Any tips you can give

[Yee_haw]

I’m a sophomore In high school and is planning on building a skoolie with 3 other friends, any tips or advice I should know before I go all in?

[Danjo]

Get insurance before you start cutting

[brokedown]

^^ and by insurance we're talking about health insurance.

[Sehnsucht]

Expect problems, plan on things taking longer and costing more than anticipated. Actually, that's just good advice for life!

[solvo]

Depends on what you want out of it. 4 young men could throw some stuff in the bus and call it done. At your age that is what I would suggest since young men are pulled in many directions. If you don’t get it done quick it is likely one or all will lose interest. Doing a complete thorough build takes time, money and perseverance. Either way you go, put the bus at one of the guys homes and make a pact to work on it daily. Sign a pact including agreement on what you all want out of it and how elaborate the build will be. Oh, if no mechanic in the families, find a good one before purchasing a bus.

[peteg59]

All of the above.
Tough to do without a good cash flow, (Job).
If you all have that covered, its full speed ahead.
Be prepared for setbacks mechanically as well as motivational.
It takes serious willpower to start on a project like this and see it through to completion.
As said, maybe go "spartan" on the build initially and modify more to your needs along the way.
Good luck...

[TheHubbardBus]

I have my doubts as to whether 4 high school friends all going in on something this big will end happily. Granted, that's the same advice my dad would have given me when I was your age, and the same advice I would have ignored when I was your age thinking he was an idiot. But at the very least make sure you're all 100% on expectations and responsibilities. Not that I'm age-shaming you (lol... is that a thing? I bet it is). I wouldn't go in on something that big with 4 of my friends now. And I'm over 50


If you do go forward with your plan, you might want to consider - if you haven't already - approaching any auto shop, welding shop, and/or carpentry teachers you may have in your school and see if they'd be willing to use your bus as a teaching opportunity. I did this with a car I had in HS. I - along with every other student taking auto shop that year - worked to turn my hand-me-down small-block Chevy into a 12-second sleeper. And that was with 1/2 of the class stoned. I could have probably hit 11s if it weren't for our proximity to Mexico

[Sehnsucht]

I don't know... I've heard of high schoolers tackling this same project before with success. First is the demolition, i.e. seat removal, and I think that plays into most teenagers' skill set anyways. The one I most vividly recall they just framed some wooden bunks in the back and left a few rows of seats up front, probably uses coolers and a camp stove. It's not the kind of skoolie I would plan today but when I was a teenager that would have been the extent of it. Plus, if they go to unload it in a couple years as they head off to college, it won't be much for the next owner to disassemble and then start a more conventionally appointed build. Now, if 4 high schoolers plan to build a Winnebago then that I have my reservations they could finish but maybe they'll surprise us all!