Custom chicken bus

[NH Bill]

Gary,

Sure sounds like you are figuring things out down there and having a great time with along the way. Thanks for providing the vicarious experience and please keep the posts coming!

Saw this article yesterday from what appears to be a non US news source. Although this is not new news, like everywhere else, its important to stay vigilant!

http://www.insidecostarica.com/daily...ca10050101.htm

Pura Vida

NH Bill

[Bill Sallee]

Gary,

I am extremely jealous. Your trip is exactly what I want to do. I have three problems,
1.I do not speak any Spanish
2. I am not mechanical at all to fix my bus.
3. My bus is an 04 M380

I did decide last night that I am going to sell it and get something smaller that is more off road capable. They do build very capable expedition trucks, but are pretty high dollar.

Can a person get around in Central america with English only. I do have some basics to work on my Spanish with, but for all practical purposes I would be starting with English only.

[NH Bill]

Originally Posted by Bill Sallee

Gary,

I am extremely jealous. Your trip is exactly what I want to do. I have three problems,
1.I do not speak any Spanish
2. I am not mechanical at all to fix my bus.
3. My bus is an 04 M380

I did decide last night that I am going to sell it and get something smaller that is more off road capable. They do build very capable expedition trucks, but are pretty high dollar.

Can a person get around in Central america with English only. I do have some basics to work on my Spanish with, but for all practical purposes I would be starting with English only.

Bill,

I asked Gary about the language thing in another thread.

Read this.

http://www.wanderlodgeownersgroup.co...4020#post54020

NH Bill

[Bill Sallee]

Bill
Thank you. Great information. Maybe we should start a thread for people that want to go to Central America and maybe beyond.

[GPSGary]

Paint's on
Generator compartment is rebuilt
Roof is refurbed
Swinging (re-cored $$$$) radiator done
New diamond plate on roof
New stainless steel pig fence
Sliding rear window is in

Mira aqui:
http://www.wanderlodgeownersgroup.co...hp?albumid=122

There have been some positive and negative surprises.

Workmanship has been good overall. Some stuff has far exceeded expectations and some would be considered barely adequate by North American standards.

Examples:
They repaired cracks in my air-conditioner covers with fiberglass, body putty and paint. They look brand new. I didn't even ask them for this.

The new "chroma" the SO insisted on has rough edges almost every cut-out.

The new generator door is very well built and they have a guy polishing the finish with polishing compound before painting.

Summary:
I rate this experience about a 7 out of 10 on an absolute scale and considering the cost ... I'd rate it 9 out of 10. I doubt seriously if I would have gotten the same amount of work or workmanship north of the border at 3X the cost.

They are very open to doing or re-doing things exactly the way you want them but it's hard to know how much to micro-manage. There have been some things I thought I wanted to instruct on but they actually did better than I would have, so .... purrrra vida.

Paint note : They use Sherwin Williams Transit Series. Bet you didn't even know it existed. It's available in over 100 colors. It looks like an enamel and applies like an enamel (thick, not runny) but dries with a high gloss because its polyurethane based. After its thoroughly dry its very scratch and chip resistant.

Parts:
EVERYTHING that was ever on a Bluebird or many other makes of Buses or trucks is available and inexpensive because they have saved it out back, recondition it and paint ... however locating anything else is difficult. I'm still having a problem finding a squirrel cage blower for the generator fan remodel.

Pura vida,
GPSGary

[NH Bill]

Gary,

This is one very cool project!

Do you have the address for this place? Or town/country. I would love to check it out using Google Maps-Earth.

Thank you for sharing this with us and keep the posts and pictures coming!

NH Bill

[GPSGary]

A good way to answer this is give you the link to our Panoramio site

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/34828984


This picture is geo-located to the shop and you can use it as a link to the rest of our pictures. I'm only finished uploading Jan through mid April.

FYI - I think I'm going to have to order something direct from Granger and they've really given me a hard time without a corporation so now I'm trying my Costa Rica corporation.

Pura vida,
GPSGary

[Randy Dupree]

very cool thread!

[Steveinthesticks]

There is lot of great info on bus conversions on the forums at http://www.skoolie.net/forum/index.php I got started there

[Bill Pape]

Thanks Gary, This is great.