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Old 06-25-2017, 08:29 AM   #1
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jun 2017
Location: Minnesota 56143
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Hello from Minnesota

Hello all, new to this forum and this is my first post. I'm just making some headway in convincing my wife that the Skokie is a good idea. What would really help is finding a Skoolie gathering in the area, a show maybe. We're south mid Minnesota and would love to take a look at some conversions either in-process or finished (understand their never finished), I would also lend a hand if needed. Had some education and fun reading the posts so far. Thanks in advance...

Regards Steven

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Old 06-25-2017, 10:06 AM   #2
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Welcome

So what size bus are you attempting to talk your wife into? Your wife sounds like a reluctant camper. She'll come around when she sees how nice camping can be in a converted bus. And yes you could do nearly the same type of camping in a motorhome, but they simply aren't as rugged as a bus. I'm preaching to the quire.

There are some other skoolie owners in your area. They'll find your post soon.

Good luck.
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Old 06-25-2017, 10:51 AM   #3
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Robin well to begin with i am in the unusual situation of never having been on a School Bus the Yellow American veriety that is. i went to school in the UK and we just rode the regular transit type along with the rest of the work going public. my son goes on one daily but he's not much help in this process. So to answer your questions i'm planning on the Thomas pusher Saf-t-liner at 40'. I'm an engineer by trade and have a history of building, fixing, renovating, fabricating, improving e.t.c. so i would be looking at cost effective, modifications, technically and economically sound technology integration and a comfortable living environment. i don't like the regular RV route for several reasons one being the cliff type depreciation and rather light (as in not strong) build. looking forward to exploring some of the country, i generally only get to see factory's and airports...
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Old 06-25-2017, 11:20 AM   #4
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Welcome to the Madhouse! --- Sounds as if you have a great background for planning and building a Skoolie. Tons of great info on this site regarding powertrain considerations as well as opinions on different chassis makers. Best of luck on the build and please do keep us informed along the way.
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Old 06-25-2017, 11:27 AM   #5
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With your experience perhaps you can teach us a few tricks?

I also went with the school bus for the same reasons. I've seen a large tree fallen across a bus and there was still enough room remaining to crawl through the bus from front to rear. Motorhomes look like garbage piles when a tree falls on them. I like industrial grade equipment, and motorhomes do not fall into that category.

You have similar reasons for you bus build as the rest of us. It's clearly not for everybody. Good luck.
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Old 06-25-2017, 12:00 PM   #6
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i should also mention at this point that i LOVE solar power and anything to do with it. i like wind power and the local area is full of windmills, gives me hope for the future, not feasible on a bus though i think. so i have been running the numbers on solar and i wanted to be able to go self sufficient for 7 days (just a number i pulled out of the air). what i found was that AC during hot days is fairly easy but storing energy for night heating is getting into the 'unfeasible' or more precisely 'uneconomical' category because of the amount of batteries needed. However...

So i have been looking at hydronic heating and using 55 gal of water/coolant to store energy for heating. this seams doable and there can be coils from the existing engine coolant / cabin heaters so with an electric pump heat can be drawn from the 'store' and distributed. seams like enough to keep a sleeping cabin toasty for 10 hours. just wondering if this had been done before...

actually fossil fuel is much easier and with an enormous 'bang for buck' but i like to explore other avenues sometimes. this topic deserves its own thread and if i do go down the 'skoolie road' (pun intended) i will ask more questions.

p.s. using water instead of coolant would have the advantage of being able to dump it for long journeys or if it wasn't needed.

i'm in a rambling mood...
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Old 06-25-2017, 04:42 PM   #7
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Have you looked at the Webasto or Espar diesel fired hydronic heaters?

140k BTU/Gallon of diesel.
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Old 06-25-2017, 07:47 PM   #8
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PNW_Steve actually i have just finished making a kit that was a collaboration between Wabesto and my company to to make the Wabesto a plug and play installation on the machinery we manufacture. we did some cold weather testing but we were not interested in fuel consumption just heating performance. i think they are a great machine, a little speendy but great. I'm going to start a new thread on this so the info can be easier to find... watch this space (or the new thread space).
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Old 06-25-2017, 09:41 PM   #9
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why is wind poer not feasible opn a skoolie? our local energy companies have several rigs built on trucks that they take to demos.. each one has a solar array and a couple different windmill devices.. the windmills are on 30 foot poles that fold up and down. they lay alongside and are fastened to the rig. the bladespan lays against the sides for travelling. seems on a skoolie you could do at least 1 if not 2 of those. a lot of people seem to be travelling into wide open spaces and even mountainness areas where wind may be available 24 hrs / day.. to get 1000 watts out of a single unit isnt out of the reasonable.. have 2 of them and you are doing pretty well...
-Christopher
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Old 06-25-2017, 10:07 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Steven UK View Post
Hello all, new to this forum and this is my first post. I'm just making some headway in convincing my wife that the Skokie is a good idea. What would really help is finding a Skoolie gathering in the area, a show maybe. We're south mid Minnesota and would love to take a look at some conversions either in-process or finished (understand their never finished), I would also lend a hand if needed. Had some education and fun reading the posts so far. Thanks in advance...

Regards Steven
We would be happy to visit with you. Stop by.
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Old 06-25-2017, 10:35 PM   #11
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Originally Posted by cadillackid View Post
why is wind poer not feasible opn a skoolie? our local energy companies have several rigs built on trucks that they take to demos.. each one has a solar array and a couple different windmill devices.. the windmills are on 30 foot poles that fold up and down. they lay alongside and are fastened to the rig. the bladespan lays against the sides for travelling. seems on a skoolie you could do at least 1 if not 2 of those. a lot of people seem to be travelling into wide open spaces and even mountainness areas where wind may be available 24 hrs / day.. to get 1000 watts out of a single unit isnt out of the reasonable.. have 2 of them and you are doing pretty well...
-Christopher
Christopher
Don't get me wrong I love wind power, I think it's a great thing for the future but until we can get a reasonably priced solution that would work on RV's it's going to be too much trouble. I'm also willing to be proved wrong and I may also look into it at some point, I did five years in KS and was getting ready to put one up on my farm till I was offered another posting. I'm quite into sailboats and they are common place in that community. I'm also sure some people on here have them already. But for me the frequency of moving around and finding suitable spots and putting up with the noise is not going to work. There also not cheap and solar is coming down in price fast... I also think the brands such as silent wind aren't that silent and the yield may be not as good as an RV'er would find acceptable. Regards Steven
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Old 06-26-2017, 06:52 AM   #12
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I never realized there was a lot of noise with wind turbines.. my only experience in small ones has been the demo truck that travels around.. and of course its at fairs, festivals, etc where there is already alot of noise.. I agree the cost of solar is starting to get really reasonable in the $ per watt category. and as power storage technology advances, perhaps the need for generating power at night diminishes if you can make and store enough power in daylight to last through the night.. (even in winter).
-Christopher
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Old 06-26-2017, 03:49 PM   #13
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We would be happy to visit with you. Stop by.
Alan
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