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BUS BUILD (start to finish) - Toyota Coaster | Emma Maertens | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: BUS BUILD (start to finish) - Toyota Coaster
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Video Summary
Summary
Core Theme
This content details the extensive and challenging process of converting a Toyota coaster bus into a home on wheels, highlighting the personal journey, significant learning experiences, and the crucial role of family support in overcoming numerous obstacles.
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on the 22nd of November 2022 at 18 years
of age I bought a Toyota coaster bus
with plans to convert it into my dream
home on Wheels to travel Australia as
you can see by these clips it was and
still is one of the best days of my
entire life and I'd worked so hard to
find this bus and pay for it and get it
home this is what it looked like before
completely empty and then the conversion
began almost immediately step one was
completely gutting the inside and I'm
really lucky my little sister wanted to
help me for this and we had a great time
this part was super timec consuming but
honestly I was on such a high of getting
the bus that I didn't care and I wanted
to be in the bus every single day just
working on it we removed pretty much
everything but one thing we did do is
keep all of the parts as templates to
on the entire ceiling was covered with
old insulation and here's the first
thing that I would change if I could go
back and do it differently yes I would
remove all the insulation but I wouldn't
have put all the time and effort into
removing all of the old insulation glue
in all honesty I could would have just
left it and worked on top of it but at
[Music]
slate finally all of the old insulation
glue was removed and I gave the ceiling
a quick clean before starting on the sad
deader once again I was still on such a
high that even such a small small task
gave me so much happiness and joy and
on the roof needed some serious TLC
unfortunately I did do a pre- purchase
inspection but the one thing I failed to
check was the roof because the bus is so
tall and turns out it had a lot of rust
so I gave it all a good clean and then
began on treating the rust at this point
in time I had been out of high school
for about a year and a lot of people
questioned the fact that I wasn't going
to UNI but I have to say I learned so
much from building out this bus that I
never would have learned anywhere else
once again I was on such a high and I
had no idea of the challenges that were
about to hit
me I then spray painted over it with
white paint and no I know it doesn't
match however the solar panels were
going to sit on top of this anyway we
finally got to working on the floor and
when we peel back the vinyl we realized
the entire floor was covered in sticky
glue so we opted to remove the floor
entirely and replace it with new plywood
floor the removal process of the bus
ended up being much more difficult than
I first anticipated because everything
was so sticky old and glued down which
prevented us from starting from scratch
and we even needed to use a car jack to
even get the floor up I then learned I
had a weight limit so my dad removed all
of this coolant to save any single kilo
that we could after several weeks of
work the bus finally looked like this
and although it looked pretty bad I was
still on a big high from getting the bus
bus and just was so excited to keep
going we then got onto the water tanks
which was a really difficult job and
what made it more difficult was that it
didn't really make any visible
difference to the bus it was a bunch of
hard work and once they were finished it
just didn't feel like I had accomplished
much however this was an integral part
of the bus build we had to do it before
we did anything else and we mounted them
underneath the bus 100% my dad's doing
he did an amazing job finally we got on
to adding something new into the bus
which was the new floor and this is why
we kept the old floor as a template
because it made the process super easy I
was on paint job but I wasn't
complaining I was just so excited to
finally make some visible progress in
the bus we secured the floor and I
finally got to Mark out where I wanted
everything to go which was super
exciting what you don't see in this
video is at this point I hit a major
wall and it took me about 5 months to
finally get my gas and my hot water
system that you see here installed it
was extremely difficult and and I nearly
got ripped off by so many places but I
finally found a company in Melbourne
that did it for me for a really
reasonable price and was so lovely and
helped me plan it was definitely a major
learning moment and took all of my
patience I just wanted to get going and
here you can see we started installing
the max air fan this was months I mean
honestly half a year after getting the
bus that we were able to actually start
building the bus because we just hit so
many roadblocks and didn't know what we
were doing at this point I was so lost
on on what to do and I was working four
jobs and if it weren't for my dad which
by the way he's so sweet he filmed this
all himself while I was working one of
my four jobs if it weren't for him
nothing would have been done and I'm so
grateful you'll see how much work he
ended up putting into this bus my
brother as well would help when I would
be out working my four jobs trying to
pay for everything my mom was filming
this video so in the end it's my family
who helped me gathered around me
supported me and made this dream happen
back to the logistics of things so they
built a wooden frame to support the fact
that we had cut a hole into the roof
mind you this was not even the biggest
hole that we were going to cut what
amazes me the most about this entire
build is that my dad has never done
anything like this before yes he is an
engineer but that is in relation to cars
and he does love woodworking but he has
never built a bus like this and somehow
with the help of YouTube videos and a
bunch of research he just figured out
what to do so yes I may have paid for
everything but he was the brains and the
build behind this [Music]
[Music]
unfortunately my dad then went to Europe
for 6 months so I got started on
anything and everything that I could
first of all the installation if I could
go back in time I would not have used
fireboard you can see here it was such a
mess to use and it was really tricky to
install because you had to cut it
perfectly to shape you also can't remove
it once it's in so if I could do it all
again and I would have used Earth wool
or just any other type of wool and
insulation that you could just take out
if needed but having now lived in the
bus for several months at least the
insulation does work another thing that
was really difficult was I could never
finish a job completely so for example
with the insulation I had to leave room
for other things like this Skylight to
get put in so I never felt like I was
completing any job which made it hard we
then got straight onto the bed build
from Ikea we used these slats my brother
and I did this and we honest ly slayed
this completely it turned out perfect
and yeah none of our family was home it
was just us and so I guess we tried to
do as much as we possibly could this bed
beam system was super easy and cost
effective I think it cost less than $200
from Ikea and it left so much room
underneath for storage and in the end it
was also really really lightweight
weight is a massive concern when you're
building out a bus like mine so it was a
great system and I would definitely
recommend unfortunately after this
months passed again with nothing being
done and my bus did go to a water RV who
did my gas installation and they
installed all of my solar components at
least the ones they could do like they
ran all the cables and they installed
switches and they installed this hot
shower system but once again this was
about a year and a half in and I was
getting extremely frustrated and
mentally tired because I just felt like
nothing was happening I was paying redro
I was paying insurance but the bus was
empty it was unlivable and it was
unusable and it was really hard to see a
vision when the bus looks like this for
months on end I Was Defeated and
frustrated and I really needed my dad
and this is where he stepped back in the
picture he lost his job and he honestly
could have gone on a vacation to
anywhere in the world after having
worked for 20 years but he decided to
help me with the build every single day
for months on end so we got straight
onto the Skylight I wanted a skylight so
badly because I wanted natural lighting
and I wanted airflow and I wanted to
look at the stars at night time but
honestly this part of the build nearly
broke us there was so much fighting it
was so difficult we ended up using this
mastic ceiling tape to make it all stick
down and waterproof but the actual
process was so problematic because as
you can see the roof is curved so my dad
literally handmade this Frame that
molded perfectly to the roof I don't
know how he did it once again I was away
working but my brother helped as well
and the whole process involved a lot of
silicone and a lot of mastic ceiling
tape because
the roof just had so many curves so many
bumps that we had to fill so that in the
end it was waterproof but once it was in
it looked incredible and even though the
surrounds of the bus weren't done and
nothing looked finished I just feel like
the Skylight opened everything up
changed the mood and progress was really
starting to begin at this point you'll
see at the end of this video the
Skylight has a blackout blind and a fly
screen and you can see everything in it
and it's honestly just incredible thank
thanks boys for all the [Music]
help this is where I started to get
involved and I used this process that I
found on YouTube called a ticking stick
to get all of the nooks and crannies of
the bus because all of our shelves had
to basically be molded to the curves of
the bus walls this was really time
consuming but it's the part that I
contributed and then the boys were on
the power tools and I was on yeah
tracing and then painting
I went with kitchen and bathroom paint
which I'm really glad I did because it's
mold resistant and the bus does get
extremely humid in summer and yeah I
just painted absolutely everything and
here you can see the first shelf that we
started building which was the back
shelf over the bed the frame was once
again my dad's design and execution
because obviously everything needs to be
as secure and sturdy as possible but
this is what it looks like in the end
and then we got on to I the biggest
challenge of the entire thing we had to
custom make these wooden beams that
molded perfectly to the ceiling in order
to even begin to line the ceiling with
wood without these there was no way we
could install any timber slots to the
ceiling this process once again was so
difficult and it was a byproduct of
using the ticking stick method and just
tracing templates out of cardboard over
and over again to get these perfectly
curved beams my months previously I had
ordered all of this wood it's Australian
native Timber and it cost me over $2,000
but it's one of my favorite parts of the
build which you'll see at the end I
absolutely love it although it was
expensive it came pre-finished so once
we installed it there was no need to
paint or coat it in anything it was just
done which made the process a lot easier
and here you can see we just started
lining the ceiling mapping it all out it
was pretty simple for the most part but
the difficult part came when we had to
install the lights because we had to cut
the holes around the ceiling which was
quite difficult having to measure all of
that but I was so happy when this day
came it finally felt like the bus was
turning into a home I got these lights
off Amazon and they ended up being
incredible all of the lights that come
from RV shops all look really ugly and
they don't really do their job so I
found these 12vt lights off Amazon so I
would definitely recommend trying to
find stuff off Amazon instead of going
to RV or motor home shops because they
don't tend to have very aesthetically
pleasing things so that's just a little
tip but here's what it started to look
like and it looked absolutely incredible
perfect once again this was a job we had
to come back to we couldn't finish it
because we had to build shelves and a
bunch of other things so we couldn't
finish the ceiling but it looked incredible
[Music]
then it was back to jobs that we had to
do but didn't really make a visible
difference to the bus for example
installing all of the water fillers and
finishing off the water tanks and the
plumbing which once again my dad took
charge of and we tested it multiple
times and we did have leaks so
definitely check your plumbing and do it
all before you build around it don't
wait till the end because you can't ACC
it once you're done finally it was time
for the kitchen build so this was done
in lots of different stages but we
started off with the overhead kitchen
cabinets which my dad once again
designed he gets all the credit for this
and as you can see in this clip slowly
but surely it started all coming
together and it started to feel like
more of a furnished home than just an
empty metal shell the ticking stick
method was a lifesaver to make all of
these wooden Parts as you can see I got
it nearly perfect and then I was just
back onto painting finishing everything
off while my dad would do the physical
building and cutting of wood so we made
a pretty good team although I would
[Music]
work then we got on to the kitchen
cabinetry so normal kitchen stand on
legs but however this is obviously a
moving vehicle so we had to custom make
a frame which my dad made out of really
strong wood which got drilled and glued
really intensely into the bus floor so
nothing was going to topple over I did
insulate a little bit at this point I
started using the Earth wall because I
was so sick of the faboard and then my
mom and I put together the Ikea kitchen
cabinets which was my favorite part the
kitchen just always I love it so much
and we had to secure it to the back of
the bus as well once again just making
sure everything was super secure because
Australian roads are no joke Plumbing
kept getting done and we pulled through
all of the cables that had been run
earlier and slowly the kitchen started
coming together this is us doing a
little plumbing test there was a leak
here but we did fix it and slowly the
bus started coming together we went to
many Ikea trips and I picked out a bench
top I had to go with a thinner bench top
because at this point we were really
really cutting it thin on weight but my
dad didn't like this bench top but I
liked it and my sister and I spent hours
putting together the drawers which was a
process because Ika it's not as easy as
it looks but as you can see here I was
in the bus day and night because I was
just so excited I felt like progress was
finally happening and the day these
drawers went in was the best day of the
bus field I just felt like it was a home
that's what I felt I felt I could see
the vision coming together and at this
point I didn't realize how much I still
had to go you'll see all the challenges
that came up after this but this was
honestly so rewarding and it had been
nearly 2 years at this point so best day
of my life I'm someone who buys
everything on sale so I'd had all of my
sink stove and everything lying around
in my room and we finally got to cutting
everything out of the bench top to
install the sink install the tap install
the stove I went for an allh sink which
a lot of people told me I would regret
they said it would get stained and
scratched I did not care because look at
how good it looks I decided to go with
gas as you probably know from the start
of this video and to this day it has not
failed me I been traveling for months
bottle I then installed a splashback I
didn't want a splashback but I'm really
glad I did do it because the water does
kind of go everywhere and I actually
found these stick on tiles I wanted
normal tiles but I just couldn't do it
with the weight of the bus I found these
stick on tiles and they actually turned
out really nice and yeah in the end I am
glad I got a flashback but I really
didn't want it we then secured the bench
top and the kitchen was basically
finished and it looked
incredible here you can see the stick on
tiles I used they were really cheap and
super lightweight so definitely would
recommend if you want to go down the
tiling Avenue if I hadn't used these I
probably would have spent hundreds of
dollars on actual tiles and to be honest
I think they honestly would have smashed
on all of the dirt roads that I ended up
going on we treated this kitchen build
like you would a normal kitchen build in
a house in that we siliconed everything
I then drove the bus to a ward RV who
had done my gas and had run all my solar
cables and I got my gas finalized so the
stove worked and I got my entire solar
system installed including my solar
panels and having everything connected
to the wires the biggest thing I learned
in the bus build is that timing is
everything at the time I just was so
wanting everything to be finished but
having the bus build take so long meant
I could actually save enough money to
spend on a really good solar system and
a really good fridge you can see here I
went for a full-size family bushman's
fridge which has done me wonders and I
went for a really big inverter and a big
battery system and heaps of solar panels
and so far on the road I've spent no
money on powered sites because I can
live off- grid forever my batteries
never really Dro below 80% so although
at the time I was frustrated and it took
over 2 years to get to this point in the
end it was all worth it and I learned
you just have to trust in the timing of
your life although my solar system was
done there was still so much to do in
the bus build just small jobs like
putting carpet on places that I wanted
to be soft and padded and starting the
seat and dining area build the bed again
was not finished yet there was still so
much to go but at this point we were
definitely on the home stretch my dad
designed and built the seats and I
actually ordered way too much wood for
the ceiling but it came in perfectly we
ended up using it as cladding for the
seat and I think it looks absolutely
lovely and my main goal for this area
was to just have as much storage as
possible so as you can see here there's
storage in all of the seats and then the
plan was to put a table in between the
two seats that can go up and down to
make a lounge but essentially I always
knew I was going to be solo traveling
but I wanted true seats because that's
obviously really nice to have someone if
someone wants to travel with me and then
we got back through the overhead kitchen
cabinets because we had to finish them
off and we used these
latches at this point the budget was
getting really really tight so we used
the really old plywood that we had left
over and I spent hours sanding painting
sanding painting and filling all the
gaps to make it perfect and in the end
well I had these little sorocco fans
that I wanted to install so my solar
system was completely hooked up but my
dad was able to install all of these
little things because they're all 12v
and that was really helpful having him
be able to do that and we were then able
ceiling here is the footage of us
building the Wardrobe and fridge area I
know I showed it earlier but this is the
process we went through I used plywood
for everything I've seen a lot of people
use MDF but if MDF gets wet it expand so
we use plywood for everything and once
again the main objective was to just
lock everything down and make it as
sturdy and a safe as possible there's no
real safety regulations in Australia on
how to go about building this so my dad
just figured it out but everything was
screwed down s flexed down and held
together really well so he did a great job
job
this is him hooking up the fridge
absolutely legendary and I was so happy
with my fridge unfortunately I couldn't
get it in white which I wanted but I
think in the end black is really nice
anyway I wanted the Wardrobe to be the
same high as the fridge otherwise it
would look really weird and I actually
ended up using a fridge cabinet from
Ikea as my wardrobe so it was a little
bit tricky trying to get shelves and
rails for it but it looks fabulous and I
stayed on brand with the gold handles
and everything looked great my dad then
built this shoe box at the front so it's
got storage at the top for more clothes
and then little slots for shoes which is
so incredible I didn't even want this
and he offered to build it and I'm so
glad I have it because now I have
somewhere awesome to put my shoes rather
than just throwing them all in like a
little box or a hole and in here was
more storage for clothes back to the
finishing touches we put on the little
cover for the Skylight which contains
the black out blind and the Fly screen
and it looks incredible it's one of my
day my dad finished off the seat build
area and then we finished off the Obed
kitchen cabinets and put little gold
handles on them which I just got from
Bunning so they match the rest of the
kitchen which was looking incredible at
this point finally it was time for the
bed build we built this wall and then
there was a little Gap as you can see
because I was going to put a toilet
underneath the bed so this is my dad
manufacturing the door I had a little
bit of that ceiling wood left so it all
ended up working out perfectly even
though I ordered way too much I ended up
using it all up and this is him building
a frame for the second seat which he was
finishing off simultaneously to doing
the bed build so the last little bits of
woodwork were being [Music]
[Music]
completed at this point the bus food
wasn't finish but I started to buy
everything I need and start moving in
because I was planning to take the bus
to south Australia as a test trip
because I didn't want to start my lap of
Australia not having tested the solar
system the plumbing the water everything
so I wanted to go on a little test trip
so this is me buying everything and
moving in which was very wholesome it
day I then went to south Australia and I
actually got the bus service there was a
lot of things wrong with it around
$8,000 worth but
I managed to pay for it all and I got
the rust on the windscreen cleaned up
and although it was expensive I'm glad I
did this big service because now I feel
really safe on the road I feel like
everything's all nice and done but
definitely expensive all my hard work
paid off because I landed my first
partnership deal at this point and I got
a free mattress which was so exciting
this was just another step in moving
into the bus and getting it livable and
I was very lucky to save on the cost of mattresses
oh [Music]
oh [Music]
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