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I thought I was having a normal day living in my bus…

One of the funny things about living in a bus is that you never really know what the day is going to bring.

Some days are quiet. You make coffee, do a few jobs, enjoy the view, and feel pretty pleased with your little home on wheels.

Other days…

You find water where water absolutely should not be.

And then suddenly your plans for the day disappear because you are pulling apart your home trying to work out what is going on.

That was this day.

I started the morning thinking I was going to show you a normal day living in my Toyota Coaster bus.

Instead, I ended up discovering a leak, pulling apart parts of the interior, finding damaged insulation, and starting what would become a much bigger investigation.

Welcome to bus life.

This article focuses on how I began tracking down the leak. If you’d rather experience the whole chaotic day as it happened—including looking after Mum, running out of water, and pulling half the bus apart—you can read the original story here:

👉 A Normal Day Living in My Bus… Until Everything Started Leaking

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A normal morning in my bus (until it wasn’t)

At the moment, my bus is parked on my brother’s property while I’m helping look after my mum.

Life in the bus has settled into a pretty comfortable routine.

Coffee first.

Checking the solar.

Making sure everything is working.

Looking after water supplies.

The usual off-grid living jobs.

I’d recently finished my bathroom renovation, which completely transformed this little space into something I actually love using.

(You can read about that renovation here: [link to bathroom renovation cluster])

Everything was going well.

Until I noticed something wasn’t right.

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The first sign something was wrong

I started noticing water collecting down in the footwell area at the front of the bus.

At first, I wasn’t even sure what I was looking at.

Was it a spill?

Was something leaking from inside?

Was it coming from the plumbing?

But then I found water on both sides.

That changed everything.

This wasn’t just a random puddle.

Something was getting into my bus.

And I had no idea where.

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The investigation begins

The first suspect was the windscreen.

I had recently had the windscreen removed while we repaired rust around the front of the bus, so it immediately became a possibility.

Could the windscreen seal be leaking?

It seemed possible.

But water leaks in vehicles are sneaky.

The place where you see water is often nowhere near where it actually entered.

So I started pulling things apart.

Because apparently that is what I do now.

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Pulling apart my home to find the problem

One of the realities of renovating while living in your bus is that every repair creates chaos.

To investigate the leak, I had to remove:

• Interior panels
• Storage areas
• Trim
• Insulation

And once I started pulling things apart, I found evidence that this wasn’t a brand new problem.

Some of the insulation had clearly been wet for a long time.

It was deteriorated.

It smelled.

And it needed replacing.

Which raised another question:

How long had this leak actually been happening?

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Finding the possible source

After removing sections of the interior, I started testing different areas.

Water appeared to be coming from around the windscreen area.

But I still wasn’t completely convinced.

There were too many possibilities:

• Windscreen seal
• Rust damage
• Air conditioning drains
• Other entry points around the front of the bus

The frustrating thing about water leaks is that they don’t always behave logically.

Water can travel along metal, behind panels, and through tiny gaps before finally appearing somewhere completely unexpected.

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The problem with fixing leaks in an old bus

This is one of those jobs where there is no simple answer.

With a brand new vehicle, you might replace a seal and move on.

With an older bus conversion, every repair leads to another question.

Where has water been sitting?

Has it caused rust?

Has it damaged insulation?

Has it affected anything hidden behind the walls?

The only way to know is to investigate.

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What happens next?

At this point, I knew I had a leak.

I suspected the windscreen.

But I definitely didn’t have the answer yet.

The next step was going to be working through all the possibilities and using your suggestions to try to track down exactly where the water was coming from.

Because one thing I’ve learned from renovating this bus:

The people watching often spot things I miss.

And this leak was about to become a team investigation.

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Watch the video

Prefer watching the chaos rather than reading about it?

You can see the full story here:

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Follow the mystery

This leak turned into a whole series of investigations, repairs, and testing.

Continue the story:

coming soon

➡️ Part 2: Can Your Comments Solve My Bus Leak? Testing Every Possible Cause
➡️ Part 3: More Leak Testing, Talcum Powder Tricks & Chasing Water Trails
➡️ Part 4: The Leak Finally Revealed? Finding the Real Problem
➡️ Part 5: Repairing the Damage and Moving Forward

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Have you had a mystery leak?

If you have ever chased water through a vehicle, I’d love to hear your story.

Where did the water actually come from?

And how long did it take you to find it?

Let me know in the comments — because clearly I need all the help I can get!

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Related Posts

Related posts block at bottom:
Use a Query Loop filtered to:

• Category: Bus Build
• Tag: Water Leak / Rust Repair

Internal links to add later:

• Bathroom renovation cluster
• Ceiling renovation cluster
• Solar setup cluster
• Bus Build Index