New to all of this. Please help

[BrandyDonaldson2035]

Hello friends, my name is Bae. I decided to transition my life to a "Schoolie" "Tiny home" for many reasons. Too many to put here in fact. But the main reason is that I do not want to wake up in my 60's saying to myself "damn, I really wish I had the courage to follow my dreams when I was younger".

I am single "for the moment-crossing fingers" so I am not sure I need a full size school bus. I was thinking a mid size would be fine. Not sure. Ideas?

Here are some questions I have. What are some good floor plans for maximum space saving?

What is the best Solar plan for self sustaining, off grid living?

I have two cats. I want them to be happy too. Is it stupid to drag my cats along on this dream?

composting toilets that won't cost my soul?

This is my most important question: If living on the bus full time, where do you park it? I have read that almost all full time RV parks do not allow busses. This concerns me. I want to do this like nothing else but I need to know that I am not putting my life savings into something that I wont be able to find a place to park and live. I live in Colorado btw.

Any advice or help would be great. Thanks so very much guys.

-Bae

[superdave]

everyones layout is different, personal to there needs. state parks are less likely to refuse you and cheaper. boondocking is what i plan on doing. get a big bus, mpg is about the same and you will need the room. pets are cool, i got 3 dogs that go with me. a good solar setup will be around 3500.00 use gas for cooking heating and hot water. good luck

[RocketMan321]

Watch lots of youtube video's. Tiny house, Vandwellers, Skoolie's etc. Lot of options and if its just 1 person many people in similar circumstances don't have or want a lot of space. And pretty much everyone has at least 1 pet. Watch the pos and neg video's see what people like and don't like. If it was just me, I'd get a 4wd van, or maybe a short bus. I'm doing the same thing, for lost of reasons, with a skoolie, and still in the "holy crap this is a huge project and I'm scared but so sick of the life I'm living" researching stage and I have a wife and teen age twins, so big skoolie for me.

[Scooternj]

Setting aside the "How to's", the biggest things to keep in mind is the "Where to": Where to store it, where to work on it. And the biggest How to: How to insure it. Once you have those three things checked off, *then* you can worry about everything else.

[cowlitzcoach]

IMHO, get the biggest bus you can find. The cost of ownership is virtually the same as the cost of fuel, oil, and repairs are pretty much identical regardless of the size of the bus.

If you are wanting a smaller bus because you want to do stealth camping that is another question. It is much easier to hide in plain sight something that is less than 25' long and less than 9' tall than to hide something that is 40' long and over 9' tall.

If you tastefully paint the exterior of your bus to mimic the high end coach type moho's the odds are pretty low that you will be turned away from any campground. If your bus is still mostly yellow with black stripes you will find it much more difficult to get into some private campgrounds and virtually impossible to stealth camp.

I know several people who never go camping without their furred friends. I know more than a couple of people whose only home is their RV and their cats live in it full time with them. You will most probably have to make them into inside only cats as you may have a problem if you let them out in strange locations.

As far as floor plans are concerned, only you can determine what is the best for you. This winter plan on going to every RV show near to where you live and look at every size trailer and moho. There are only so many ways in which you can arrange stuff in an 8x40 tube. If you start with the idea that you have to have a bathroom, kitchen, bedroom, and living/dining room you are then limited to how many ways in which you can arrange them in the space available. It will also be determined partly by what size and configuration your bus is. Different options become available if you have a full size emergency door in the center of the back of the bus compared to a rear engine bus that has only a rear emergency exit.

What is of greater importance is what you decide to use for your built ins. I have seen some really nice minimalist versions that worked really well. It was easy, inexpensive, and quick to build a minimalist version. I know of one person who started out that way just so he could get it out on the road to see what worked. He later went back and tore everything out and started over and did a more yacht type conversion that incorporated the changes he wanted to make from his first build. The second time instead of using salvaged pallets for construction material he used a lot of birch plywood for wall coverings and birdseye maple for cabinetry.

The hit to your life savings can be minimalized by being creative with your source materials. I would advocate not going cheap on insulation. $$$ spent up front on good insulation will be paid back many times over by the reduced amount of heating in the cold times and cooling in the hot times and general comfort all the time. You can reduce the cost of built ins by purchasing a dead moho or falling apart travel trailer in order to utilize furniture, appliances, fixtures, and tanks. I know of one person who purchased a dead moho who ended up with less than $5K over the cost of the purchase of his bus when his conversion was completed.

In regards to solar, this is another area where going cheap is not a good idea. This is an area that is truly you get what you pay for. Understand that every system on the market will never ever work at 100% of rated capacity. And on a grey day like I am experiencing today you would be lucky to get 40% of rated capacity. Also, from day #1 the system will degrade. Between the panels losing efficiency due to exposure to sun light and batteries decaying from use cycles your solar power system will never be at 100%. Which is why you will need to determine your daily power load and plan accordingly on the size of your solar array and battery pack. Even using gas for cooking, heating the house, and running the fridge you will still have a constant hotel load that will need to be supported. If you don't get that figured out well in advance you will end up with some very dark mornings in the cold (even with gas heat you will need battery power to run the furnace fan and pilot light for the furnace and hot water heater).

Good luck and happy trails to you!

[bamudd]

I'm in a similar stage, single, wanting to be more mobile, looking at busses. Trying to get my head around electricals at the moment. Solar vs generator and what all is needed for that system. Have no experience doing wiring either . . . and what is the best insulation to use?

[Carytowncat]

I am housemates with a lady Cat, and she loves it. She has her own door and comes and goes as she pleases. Nomadicfanatic travels all over America with Jax Cat.

Many here live with furry friends. My only regret is that i didnt do this ten years ago and save a ffffffffffffffff ortune. Good luck!

What state are you located in?

[Elliot Naess]

Buy a "pusher" -- a rear engine bus, which has a flat front like class A motor homes.
Completely remove all traces of pupil transport equipment. Invest in a nice paint job with typical RV designs. In other words, make it look like a regular RV.
Install proper RV plumbing -- RV flushing toilet and standard RV water inlet and sewer outlet. Electric too.
That ought to help on the campground issue.

(RV toilets work similar to airliner toilets. Absolutely never install a residential toilet in a vehicle.)

After all.... Blue Bird -- the school bus company -- builds RVs also, called WanderLodge. For decades, the WanderLodges were based on the school bus body. No real difference other than paint and details.

Make it look and operate like a WanderLodge. Heck... put a couple WanderLodge name plates on it. (Best if it's a Blue Bird to start with!)

And... Welcome to the forum!

P.S.: You could buy a front-engine flat-nose bus instead of a pusher. But it is heck to work on the engine in the tight space. And you have to climb over the engine cover ("dog house") to get in and out of the driver seat. There is simply no reason/excuse to buy one of these.

[BrandyDonaldson2035]

I am currently in Colorado, but want to find a place where the weather is a little more temperature stable.

[BrandyDonaldson2035]

Thank you everyone. Very helpful. I will keep you updated.

[EastCoastCB]

I find my FE very useful and well-laid-out. So to say they're useless or there's no reason to buy them is absolutely absurd.

[AlleyCat67]

I have to agree with EC on this..... yes, having to climb over that doghouse to get in the driver's seat is inconvenient to be sure, and the engine is kind of a pain to work on in that configuration, but that doesn't make a FE transit bus "useless". It just presents its own unique set of challenges to overcome, just like a RE.

[Elliot Naess]

I agree. I spoke too harshly about forward control (front engine, flat nose) buses. (I must have had a touch of heartburn. )

And I own one myself! I bought Millicent precicely because I wanted a "toy hauler" tailgate, yet maximum interior space.

But dang, she's a bahstard to work on. And that dog house becomes more annoying with time, not less.

[AlleyCat67]

Look at it this way.... that gives you incentive to keep her well maintained, so you DON'T have to deal with the annoyance of the doghouse.