Framing the Interior
April 24th, 2012 | Back to Blog Listing
I only snapped a few photos of this process, but the easiest way to build out a bus conversion or RV is to frame it with dry 2x4s. The entire floor already sits on 3/4" ply, so it's a pretty trivial process, not unlike the second story of a home.

I used Google Sketchup to model the bus and create a basic layout of what I was going for. This in turn allowed me to figure out exactly how much wood I needed to use for the various areas. Normally I wouldn't care so much, but the biggest concern with this project (or any vehicular project) is with respect to weight. Fortunately I've calculated the entire conversion shouldn't weigh more than 500 pounds (figuring that dry 2x4 is about 1.5 pounds per board foot). That might seem like a lot at first, but it's considerably lighter than all of the steel framing, rubber flooring, bench seating, fans, and A/C units that have already been removed from the bus. It also factors the new portable A/C unit, TV, and stereo. The net result should be slightly lighter than the original.


After I got the drivers side framed out.


The next day after I got both sides framed out. You can see from further back that the driver's side looks angled a bit. This is true, but fits the contour of the bus.