Hello again all you skoolie afficianodos out there. I would like to introduce my bus project. I call her Moya. She's a 1999, 40' Blue Bird TC2000 RE. Cummins 8.3TA with an Alison push-button 5-speed. She left school service in June '17. She came with several pages of maintenance logs.
The plan is a tiny home on wheels for full-time traveling and extended boondocking for two people with occasional stays at parks with full hookups. We're planning an extensive conversion, with full gutting, re-insulation, completely new interior, roof-raise (between 8 and 12 inches), RV windows and entry door, LED lights all around (with OHV flood lights), solar with 600-800Ah of lithium batteries, 100-130 gallon water tanks, composting toilet, propane, a sensor network and home automation system (tired of the term "smart home"), total repaint, and a toad.
Thus far, we've removed almost all the seats, swept out piles of trash the kids jammed down the chair rails, removed the external lettering, and picked up several tools needed for the rest of the project. Soon we'll have the seats out and can begin the floor demolition.
I've wanted to do something like this for years, and this bus fell into my lap, at the prodding of my wife who is totally on board with my crazy scheme. I'm not experienced in any of the systems the bus will have, so I'll have tons of questions as I dig into each project, but I'm eager to learn and build the motorhome of my dreams.
We're not on a timeline with this, thankfully, as we're full-time parents and both have day jobs. I estimate the conversion will take about two years.