We finished the roof deck yesterday. Lots and lots of work, but we’ve increased our living space by about 50%!
We started by drilling 9/16th holes in the ribs of the bus, on center. The drill needs to go through both the rib and the sheet metal of the roof. It’s important try and keep everything as straight as possible, or else the bolts will come up crooked.
Next, we ran boards along the center line on top of the roof. We ripped 1″x6″ boards in half, and lined them end to end. We drilled up through the holes we already made, to make perfectly aligned holes in the boards. We then moved the boards aside to put a rubber membrane in place. We rolled out and caulked the membrane, and then placed the boards back on top.
We found center on our 93.5″ 4×4 beams, then drilled 1/2″ holes through the center. We don’t have a drill press, and we had to find a drill guide to make sure we could make perfectly straight holes through the 4×4. We cut a larger hole around this to countersink the nuts and washers that will attach to the bolts.
These beams are placed perpendicular to the centerboard on top. Our 1/2″ bolts come up through the ribs, rubber membrane, and beam.
We made an 18° cut into 4×4 posts, which will support the beams on the outside.
We cut gaskets to match the footprint of these posts.
Before we placed these posts, we drilled 1/4″ holes for our structural screws to come through the ribs.
The posts were put in place, and attached to the beams with handy post caps. We drilled up through the ribs securing these posts to the bus with structural screws.
With our frame firmly in place, we started screwing down the decking.
This is the finished product. The main decking area that will be used for recreation is in the back, and the walkway towards the front runs between the voids where our solar panels will be mounted.
Access to the deck will be mainly by a rear mounted ladder (not yet installed).
joe hollay says
Mike is gonna want to surf up there while flyin down the interstate.
John says
I welcome it! For a while, I had wanted to have a seat right above the front clearance lights for someone to sit on while we were off roads (parking lots or fields). It never happened.
We did do a bit of bus surfing in the middle aisle when we were driving through the Blue Ridge Mountains. Harder than you’d think, but exactly as much fun.
Chris says
That looks awesome! Did you come up with this method yourself, or did you see someone else attach a deck that way? Did you get that all done in a day? What size screw did you use for the posts? Just one?
Super good looking stuff. Hats off.
John says
It’s a bit of a hybrid of ideas. I’ve never seen a deck done exactly like this, and we definitely had a lot of figuring out to do, but the inspiration came from decks like this and this, which have a similar design made out of metal. Since that was outside of my skillset/budget, I worked out a way to do it with wood.
Many buses go for a simpler route for their decks, but I’ve never been pleased with how they look. I’m really pleased with the compromise!
Jeff says
How much did putting the deck and solar panels on the roof cost you? And how much energy were you able to get on a daily basis from your solar panels?
John says
Hi Jeff,
The decking cost a little over $500 all told. That includes all wood and the fasteners.
The solar array is a ~1kW system made up of four 255W 24V panels wired in series parallel to a Midnite Classic 150 charge controller, charging a 12V battery bank. We run 110 appliances off a 3000W AIMS Pure Sine inverter.
The panels were about $1000, the charge controller was $500, the inverter was $800, and the battery bank was $200 (this needs improvement, buying decent batteries is important). Wiring and assorted other stuff to complete the solar install was another couple hundred dollars.
Though the system is 1kW theoretical, I rarely see it high above 800W. It’s still quite a lot of power, and if we had better southern exposure, it would probably be more than we’d ever need. With a somewhat limited amount of direct sun, it’s just about right 8 months out of the year, and just a bit short during the shorter winter months.
James H Stephenson says
Hiya,
I am curious how your wood deck has held up? Do you have to do maintenance on it?
I would about rot and the wood loosing strength and having to replace it
John says
No real maintenance, it’s held up well, despite being in full sun year round. Having ample airflow beneath it seems to protect it from rot. It might need another coat of stain/paint in the fall, but that’s mainly from damage that came from shoveling snow off it the last few winters. If I had used a plastic shovel, it wouldn’t even need that.
Towards the back of the bus, there are two ribs that are spaced slightly further apart than the rest, and they have a tiny bit of flex that can be uncomfortable. If I was to do it again, I’d have used 2″ decking instead of 5/4″. I’m not sure the weight savings from using the thinner boards is worth the little bit of flex.
I also am not sure it was necessary to use the ribs to anchor the vertical supports. I think going through the sheet metal into the posts would have been fine. It would have also resulted in a cleaner ceiling inside the bus – as it is there are little bumps where the heads of the carriage bolts and structural screws stick out from under the ribs.
James H Stephenson says
Thank you for the reply!
We are currently trying to figure out how to do our deck. I was worried about rotting wood. A few people said as long as I use pressure treated wood or cedar I should be fine and it should last 10-15 years. Seeing your progress and hearing it has held up nicely puts my heart at ease.
I was think of just running 2″ x 6″ vertically along the roof of the bus on the driver and passenger side then having some 2″ x 2″ in the center vertically along the roof of the bus on the driver and passenger side again then just bolting them down. After that I would anchor the deck to the vertically run studs with decking screws.
Cheers,
James
John says
I used Cedar for my deck, and I’m sure it didn’t hurt as far as how well it’s held up.
I’ve seen similar setups, and though I don’t know how well they last, I’ve always been worried about the amount of crap that would get caught between the 2″x6″ and the roof. Anything that blew under the deck, or fell through the planks, wouldn’t be able to just fall clear. Getting leaves or pollen collecting there would definitely contribute to rot, even with cedar.