I WILL make it happen!

[Roadschooldreamer143]

Hi ya'll! My name is Kat, my "hubby" is Josh and we have a combined 4 kids total. His daughter from his first marriage is Shayla, she is 7, then my son Ozlo is 3 months younger also 7, we had Levi together he is 2.5, and Emma is due end of September. We were attempting to make his dream of buying the house and land we are renting a reality for a farm but things did not line up and our ducks were on their own program. SO...I'm starting the exhilarating and terrifying journey into bus conversion land to get my family out of the stagnant 9-5 work to live lifestyle and go on some memory making adventures!

My dream is to buy a front engine bus, raise the roof about 2 feet with an additional 2 foot raised bubble window OR a 4 ft raise so we can put the crawl space bedrooms up top. But through these pages I'm sure I will learn what will and will not work! I have some mechanical and structural experience from my time in the navy as an aviation structural mechanic...I have been to paint and corrosion school and worked in that field for a mere 7 months but absolutely loved it. Husband has handyman skills as well as my best friend who was an aircraft electrician. Between the three of us I believe we can make a pretty spectacular bus...I just need to befriend a skilled welder it would seem.

Can't wait to get to know everyone and begin our lengthy process! Our lease is up in a year and a half but we may extend if the project calls for it!

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by Roadschooldreamer143

Hi ya'll! My name is Kat, my "hubby" is Josh and we have a combined 4 kids total. His daughter from his first marriage is Shayla, she is 7, then my son Ozlo is 3 months younger also 7, we had Levi together he is 2.5, and Emma is due end of September. We were attempting to make his dream of buying the house and land we are renting a reality for a farm but things did not line up and our ducks were on their own program. SO...I'm starting the exhilarating and terrifying journey into bus conversion land to get my family out of the stagnant 9-5 work to live lifestyle and go on some memory making adventures!

My dream is to buy a front engine bus, raise the roof about 2 feet with an additional 2 foot raised bubble window OR a 4 ft raise so we can put the crawl space bedrooms up top. But through these pages I'm sure I will learn what will and will not work! I have some mechanical and structural experience from my time in the navy as an aviation structural mechanic...I have been to paint and corrosion school and worked in that field for a mere 7 months but absolutely loved it. Husband has handyman skills as well as my best friend who was an aircraft electrician. Between the three of us I believe we can make a pretty spectacular bus...I just need to befriend a skilled welder it would seem.

Can't wait to get to know everyone and begin our lengthy process! Our lease is up in a year and a half but we may extend if the project calls for it!

Hey nice to have you here.
Friends definitely are a great thing to have with a project as big as a bus- if you can get them motivated!

Beer helps some.

[Dapplecreek]

Welcome, Kat! You might check out the two-story trailer someone did back in the 40s or so: it was a second level that was only a few feet high, for kids' beds. It was accessed by stairway along the wall to a 'hallway' that took up the space behind some false cabinets above the kitchen area. The kids could walk there, with knees-to-feet in the lower story (hidden), to get to their rooms, then they would crawl into their respective bed spaces. See

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqSHRJ5ke6g

Wishing you the best!

Originally Posted by Roadschooldreamer143

... and our ducks were on their own program. ...

Brilliant! [Been there...]

[cadillackid]

Originally Posted by Roadschooldreamer143

Hi ya'll! My name is Kat, my "hubby" is Josh and we have a combined 4 kids total. His daughter from his first marriage is Shayla, she is 7, then my son Ozlo is 3 months younger also 7, we had Levi together he is 2.5, and Emma is due end of September. We were attempting to make his dream of buying the house and land we are renting a reality for a farm but things did not line up and our ducks were on their own program. SO...I'm starting the exhilarating and terrifying journey into bus conversion land to get my family out of the stagnant 9-5 work to live lifestyle and go on some memory making adventures!

My dream is to buy a front engine bus, raise the roof about 2 feet with an additional 2 foot raised bubble window OR a 4 ft raise so we can put the crawl space bedrooms up top. But through these pages I'm sure I will learn what will and will not work! I have some mechanical and structural experience from my time in the navy as an aviation structural mechanic...I have been to paint and corrosion school and worked in that field for a mere 7 months but absolutely loved it. Husband has handyman skills as well as my best friend who was an aircraft electrician. Between the three of us I believe we can make a pretty spectacular bus...I just need to befriend a skilled welder it would seem.

Can't wait to get to know everyone and begin our lengthy process! Our lease is up in a year and a half but we may extend if the project calls for it!

welcome aboard!! this sounds like a heck of a project!.. are you guys going to full-time in your new bus and travel all over the place seeing different sights and such?
-Christopher

[Roadschooldreamer143]

Yes that is definitely the plan! Our two older kiddos live in Maryland and Michigan, husbands family and my extended family are in California and my immediate family is in the Seattle WA area! We can't stand not seeing them frequently so we thought this would be a Prime solution! Husbands ONLY reservation is steady reliable income. I'm more carefree about that trusting that we will always have work whether or not it's from a laptop or work camping!

[Roadschooldreamer143]

Originally Posted by Dapplecreek

Welcome, Kat! You might check out the two-story trailer someone did back in the 40s or so: it was a second level that was only a few feet high, for kids' beds. It was accessed by stairway along the wall to a 'hallway' that took up the space behind some false cabinets above the kitchen area. The kids could walk there, with knees-to-feet in the lower story (hidden), to get to their rooms, then they would crawl into their respective bed spaces. See

Wishing you the best!



Brilliant! [Been there...]

Thank you so much for this!!! I will look into it for sure! Any ideas and inspiration on the structural side of making it work would be so helpful!

[cadillackid]

you can definitely make $$ while not in one place.. perhaps my situation is different, but I am a partner in a company.. I write software, do hardware DEV, and such.. telecom engineering and wifi stuff..

My bus blew an Air compressor (brakes) on my way home with it from florida.. (in the middle of nowhere georgia) ive been down since weds.. but no biggie i set up my Mobile dev lab in a hotel room and its business as usual for me.. Video chats, conference calls, alot of my work is the cloud so I have 2 active LTE hotspots (one ATT one Verizon) and an inactive Tmobile I tossed in my bag in case.. so even though the bus is not running im still running perfectly normal...

find the right line of work and you can easily make a good living on the road.. esp nowadays you can pay bills, conduct business, etc all online..

-Christopher

[Roadschooldreamer143]

Originally Posted by cadillackid

you can definitely make $$ while not in one place.. perhaps my situation is different, but I am a partner in a company.. I write software, do hardware DEV, and such.. telecom engineering and wifi stuff..

My bus blew an Air compressor (brakes) on my way home with it from florida.. (in the middle of nowhere georgia) ive been down since weds.. but no biggie i set up my Mobile dev lab in a hotel room and its business as usual for me.. Video chats, conference calls, alot of my work is the cloud so I have 2 active LTE hotspots (one ATT one Verizon) and an inactive Tmobile I tossed in my bag in case.. so even though the bus is not running im still running perfectly normal...

find the right line of work and you can easily make a good living on the road.. esp nowadays you can pay bills, conduct business, etc all online..

-Christopher

I keep telling him that! I am going to look into school for medical coding so I could do that from "home" and he would have to go into an entirely new field as well because his work is government classified. I know we could do it...like...it's not even a remote concern for me lol. We're scrappy and smart...even ifs omitting doesn't go as planned we always find a way.

My concerns are rust, mold, wind resistance, proper seals, insulation, hookups, proper electrical....you know...the norm. Lol. My husband is handy and when told what needs to be done he can do it but I'm the one that can envision and see things before they are there and I don't just mean decoratively. Lol

[Robin97396]

Welcome Kate. I think you'll find a lot of scrappy people on here. It seems to be something to do with our need for buses.

Damn, it sounds like you two have got it made for building a bus. I'd say either one of you could get a welder and take care of that yourselves. It's not hard and you'll learn how to make a relatively pretty weld within about 15 minutes. Your lease should give you plenty of time to finish the bus unless you get complicated with it.

Let's get you guys a bus. You've got a couple thousand extra eyes to look for one now.

[Robin97396]

Sorry, Kat. Somehow Kate just flows.