WTB Skoolie in MT, PNW

[Rachelreed09]

Hello!

My family of 5 is hitting the road this summer to see the country. We would love to buy a Skoolie to travel and see the USA. We live in Montana, and currently don't have a place to work on converting a bus ourselves, so we would like to buy a completed, or semi-completed, converted bus. We will travel quite a distance to purchase the right bus, and are open to any opportunities to get our family into a Skoolie for the summer!

Thanks for any leads!
Rachel Reed

[Robin97396]

Hello Rachel
There's a lot of talk on here about nearly every bus available nation wide, because members are scattered everywhere from coast to coast. You've got kind of a short timetable in mind for converting a bus. You could do a light conversion just to save time, like composting toilet instead of plumbed toilet.
What size bus are you thinking of? Lots of people here can point you in the right direction but you've got to have a fairly concrete idea of what you're looking for. You can always change your mind, but after a purchase it gets expensive to change your mind.
By now you've probably read some of the build threads here. What size bus do you think you need for your 5? How much are you budgeting for your purchase and build? Lots to decide about.
On the other hand there are at times completed bus conversion builds for sale.

[Robin97396]

I'm surprised that I don't see any buses for sale in your state and all the neighboring states.
This one was in WA.

Public Surplus: Auction #1816197

[Rachelreed09]

Thanks Robin!

I appreciate your message. We are actually unable to convert a bus at this time (but we are dreaming about future Skoolies we'd like to work on!)

We are looking for a complete, or semi-complete, 38' or longer bus. We looked at a great option yesterday, but the price point ($15,000) was a little high. We'd like to come in around $10,000, which probably means a very minimally finished bus.

I appreciate this forum, and your post, as we are (hopeful) first time bus owners, and while we are pretty excited to consider owning a Skoolie, we are definitely green and don't want to get in over our heads.

Thanks for your help!

[Robin97396]

You'll find certain threads here that will help you understand what to look for in an engine and transmission. It's good you're not jumping into it.

There are a lot of buses for sale on Craigslist from people that changed their minds about converting it that would be well within your budget. I've even seen some people on this site offer to check out a bus if it's near their location.

Good luck whatever you decide.

[deftone]

The market is a little topsy-turvy right now due to dealers bidding up buses at auction that would normally fall to people like us who like to do conversions. This unfortunately means your $$$ wont go as far as it might have before.

$10k for a finished 38ft bus is going to be tricky. For your budget I would look at strong mechanicals over the level of completion in the interior. There will most likely need to be a compromise somewhere.

[CaptainHooligan]

Contact Hartley's bus sales in Rugby, ND.

If I can't find anything real soon, I'm gonna be calling him up. He has fair prices.

[turf]

join some of the facebook bus pages.

there is:
Skoolie Converters
Bus Conversions For Sale

both have a number of finished buses for sale

there are few denver area bus sales, some finished, some partial.

good luck

[Rachelreed09]

Thank you all for the leads and information! I'll keep looking, and updating this thread as we go. We appreciate you all!

[PNW_Steve]

Hey Rachel,

Did you get my PM?

S.