A bus for Atlas
Welp. I bought a bus.
I live in a ski town up in Montana with my two year old son, Atlas. Housing is difficult, to say the least, but this is where our roots are. The prices are horrid and the avialability is limited. Small town. So...
I got in touch with a friend if mine. Her family owns a school bus company and hooked me up with a 2001 chevy diesel, 6 window mid bus.
I have done nothing to our beast yet. Aside from the seat bilts that came up easily. here are some thoughts for plans..
Considering we live in Montana at high elevation(7500 ft), we will need better insulation. Spray foam seems best but i worry about the application process. I plan to keep most windows. Will cover bottom half of some and possibly a couple full where shelves may go. Will only be adding some wood panels to the roof for now but ripping up the floor and walls for now. Imput welcome for spray foam alternatives? I want to keep space so no more than 3 inches of total floor height. With aub floor insulation and whatever wood or laminate i put on top.
I want to snag a wood stove soon, if i am not re-doing the roof insulation should i go for a mid sized stove instead if a small one? Do they keep us warm through the night on the -20 nights? I will have a space heater for back-up and such.
Im getting a generator this weekend but want to do a solar set up. I will need to power the space heater and a small fan for the compost toilet. My desktop mac and/or laptop. Lights. Maaayyybe a toaster oven if the wood stove doesnt happen right away. And to plug the bus in, in cold weather. How many batteries would we need for this, ballpark? 4? What type of panels would you suggest? I am fresh to the solar realm but most definitely plan to utalize it. I realize that we may not have the best sun at times but we travel a lot in the off seasons and summer months and can use the generator when necessary.
We will be getting a compost toilet and putting a sink with counterspace in as well. Hopefully all this will make it insurable as an rv?
Hmm.. I think that does it for now. So new to this. Lots of friends around with construction and remodeling experience so they have offered their hand but any experience in the skoolie world is so very appreciated! Can't wait to show updates :]
P.s. Atlas loves the bus :]
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