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Old 01-29-2015, 10:36 AM   #1
Mini-Skoolie
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
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Water and propane tank emplacement

(Sorry for my english, not my first language but i try...!!)

Hi everybody, i'm new here and have read a lot lately on skoolie, especialy short bus. Last summer, my girlfriend and I went on a 1-month road trip across the USA ( from Quebec city to SF then back with a lot of stops in National Parks and cities!) We did this with a small 2002 Civic and a Pop-up tent and had a lot of fun even if we were cramped!

So, I plan (one day!), to do my own skoolie. I already start to think about all the things you need to manage for a good bus conversion.

I have in mind to buy a Ford-350-kind of short bus because there is a lot of them in my area. Propably with a Dieasel engine after the many posts that i read on the subject.

I drew some floor plan and start to modeling in 3d ideas that cross my mind but i have few technical questions.

1- The size of the Fresh water, grey water and black water tank bug me. We are gonoing to be 2 in the bus and i'm not plannig to use the toilet and the shower a lot (try to use camping facilites). So what size are ''good''? Dont' want to big and don't wwant to small!

2-The propane tank emplacement on short bus without luggage compartment under the bus bug me also. I want it to be accessible but not in a ''dangerous'' area. I try to figure a solution but want to have feedback for those who convert short bus!

Thanks in advance ans sorry again for my ( probably to many) mistakes!!

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Old 01-29-2015, 01:07 PM   #2
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I don't know where your located but when I called around for insurance for my Skoolie the only place that would consider me was Good Sam but they specifically stated they WOULD NOT insure any conversion done on a van chassis.
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Old 01-29-2015, 05:44 PM   #3
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welcome aboard.
my black and grey tanks are 40 gals and my fresh water is 30 gals. I would like a bigger fresh water but it works good, we can boon dock about 5 days if we don't use the shower. I built a compartment that holds 2 20lb propane bottles.
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Old 01-29-2015, 05:57 PM   #4
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Welcome, your English is fine.

40 fresh, 35 grey and 17 black. 2 ppl. 4-5 days, shower every other day.
All elect. with an elec. heater, 120v air cond. and hotplate. Back up is port. propane camp stove, Mr. Heater Buddy.
5 group 31 batteries and 4KW Onan. No solar yet. 4.5 cf fridge on invertor.
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Old 01-30-2015, 03:22 PM   #5
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Thanks you all for the awnser/s!

So now that i know the size of the tanks, i try to figure their emplacement.

My idea was to put the fresh under the bed( so inside the bus), the grey and the black under the bus at the back of the rear wheel on the driver side. Does that make sense?


Also, after some research about the rules and laws for a bus converted rv in my area( i live in Quebec), i need to have propane install.

My idea was to only install a propane stove and every other appliance and equipement would run on electricity. Is that agood idea?
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Old 01-30-2015, 10:10 PM   #6
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I've got my 35 gallon water tank under the bed along with two 20lb. propane tanks in a sealed and vented enclosure. My 15 gallon grey tank is mounted behind the gas tank (I could put a larger tank in the space but 15 gals. works fine for us. To avoid having to shoe horn in a black tank I went with a porta-potti.
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Old 01-31-2015, 12:34 AM   #7
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This may make some people on this forum mad. However, I have seen far too many RV fires caused by propane leaks. On this very forum a skoolie was recently sent to the hospital with extensive burns because he had a propane leak in his skoolie. It is just too dangerous.

The odds are that nothing bad will happen. However, WHEN something bad happens it can be both dangerous and tragic (like death or lifetime injuries and pain). Give me 12 volt and 110 electricity anytime over something that can blow up like a bomb.

Having said all of that, there are many skoolie conversions on this site with propane. Actually, probably the vast majority. Statistically, you will be fine. However, I have a friend who is a firefighter. He has gone to too many RV propane fires on the side of the road with the RV a charred skeleton and tragedy for the occupants. I took his advice and swore off propane for my Crown conversion. I am not big on playing the odds with the lives of my family or myself. Swore off parachute jumping, circus trapeze, Russian roulette, and propane for my RV. Not necessarily in that order. :>)
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Old 01-31-2015, 07:17 AM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by bancdeneige View Post
Thanks you all for the awnser/s!

So now that i know the size of the tanks, i try to figure their emplacement.

My idea was to put the fresh under the bed( so inside the bus), the grey and the black under the bus at the back of the rear wheel on the driver side. Does that make sense?


Also, after some research about the rules and laws for a bus converted rv in my area( i live in Quebec), i need to have propane install.

My idea was to only install a propane stove and every other appliance and equipement would run on electricity. Is that agood idea?
Its really up to you and how you will use your bus, are you going to be hooked up to hydro or run a generator, are you going to have a hot water tank? a fridge that runs on propane? on my bus i have a stove, fridge, hot water tank, and a furnace that run on propane. As where your mounting the tanks that would be fine, just make sure there well attached, lots of bouncing back there, and you want the drain dump to be on the drivers side, better for dumping at the dump stations.
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Old 01-31-2015, 08:14 AM   #9
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Gbmarvel- The first option was completly electric bus with probably solar panel but know thath i know that i absolutly need propane in the bus to be considerated as an RV, i want to have only have a small propane system.

I will have the propane system install by professional for safety reasons!


Gbstewart - I plan to have a water heater, water pump, a fridge and a heater all running on electricity(plus all of the normal equipements). I will mostly do ''dry camping', but often go in ''real'' campground. So basically, i plan to have battery (Group 31 type battery), recharging via solar panel and bus motor.

I'm planning all the bus and the equipements to put in so i don't know yet how many battery i will need. I figure i will need 3 or 4 but not sur yet!
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Old 01-31-2015, 01:01 PM   #10
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A skoolie is no no different that a home with gas connected. Most don't, but every so often one go's BOOOM.

Run the generator off the propane, and use only electricity inside the bus if your worried.

Propane is the only fuel that stores for long periods of time with out going bad. Due to the cheap price of 25 cents a liter, I just filled two, 1000 gallon takes full. That should be enough propane to last us 10 years after our bus is done.

For us the generator will only be stand by use. This is also why I chose propane. No having to worry if the gas has gone bad.

Nat
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