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| On March 14, 2009, Steve, Bruce and Bill went to look at a 1994 Chevrolet, diesel Short Bus that was for sale in Ayer, Mass. As you'll see by the photos, it is a real school bus, just the short kind. After a test drive and some tough negotiating, Steve managed to talk the seller down from $1500 to $1200. SOLD! What the hell!? We need something to do during the off-season. Why not buy a bus? |
| Start at the top and work your way down. The latest information is at the bottom. |
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Here's Steve with our first (rented) Short Bus during the 2006 Buffalo road trip.
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March 14, 2009 |
Here is the first round of photos from our visit to Ayer to look at the Short Bus. |
| It is in reasonably good condition with the exception of the interior which is basically empty. This is actually not so bad if you look at it from an artist's point of view. We can take it anywhere we want to go, just like a blank canvas. |
| We've formed a co-op of nine (9) people to pay for, customize and maintain the Short Bus. |
| The Short Bus customization will be an ongoing project. We have six months to convert it into an all-purpose tailgating and Buffalo road tripping mobile. |
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March 26, 2009 |
The Short Bus was officially purchased today. Steve went to Ayer and drove it back to his place in Littleton. From there it will be registered, insured and then ultimately brought to Walpole where it will undergo most of it's customization prior to the upcoming season. |
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This is the first photo of the Short Bus after we acquired it on 3/26/2009. |
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March 29, 2009 |
Steve's progress report and photos: |
"I spent a few hours today ripping out the vinyl tile/plywood floor and I removed the sink. Had to leave the water heater for now, as it's all one unit (inside and outside) so to take it out means big hole in the side of the bus. Until we're ready to fill it with insulation and a sheet metal patch from the inside, plus probably bolting the outside panel closed, it needs to stay there. It's looking good, but could still use a good cleanings still. Lots of grime. Think I'm going to point it uphill and just start spraying, letting the water run out the back door." |
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April 4, 2009 |
Steve's progress report and photos: |
"Today the vehicle received what can only be described as, sorry ladies, a good [washing]. It may be hard to tell from the pics, but it actually is a helluva lot cleaner inside now than it was before. I'm not sure what else I can do here at home by myself, But a few things come to mind: |
1) Give select interior areas a shot of spray paint, like the rear wall and over the cockpit. Color? Objections? |
2) Silicone caulk the gaps and holes in the floor. Need to wait until it dries out better, after the [wash], first. |
3) Take out the water tank and put on a temporary patch. |
4) Replace the engine hump carpet. It's pretty grody. |
5) Minor electrical: Radio, lighter jack for power, etc. |
6) Pop out the rear window (Plexiglas) and see if I can get the duct tape off it (what idiot did that?). Might need to replace the pane." |
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April 10, 2009 |
Steve's progress report and photos: |
"Good day. Today I procured some seating for us at relatively short money (about $5 per share). These will be at worst backups, depending on how we do with other available seating. The pictures don't really do them justice, they're a little dirty. But they're comfortable and will serve well. We probably should invest in covers. |
My trek started eastbound on Rt. 2 to Alewife, where I then took Rt. 16 through Medford and Everett to get to Revere Beach, then turned south toward Winthrop. You know the proverbial place that 'You can't get there from here'? Winthrop is it. |
After picking up the Dodge van bench, I proceeded north/west along 1A and 129 to get to Saugus where I grabbed the 2 captains chairs. Then home along 128-3-495. I was gone about 3 hours." |
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In these next two photos the seats are just placed for effect. Nothing's been bolted down yet.
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April 18, 2009 |
Progress report and photos: |
Today the Short Bus made the trip from Steve's house in Littleton to Bruce's place in Walpole. Steve picked up a seat in Waltham on the way but it turns out it's probably too nice for our purposes. There's a video of the Short Bus arriving in Walpole along with a few photos from after we parked her. We will begin working on securing the seats to the floor and a few other amenities this week. |
Watch a short video of the Short Bus arriving in Walpole by clicking here. |
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Steve, Bruce, Andy and Bill enjoy their first beer in the Short Bus.
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April 19, 2009 |
Progress report: |
Bruce reporting here. Today I did a few minor things on the Short Bus. I removed most of the screws on the water heater so that when it comes time to take it out, it will be easier. I also washed all the windows, inside and out. They were pretty grody, to use Steve's word. |
My buddy Alex took a few photos while I was messing around with it and I'll post them here later. |
I also discovered an electrical panel above where the driver's head would be. It looks like there's a place in there to run stuff off of. I'm not well versed in that type of thing so when I know more I'll fill you in. It might make our lives a lot easier as far as running gadgets (T.V., etc.) inside the bus. |
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April 20, 2009 |
Progress report and photos: |
Bruce here again. Today I pulled out the water heater which is the big aluminum bulbous thing seen in this first photo below. It was taking up some much needed space for seating. We'll now be able to set up three rows of bench seats on the left side of the bus. |
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The water tank/heater is shown in this photo.
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The photos below show the new patch on the hole that remained when I removed the water tank/heating unit. I just took some sheet metal and cut a patch for each side of the hole. |
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The exterior patch on the Short Bus will be painted. I was thinking we could inscribe all of the owners' names here. In the meantime, we'll spray some black primer on it.
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This photo shows the patch over the hole on the inside of the Short Bus. |
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April 24, 2009 |
Progress report: |
Bruce and Steve updating today. We don't have any photos as there were no dramatic changes that we needed to document. |
We went shopping at Home Depot to get some supplies. Included in today's purchases: Foam insulation (so I could finish off the patch from the water heater), wire shelving to go down both sides (overhead), carpeting (a nice dark blue), hardware to secure the seats. This amounts to a bunch of 3/8 bolts, nuts, washers, etc. We also picked up some caulk and masking tape as we'll need to do at least a little bit of painting on our own. |
After shopping we spent a majority of our time trying to get this piece of gray carpeting off the inside of the bus. My god, that sucked. Once we got the big chunks off, we used some paint thinner to loosen up the glue but then had to scrape for a solid hour or so. We also finished the inside patch over the water heater hole. In effect, we prepped the bus for Bill to come over tomorrow and do the carpeting. I will be here to help him and will fill you in on our progress. We'll take some photos, too, as the carpeting will certainly make a significant difference in the overall appearance of the Short Bus. |
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April 25, 2009 |
Progress report and photos: |
Bruce here. Today Bill and I did some interior carpeting work. We applied carpeting on both sides as well as on the top front and top rear as you'll see by the photos below. We didn't do the actual floor carpeting today but hope to get to it tomorrow. |
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Bill applies glue to the sides of the bus.
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The finished product.
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The other side.
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A before shot of the front.
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...and the after shot. There is still some trimming to do after the glue sets.
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Rear overhead before (with Wendy in the background).
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Rear overhead after. Again, some trimming to do. |
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April 26, 2009 |
Progress report and photos: |
Bruce and Bill reporting. We laid the carpet in the Short Bus today. Considering that we were VERY unmotivated when we started (we almost bagged it completely) we got a lot done. We still need to install some molding around the base of the walls but it looks pretty damn good. Here's our photos from today. |
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May 3, 2009 |
Progress report and photos: |
Bruce checking in. Today Bill came over with the curtains he made at work. We installed them using the existing conduit at the tops of the windows and installed a tight cord along the bottom to hold them in place. She's really starting to shape up. Next: Install some seats? We'll see. |
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May 23, 2009 |
| Progress report and photos: |
| It's been a while since we updated but that doesn't mean we haven't been busy. We've installed a relatively inexpensive music system that includes four (4) interior and four (4) exterior speakers. Steve did most of the wiring and Bruce snaked most of the speaker wires. This took a lot longer than we expected and ate up most of the day. |
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The head unit isn't completely installed yet
but you get the idea. The switches above
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Two box speakers up front.
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Two more box speakers in the back.
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Left rear external speaker where the orange flasher used to be.
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Right rear external speaker. We'll have
two more external speakers |
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May 25, 2009 |
| Progress report and photos: |
| Bill and Bruce spent most of yesterday and today getting the seats mounted. The Short Bus is now a nine (9) seater, including the driver. |
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Two benches provide seating for six, if necessary.
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A view from the rear door.
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A captain's chair right inside the front door.
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This is, by far, the primo passenger seat for any long trip. You can stretch your legs and tuck a pillow against the wall if you want to take a nap. Almost everyone that has sat in this chair has said, "Ohhhhhh...that's nice." |
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May 29, 2009 |
| Progress report and photos: |
| It's Friday evening and Steve and Bruce are working on the Short Bus. We put in just a couple of hours finishing up the installation of the tunes. Steve also brought along some prototypes of a custom made Patriots trailer hitch cover. The Short Bus has trailer hitches on both the front and back. We will use these to our advantage. Here are a few quick photos. |
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The stereo system is fully installed. If you're thinking of stealing it, don't bother because the faceplate is removable. Besides, if I catch you in the Short Bus, my dog will eat you. Those who know me and my dog are chuckling right now at the vision of some would-be stereo thief being devoured by my beloved Rosie. |
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Meet Rosie. I'm introducing you to her in case
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There are four internal and four external
speakers from which several configurations of four can
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Front right external speaker. It's not damaged. That's a spider's web in front of it.
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This is one of the prototype trailer hitch covers that Steve is making for the Short Bus.
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May 31, 2009 |
SPECIAL UPDATE! |
I'm pleased to announce that Roadee has signed
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Roadee poses in his new home. |
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June 6, 2009 |
Progress report and photos: |
Not much to report today except that we removed the engine hump to cover it. This is the piece that goes on the inside of the bus. We're trying to knock some of the engine noise down so we've covered it with this sound blocking material. I'm not sure what it's called. We'll carpet over this and reinstall it. The masking tape is just holding it in place until the glue sets. |
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June 13, 2009 |
Progress report and photos: |
Today my buddy Jason came over to build the shelves for the back of the bus. I didn't take any pictures of the building process itself but here's a few of the finished product, pre-paint. The coolers and stuff are just to give us an idea of what it will hold when the real tailgating begins. |
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Here's FOSB (Friend of Short Bus) Jason Emery showing off his handy work. He did a great job.
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This refrigerator/cooler looking thing closest
to you runs on a cigarette lighter adapter
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June 14, 2009 |
Progress report and photos: |
Bill, Steve and Bruce worked most of the day on various things. Steve did some more wiring as he tries to install an electrical inverter so that we can run AC power during tailgate parties. I didn't take any pictures of him messing with wires. It's not very exciting but Steve deserves a mention here for his effort and patience. It's a frustrating job. Meanwhile, Bill and Bruce painted and carpeted the shelves that Jason built yesterday. Here's a few shots of the finished product after it was permanently installed. |
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We'll be adding a lip around the edges of each shelf to keep things from sliding off.
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We'll also use bungie cords or cargo netting as a back-up system to keep things stable.
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These shelves are very solid. We put
three self-tapping 1-1/4 inch screws right through the |
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June 19, 2009 |
Progress report and photos: |
Steve and Bruce took another day off to work on the bus. Steve again spent most of the day on wiring. When it's done, we'll take some photos of the finished product. |
Earlier this week Bill and Bruce installed the driver's side, overhead shelf. Today, Bruce did the passenger side shelf. Here's a few shots of that work. |
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Driver's side, front to back (with the top of Wendy's head at the bottom).
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Driver's side, back to front.
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Passenger side, front to back. We used
short sections of window blind mounting channel
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Passenger side, back to front. |
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June 20, 2009 |
I thought this would be a good time to show you something we'll be working on at some point. Below are two diagrams of a rig that will one day be mounted on the rear of the Short Bus using the existing trailer hitch. It's a fold out grill and table stand. The diagrams are pretty self explanatory. This is something that may not happen immediately but is definitely in the plans for down the road. |
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The above diagram shows the unit in the "stowed" position.
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The unit is extended here. The rear door
of the bus will be able to open |
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June 20/21, 2009 |
Progress report and photos: |
Saturday and Sunday yielded a few small achievements. On Saturday Bill put the carpeting on the engine hump. On Sunday we replace the air-filter prior to reassembling the engine hump and dashboard console. Oh yeah, we also vacuumed a mouse nest out of the air filter assembly. The sound blocking material along with the carpeting has significantly reduced the engine noise inside the bus. This was the goal so, mission accomplished there. |
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We'll dress up the bottom so the yellow won't be visible. |
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June 24, 2009 |
Progress report and photos: |
Bruce reporting. Today I found the paint we'll need to do the exterior of the bus. Now that I know where to get it, we'll order it when we're ready to go with that major part of the project, probably sometime in late July. In the meantime, I picked up some spray paint in the two main colors we plan to use. As a test, I painted a small area on the side of the bus just to see how it'll look. Here are those photos. |
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The blue paint is still wet and I didn't use a flash here.
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Still wet and I used the flash. I think it will dry |
darker and be more like the above photo. |
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June 25, 2009 |
Progress report and photos: |
Bruce reporting again. Here is a shot from after the test paint dried on the bus. The blue ultimately fell in between the two extremes seen in the photos from yesterday. I'm still not completely happy with it. Bill suggested we add a little black paint to the blue to darken it up some. We'll probably try that. Everyone is pretty happy with the aluminum color in place of a legitmate silver. I think the bus is going to be rather bright. |
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Test paint after it dried. The color
still isn't represented |
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July 11, 2009 |
Progress report and photos: |
Steve did some more wiring work today. We thought it was about time he got a little web time so here is some of his handy work from today. |
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An AC outlet in progress. The black box is a DC cigarette lighter outlet. There are several of these throughout the bus to be used for charging cell phones and ipods and things like that.
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Steve continues to work on one of the AC outlets in the bus.
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An overhead shot of Steve.
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Here's the finished product.
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Another cigarette lighter adapter.
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This one will be more or less dedicated to the
cooler/warmer device
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A double cigarette lighter outlet on the driver's side, near the back of the bus. |
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July 12, 2009 |
Progress report and photos: |
Bruce reporting. Today I finshed up the AC outlets in the bus. Here's that work. |
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This one is in the rear behind the comfy seat.
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This one is mounted on the rear wall next to
the shelves we installed. |
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July 15, 2009 |
Progress report and photos: |
When I got home from work this evening I secured the final seat, the tenth, to the deck of the Short Bus. Bill installed all of the seatbelts last week. As of now, we need only get the new tire mounted and the exhaust pipe fixed and we can try for an inspection sticker. |
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Here's the last seat mounted in place.
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The original mounting mechanism could not be
removed
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A closer look. Four 3/8 inch bolts hold the whole thing to the floor. |
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July 16, 2009 |
Progress report and photos: |
Today the power inverter was installed and the last of the AC power lines were connected. All of the electrical outlets worked on the first try! That Steve is a pretty smart guy. The Short Bus is now fully AC/DC. It's only coincidental that our first functional test of the Short Bus will be when we travel to the AC/DC concert at Gillette Stadium in a couple of weeks (July 28th). |
Here's a few photos of the final work on the AC power. |
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This is the battery box under the bus.
We've added that white battery which
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These heavy duty switches inside the bus will
control which of the batteries
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This is the AC junction box coming up from the
battery compartment |
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July 28, 2009 |
Progress report and photos: |
Today was the first functional test run of the Short Bus. We loaded up and took 12 people to Gillette Stadium for the AC/DC concert. While this isn't the place for a review of the show, it should be noted that those old men can still kick it. The show was incredible. That aside, here are just a few photos of our first real adventure in the Short Bus. |
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Here are some of the early arrivals for the
day. They include
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Kim took this one so I could be in it.
Here are Sunny,
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Opie relaxes at the rear of the bus while we
wait for the rest of the gang.
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Here we are at our spot in lot P10 across the street from Patriot Place in Foxborough.
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The main thing we wanted to test was the
battery power. I ran an oscillating fan for a
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Bruce thanks me for a great tailgate party. |
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July 30 & 31, 2009 |
Progress report and photos: |
Over the last two days Steve and I did various, tedious but necessary things. Most of it isn't worth photographing. Steve ran some wire so that we could get the light in the steps working. He replaced the overhead dome light and re-wired that. He did some load tests to see how much stuff we can actually power during a tailgate party. I cleaned the garage or, at least, got a good start on it. We've really trashed it over the last few months. Anyway, here's a few photos of some semi-interesting stuff. |
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Steve labeled all of the electronics so we
know what we're turning on and off. Here
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The speaker system is now outlined in layman's terms.
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This is the overhead switch panel. From
here we can control DC power, front and rear as well
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Steve came up with these Patriots Christmas lights that we'll use inside the bus. |
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August 4, 2009 |
Progress report and photos: |
Bruce spent a few hours painting this evening just because the weather allowed it. The first of the silver color is on the bus. |
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August 8, 2009 |
Progress report and photos: |
Bill and Bruce did their best to finish the silver paint today. While there's still a little left to do, including the main door, a lot of progress was made. The less humid conditions allowed the paint to dry much quicker than earlier this week. |
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Various painted parts rest on my boat cover. The paint's already dry.
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This is a portion of the front grill along
with the mirror mounts. The idea is to try |
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August 9, 2009 |
Progress report and photos: |
Steve, Bill and Bruce took another serious bite out of the painting today. The blue has been applied along with some of the red. We're not quite there yet but with only 11 days until the first home pre-season game, we're getting pretty close to being completed. Here are a few photos from today's work. |
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August 12, 2009 |
Progress report and photos: |
Having finished the major part of the painting, I decided to reinstall the external speakers, light covers and hoods. All of the running lights are working correctly as well. There are only eight (8) days until the first Short Bus dress rehearsal. |
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Still some touch-up painting to do. You can see the light hoods better here.
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Those Patriots logos are magnets. We'll
have something |
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August 15/16, 2009 |
Progress report and photos: |
This weekend brought us much nearer to the conclusion of our project. We're still not quite there yet but with only 4 days until the first pre-season game of the 2009 campaign, we're ready for that first dress rehearsal. Here are some more photos from the weekends work. |
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The front bumper has been painted red and
we've
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The solar panel has also been installed.
It's barely visible
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Note the roof rack for hauling our tables,
canopy and whatever else
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We still need to paint the rear bumper
red. Most of the large flat areas
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This panel is above the driver's head.
This is the heart of the work Steve's
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This box controls the circuit between the inverter and the batteries.
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We believe in safety first! A brand new
fire extinguisher
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There are no less than six (6) bottle openers on the Short Bus.
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We added these carpets in the high traffic
areas because the blue carpet we installed |
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August 20, 2009 |
| First "dress rehearsal" - Pats v. Bengals: |
| We took the Short Bus to the Patriots v. Bengals pre-season game with just a few of us on board. Here are a few of those pictures. |
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Anthony presents the Short Bus!
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General tailgating going on here. We
were so preoccupied with the Short Bus
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Old Glory and Flying Elvis high above the Short Bus.
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Andrea and Bruce pause for a photo op.
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Opie gets five from Samantha as her mom, Jill and Andrea look on.
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Gregg is surprised by the camera. Nice face.
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We installed the red and blue rope lights
along the bottom of the shelves. The
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September 3, 2009 |
Second (and last) "dress rehearsal" - Pats v. Giants: |
Our second (and last) test run was a success. Here are just a few photos from the limited tailgating activity that took place on 9/3. So far we haven't had any problems with power or amount of it. Maybe we did something right, huh? |
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Bruce K. (BK) poses with the Short Bus as we wait for the rest of the gang.
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Steve waits for the late people. We
don't like being late.
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We applied these new decals on the body of the
Short Bus. We have more
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Decals on the right side.
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Just after set-up at Gillette.
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The impending sunset casts an odd light on the tailgate party.
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A different angle of Old Glory on our roof.
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Here's the solar panel doing it's thing. Exciting, huh?
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Steve and BK share some lies.
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Joe and Owen toast the 2009 Patriots!
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Bill and Meme relax. As always, Bill looks like he's up to something.
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Bruce looks comfy guarding the Short Bus. |
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September 5, 2009 |
Progress report and photos: |
As we near the opening game of the 2009 NFL season, we also near completion of the Short Bus. Well, there will always be things to do, but the major work is finally coming to an end. |
Today we put a second coat of white paint on the roof so that we can stencil her official name behind the top, front marker lights next weekend. |
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The Short Bus is positioned at the end of the
driveway so the trees in back |
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September 6, 2009 |
Progress report and photos: |
I took the Short Bus up to Gillette Stadium for a couple of photos just for the fun of it. I got lots of stares and thumbs-ups and yells of "Whooooooooo!" Here's the pictures I took. |
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September 7, 2009 |
Progress report and photos: |
As we inch still closer to opening day, more decals have been applied. It's time to unveil her official name, as you'll see below.
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P.N.V. stands for Patriot Nation Vehicle. |
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A "flying Elvis" decal is applied in front of her name.
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We also applied these script logos in front of the rear marker lights.
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September 12, 2009 |
Progress report and photos: |
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| I happened across this other "short bus" at the local
Audio Max while out and about one day. I pulled in and took this quick photo with
our Short Bus.
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September 14, 2009 |
| Well, it's opening day of the 2009 Patriots season. It's also been a long road since we first went to look at the Short Bus in Ayer last March. Although we sweat a lot, bled a lot and cursed a lot, we've had a lot of fun working on her all summer long. The next wave of major improvements will likely not take place until spring, 2010, after we've had a chance to assess the first season and her first trip to Buffalo. For now, as was our goal, she's ready for the 2009 season and we're proud to call her ours. |
| Be sure to check the 2009 Home Games pages and the Buffalo 2009 page for updates on all Short Bus goings on in this, her inaugural season. Thanks for following along with us as we built the P.N.V. Short Bus. |
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Post-Christening Updates |
December 6, 2009 |
In the last week or so we completed a few things that we wanted to get done prior to our first trip to Buffalo with the Short Bus. |
We added some brackets to the left side to hold a ladder in place during travel (see photo below). |
We also had some much needed front-end work completed by FOSB Andy Polin. He replaced the rotors, calipers and brake pads as well as replacing the wheel bearings and giving her the general once-over prior to our upcoming 400 mile ride to Buffalo. |
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We've needed a reliable and simple way to get up on top of the Short Bus for loading and unloading purposes. After much debate and experimentation with different types of ladders, we came back to the simplest idea of all. A straight, aluminum, ten-footer with a couple of pads glued to it (to protect the paint on the roof) seems to be the best way to go.
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Here's a closer view of the ladder mounted on the side of the Short Bus.
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Roadee Update! |
December 6, 2009 |
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Roadee's cousin, Rowdee, stopped by to check
out the Short Bus. While
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2010 Short Bus Updates: |
September 6, 2010 |
We've done some follow up work on the
Short Bus this summer. |
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| We finally got around to painting the rims.
They look much better in Patriot blue.
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| We painted the inside of the driver's side door
white. I'm not sure why.
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| FOSBs Dave and Paul Peterson built this
table/cabinet/shelf unit for the front.
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| We've painted all of the window posts blue, as
seen here.
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| The ladder has also been painted to cover up that
nasty "Jet green" color that was on there when we acquired it.
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| The inside of the back door has also been painted
silver. Note the handle grip is Patriot blue, also. I thought that was a nice touch.
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| Here's just a general interior shot as seen from
the rearview mirror.
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Here are a couple of night photos of the Short Bus.
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That blue reflective tape sure does show up, huh? |
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