Post Hurricane Skoolie - Help Please?

[anndr0id]

Hi! Vandweller here, so a friend who lost their car and home came to me to ask for help because she wants to buy a bus. I have no clue what to tell her (I told her to look for an RV but they are pieces of crap for what she could afford), she's running out of money and about to be homeless, so I guess it's less of the fact that it's a bad idea, and more it's better than nothing.

She has $5k max to spend, and found some school buses online and wants to buy one and live in it (essentially mattress and camping stove at first) and slowly build it out. I don't know anything about school buses and I've tried to do some research but honestly I felt like I could ask and get better info than what I could cobble together myself in one night to write up for her.

What's the minimum one would need to go from school bus to something they could live in (in the Carolina Fall heat), and is it really even plausible for that amount of money? Couldn't find existing conversions anywhere close. I assume even the initial task of getting all the seats out isn't easy. I also was thinking that if it's going to be her primary vehicle, I know the big ones get like 10mpg. So secondly, is there a model or size you'd recommend that's going to be find-able at that price but still doesn't get too bad milage and would be more likely to be mechanically sound?

We are in the southeast, and have just found things on Craigslist at the time.

Thank you sooo much for any answers and your time, you all are awesome! I'm still doing as much research as possible myself.

[magnakansas]

I think you could find a short bus that is already able to be lived in. Here is how I find stuff I am looking for on craigslist, go to the menue and pick state, then one by one go through each town/city/region listing and on the top left menu type the word bus.... then select the thing that says "bus in for sale" and scroll through and look. takes time but there are buses out there that can be had.

william

[magnakansas]

https://hickory.craigslist.org/rvs/d...684459123.html

[hollywood]

Don't freak out about taking seats out, any one with wrenches can do it. It will take very little work for someone to have a dry roof over there head with a bed and cooking(like you said, camp stove). Running water will be a little more work, but storage containers or 5 gal. buckets are fine if its a emergency deal. Search "Hurricane Toilet", I have a bus for sale, PM for details if she is interested. I'm in VA, have family and friends in NC, you guys got hit hard, prayers still.

[hollywood]

this may be a great deal for her, the one in Hickory

[Booyah45828]

Originally Posted by magnakansas

https://hickory.craigslist.org/rvs/d...684459123.html

I would seriously consider this. Although taking seats out is uncomplicated(I wouldn't call it easy), it is work that I would skip in a heartbeat.

That and the heat pump and generator are an added bonus.

[dan-fox]

Man, someone should jump on that! If the generator is a diesel, you could strip it out, keep it, and sell the bus for what you paid easily enough. Good bus for a post-apocalyptic lifestyle.

For the record, the method that MagnaKansas outlined for doing national CL searches is fine, but a quick Google on "craigslist search engine" yields the following:

"SearchTempest: Search all of Craigslist nationwide & morehttps://www.searchtempest.com/

Search by state, driving distance, or just search all of craigslist*, eBay and more. The most trusted classifieds search engine. *Not affiliated with craigslist.

Craigslist Search Engine: Easily Search ALL of Craigslist
zoomthelist.com/
Want to search ALL of Craigslist at once? Or do you want to search an entire state at once? ZoomTheList is the Craigslist search engine you've been looking for.

All of Craigslist
All of Craigslist
The easy way to search all of Craigslist pages in craigslist.org."

Handy stuff. I use searchtempest, myself.

[dan-fox]

Hmmph. Sorry for all that useless whitespace showing up. Next time I'll pass the text through a text editor and try to scrub it a little better.


Edit: I edited! No more useless whitespace.

[magnakansas]

I used to use those same search methods, although much more mundane, going city by city yields more targets. I am not faster but I am able to be more thorough.

william

[NotAClue]

Forgot all about search tempest, use to use it years ago!! Hunting for bus myself but do not want to have to drive it across nation to get it home- I am 14 miles from the ocean in Oregon so ruling out East Coast and Midwest. Book marked it, thank you for info!