New owners want more rent than I can afford so I recently gave notice for the old barn that I was using as a shop/storage facility. Now I'm forced to figure out how to store all my sh..stuff. Two weeks ago I bought an old oilfield trailer, a 20' doghouse style mounted on a 24' flatdeck frame with 7000lb axles. paid $2500.00 and put in another $300 for reg. and to rewire the lights. My 1/2 ton truck is maxed out with this trailer empty so I wanted something else to pull it. Minimum I was thinking was an old 1-ton truck but I came across an ad for "camperized" propane powered school bus for $900.00 obo.

I answered the ad and brought a propane tank and cheater hose, drove an hour to where it is. We couldn't get it to start and soon realized there was a massive leak where the fuel enters the regulator. The reg. inlet was cracked. We ended up making a deal for $250.00 because of the no-start issue. I felt I could get my money back by scrapping it out if necessary but thankfully didn't have to. The next day I went out with parts that I have been saving for a possible 4x4 conversion and got it to fire up. The starter Bendix is weak and the Chev BB366 motor is showing lots of oil. It has a cracked exhaust manifold and sounds like the exhaust piping needs a good look. Tires are starting to show weather checking. The interior has a half-assed conversion done in it but that can wait for a while as I'm planning on using it for storage and towing the oilfield trailer for now. I do have a gutted late 70's chev motor-home with a good 400ci/t400 auto that I can use if this motor is no good.

Due to lack of forethought when I was younger and physical degeneration now I'm forced to rent. I don't have a place to move all this to as yet and in a worse case will rent some spots in a rv storage facility. I am hoping to find a small piece of land to rent instead. Plans are to make my bus and trailer self sufficient and off-grid capable. I already own an old 7500 watt generator that can power my welders and other tools, and have plans for a battery bank and solar panels for lighting.

Pics to come.

Richard

I took a trip out to the bus with some propane parts and replaced this piece;



If you look close you can see the crack. And the replacement;



It fired up pretty quick after replacement. Pics of where it was parked;





And after I got it back to the rental space;



and inside;





Time to start tearing stuff out.

Richard

The price was right, and you do have a back-up engine for it. Looks like a good start for a conversion!

Yeah, the price was right. I'm glad I didn't buy it for the conversion work already done, it's lacking in fit and finish and maybe knowledge....definitely not a pro doing the work. I've decided to gut the whole thing for now, and may or may not keep the fridge, stove/oven, and water heater. It all depends on how much room there is left over after putting in my crap. I have to figure out how I'm going to organize my tools and parts. Right now I'm leaning to using the bus for parts storage and the trailer for tools. I noticed the headroom is lacking in the bus, I can see why some of you have raised the roof .
I'd like to keep the stuff for conversion so I can use the bus for towing my cheap-ass race truck to different venues, but the mileage has to improve. It was a little scary how much fuel I used....a little over a liter of propane per kilometer . The steering needs looking at, it was a little sloppy, but no worse than my '54 chev one-ton flatdeck that I used to have. Well...maybe a little worse. I'll be fixing that before going too far. And I need to make up a receiver for towing the trailer.

Richard

PS; I'm looking for a little land to rent for vehicle storage. Just bare land will do, but a building wouldn't hurt my feelings. An acre or three within 20 klicks of Red Deer north. I need to keep the rent under $150.00/month. Any leads would be appreciated.
Thanks,

Richard

Your just a bit too far. I'm two hours north of you and always welcome skoolie friend's to wrench with.

Nat

__________________
"Don't argue with stupid people. They will just drag you down to their level, and beat you up with experience."

Patently waiting for the apocalypses to level the playing field in this physiological game of life commonly known as Civilization

Thanks for the reply. You're not toooo far, ok, maybe a little

Richard

I've been doing the opposite of everyone on this board and unmaking my skoolie. I've deconstructed most of the cabinets and have sold off all the appliances. I sold the stove/oven and hot water heater for $100, the furnace for $50, and the two way fridge for $100. So now my bus has a total cost to me of $0.00. I'll be ripping out the rest of the counters and then start figuring out how I'm going to make my storage work.
Edit; went over my records and sold the fridge for $200 so I made $100 and still have the bus for storage/towing.
Richard