Hi Guys,
We're from Belgium. Almost a year ago now we started developing the idea for The Nomads Bus (Thomas MVP RE 2000). (we tried to realise the project in the US, posted about finding a way to do this, but with your recommendations and no solution to be found we decided to ship the bus to Europe where everything is a lot easier for us to legalize)
What we're doing: Converting a 40ft school bus into a pow/wave-chasing hostel on wheels. (
http://www.letsbenomads.com) (
https://www.facebook.com/LetsBeNomads?ref=hl)
Private room, dormroom with 2 triple bunkbeds, kitchen, woodstove, compost toilet, shower, washer/dryer, solar panels (goal zero), deck on top of the bus, 8 seats for passenger (only front or rear facing is legal, no sideways).
And to top it off we're doing this in Europe, where it's a bit harder to get the right materials, knowledge and different rules about what lights and so on.
When the bus is finished we're going to chase the best pow and waves in Europe with stoked riders on board.
Right now we're based on a beautiful meadow, sleeping in tents and converting the bus in a very rainy climate.
So far we've stripped the bus from the ceiling, walls and floor. Right now we're trying to get the rust of the floor but wondering how much rust we actually have remove (wire-brushing) ...?
- For the windows we're thinking about using the same system as
http://www.hankboughtabus.com/bios/
- We're going for triple bunks, I saw one picture online of someone who did it and it seemed pretty doable + big space saver for us.
- The only place leaking in the bus are the hatches.. anyone experience with replacing these? What are the best to replace them with?
- We need to winterize the bus, as we are going to -20 degrees Celcius weather in winter. Do you have any advice for this.
- Is there really enough space for water tanks underneath the bus? I can't really imagine..
Thanks to all of you for posting your conversion experiences online, which def helped is through seat removel, ceiling, etc.
Hope you can share your experience with us, and if you're ever in Europe feel free to come for a visit!
Here are some pics of the conversion so far: