Raffle Bus 35 Update - October 20-23, 2025

2026 Jamboree Splitty

David Pedrosa, Mike, Russell, Miller, Wayne and myself spent Monday and Wednesday mornings trying various things to get the sandblaster working so David could use it to get rid of most of the rust on the floor and other smaller areas of the bus.
Monday was completely frustrating. Nothing we did seemed to work and we decided that the blast media was the wrong size, just too big for our blast nozzle’s tip, the only size we had. So I bought some media and more tips at harbor freight where the sand blaster came from and we tried again Wednesday. Still no real progress. So that afternoon David was able to locate some very good media of the correct type and size and I was able to modify one of the nozzles (thank you YouTube) and we came up with a way to join two compressors to feed the one nozzle and effectively double the CFM at the nozzle.
And it worked!!! And it worked really well!
So David spent about 4 hours in a hot sandblaster suit getting rid of the rust. When the tank would run out and while it was being refilled, Miller and Russell would vacuum out the spent media. We saved it and want to reuse it. But we need a sieve the right size to strain out the dirt and rust chunks first. If anyone has a real big one we could borrow, we would sure appreciate it. Sue has graciously said I can try hers if I don’t ruin it! Very understanding of her. I’ll do my best.
Greta came up with a terrific chili and salad on very short notice. Everyone loved it! Thank you Greta, you always come through…..
Russell and I will be back at it early tomorrow morning. The blasting media goes everywhere and has to be blown out of all the little tiny crevices and vacuumed up. It’s a tedious job but has to be done before we can prime the exposed steel or put rust converter on a few inaccessible areas.
So our journey to the 2026 ABC Jamboree has really begun. We’ll be having work parties soon, and start cutting, shaping, grinding and welding the best we can. This is a very special bus and we’re upping our game on this one.
I’ll keep you posted…. 
Author: John Manning