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Old 12-08-2016, 10:46 AM   #1
Bus Nut
 
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Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: near Christiansburg VA
Posts: 692
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Freightliner
Engine: Cummins 5.9
Rated Cap: 44 or 66? 11 rows
A skoolie! No, a van! Now it's a skoolie again!

OK, the plan is to buy a bus to use as a moving van. Once there we would sell the bus. Easy: get a safe bus, and don't bother with any work on it other than removing seats. Maybe paint, if the states between here and there are touchy.

BUT... while my dear wife likes the idea of saving on rent, she *really* doesn't like trashy bus conversions. She loves some of the beautiful work some of you all have done. So, thinking about living in it full time once we arrive (well, for a couple of years, perhaps), I need advice.

Looks like insulation would be in order, as would building out a bedroom, toilet, shower, kitchen, desks, and a small sofa. But that would take lots of time to build after dumping our belongings at a storage facility at the other end. WHILE we're trying to live in it.

So I'm trying to be creative. Could we purchase the bus a year before we need it as a moving van, and do the conversion with the plan to still move everything across the country in it? You know, do the insulation, outside walls, floor and ceiling to proper specs, but everything else so it could be disassembled and packed tighter to permit travel with a bunch of boxes and a piano for moving? I'm thinking one *might* be able to do this, unload at the other end, then rebuild an attractive and livable space in just several hours (OK, a day or two) with a screw gun.

But the critical parts are:
  • We have a fair collection of stuff to move, including a piano;
  • I don't want to put my wife through horrible times in a cold and drafty bus
  • I want her to be proud of her living space instead of mortified with a trashy looking home.

Seems that an extra year for prep time and a few thousand bucks and we *might* be able to do this.

Thoughts?

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Old 12-08-2016, 11:31 AM   #2
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Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: So Cal
Posts: 3,227
Year: 1935
Coachwork: Superior
Chassis: Chevy
Engine: 317 ci/tid / Isuzu
Heck. half the reason I have a bus is so I can be considered the trashiest neighbor on the block. I find it lowers everyone's expectation of me thereby giving me much more free time to myself. Just kidding. Jack
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Old 12-08-2016, 11:54 AM   #3
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Location: MNT CITY TN
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I resemble that
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Old 12-08-2016, 12:29 PM   #4
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Join Date: Oct 2016
Location: South Western PA
Posts: 164
You need to stop and think a minute or two...
if you plan to live full time in the bus..do you really need all that stuff you plan on moving? How will you use it once you move and are living in a bus?

I've seen way too many people put 3k of stuff in storage 'for a short while' only to find they're spending 80/month for 5 years to keep it there- they end up paying more for storage than teh stuff was worth.

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Originally Posted by Dapplecreek View Post
OK, the plan is to buy a bus to use as a moving van. Once there we would sell the bus. Easy: get a safe bus, and don't bother with any work on it other than removing seats. Maybe paint, if the states between here and there are touchy.

BUT... while my dear wife likes the idea of saving on rent, she *really* doesn't like trashy bus conversions. She loves some of the beautiful work some of you all have done. So, thinking about living in it full time once we arrive (well, for a couple of years, perhaps), I need advice.

Looks like insulation would be in order, as would building out a bedroom, toilet, shower, kitchen, desks, and a small sofa. But that would take lots of time to build after dumping our belongings at a storage facility at the other end. WHILE we're trying to live in it.

So I'm trying to be creative. Could we purchase the bus a year before we need it as a moving van, and do the conversion with the plan to still move everything across the country in it? You know, do the insulation, outside walls, floor and ceiling to proper specs, but everything else so it could be disassembled and packed tighter to permit travel with a bunch of boxes and a piano for moving? I'm thinking one *might* be able to do this, unload at the other end, then rebuild an attractive and livable space in just several hours (OK, a day or two) with a screw gun.

But the critical parts are:
  • We have a fair collection of stuff to move, including a piano;
  • I don't want to put my wife through horrible times in a cold and drafty bus
  • I want her to be proud of her living space instead of mortified with a trashy looking home.

Seems that an extra year for prep time and a few thousand bucks and we *might* be able to do this.

Thoughts?
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Old 12-08-2016, 02:50 PM   #5
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Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: near Christiansburg VA
Posts: 692
Coachwork: Thomas
Chassis: Freightliner
Engine: Cummins 5.9
Rated Cap: 44 or 66? 11 rows
Quote:
Originally Posted by prof.fate View Post
You need to stop and think a minute or two...
if you plan to live full time in the bus..do you really need all that stuff you plan on moving? How will you use it once you move and are living in a bus?

I've seen way too many people put 3k of stuff in storage 'for a short while' only to find they're spending 80/month for 5 years to keep it there- they end up paying more for storage than teh stuff was worth.
Your points are valid and I will seriously consider what you wrote. We *do* have a duplex at the other end and expect to ultimately retire to half of it. Storage could be on our own property or on at our daughter's place in the same town (she's getting the piano). And it's hard to toss tools after a lifetime of collecting 'em. But... how much do we really need? Computers, a printer, limited kitchen stuff, a few clothes, and a trampoline.

OK, I was kidding about the trampoline.
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