Bus for sale, FL

[Diesel Dan]

HipHippie, I think your luke-warm reception was largely due to the fact that your first post on the forum was to try to sell your bus in the classified section. Most on this board are pretty decent and friendly folk, but my knee-jerk reaction (and likely others as well) was "who is this person coming around trying to dump this over-priced bus?!" If you are keeping the bus after all I suggest you start a thread in the "Skoolie Conversion Projects" section and show us some pics, tell us about your bus, your situation, etc. I think you will get a very different (and much more positive) reaction. Lots of helpful and knowledgeable people here. Also a few cranky and knowledgeable people!

...Oh yeah, "welcome to the forum!"

[lornaschinske]

Well, I'm not going to apologize for what I said. And the only sarcasm I found was from Frank-id and Hiphippie. And I wasn't kidding about Frank buying the bus either. I think he should. Anyone who has been reading these forums for any length of time will have realized that we are all building very customized RVs. Some of us are building to suit a very narrow need. Others are more widely adaptable. And others you just have to wonder about. None of us realistically do not expect to get anything remotely close to what we have sunk into the buses. Custom means it fits our own individual warped desires and/or needs. If we didn't want a custom unit, then we all would have bought a cookie cutter sticks-&-staples RV. Few, if any, of us are "saving" $$ when to factor in the $$, sweat and time involved. I figure that David & I will live in this BlueBird until the day they pry the keys out of my cold dead hand. I also intend on outliving David (my life expectancy is 92+yo according to one of those online age calculators). That is part of the reason we have been so slow about the conversion (and we're broke). Since moving in here full time back in Dec, we have made several changes. Now, it's only changes on paper, if we had been farther into the conversion (or completed) it would have been a pricey remodel since part of the changes have been to the floor plan. Part of these changes would not be suited for folks other than David & I. But there is one thing that many do not take into account... INSULATION! It's to keep the outside temps outside. Whether it's hot temps or cold temps, you just really need to insulate.

BTW, my reaction to most of the For Sale ads is "What were they thinking?". The majority of them are, to me, a "gut-it & rebuild" project. I just like my stuff to suit me, not other people.

[bansil]

Damn...well said lorna....custom is...
Well just...custom
Anything custom built fits the person who built it,it doesn't matter if it's "pimp my ride" 1988 escort

Everything fits a seperate person...those that make comments ,do so cause "it" doesn't fit their idea of what "custom"is

[Skunky Bus]

Originally Posted by lornaschinske

Well, I'm not going to apologize for what I said....

Lorna, that's OK, you just gave the naked truth in blunt English. I did think the ridicule on the part of certain others was, well, unnecessary although natural. As for my posts, well, they were blunt, too; sometimes I apologize too quickly.

I think I would get a whole lot more ridicule if I put an ad here offering to trade my stix-n-staples RV for a good self-contained skoolie.

Hiphippie, I had the same mistaken notions about the value of a skoolie until...um, I joined Skoolie.net. After reading lots of stuff here, my sense of value shifted to what a conversion's usefulness would be to my significant other and me...and to our pets. A good school-bus conversion isn't necessarily "cheap" to create - certainly more than you'll get back for it, but then again, considering what commercial coach builders would charge, I think is a good value.

[Russell]

He's got the mother of gas guzzlers and its old on top of that and wants 9 grand. Gasoline is 5 bucks a gallon he's gotta be a realative of Nancy Polosi.

[Skunky Bus]

Originally Posted by Russell

He's got the mother of gas guzzlers and its old on top of that and wants 9 grand. Gasoline is 5 bucks a gallon he's gotta be a relative of Nancy Pelosi

Back in 2007, bdavis441 wrote, "All of the people here [at Skoolie.net] are great! no attitudes, no BS. Disagreements are handled respectfully and the knowledge base is unsurpassed. Some of the 4x4 sites seem to be full of jr. high school kids with super smartass attitudes....Ridiculous! I think we are a different type of people here." What happened since?

[lornaschinske]

Originally Posted by timmylc

Just the thought, gets me all fired up for a new thread :P

Hey, while I am not a fan of the stix-n-staples RVs, our Class C has been good for us. I would even go so far as to suggest that those who have little experience in Rving and want to build their bus into one, would be well served to spend a year camping OFTEN in a cheap S-N-S unit that is slightly smaller than the bus planned on. I say slightly smaller because you can always "spread out" later and smaller because, you may find you really don't NEED a 40 footer! We have a 40 ft bus simply because it was for sale at the right time and the right price (we needed a cheap moving van big enough to hold all the stuff). Before we were in our Class C for a full year (fulltimers) we realized we needed about 4 more ft than the 22 ft (19 ft livable) we had. This was because we really did not like the "all in one"bathroom (might be good for weekending, but sucks for fulltime) and with a 12+ mile trip to get to the nearest laundromat, I wanted my own washer and dryer (not the Wonder Washer/crank wringer/clothesline I was using.... BTW, I can make it rain ). We started out listing what DIDN'T work for us in the Class C, then we listed what we DID like. Next was a list of what we felt we needed (like a washer/dryer... we still work and while we don't keep a more than 8 to 10 days of clothes on hand, I like to be able to wash clothes at night). After that we added a "wish list" of things that we would like but wasn't a big deal if we didn't get it, like a bigger water heater... 6 gal is okay but with a washer and a dishwasher (please, please, please) a bigger water heater would be a huge plus. We lived in the Class C from Fall 2006 thru Nov 2011. Part of that time was with a 3rd person (our daughter... July 2009 thru Nov 2011... it was a tad too tight... but doable... now she is doing her "stint" in the Class C to learn her needs/wants/wishes for her bus conversion). The dog and cat actually took up more room when we had them. But we lived in it full time thru several states (GA, NC, TN, TX, & NM) and thru all the seasons. I'm not sure which is more of a challenge... summer heat waves or sub freezing single digit winter storms. Insulated holding tanks are needed for both extremes. Thanks to the Class C, we knew pretty much how we wanted to convert the bus. Living in the bus with minimal work done on it has also helped us tweak our floor plan. I do abhor the poor construction and the cheap materials (which is also a learning experience). I do think that 99% of the manufactured RVs are unsafe to dangerous. But we sure did learn a lot so don't put them down too much. They do have a good service to provide. Plus you can get a feel for Rving if you have not done much of it.

That time spent in the Class C with all it's "RV" appliances is why we want very little "RV" stuff in our bus. I know some of you guys are putting RV stuff in your buses and that's fine for you. But after living with the RV stuff and having to replace some of the expensive stuff from RV stores that are far from us (always when we have to replace something), we decided to build our bus with components that are readily available from the big box lumber stores (Lowes/Home Depot) or places like ACE/True Value Hardware. It seems the "RV" stuff is 2X or 3X the price of similar "home" stuff and is not made as well. I do not put the Shurflo 2088 Classic water pump in that category nor would I extend the same exemption to their "fancy" more expensive RV pumps. A side note... My 30" home GE Profile gas oven uses much LESS LP than the 22" Magic chef RV range in the Class C (we normally used 1 20# tank LP per month - cooking only, now it's lasting 6 to 8 weeks and I'm baking/cooking with LP far more than I did in the Class C since we had a countertop toaster oven in the Class C). I had the stove and had used it very little since we were always gone so I kept it (I like the way it bakes). I wouldn't go out and buy one new (they are running around $1K for similar model) but I would buy a lower priced (used?) home range and install. Until we switched over to the bus and using my old gas range, it never occurred to me that the RV range was such a gas hog. I knew it baked poorly (even with the quarry tiles in the bottom) and cycled on/off often... but this is a big difference. Now the energy consumption may not be a big deal for those who only weekend, for us it is a big deal. This is our house and I would like to be as energy efficient as we can without spending huge $$. Sometimes our electric is included in our site rent, other times we will be paying it per KWH. To reduce our consumption is a priority, both for our pocketbook and I do not want to be an energy hog, thereby giving schoolbus conversions a bad name. RV stuff seems to be exempt from energy efficiency. You never see those little yellow stickers on them giving the amount of energy used like you do on home appliances.... WHY?

[chev49]

I think a washer/dryer is a great idea for rv.. whether it be bus or s/s. Dishwasher not.. with throw away plates, etc. mostly pans need washing... and millie does that. Also good idea to have extra things on hand like extra water pump, etc. Normal small gas range that my mom has in the apartment i built for her 10 yrs ago doesn't use any more propane than my rv stove.. and her oven is far better. so buying a small apt range is really a good idea.

[lornaschinske]

Originally Posted by chev49

I think a washer/dryer is a great idea for rv.. whether it be bus or s/s. Dishwasher not.. with throw away plates, etc... so buying a small apt range is really a good idea.

I loathe doing dishes. David merely dislikes doing dishes. We would go broke if we only used paper plates. Besides, we only eat sandwiches & "dry" foods on "paper"... waxed paper deli sheets.. so much cheaper than paper plates... 1000 sheets for $11.88 . and doesn't fill up the trash can so fast.


You are thinking from a "weekender" point of view. As a fulltime home, I prefer more "home" stuff in the bus.

RE: apt ranges... I have used them and I really liked mine (hated the one my mom had in the cabin). I would cook 25 LB turkeys in it for Thanksgiving. Last turkey I cooked in my countertop electric turkey roaster oven. I set it outside on the picnic table while I cooked pies in the RV oven.

[chev49]

im thinking from a weekend point of view.. but have been on road several yrs in the previous 4 busses, and always used paper plates... have properties on east n west coast, just gonna live in bus again when i get this one finished...
well, i will probably get another one for each side of the states...
we even use paper plates at home, with holders...
wal mart, etc is for trash...
as for washer/dryer... i was going to buy one of those combo ones from camping world, after having a stacking unit in last coach... but the discussion on the bcm website about them today led me to believe that the old 110v stacking ones are probably still better than the new camping world one... now i just need to find another, but the used ones are hard to find around here.. dont know how many gallons of water they use at each wash, but the camping world ones use 10-12 gallons... But... im not too worried.. i have almost 160 fresh water. n huge other tanks.

[lornaschinske]

You need to watch your height with the stacks. We had a 24" wide Whirlpool Thin-twin stack (110vAC Dryer) in NC. We gave it to one of my young cousins when we left. It could not be stood up against the side walls in the bus. So I have squeezed out enough space to allow for a standard top load washer and LP dryer (used of course.... Washer will set on the floor between the shower plumbing wall and rear wheel well... dryer will set on top of the wheel well and still allow room to build a shallow computer/printer "desk" off the end facing the back). I figure I can get a used set for 1/2 the price of a new top load washer. There seems to be a lack of LP gas dryers out here. I used my daughters new front load washer and did not like it. Hard to open the door once it starts filling with water to toss in that sock that was trying to run away! I also like to soak stuff overnight at times and I could not see doing that with the minimal water in a front load washer. It did wash well through. As for the all in ones, unless you get a vented, they take all night to dry a load. Even vented takes a long time to dry. I don't like what I read about them. It costs me $3.50 to wash/dry a load of clothes at the current campground. I have paid far more and fed the dryers extra quarters to get the clothes to slightly damp-dry in other places. That is the problem with using laundromats... you never know if you will get good washer/dryers or if you will simply wind up with damp still-dirty clothes. I now use the Shout Colour Catcher in my laundry. Works great to "catch" the clothing dyes from a previous wash. I've had several loads where a colour catcher sheet came out of the washer blue or pink and all that was in the load was white sheets. I've got a lot of paint/work clothes by washing in laundromats. Lots of bleach stains (when I didn't use bleach) or blue/pink dye stains on clothes that shouldn't have gotten it on. I run such small loads of laundry, I tend to wash EVERYTHING in one load plus the colour catcher sheet. Works for me. I will only use the washer (and dishwasher) when on full hook-ups. We will plumb the washer to bypass the grey tank. For me, a dish washer (18") will use less water to run a full pots & pans cycle that for me to wash by hand. I know because I worked out the water use/waste years ago for the Eagle. I measured water for two weeks to get a good average and a maximum amount as well. For now, I will build a base cabinet that can be pulled out later to install a apt sized dishwasher. Just have to find a used one (found a hardly used one in the Salvation Army store few weeks back but no $$ to buy it with).

PS: We don't like paper plates. We will stick with our old Corelle plates we used to use in our old popup.


Hey, we are building a Customized bus for US!!!!!!! To each their own!

[Skunky Bus]

Originally Posted by lornaschinske

...Thanks to the Class C, we knew pretty much how we wanted to convert the bus. Living in the bus with minimal work done on it has also helped us tweak our floor plan. I do abhor the poor construction and the cheap materials (which is also a learning experience). I do think that 99% of the manufactured RVs are unsafe to dangerous. But we sure did learn a lot so don't put them down too much. They do have a good service to provide. Plus you can get a feel for Rving if you have not done much of it....

Yes indeed!

The only "RV" appliance I'm seriously considering is a slide-in cooktop like this one:
Actually, I'm thinking about selling the range in my Winnebago and replacing it with a cooktop that fits the counter cutout and installing my home microwave in the "hole" beneath. The motor home has been in my family 36 years and its oven has never been used! A microwave would be another story. The "oven hole" is quite a bit larger (taller) than the microwave, giving the appliance plenty of "breathing" space. My girlfriend is rather short so a high mount isn't good. Mind you, this is a vacation rig, not a fulltimer. The kitchen countertop space will be about twice what typical small-to-medium RVs have. Lack of counter space is a pain.

The dorm/small apartment refrigerator size will be about 6 cubic feet, the same size as the RV's reefer, which has proven just right; I'm just not that into "Supermarkets Across America" tours.

Lorna, thanx for the heads-up about the height of stacking laundry units. That could dictate my roof-raise. Ironically, you posted that right around the time I was looking at them in a Lowe's store. If we do without the machines, I'll plan plenty of wardrobe space. My GF and I aren't into searching for Laundromats, either.

[lornaschinske]

Originally Posted by Skunky Bus

... The motor home has been in my family 36 years and its oven has never been used!

Most folks use RV ovens to store their pots & pans in. My daughter wants to replace the Class C's range with a cooktop and put a microwave under it. She is also vertically challenged (4'11"). She also uses the counter top toaster oven a lot. Great for a single person.

[chev49]

some of the late 1980 and early 1990's s/s came with the 110v 1 piece stacked washer and dryer.. The height should not be a problem in the 6'6" skoolies... One of my friends scrapped his 34' one last year... n i shoulda taken the unit cause it woulda been a freebee... However, i know they dry slow, and will only wash a small load,, but ... we only bathe once a year.. and wash a load of clothes every 16 weeks...

[syke]

Originally Posted by chev49

but ... we only bathe once a year.. and wash a load of clothes every 16 weeks...

I thought that was you I could smell.

[chev49]

[Bandit]

It looks like the forum was " Sea Gulled " by Hip Hop when She Didn't get a stampede of buyers for Her bus and was told Her price was Way Out Of Line , as She hasn't posted since March 10th .
Bob
Ps
There are a lot of good tips in this thread as to what works and what doesn't , but You have to read a lot of threads on here and flag the ones You are interested in .

[Skunky Bus]

Originally Posted by Bandit

It looks like the forum was " Sea Gulled "...

OK, I bite...Say what? I've "Googled" the expression "sea gulled," but none of the definitions seemed to fit and nobody else has asked.

[bansil]

My guess would be "massively shiat upon" that's what I think of from the old days of walking on the beach and seagulls fly over....people laugh and "look he/she has been seagulled"

[CHEESE_WAGON]

Originally Posted by Skunky Bus

Hiphippie, sorry your start here was rough.

Ditto what Skunky Bus said... I have been the recipient of such venomous rabble as well...

Originally Posted by bansil

I see things like "limo tint" windows and think..."damn another heat sink"

Originally Posted by Skunky Bus

I dunno...My girlfriend had a Plymouth Voyager with [medium-dark] tinted glass (people in it were still visible to outsiders) and it surrre made a difference in comfort for the person on the sunny side of the van.

You can be "brand new" to Skoolie.net and still teach the older dogs new tricks. How do you like the limo tint? Does it have a benefit like my g.f.'s Voyager mentioned above? It looks like "5gypsykings" didn't have tint on it and wonder if you got to feel a difference before-vs.-after adding it.

I know I loved it on my old B-700... I did 5% all the way around, except for a few I just spray-painted black because I ran out of film...