Thanks for all the help offered here! Really appreciate it!

Hello! So I was traveling in my skoolie for a few months and left my cat and dog with my dad, but they don’t really get along with his cats.

I would love to take my animals with me next time, but I get concerned for their safety and for the logistics of it. Do you put them in crates and secure them down while driving? How do y’all do things outside of the bus while having pets? Do you always bring them with you (on hikes, to restaurants or bars, to grocery stores), or do you leave them on the bus sometimes?

I had a break-in in my skoolie while in California, but luckily I wasn’t in it and my pets were at home, but I think about god forbid if my dog and cat were in there during a break-in.

Im between Ottawa and Toronto. There are a bunch of resellers on FB marketplace... But prices are high, and being in Canada, everything is covered in rust.

I see Ritchie brothers auctions in Montreal have a selection of busses, and national bus sales... Which has some selection...

Does anybody have any other creative places to get busses? Buying from school districts directly?

Thanks

This was a big step towards finishing my bus interior. My build is about 85% complete, but I'm living in it already. Trying to make it through the winter in Idaho! (Send tips on how to cover the last exposed insulation around the back windows. I've almost decided just to paint over it haha)

Ewwwwww. Wanted to start liberating the bus driving equipment like the gear shift and gas pedal, which was hidden behind a cabinet a previous owner built. I've discovered by careful examination of the painted duck on the side that this bus was used as a Bed and Breakfast, I'm guessing by the date codes on the plywood used to construct parts of the interior, it was renoed around 1990. I'm thinking thats why it has these weird 3 prong power receptacles (they look like the head end of a computer power cable).. so they could keep people from plugging stuff in and overloading the circuit, which wa always AC. And i think the wood stove inside was purely decorative hence why it wasn't connected to outside.

Anyway, I removed the panels for this cupboard thing they built around the base of the shifter and discovered to my horror that the massive rat nest that has been under the hood had somehow made its way into the cabin behind it. For some reason, you can see there is an open gap between the base of the gear shift and wood, so that's probably how they were coming in. The gap doesn't appear to be rust related, it looks like a pretty straight edge.. either like that way from the factory or deliberately cut. Maybe there was a boot over this at one time? I'm pretty sure I've seen that on other manual vehicles.

Anyway, the genius who built the box basically said 'ah well' and just built their cupboard around it without plugging that gap, and the rats then made themselves at home. This is why the bus had a persistent funk despite my cleaning.

I'm not too worried about hantavirus, though i did take precautions by bleaching the crap out of it, and wore a respirator. This nest is very old.. I don't think hantavirus lives more than a few days outside the body. After the bleach sets in I'll have to figure out how to get it out of there. They say not to use a vacuum but I don't see a practical way into those tight spaces (obviously if i went that route id use a shop vac situated outside and far away from me). I want this bus operating theater clean when I'm done.

Good morning all. I own a 2006 Thomas Saf-T-Liner HDX with a Cat 3126 and Allison 3020 transmission.

2 years ago, I had to park it in storage (in a buddies yard). I've gotten back to it and my buddy wants it gone. About a month ago, I found out that rats got into it. And my buddies dog got to the bottom of it. I've been slowly fixing everything. Doesn't seem like rats got too much of the wiring internally. However, something has chewed the transmission control harness in half. I'd like to get the bus going again. However, I'm so discouraged at this point because I'm not sure how to fix this. I'd rather replace the harness, but I don't know where to get one or if I could even afford it if I did find one.

Anyone have any suggestions? I know I could pin it out from either ends of the harness, but my fear is that this isn't the only place it got chewed through. It's fine in the dash and down through the floor to the frame rails, and it appears to be alright on the other end as well.

3 years ago, we bought a bus at auction. Kept it as a commercial vehicle and had zero problems insuring it through progressive.

We gutted the bus and had to put everything on hold for three years. Spoke to our agent about taking it off insurance since we weren't going to be driving her any time soon. Only had temporary plates from the initial purchase, so she was never officially registered since we gutted her in a weekend and parked her in a lot.

NOW, the time has come. We can work on the build again, but need to move her to the build location. We cannot get anyone to insure it to save our lives now. We aren't even trying to insure it as an RV yet. Still commercial. We've tried the big companies including progressive, who asked zero questions 3 years ago, and now they won't even give us a solid explanation as to why not, except my policy doesn't qualify to open a commercial account?? We will not be driving it again once it's moved until we are done with the conversion.

We called multiple times to get different agents, and one guy was really working hard to get it to work with us, but unfortunately the state we plan to move it to doesn't allow commercial vehicles for personal use. So we started omitting where we're taking it. But that has yeilded nothing.

I've seen on here that people haven't had any issues insuring a commercial vehicle for personal use, and that includes us until now. I don't get it and we are running out of time. Our lease is up and we need to move to the new location. What can we possibly do? We started this process months ago and can't find a solution.

Possibly relevant info: She's a 2000 Bluebird Workhorse, we are in New York.

I’m thinking about building a skoolie and I’m trying to weigh the pro and cons.

I want to travel to South America. Has anyone shipped their Skoolie to South America from Panama?

i will be living in this bus full time for a winter, in canada, sometimes in -40C weather.not often, but sometimes. but a good portion of the winter is -20C or -4F for americans.

i dont want to be waking up in the middle of the night every night stoking the fire(thats a tall order for a TINY wood stove) i will have a diesel heater backup. how thick are the "ribs" or skeleton that hold busses together? 2 inches?

im debating whether i want to extend those to 3" before i spray foam, i want this to be comfortable, not a hassle...

im okay with a fair amount of upfront cost(extra mods, extra foam) but i want long term costs lower.

any real world cold weather experience, with insulation thickness, fuel costs, comfort?

thanks :)

Hello everybody! My fiancé and I are getting ready to buy a skoolie. We watched a Chuck Cassady video yesterday and he stressed that the skoolie lifestyle is very expensive or at least has the potential to be.

We are wondering what your experience is in regards to the cost of living. We want to get away from working 9-5. Is that a possibility as a skoolie?

I'm in the process of figuring out my lighting for my build.

My goal is to have recessed dimmable and color adjustable led light strips that can be controlled by a physical switch/ panel at thefront entrance of the bus. I would also like to be able to control the lights from the back of the bus over Bluetooth.

Can anyone recommend a controller/ panel that fits these requirements and can run off of a 12volt system?

I didn't really notice this before because it wasn't an obvious black color, but I with different lighting I've now realized I've got some mold on surfaces inside the bus. The previous owners did not heat the bus and left it open to elements for quite a while. There is no drywall or anything in the bus.. all cedar or plywood. The plywood looks pretty clean, the cedar just has this 'beige' spotting of mold.

Is my best bet to hit with with vinegar? Masked of course..

Sorry in advance for so many questions! So today I brought power into the bus and fired up an oil filled radiator heater. I've had good results with these in other situations and they are relatively safe compared to other options. However, the bus is getting serious condensation on the windows. I think part of this was leaving the bus untarped last night which allowed a fair bit of water to leak in. Also, the former emergency exit opening which used to go to a bathhouse had bee quickly plugged by the previous owners and there was a large 4 inch gap at the bottom that was open to outside. I filled this gap in.. it is not insulated or vapor barriered yet.. that'll be next.

I took some time to look at the bus' interior construction. I believe this interior was done in the 1990s, not 1970s as the previous owners believed. Reason i think that is the table and chairs are partly of plywood construction and they have dates stamped on them of 1991. The insulation used inside the walls appears to be Styrofoam of some kind.

I guess my question is.. how best to tackle this and get that moisture out of there? We are in the PNW and it is raining cats and dogs for the next few days.

Many thanks! All the advice I've gotten so far is deeply appreciated!

i know.... everybody wants an old DT466, but its almost 2025, and all the busses available near me are from 2008 to 2012 era.

i wont buy an international with the maxxforce motor, i've heard too many bad things about them.
up here in Canada there's a lot of blue bird busses with the 6.7 Cummins and Allison transmission.

does anybody have any input on this combo? im quite mechanically inclined, but ive never put much time into heavy duty diesels. i can work on it myself, but i just havent spent enough time around them to know which ones to stay away from, or if there's any specific ones i should look for.

thanks

***EDIT*** i should mention im looking at full size, 13 window busses

Wondering how any of you fill up your diesel heater tanks, if you have a gas engine like we do. Plan is to have it secured in the bus, lock tight so there's no fumes or anything. Seen a few on YouTube with a similar setup in vans, but they never say how they actually fill it.

Thanks in advance

Any suggestions for a kitchen setup? My boyfriend and I are currently trying to decide on what size bus we want to convert. Obviously the bigger the bus, the more room we’ll have to develop a full kitchen, but we’re not sure we want to commit that much space, power, and money to that. I like to cook and bake, but I’m pretty creative with an air fryer and an instant pot. We do plan on cooking more than ordering takeout though. Just wondering what you guys have learned from experience :)

I live in canada, for you non metric Americans, where I live ranges between -40F in the winter and about 110F in the summer, so I NEEED good insulation. Standard max vehicle width in canada is 8.5 feet or 102 inches, I see all sorts of roof raise video's on YouTube. But haven't seen anyone widen a bus.

Im an ironworker, and welder by trade, so fabrication isn't an issue. so my first thought was to cut all the sheet metal off behind the drivers area and build a large metal box that sits right on the buses frame, and just go from there..... But I realized this is probably the least cost effective, and it would also be wayyy too rigid, as large vehicle frames tend to have quite a bit of flex, and a large reinforced metal box won't like to flex much...

So I'd like to do a roof raise, probably delete all the windows in the process, and just cut new holes for properly insulated windows, and fewer of them. But also widen the floor, maybe add extensions on each piece of metal that supports the floor, then plit the roof down the middle, separate the two halves by about a foot, and weld in new sheet metal and the support material.....

Has anybody done this before? Its a big task, but I have the tools and can figure most things out, but dont own a school bus to look at yet! Lol

Thanks

I've been looking for 8-9 window buses, they seem to have the optimal amount of space for what I would need. At auction I've seen them going for 2-3k. I've seen a few where one a-hole drives up the price a bunch to get it to 5k+ but I haven't seen too much of that

Well I also look on Facebook market place and I see those same exact buses with descriptions like "well I didn't have time to do the conversion, I haven't worked on it, and its sat for 2 years now, I'm asking 11,000 firm for this 1993 bus with 350,0000 miles on it"

Just venting really, but these resellers are evil.

After much stressing and biting of nails, I decided to go with the first towing company I caller's recommendation to tow my bus from the field it was parked in to my house, a distance of about 20 miles, since it doesn't run. It had been flat decked to where it was, and I wanted to go that route as it seemed safer. But there was no issue. The driver used a big wreck, aired up the tires and easily hauled it home. It looks small beside our house but now that isn't sunk into mud I'm suddenly aware of just how large it is.

I'm still concerned about the tires.. pulling it out of the muck revealed some cracks in the sidewall of one of the front tire. I'm wondering if there's a way to patch that, and provide UV protection to keep the tires from failing while I seek replacements. I have no intention of driving it on these tires, ever, but I don't want it going flat in the laneway.

Thanks for all the awesome replies to my post. I am a skoolie through and through now. Some day Big Blue will ride again!

I have been looking at building out a weekender van for my family of 3 and 2 dogs. I was stoked to read about short skoolies and have been looking at a 4 window Collins with either a 5.7 gasser or a 7.3 diesel (turbo and non turbo). What I have found is that the transmissions suck on the mini skoolies and mountain driving and long distance driving can be difficult due to the transmissions.

I’ve found a e350 high top with the V8 5.4 and 4 or 5 speed transmission for sale. I would be losing about 2’ of interior width, however it seems like the van would drive and perform better. Am I overthinking the transmission and engine performance on the shorties?

I’m a bit torn between which of the two I should pursue. My main concern with the skoolie would be unsafe drivability in the mountain ranges and low cruising speeds on flat land.

This past week I have been traveling the lower peninsula of Northern Michigan as I have done for the past couple years in the fall. This time I decided to go a week after the maps peak colors because I alway seem to be too early for the colors and it did not disappoint. While some of the trees were completely de-leaved there was still so much color and honestly the most color I have ever been a witness to, so enjoy some of the photos from my time along the Manistee river.

Golden Light above Manistee River

The weather played such a huge part in the beauty of these photos, the weather was warm but crisp and the sun was bright. This created the perfect sunset lighting condition that I was searching for this trip.

the view from the spot

The spot said no overnight camping but I took my chances, to be fair about 1 mile down the road there are dispersed spots along the trail that I would have gone too but this spot was just too good to pass up, so I made the executive decision to stay, can you blame me?

just a goofball and his bus

I don't think these overalls have ever seen a day of real work, but they have so many pockets that regular pants just can't compete with so I'm going to give myself a pass on that one.

I will be chasing the high from this view for months

From above the colors were absolutly insane, but I also rean into a real issue as one of my sd cards decided my videos should enter the digital void and completely corrupt its self. I spent a few hours and 90 dollars trying to recover them but alas, the footage is forever gone. At least I have these images that I will charish for the foreseeable future.

Just a peak

Full view of my spot for the day/night

boy dinner | tri-tip tacos

I capped the night with some tacos that I made in the air frier and some stuffed mushrooms, it was a good night with even better views. Thanks for reading and experiencing this journey with me in the middle of the Manistee National Forest.

Hey all, wondering if anyone has every put a reclining bench seat in as the driver seat to use as a futon when parked. I've seen plenty of double driver seat replacements and I think I want to go this route but having the guest bed as a bonus would be a huge selling point.
I have a flat nose and I'm really trying to incorporate the cockpit area as a "functional space" but I don't think I have enough room for a swivel seat as I've never seen anyone do it in a flat nose, pretty sure it would hit the wall
Any other ideas would be much appreciated, thanks!!

Alright, so I'm torn between a bus or a box truck. I've been favoring box trucks because of the amount of vertical space, and the fact that its easy to find a box with 8ft ceiling, which is just barely taller than an unmodified bus. If i do a roof raise on a bus to get that same vertical real estate, then I'm significantly taller, and to my understanding, that additional height puts more limits on where a person can travel (bridges, camp areas, even neighborhoods with trees lining the road)

I've also learned finding shops who can work on the box truck is 100 x easier as these are common commercial vehicles vs school buses that are often serviced in bus yards. Which usually means no public access to these shops.

Buses are still in the running though, mostly because of how big the skoolie community is, and how typically welcoming they are, and how affordable used buses are, even when school districts are selling them.

So the question now, how much did it cost to go full build on your 30ft bus vs the cost of a full conversion of a 24ft box truck (the 24ft build area is roughly the same as a 30 ft bus where a flat nose has roughly 25x7ft of real estate and the dog nose has roughly 23x7 ft of real estate.)

this would be for people who have built a nice sized kitchen, skinned their windows or changed them out to nicer camper windows, has a nice sized bathroom, bedroom can be kinda bare since I'll only be spending the time sleeping in there.

My thinking is box trucks are more affordable to convert since it doesn't need windows being skinned, no odd cuts so less wasted building material, easier to insulate because its a cube. But I could be wrong, and I want to factor in as much as I can before I spend money to buy a vehicle.