Because of the size of our solar panels and the space considerations for the roof-top fan, our deck is going to be 8ft by 8ft. In order to support the wood part of the deck, we used the strongest part of our bus frame - the hat channels. We attached 2" galvanized steel pipes to the hat channels to serve as the frame for our deck joists and deck boards. One of the reasons we decided to use circular pipes is because the bus has a curved roof, and in order to have a flat and level deck, the deck joists and deck boards need to be resting on level surfaces. No matter where we attach the pipes, the joist boards on top will always be level!

So why measure twice, cut twice? Well, funny story. We took everyone's advice into account when buying pipe: calling the store to make sure they had the size we want, they had a pipe cutting machine that could handle this diameter of pipe, and that the machine was working. This meant driving twenty minutes to a different Home Depot than the one less than a block away from our build site.

What we did not take into account is that the flange and the fittings add some length to the pipe. In the end, our pipes were about 3 inches too long. Back to the store!

The pipes were attached with elbow fittings and flanges on the end closest to the front of the bus. At the back of the bus, we used T fittings so that we could add an extension that we can pull out for exercise in the future. All credit to Meredith and Paco (proud parents of Gus the Struggle Bus) for this genius idea!