Raible Designs

When is the bus gonna be done?

When I meet up with friends these days, the most common question I'm asked is "when is the bus gonna be done?" I've often replied "in a few months" and I've been wrong every single time. However, this time, I really do believe it's gonna happen.

... says the guy who thought his kitchen would take 1 month to remodel (it's going on 4 months) and his deck a couple weeks to build (it took around 6 months).

The difference this time is that the last part we're waiting on has shipped. The part is the custom-built rear suspension from Franklin's VW Werks. You can see some pictures of them building it here. When this arrives, Motorworks Restorations can finally start putting all the pieces together.

Even with this good news, history has taught me that in a few months is not gonna happen. Here's a timeline of events since I bought the bus back in 2004 (4 months before Jack was born).

• April 10, 2004 - [VW Bus] Could this be the one?: "Hmmm, if I could buy my dream car today and DU wins the National Championship tonight..."
• June 09, 2004 - Pictures from "Bus Rescue" Road Trip: "1500 Miles, 4 days, 4 quarts of oil used. Pretty damn good for a Volkswagen."
• October 15, 2005 - The Bus Project Begins: "With any luck, I'll have the bus in Mike's shop by December. Estimated time to complete body work and paint: 6 months to a year."
• April 17, 2006 - Off to The Shop!: "Estimated time at the shop: 6 months to a year."
• November 11, 2006 - Bus Project Update: "I'd like to be driving it around next summer, hopefully it'll be done by then."
• June 08, 2007 Bus Project Update: "I doubt it'll be done this summer, but I'm still hopeful."

Project Reset: first guy went out of business and ended up costing me 5K for his work and 10K to fix his work at the next shop.

• January 19, 2008 - Bus Project Update: "To start with, I'm going to have Motorworks do paint and body, and possibly suspension. Jeremy said they could probably take it out of my hands in March and have it back to me 2-3 months later."
• July 07, 2008 - Bus Project Update: "With any luck, I'll have it completely restored sometime in 2010."
• May 17, 2010 - Volkswagens On The Green 2010 and The Bus Project: "I don't know if we'll finish it this year, but there's a really good chance we'll be driving it to a lot of Colorado VW Shows next year."
• April 30, 2012 - Bus Project Update: "With any luck, I'll have a kick-ass new ride arriving sometime in June. In July, I hope to drive it in the Swan Valley 4th of July parade."

So yeah, I have no idea when it's gonna be done. I'm hopeful it'll be in a few months.

The Deck Project

In March of this year, Trish and I decided we wanted to build a new deck and spruce up our backyard a bit. After returning from an awesome Spring Break adventure, we asked my parents to stay and help us start our Backyard Project. In addition to building a new deck, we concluded we wanted some stamped concrete, as well as a house-side garage door so we could admire The Bus when it's done. We sketched out the design we wanted and went to work.

It took several days to remove the old deck. My parents and Trish did most of the work that week as I had a bunch of client work to catch up on. They had to make several trips to the dump to get rid of all the old materials. Then came the wood order from Lowes. We had too much to fit in any of our vehicles, so we rented a truck and picked it all up. By the 2nd week, the foundation was in for the 1st deck and we started screwing in the composite decking.

While finishing the first deck, we hired someone to pour two stamped concrete platforms and install a 2nd garage door. The stamped concrete was done in a couple days, but the garage door took 6 weeks to frame the opening, order the door and have it installed. Both turned out quite nice.

After returning from our summer vacation, I went to work on the 2nd deck and thought I could finish in a couple weeks. It ended up taking over 2 months. I figured out how to most of it from my Dad and the internet, particularly decks.com including the buried post footing, framing around a tree and sloping your deck. The framing and joists took all of August to complete.

In September, I worked on the steps and had a friend do the electrical work to install lights, which I bought from Deck Depot. This past weekend, I found the time to finish the 2nd deck and make it all look good.

Thanks go out to Trish and my parents for the old deck removal and 1st deck building, Ted Pepper for his advice, Ric Nepomuceno for his electrical help, and Lowes for all the building materials. While it's a little late in the year to enjoy our new backyard much, I'm sure we'll figure out a way to have many good times on it in the future.

For more pictures, including some night shots, checkout my Deck Project on Flickr.