Off-grid traveling family dreams

[proconsul100]

whats going on in here?

[Redbear]

I started a reply early on day one before the "interaction," but before I could post it, the entire thread was gone! And now it's back. I was going to post links to some projects.

An example of a rear "pull out" on a dog-nosed bus, which would not work on a rear engine bus, was "The Bus with No Name, yet . . ." aka "Lurlene," a beautiful bus built a few years ago by Reprobate. The build thread starts here, gallery here. There may be some ideas you can use if you do make slide-outs.

Elliot Naess' bus "Millicent," aka the "Incident Instigation Mobile Command Center" has inspired many roof raises. The build thread starts here. Wmkbailey's current build is also a good one to study.

And welcome. Like Tango said early on, I would say think hard about doing both modifications. But it's your bus, build what you need. Filter through the projects and suggestions, take what you can use and leave the rest.

[Stu & Filo. T]

Originally Posted by Redbear

Like Tango said early on, I would say think hard about doing both modifications. But it's your bus, build what you need. Filter through the projects and suggestions, take what you can use and leave the rest.

Actually I belive I was the first to mention it { in a snarky and snoooty tone while sniffing my own farts} If your a fan of "South Park" you know what this means

It's your bus , build it just be carefull

[Redbear]

Originally Posted by allwthrrider

[Actually I belive I was the first to mention it

Sorry, I was trying to remember what I read yesterday before the thread disappeared. I did not fact-check that reference. My bad.

[lgonzalez]

Originally Posted by Skip

You guys are gonna scare 'em off just with your bickering

Haha! me scared off? No, never! I think forums and bickering come hand in hand. And Nat, thanks for the reference and pics posted. We are pretty versed in custom automobile structures and have given a lot of thought into how we will pull this off. We plan on raising the roof of our bus by cutting all the steel beams in half, and simple adding longer steel beams to the already in place supports. We plan on replacing windows, so wherever a bigger opening is needed, we will reinforce support even more. As far as slide outs is concerned, I will have to get my husband to reply to that one. He has a whole plan in his mind. With his father and him working and owning body shops all his life, with the two of them, I trust that they have it figured out. He is also not the one to get ahead of himself and is humble enough to not tackle anything that he isnt confident in, i.e., electrical...haha

[bansil]

Sounds like a perfect plan!!!

[JakeC]

http://www.skoolie.net/forum/viewtop...=17222&start=0

Here is some more info on slideouts and a link to the one bus' photo album.

[JakeC]

Originally Posted by wmkbailey

Man I don't think I have ever heard of someone using tact and jackass at the same time.

I was using tact by not directly calling him a jackass, just suggesting he was acting like one. There is a big difference.

[Stu & Filo. T]

And now getting back to the conversion

[JakeC]

Ah yes...back to the conversion. I see you mentioned you have 4 kids. We have 4 kids as well, and I can say that it gets a bit tight. It's great for traveling and works fine during the day, but with the beds folded out at night it is NOT very practical. It works, but it's awkward and involves climbing over their beds to get out A roof raise and loft beds would be amazing. I can also see the need to expand your square footage. Numerous people have put solar panels on top of the their buses and I think it's an excellent idea, albeit expensive. Some have built decks to mount the panels on and aid in servicing the panels. I would like to do this at some point.

Also, checked out your website...very cool!! Very well done, as well.

[bansil]

A DECK for solar, kayaks, canoes and other things rocks

build a cat walk down center so you can clean panels and tie stuff down on the outside edges

I have wasted a ton of space since there is only 2 of us...figured that out this past Christmas...lots of folks take lots of space

[Sara]

Originally Posted by Redbear

I started a reply early on day one before the "interaction," but before I could post it, the entire thread was gone! And now it's back.

The thread was not moderated or moved in any way. Sorry you lost your reply; I'm not quite sure why you were unable to respond.

OPP: I usually don't moderate anything heavily unless I get multiple complaints. Or if the content specifically involves me.

[lgonzalez]

Originally Posted by JakeC

Ah yes...back to the conversion. I see you mentioned you have 4 kids. We have 4 kids as well, and I can say that it gets a bit tight. It's great for traveling and works fine during the day, but with the beds folded out at night it is NOT very practical. It works, but it's awkward and involves climbing over their beds to get out A roof raise and loft beds would be amazing. I can also see the need to expand your square footage. Numerous people have put solar panels on top of the their buses and I think it's an excellent idea, albeit expensive. Some have built decks to mount the panels on and aid in servicing the panels. I would like to do this at some point.

Also, checked out your website...very cool!! Very well done, as well.

Thanks! So glad you checked us out. Because this bus will be our "home" for quite a while, I wanted to make sure that everyone had their bed in a permanent state. I have a rough floor plan in mind, I just need to graph it out and scan it into the computer to post, but we plan on making the back of the bus a kids room, with the three littlest in there. We will do a triple bunk that will be in the slide out. The back has that weird bump where the motor is so we plan on making that whole back "wall" a built in wall unit with cubbies and shelves for their clothes and toys. With the slide out they will have not only their beds to play on, but a little square of space to get down on the floor. We will even have a pocket door to close them off at bed time (a huge must for our sanity) The loft beds will be for Luis' teenage son, and us. The teenager will have his own length wise twin bed space above the couch area which will be a slide out as well..our loft will be a queen space over the drivers area. While plans change, there is such little room I dont see how it will change very much. We also want to use the middle door as the access door. Anyone have any clue on which side is lawful, or does that even matter? All RV's entrances are on the passenger's side..is there a reason for that? Thanks!

[bansil]

Originally Posted by lgonzalez

We also want to use the middle door as the access door. Anyone have any clue on which side is lawful, or does that even matter? All RV's entrances are on the passenger's side..is there a reason for that? Thanks!

safer to get in and out when on the road...curb side

[lgonzalez]

Bansil

Thanks, I thought so!

[Alexlorraine01]

HEY! We are raising our roof as well on Monday!! Do you have your floor plans? I'm curious to see!

[bansil]

Any updates?.....helloooo~

[Stu & Filo. T]

Originally Posted by bansil

safer to get in and out when on the road...curb side

I think & this is just my opinion Rv's have all their doors on the passenger side or also called curbside for safety of entering & exiting away from traffic, also most are setup with hookups on the left so when setup at Rv parks your hookups are out of the way & your main camp is on the passenger side

[thjakits]

Hi all!

...any updates?

Cheers,

thjakits

[MuddaEarth]

Originally Posted by Locutus

Welcome to the insanity!
If you want solar panels and want them to actually work, you should read this blog thoroughly:

http://handybobsolar.wordpress.com/

I don't mean to hi-jack this thread...But,
This is some great information...Thank you!!