I measured yesterday. From the back bumper to the front is ~25', but with the front mirrors (which I intend to keep) it's ~26'. I plan to add a small motorcycle rack on the back of mine, bringing the total length to ~28'
My sister came down from college for the weekend to help me cut out a subfloor section for the front of the bus! It has no insulation beneath, but the rest of the bus has 1 1/2 in pink foam board.
The deck!! My dad builds them for a living, and helped me out with this sick rooftop deck, which is bolted all the way through the ribs in 4 places
The skylight- I did this myself, and it looks awesome from a few feet away or more. It isn't perfect, but I think that I'm going to fall in love with the fact that my bus is going to look homemade.
This looks great. You're gonna have so much fun working on this thing, all the things you're learning now will be super useful later in life and will put you a few "practical" steps ahead of a lot of college students.
Do you have a full plan for the interior? Are you going to have a heater/AC? Bathroom? Water plan? Just like installing the roof items before putting a ceiling in, it's probably useful to install all the undercarriage items before putting in a floor.
26' feet is a common max length for Rv camping slots in National and most State parks. Over that and you drop down to 75% accommodations. Also your agility and practical parking increases dramatically for every foot over 25". I've seen many people that remodel a big bus and become disenchanted with the sheer size and weight of it. A big bus definitely has is awesome potential. Traveling boondocking and agility ....Go SMALL!
short busses are incredibly agile when it comes to turning .. my 6 window full chassis IH 3800 bluebird turns sharper than the dodge ram pickup truck I had.. by a LOT...
Hello! This thread is to keep track of the progress with my shortie bus conversion. I am a 19 year old college student based in Seattle, working to convert my 6-window Blue Bird 3800 International bus into a versatile RV capable of taking on road trips and camping, as well as serving as a potential living space for me during one or two of my next several years of college. My bus is named Ahote (uh-hoat), which is from the Native American language Hopi, and means Restless One.
My name is Matthew, and the assets I bring to this build are my spacial reasoning, creativity, mathematical skills, and passion. I have little experience with electricity, plumbing, engines, and carpentry; however, I look forward to learning a decent amount about all of them as I go! I'm hoping to have all the base work completed by June so that I can bring Ahote up with me to Orcas Island for the summer, where I'll be able to take it out to camp once a week or more.
So far I have been able to remove all the bus seats, and a decent amount of the flooring. The plywood beneath is in good condition everywhere but near the driver's seat, so I will be working to remove that seat (and the cockpit), so that I can rip out the rotten wood and repair the leak (which seems to be coming from behind the cockpit). I plan to leave the rest of the plywood as-is unless my father is a lot better at ripping it up than I am. So far I haven't even gotten it to budge.
I also have a 6 window international 3800 bus.
Do you have a floor plan? I had 2 previous floor plans before I settled on my final layout.
Linear Mode
