Recreate Mobile Bookstore

Introduction

Hello friends, my name is Vasil Papratilov and I'm from the Bulgarian Christian Publish House New Man. We have a project to rebuild and redesign a mobile bookstore.
This bus is made to be a bookstore in 1997. The shelves and all the equipment you see on the video and photos is 20 years old. Things are beginning to fall apart little by little, so we want to rebuild it before we are left with no good to use base.

We started to use the mobile bookstore in 2010 and immediately refreshed it on the outside. You can see the before & after photos. We did all the work by ourselves. Now the work that needs to be done on the inside needs some professional skills, and the materials are much more expensive, so we would need some help.

The way this mobile bookstore operates is to stop in the center of a town, on an event or somewhere it would be in favor of as much people as possible. It usually stays on the same spot for a week. When we arrange the place to stay we drive the bus there. Then we take out all the books from the cabinets and the boxes (books are too many to fit only in the cabinets). The bus cannot be driven with the books on the shelves because they will fall down and get damaged. Finally we have to find an electricity spot from which we can take power. When the week is over we take all the books from the shelves and pack them in the cabinets and the boxes. Then we go to the next place we have arranged to stay and go all over again with the same procedure - unpacking, arranging the books and hooking to the power grid.

Project

The first thing we want to do is change the book shelves and build them on the both sides.
The current shelves are not enough to fit all the books.
The new shelves will give us more space and will be set in such a way that the books will stay on them during traveling. This way the books will be exposed for better view and at the same time there will be enough space to store all of them.

The second thing we want to do is build a place in the back for toilet. This will be a big relief for the person that is working in the buss for whole week far from his home conveniences. Here is the place to mention sleeping. Now we use inflatable bed on the floor and we think it is good enough solution for future usage as well. The bed is deflated and packed away during the day.

The third thing is to place solar panels on the roof of the bus. This will make us power independent. Sometimes we can not find electricity source and this stops us from being able to work in the later hours of the day when lamps are needed.

Costs

The money are needed for buying materials and paying for the labor. Most of the preparation work we will do by ourselves. Here are more details for the expenses:

• €1000 for the new electrical network - materials and work (This is not for the solar panels, but it includes it's wiring)
• €1000 for the toilet and all the work including metal (this includes the metal frames that will hold the shelves, the construction that will hold the solar panels on the roof, the reservoirs for fresh and dirty water for the toilet and other small stuff)
• €2000 for the wood working (this includes wood material and work)
• €4000 for the solar panel system (this includes the panels and the batteries for it)

We need to start the work ass soon as possible and we will begin with taking everything off. We will keep you informed with the ongoing of the project.

We will really appreciate your help. This will be a new chapter in the history of this mobile bookstore and you can be part of it. When we are ready you are welcome to visit us and share the experiance of the new look of the Christian Mobile Bookstore - New Man.