5”) for overlap to rivet the two together. For the height, just measure the window opening, adding a few inches on top to go under the drip rail, and a few inches on the bottom to go under the bumper bar! Hope that helps :)

Do you mean the metal walls below the windows in the interior? No you don’t have to remove them! We just did because we want to use closed cell spray insulation everywhere we can! kzfaq.info/get/bejne/r92GlZB3s5yvYKc.html In this video you’ll see more about the process!

@@AdamandAtlas Thank you for your response. Yes, I meant interior lower wall. Sorry, my question wasn't more precise.

@@rhondawalker6732 no problem! I figured out what you meant :)

The rivets we used breaks the centre pin, leaving some of it inside the rivet. Therefore the rivets don’t have a hole and are water tight!

No because it’s not a matter of lifting, it needs to be forcefully wedged between the ribs and the drip rail.

Yes we’re keeping the bumper bars and they signify the floor, the bottom of the seat, and the tops! :)

We used 16 gauge galvanized steel. Not sure on the dimensions. Its been a long time since we did this.

@@AdamandAtlas Okay Thanks

No rust and not a single drop!

Nope! The buck rivets are pretty low profile on the back side. With sealant and everything, it worked perfectly. We bought stainless steel rivets which already costed us close to $300.. and we only did half the rivets on the top. It would have costed us a lot more if we replaced every single rivet. We are happy we only did every other one. No problems at all.

16 gauge

For us, $100 for a 4x8 sheet of 16 gauge galvanized sheet metal

Nope, what we said is correct! If you watch the part where Cole is using a pry bar to separate the metal, you can see we are making room between the rub rail and the first layer of sheet metal to stick the new piece in between!

The plan is to install RV windows where we want! We’ll have a nice big one in the livingroom, and two by the kitchen and one in the living room. Then the bathroom will have a big skylight! There will be a ton of light in our bus when we are done :)

@@AdamandAtlas now it makes sense :)

@@hackisack to answer the rest of your comment, it is sort of hard to imagine and hard to explain. The rivets at the top only attach the drip rail to the roofing sheet metal. So when we put the new sheet metal in, the new rivets attach the new sheet metal to the drip rail and roof and the existing rivets we left only hold the drip rail and roof. So basically imagine three layers of something and every other rivet (the existing ones) only join two layers and the other rivets (new ones) join three layers together. Hope this helps!

It’s pretty simple actually! We removed all the original windows because they’re incredibly drafty and extremely leaky.. so many people have problems with them when they keep them. Since this video we have installed 5 insulated and tinted RV windows! Check out that video here! kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jcefoZp9qrPYaZs.html It increases surface area for insulation and increases customization.. we didn’t want to have to build walls and closets over some windows. Ultimately we want our bus to be a four seasons bus, and removing the stock windows allowed us to be better insulated!

The beauty of building a Skoolie is that you can change anything to suit your needs and wants! We decided to get rid of all the terribly drafty and poorly insulated original windows, and replace them with brand new rv windows in areas where we want! So we sheet metalled up the rest! It may not be for everyone but there are lots of people in the Skoolie community that do this!