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Here's a view through the front cap "hole" (old cap has been removed) with the new framing in place. This took a few weeks to build, mainly due to the compound angles involved, and it being my first complex welding project.
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Here the cap's in place and ready to be riveted.
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Onward to the rear cap! Here's my rube goldberg arrangement for lifting the cap, by myself, onto the bus. You get the idea -- imagine the ratchet straps, come-along, and rope to complete the picture.
The cap weighs about 90 lbs and is extremely awkward. This ingenious trick lead to my closest call to date. Imagine me, inside that cap, trapped between the side of the bus and my shed. Well it almost happened. Lifting it up the front was relatively uneventful. But maneuvering it into position at the rear, I had a momentary lapse of judgement and put BOTH FEET on the inside (rough) part of the cap (which implies that the SMOOTH side was facing down on the bus roof).
The cap began to slide sideways and I nearly pulled my ribs out jumping off the cap and keeping it (and me) from falling off the roof! I like to picture it as a heroic moment, but maybe I'm lucky there were no witnesses! Actually, I have to admit, my VERY first thought wasn't anything like "Thank God for life insurance" or "did that really just happen". It was "I'm sure glad there was nobody here to see THAT stupid move!"
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Inside view of rear cap temporarily in place. It's here so I can measure and design the new rear frame. Golly, do I really get to cut, grind, weld and paint all that framing for the rear of the bus, too? What fun! Actually, the welding part IS a blast. But the cutting and grinding I could do without!
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Now it's time to start customizing the bus for OUR needs. Here I've begun framing in the new windows. This one is for the bathroom. I'll be installing Peninsula Glass custom RV style dual pane sliding windows with screens. There are 9 new windows in all: 4 large panoramic windows in front, 2 in the master bedroom, one in the bathroom, and 2 porthole windows for the kids' bunks.
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Inside view with galvanized steel skins in place. They're riveted and "glued" with industrial adhesive.
You can just make out the custom window frames on the left (driver's) side. See the two small squares? Those are the "porthole" windows for the kids' bunks.
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