In pursuit of Skoolie life

[Gyps]

Hello all. My name is Amanda. I am moving to Denver from Nashville in 3 weeks. My goal is to buy a Skoolie and create a more self sustainable lifestyle for myself. Because I am a solo female trying to do this, I would like to buy something mostly converted. I could have a bathroom installed if needed, and I am open to remodeling. This seems like an insane thing to do to most of the people around me, but to me it makes perfect sense. I am thinking that a short bus or a van might be a more feasible goal since I am doing this alone, but then without a bathroom and kitchen it is not a true living space (to me)...so I am going to stay open to all possibilities. If anyone has advice, it would be much appreciated. I'm looking forward to chatting about this with like minded folks.

[Byrdanon]

I am thinking that a midsize is the right answer for me. Big enough to put in a bath with shower and still have a little "living space". The bus I am looking at has 17 ft behind the drivers seat. I think if i was going to live in it full time though, I would get a full size. Good luck

[Tango]

Welcome All Gypsies! --- Read as much as you can here, especially the "build threads", and you'll likely get an idea of what will best fit your needs. Just remember, everything has a price. A short bus is..well, short. Especially on space. Both inside and out. But...they can scrimp on fuel and there are a lot more places you can park one too. Big rigs will let you haul lots of stuff and have places for niceties...but, they suck a lot more fuel and they can be tricky to find a place for.

Take a look at some live-on sailboats. They have a couple of hundred years head start on making the most out life in the least amount of space.

Best of luck.

[Gyps]

Thanks Byrdanon for the luck. It is overwhelming to think about actually doing this, but I know it is what I want so I am going to start looking for something to purchase when I get to Denver. If you have any other helpful tidbits throughout your process please throw them my way! Thank you Tango for the advice! I will check out the sail boats and the build threads. Do you currently own a converted bus?

[Tango]

I am involved in a long term project. Resurrecting a 1946 Chevy shorty school bus and converting to a mini RV. 21 feet, bumper to bumper, but hey...there is not that much I really need to be happy.

Now my wants...that's another story.

[nat_ster]

Welcome

Like Tango said, read, search, read, search, read.

Everything you can think of has already been covered over and over again.

Starting new threads to ask questions that have already been asked, causes the good informative threads to get lost, where they can not be found.

I would like to see all new members restricted to one new thread per 30 days to fix this ongoing issue.

Nat

[bansil]

Hello, can you insulate the real little buses enough to still have room and deal with 9 months of cold weather?

Why Denver?

[emmaomaha]

Hey, Amanda! My partner and I just bought a 1960 shorty, similar to tangos in that it's a 21 footer.. It came partially converted, but it was done god knows when so it's still kinda like starting from scratch.. We scored ours on craigslist, not sure if going as old as we did in hindsight was the best idea, but when we test drove that bus I couldn't stop smiling.. It's an adventure! Big ones have more space, but with a shorty you can more easily maneuver and park it in a normal space.. Hope to see what you come up with!

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by bansil

Hello, can you insulate the real little buses enough to still have room and deal with 9 months of cold weather?

Why Denver?

Denver is GREAT!

[bansil]

only been once and didnt get out of the terminal, big mountains and snow