This blog post is probably long overdue for some of you! We started talking about our big reno plan last fall, so thanks for your patience.

Here is a teaser….

We are finally ready for the big reveal. BUT first we want to tell you all about the things we did…starting with the exterior:

• Added the Japanese teahouse: this was an old school plumbers van roof rack! It’s made of aluminum tubing and mesh. This was added for storage of spare parts, benches for Nascar viewing and/or outdoor festivals and 4 – 500-watt new solar panels. The solar panels extend up as backrests and handrails to ensure no one will fall out. Although the ladder getting up there is a bit sketch!
• When we travel the panels angle in, and make the cage look like a Japanese tea house (although we have never been to one – but in our Canadian minds, this is what it looks like!), and when arriving at our destination, electric angle actuators will allow the panels to trace the sun for efficiency.
• A new spare tire mount was put in front of the tea house, along with the permanent Starlink mount on the roof, with an option to lower the Starlink down when in treed areas.
• Installed new electrical / communications box on the roof to allow for more / easier access through the roof for extra cables (like Starlink, solar, communications, etc)
• Removed our ZipDee awning and replaced it with an electric Sunsetter house awning. The original ZipDee was a pain in the ass – wind, wind and more wind while camping or on the road made the Zipdee awning really hard to manage, it was always flying open like a parachute. The Sunsetter house awning is electric – so it goes in and out with a remote control. Our 1990 model of Prevost has a metal rail at the roof line which allowed for the structural support needed for the Sunsetter. We added a 16’ awning and plan to add another 16-20’ awning. Also, Todd says every man loves a remote control!
• We’ve been looking for LED outdoor lighting options for a few years. The old lighting was poor, the bulbs gave off hardly any light. Todd found two things: outdoor lighting to replace the poor ones, that look like eyes with eyelids blinking. Then added a rope LED lighting in between the eyelids – this is awesome at night!
• The last thing we did was new tires! We installed 2 brand new Michelin steering tires a few years ago, but needed 6 backend tires. Todd worked in the trucking industry, and he is a tire researcher. He decided on the Salum SW- 01 11R245 tires; they are closed wall winter rated drive tires. (this means nothing to Jill) They are the best bang for buck on a Chinese brand. We did the install ourselves (and by we, mostly we know its Todd, but i did assist some!). As he was putting them back on original alco rims, the rims needed a ton of detail and cleaning to ensure proper bonding of the tire to the rim with no leaks. Also installed (on the dually) remote tire pressure monitoring for both tires. With this system we can lower tire pressure if we get into sticky situations for added traction (beach camping for example….). We also upgraded the valve stems (where you put the air in) and brand-new lug nuts.
• Brakes: while the tires were off, Todd went through all the brake components (grease nipples, slack adjustors and oil bath axle bearings) and with this changed all the fluids to include the main differential with synthetics, new axle seals and caps, two new slack adjustors, checked and cleaned all grease cams and liners for wear. We removed one rear air bag and front air bags to order both for spares. The bags were in good shape, but when travelling to Mexico, we need spares!
• Engine work: Ruby runs an old silver 8V92, with 155,000 miles on her, so as a result decided to do some early PM work on her. These old screaming jimmies’ need to have their main and connecting rod bearings checked at 175,000 miles. Todd organized a bus party at the cabin and had our red seal heavy duty mechanic ”Max” to come and help him out with this process. He has been in the family since just after 1990… so cool Todd got to work with this young man. For the cost, decided to buy brand new Detroit diesel bearing and replaced them all. After opening the engine, they found minimal wear on any of the bearings BUT found some small pieces of fibre material in the oil pan which made the job concerning. Thanks to the 8V92 diesel group on facebook, we found out the matter was non-metallic, called a love joy; it mates the coupler on the back of the engine to the power steering pump so there is no interference. So she’s all good and ready for another 175,000 miles of driving!

Interior – so here is a brief video of pictures that shows the biggest visual changes Renovation pictures and below is the lengthy list of things that we remembered to tell you about, but we are probably missing some things.

• Todd ripped out the front vinyl plank flooring as it failed, due to high traffic and the expansion of temperature (between +20 and -20C) the floor buckled on itself and we had to remove it. To remove the flooring, we also had to take out the driver and passenger seat, the couch…everything.
• Decided to go with rubber coin flooring – comes in a sheet. One roll managed to fit our application. We laid the roll out on the cabin deck and then Todd meticulously removed each piece of the vinyl plank and laid it on top of the rubber floor on the deck, in order to get the proper stencil for the cutting of the rubber coin sheet. He cut the vinyl, and then we used the bus party team of hands to carry this sheet of rubber coin flooring thru the (not quite full size) door and lay it down
• In the meantime, we had decided that Ruby’s driver and passenger seats needed an upgrade. They were over 30 years old and we could feel their age when driving. Todd did some serious investigation, and we ventured up to Acheson, AB one weekend to go check out new driver/passenger seats. We installed these babies… we now both have air seats; what a game changer that is for the passenger!
• The inside wall upholstery, window lighting and blinds in the main living room and the back bedroom needed some serious upgrades. All were original and although were beige-ish in color – had a whole lot of dust, dirt and smoke discoloration from previous owners. So we took out all the blinds, the window lighting and removed all the upholstery one weekend. Lucky for us, we had found new upholstery at a black Friday sale the previous winter. Todd’s mum came to help cut and install new upholstery for the front and then during the bus party, we had our amazing team help us reupholster the bedroom closet doors (6 of them). We picked an upholstery pattern that wasn’t the easiest to install. It had a repetition pattern, so having the right person put the upholstery on the cabinet doors was crucial!
• Speaking of the back bedroom…aside from new upholstery on the walls we also decided that beige walls, doors, blinds and curtains was boring and maybe we should add some color. Todd spray painted the walls in the back bedroom dark blue! Which matches the new upholstery closet doors to a tee! Also, the new blackout blinds in the bedroom are awesome! The final touch in the bedroom was installing 2 gold lights to replace old original shitty lights and LED mood window lighting.
• Once the re-upholstery was done in the front, we had to reinstall new LED window lighting. And the final touch was the window moulding – which was cut to each window size and painted in gold laminate before the install. Todd then added a dimmer light to the windows for mood lighting.
• We had also carefully measured the blind sizes when they were removed. Planning ahead, we took our sizes to Home Depot during black Friday and had them all cut to order. So that when we were ready to install, they were done and ready to go in. We installed 11 new blinds and they all look amazing! Including at the front windshield – we removed the old windshield visors and replaced them with 2 blinds. Works like a charm and for some reason any of the blinds get damaged or broken, they are easy to replace from Home Depot anywhere in North America!
• The back hallway had this funky raised, puffy gold design feature that was probably cool in its day…we ripped it off and then covered the whole hallway wall with this acoustic paneling. This is great for insulation and overall feel of the bus.
• Since we removed the couch, which was a futon couch Todd built in place. We had to replace it with a couch that could fit through the door! This is harder than it sounds….when we went to visit Jill’s sister in Red Deer the year prior, they had just purchased a Cozy couch. I tell you, if you are a Prevost bus owner and need a more comfortable couch than you currently have, I highly recommend a Cozy couch for many reasons. They are comfortable, but the biggest thing is that they are modular. Every piece of the couch is a module and it fits through the front door! We purchased a used Cozy couch the year before knowing we were going to install it and we brought each piece into the bus and put it together. We ended up removing the legs and putting it up about 3” higher to meet the needs of the bus electrical. Our dear friend Madison suggested that we add a huge 6’ one-piece drawer under the couch! A week later, Todd made it and installed it so we could put all things we need/don’t need! Because the couch was up a bit higher than the norm, we needed a foot stool for our feet to reach the floor. Todd found a very cool brass bar on FB marketplace; he installed it halfway up the drawer so we could use it both as a footstool / drawer handle. Works like a charm!
• Although we had a 2-burner propane gas stove in the kitchen – the style of burner was hard to keep pots from falling over – the gaps were so big. It took almost 6 months to find better burners, and we installed them. Not like 15-minute job…no this new burner stove set needed a power supply unlike the old one. So then Todd had to find a fuse, then run a new electrical line and tie it in. The 1-hour job turned into an almost 6 hour job as par for the course when you are renovating a 1990’s model bus…
• Oh yeah and we also put in a brand-new convection microwave too! Finally an oven we can bake cookies in and make my favourite GF pizza….this is so awesome!
• In between all the things…one of the issues with the lighting in the main kitchen/living area was old fluorescent lighting that was terrible; it didn’t make things lighter, it was a bad design, expensive to replace and use. So Todd found 3 round LED lights that he installed in the main area and tied in to existing power and then retro fitted all old fluorescent lighting in the back hallway to LED lighting.
• More wiring: all systems that were installed, need monitoring or dash monitoring on the fly. So Todd had to also install a lot of gauges and meters which includes wiring of all types.
• And just when you thought we were done….Todd wants to tell you about all the new solar install (includes wiring for panels, charge controller and inverters). We run a 12- and 24-volt inverter system because of our huge 300 amp 24 volt alternator off the diesel engine. This allows us to run multiple air conditioning units down the road while the bus is running. Todd bought and installed a used 24-volt pallet jack battery (equivalent of 10 golf cart batteries) This is able to endure high amp inputs and outputs because of its design and yes it weighs 1000 lbs and hangs off the main frame of the bus, it doesn’t sit directly on the bay floor. In total we have 2600 lbs of batteries aboard the bus. May seem like a lot, but with our 4000-watt solar we are easy to run A/C on a hot sunny day off solar.
• Last but not least, water methanol injection was installed. Todd felt this was necessary for the additional 50-70 horsepower for hill climbing but because of its cleaning capability of the engine combustion. This will really help Ruby get uphill slightly faster and allow the engine to be cleaner.

Here is a bunch of videos on a few things: Reno video description

Shout out to the Idt family for coming to our aid in a couple projects we needed help with and for finding that unique fridge door cover!