For more than a year I’ve been on the road in Tasmania, a not unpleasant task, but the last month has been hell.
I’ve basically been camped in a huge workshop in industrial Rokeby, an outer-Hobart suburb where ‘The Bus’ has been getting a major makeover.
Since Day One rust spots had been a problem (one apparently shared by many Toyota Coasters … ) It came to head at the end of last winter when the awning began to fall off just as I was setting off from a friend’s place in Hobart.
Luckily, he spotted the awning sagging and managed to alert me before I hit the highway north. We managed to get the heavy fitting off without inflicting too much more damage, but it did reveal some nasty rust, previously hidden by the awning.
The original plan was to head north to the rust capital of Australia — Queensland. There, we were led to believe, were platoons of panelbeaters experienced in dealing with ageing Coasters. It was not to be.
Various work and personal commitments held me up, and I was finally persuaded to use a local chap. It has been an interesting experience to say the least.
Basically a one-man operation, the sandblasting, ‘bogging’, sanding (wet and dry), masking, polishing, etc, etc, all had to fit in around other jobs. hence the extended ‘holiday’ in this industrial wasteland.
It is now approaching the final stretch, some more wet sanding and a final touchup should have ‘The Bus’ ready soon to strut the highways. It is a dramatic new look, and all to be revealed in the next entry. Watch this space.
