TheCrabsHomestead

21: School Bus Storage Boxes Install Part 1 of 4

Living Tiny means there is no room for hoarding. Even after selling a majority of our stuff and moving in with a room mate (meaning we have what we need), it still seems like we needed some extra places to store things like camping gear, tools, books, out of season clothes, etc. since we will be full timing in Chitty Bang. We plan on being away from our storage unit for a while, so we not only want to make sure we have what we need so we don’t have to buy it again, but we also don’t want to fill the bus with unnecessary crap. And how do you really know what you need until you live that way?

Regardless, additional storage helps in any situation! So we found these aluminum boxes with locks on ebay and amazon (Amazon sold out of them) for $100-$106 each. We got 6. So far as of this post (Feb 12, 2016) we have only installed 4 of the boxes since we needed more space between them and had less space than we thought based on the previous bolts taking up space on the chassis. But we are either adding the additional two behind the rear wheel on the same side, or in the middle of the other side. Still planning battery boxes and propane box as well, so it is in the works.

20151103_142101 — Started cutting the bottom side off of Chitty Bang! This part is below the floor on the inside..VERY HEAVY! So we used one of the storage boxes (Still packaged) to support the weight of the hanging metal.

20151103_141851 — Crab cutting the metal from underneath

20151103_145355 — I wonder how much I can get for this piece at the scrap yard?

20151103_145405 — Chitty Bang lost some weight here:) Not the straightest line, but it will do!

20151103_165943 — Boxes Came in and placed in prospective places! This was back when we thought 5 would work here..ended up getting 4 perfectly fitted with 6 inches between each box. Will need to add mud flaps to protect the sides of the boxes somewhat.

In Part 2 we show when we finally learned to weld (Thanks Drew!) with our Hobart arc welder, we pieced together the braces using angle iron that would hold the boxes to the bus. First, we actually built a welding cart as practice. It turned out nice!

Onto Stage 21: Installing External Storage Boxes-Part 2

or Back to Stage 20: New Windshield & RV Ladder