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Old 06-10-2012, 03:19 AM   #1
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Re: New Skoolie 1986 Ford/Thomas short-bus

that should make a nice camper. with low mileage it should last a long time.

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Old 06-10-2012, 09:55 AM   #2
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Re: New Skoolie 1986 Ford/Thomas short-bus

I don't think I've seen a short bust with a 460 before. Good find.
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Old 06-10-2012, 03:11 PM   #3
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Re: New Skoolie 1986 Ford/Thomas short-bus

They're common enough, though usually as shuttles, not mini skoolies. I suggest 50A electrics...much more flexible.
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Old 06-10-2012, 05:28 PM   #4
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Re: New Skoolie 1986 Ford/Thomas short-bus

u can take a hair dryer to take the lettering off the side.without any sanding on her....or a heat gun from ace
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Old 06-11-2012, 09:19 PM   #5
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Re: New Skoolie 1986 Ford/Thomas short-bus

Depends on how you intend to use your bus. If you'll always be camping in RV parks, AC only with no batteries will be fine. The advantage of having batteries and DC lights and appliances is you can park most anywhere and still be able to run your stuff. Air conditioners pretty much require AC power but most everything else can potentially be run off DC power. For us, 30 amp service is plenty.

We intend to do a fair amount of boondocking or wallydocking so I'm going mostly DC with the option to hook up to AC shore power primarily to keep the batteries charged. Our water heater will be AC/propane and for refrigeration we'll be using a powered cooler that can run off AC or DC. Everything else runs off two deep cycle batteries.

Combining AC and DC can be a bit daunting at first but is very do-able with a little online research.
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Old 06-12-2012, 03:52 AM   #6
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Re: New Skoolie 1986 Ford/Thomas short-bus

if ya got both ac and dc electricity and propane,wrc, you will have everything working while you stop on your way to the campground, like at a rest area.. as well as having everthing you need at the campground if for some reason all the sites with electricity are full...
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Old 06-12-2012, 10:17 AM   #7
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Re: New Skoolie 1986 Ford/Thomas short-bus

We fulltime and stay mostly in parks unless traveling (we like to stay a couple nights in parking lots, then use a campground to refill water and dump waste tanks).

PD4045 to smart charge 2 or 3 12v deep cycle marine batteries (starting bank is house bank) .

12vDC: 12vDC water pump, Inverter #1 (ceiling lights, TV/DVD player), Inverter #2 (computer & printer, TV/DVD layer in bedroom), CB/Weather radio, CD/AM/FM radio, Back up camera

AC: everything else including 20 gallon water heater and house heat system

LP: gas range, space heater


We will add a generator with a permanent mount DIY "genturi" to the bus before we leave NM.

We have lost power in the winter during snow storms for short periods of time. Thus the inverters. Also the inverters will provide "clean" power to the computer. We are 30 amp. We have one electric space heater and an indoor approved LP Dyna-Glo Tag-a-long heater (size no longer made) that we will mount near the shower/dressing area for time when it's too cool to be wet but too warm to kick the heat on.

We've been camping in campgrounds since 1979 in a tent, a pop-up, a manufactured vintage Class C & now the skoolie. Our camping trips ranged from 3 days to 1 1/2 years. We went full time in 2006 in the Class C and lived in a State Park for up to 3 months at a time without moving with water/30 amp electric hookup (I love my blue tote!). After all those years in mostly public campgrounds, we know what we need and what we want.
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Old 06-13-2012, 11:09 AM   #8
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Re: New Skoolie 1986 Ford/Thomas short-bus

looks nice!
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Old 06-13-2012, 11:30 AM   #9
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Re: New Skoolie 1986 Ford/Thomas short-bus

what are you going to run with your inverter/battery? in most cases you will need more reserve amps than just one battery. not cold cranking amps like is posted on a battery, real amper hours that is often not posted.
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Old 06-14-2012, 01:39 AM   #10
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Re: New Skoolie 1986 Ford/Thomas short-bus

the chassis isnt the ground... but if one bolts the electric panel like maybe to the floor or the metal wall inside of the bus, then the skin of the 110v electrical panel will of course be part of the "chassis ground".
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Old 06-14-2012, 09:27 AM   #11
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Re: New Skoolie 1986 Ford/Thomas short-bus

Ultimately your AC circuits are grounded to the shore power main panel. That's why your bus AC panel should be set up as a sub panel with the neutral and gound bars separate from each other.
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Old 06-14-2012, 09:38 AM   #12
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Re: New Skoolie 1986 Ford/Thomas short-bus

the neutral is the isolated ground wire, the ground bar is the 2nd ground wire that is connected to a bar that bolts to the box skin. fwiw
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Old 06-14-2012, 07:55 PM   #13
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Re: New Skoolie 1986 Ford/Thomas short-bus

I did a bit of research at some RV sites and the official word was that the bus frame should always be grounded to the ground bar in the RV AC panel, but should never be wired into the panel's neutral bar.
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