Long term living

JakeC · 07-09-2013, 03:10 PM

The first pic all I can picture is a bus rolling down the hill. The second pic you would have severe clearance issues, due to the long wheel base. The last pic would equal a stuck bus. They're heavy

bansil · 07-09-2013, 03:22 PM

welcome and those are "jeep" trails ..see heeps...... oops jeeps on them

they do make 4wd buses but that would be unnerving to say theleast

several kinda shorty bus's tygercub's shorty
http://www.skoolie.net/forum/viewtop...2010&start=315

some her pics are dead links she is the blue one beside mine

and the awesome dirty bus http://www.skoolie.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=6366

turf · 07-09-2013, 04:00 PM

i take my bus boondocking to the atv/jeep road trail heads.....

gotta say, im thankful everytime i get back to pavement. they are heavy. grades are steep and forget about parking level. my first camping spot was the worst. i thought i'd lose the tranny getting it out of there.

so far so good

i look for flatter ground now.

last trip out i picked up a trailer ball for the atv so i could park the trailer without the bus.

i got a 30' bus on a 15' wheel base, and that seems pretty white knuckle to me.

Malkieri · 07-09-2013, 04:52 PM

We understand and share your trepidations with a full length bus and the "short" buses as well. We did find a bus we think is about right for us and our dogs. It is 28' bumper to bumper with 20' behind driver's seat to back wall. It drives similar to the large U-haul trucks in my opinion, a bit slower but feels the same on corners and such. I do not know about off-roading with it though. This is ours as she looked when we brought her home.

Diesel Dan's got 1 that is eerily similar to ours, he has done a great job with his and may have more insight as to living in it. His build is here:
http://www.skoolie.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=4959

What do you classify as a Short bus?
What are you thinking for a Mid-size?

Where are y'all at?

Maybe someone here is nearby and you can go have a look at something in RL. We found an older conversion locally that we considered buying. We opted to go to the auctions instead but we learned alot just being able to poke around a converted bus. Our daughter is the only one that has been on a bus in the recent past. For us it had been quite a few years since we were last in a school bus and we were a bit smaller back then....

So it really helped to be standing and walking in a converted bus.

Good Luck to you guys, and let us know how things turn out.

Accordion · 07-09-2013, 05:23 PM

Those pics are definitely off road trails.

I certainly would not try it with a bus. Perhaps a 4 wheel drive bus, but buses are long and can get hung up.

Living in a bus is something many people do. Off road in a bus is something that I have not seen.

bansil · 07-09-2013, 06:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Accordion

Those pics are definitely off road trails.
. Off road in a bus is something that I have not seen.

Unless it girls/trucks gone wild....Louisiana edition

somjuan · 07-09-2013, 06:38 PM

I took my bus down a long unpaved road in Northeast Arizona, and it was not fun. It's an incredibly unpleasant ride, and anything not bolted will be jostled out of place. By the end of the road, my brake/power steering fluid had frothed up so much that it was actually having some trouble functioning.

lornaschinske · 07-09-2013, 08:03 PM

I think the poster was asking if rural roads that you normally find are okay for a skoolie. I think the roads pictured are the extremes that they will not be traveling on.

We brought our bus back on Needmore Rd (Franklin, NC). It was a flat gravel road with some washboarding. David says it rode okay..

Our bus is 40 ft. It rides just fine on primary, paved highways. The high clearance of the bus would allow us to put the bus in the small NF campgrounds like Sandy Bottom or Standing Indian. The roughest campground roads that we have personally seen would be Wildcat 1 and/or Wildcat 2. I would not suggest a low slung typical RV but have seen several trailers in there with flipped axles. I don't think a skoolie would have any problem. I would not try to get our bus up Warwoman (free campground) in Clayton, GA. Our jeep couldn't make it up the graveled road.

I rode 40 ft schoolbuses for a few years on SW NC mountain roads. Marshall, nor his son, had any problems navigating those roads.

inkblots84 · 07-09-2013, 08:32 PM

whenever we get our bus (fingers crossed I'll know something within the next couple weeks) we plan on boondocking in very rural and remote places.

Since buses aren't made for that kind of driving we'll be towing (4 down or on a trailer, most likely on trailer) something with 4wd so we can scout parking for the bus and see things we can't drive to in said bus

so I vote get a bus, and tow something you can go bumping around in

lornaschinske · 07-09-2013, 10:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by inkblots84

whenever we get our bus (fingers crossed I'll know something within the next couple weeks) we plan on boondocking in very rural and remote places.

Since buses aren't made for that kind of driving we'll be towing (4 down or on a trailer, most likely on trailer) something with 4wd so we can scout parking for the bus and see things we can't drive to in said bus

so I vote get a bus, and tow something you can go bumping around in

By all means get a towed, scooter or bicycle to scout out campgrounds, if you plan on staying in places like listed in Don Wright's Free and Cheap Campgrounds. For the cheapskate directories and websites, like http://www.freecampgrounds.net and http://www.forestcamping.com just to name two, we like to drive in

with the jeep to check out site lengths, interior roads and low hanging branches.

Diesel Dan · 07-10-2013, 12:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Malkieri

...Diesel Dan's got 1 that is eerily similar to ours...

I like the size of my bus. I don't live in it full time though. I have a family of 5, and although it's tight, it's manageable for a few weeks at a time, so long as we spread out to the outside for cooking, etc., and the bus is mainly used for sleeping, using the bathroom, and escaping the Texas heat. I don't think I'd get a shorter bus. If I were to move down in size, I'd be thinking about one of those Dodge/Mercedes Sprinter vans, or maybe a Ford F350 shuttle bus, or something else that is not quite as cantankerous as a school bus. Cutting off the rear end of a bus is something you don't see very often, but I can see how it would help if you wanted to navigate off-road-ish terrain and not get hung up. The "roads" you pictured are closer to trails in my opinion, and I would never dream of trying to get a bus down any of those. The amount of lurching with such a top-heavy vehicle would scare me off that idea. Plus, the inevitable low-hanging branches, etc. Getting a bus stuck, or rolled, out in a place like that could be a very expensive proposition. One of our skoolie contributers, Rudy, (AKA "Accordian") recently spent a hefty sum to just get his bus pulled out of a ditch on the side of a paved road.

Accordion · 07-10-2013, 04:28 PM

I forgot that I had posted that story.

Here is a link to the disastrous day along with more pics.

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=10764&start=435

bansil · 07-10-2013, 06:45 PM

Look!.................the horse don't care.....to busy eating

That picture still gives me the heebbee jeebeeess I have come close on some roads in NC

.
. Car coming at you....you can't swing front and you "hear/feel" the "clunk"....shiat....inside dual just dropped down.....I just chill.....and let the bus do what she wants.....then continue on...been lucky(I never hit brakes or over correct steering...just back off the throttle and cruise....kinda like "black ice" spots...just ride it out

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