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Old 01-08-2019, 05:12 PM   #21
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9 windows vs 9 windows and a hood.
Yup,

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Old 01-08-2019, 05:13 PM   #22
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CB,

You don't count the hood. Didn't you know that
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Old 01-08-2019, 05:29 PM   #23
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FE buses have the most usable floor space. But I like being able to get at the engine as easily as possible. Plus I've got a $200 hood ornament and you can't have a proper hood ornament without a hood!
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Old 01-08-2019, 06:07 PM   #24
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FE buses have the most usable floor space. But I like being able to get at the engine as easily as possible. Plus I've got a $200 hood ornament and you can't have a proper hood ornament without a hood!
Yeah,

I would have another 23+ inches in the back if mine were an FE but after watching some of the fan clutch threads I think I'll stick with my RE

You do have the Kewlest hood ornament CB!
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Old 01-08-2019, 06:39 PM   #25
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ECCB has his priorities straight!
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Old 01-08-2019, 07:34 PM   #26
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servicing is a major consideration, but then so is the room available in the bus - I expect to be in some tight driving situations as well as snow and ice - a 9 window is a lot longer than I'd like, but a 7 or 8 window doesn't have enough room inside - any one here do any winter bus touring in the far north, or in heavy snow winter conditions?
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Old 01-08-2019, 07:49 PM   #27
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Regrdless of all the blah blah, you got a sweet bus bud!
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Old 01-08-2019, 08:28 PM   #28
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"any one here do any winter bus touring in the far north, or in heavy snow winter conditions?"


We have no snow this year thankfully, yet anyway. Cold, up and down all the time.
Having said that, my bus lived in northern Quebec for about 10 years working those roads in the cold and snow. After that it sold to another board with mostly the same weather and road conditions for winter. More sand than salt on these roads duee to the cold temps where salt doesn't work.
I drive between here and my NS home in any weather at any time and they get a lot of snow there till late May. twisting, winding roads the whole way and never got hung up due to snow. Heavy on the front end for good steering and antilock breaks help to. Never felt safer in any vehicle, you are up above the crowd driving one.

You'll be fine, get heated mirrors too.


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Old 01-08-2019, 08:33 PM   #29
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Regrdless of all the blah blah, you got a sweet bus bud!
It is a sweet bus but IDK if he's bought it yet.
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Old 01-08-2019, 09:05 PM   #30
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"any one here do any winter bus touring in the far north, or in heavy snow winter conditions?"


We have no snow this year thankfully, yet anyway. Cold, up and down all the time.
Having said that, my bus lived in northern Quebec for about 10 years working those roads in the cold and snow. After that it sold to another board with mostly the same weather and road conditions for winter. More sand than salt on these roads duee to the cold temps where salt doesn't work.
I drive between here and my NS home in any weather at any time and they get a lot of snow there till late May. twisting, winding roads the whole way and never got hung up due to snow. Heavy on the front end for good steering and antilock breaks help to. Never felt safer in any vehicle, you are up above the crowd driving one.

You'll be fine, get heated mirrors too.


John
that's what I wanted to hear - how many windows in that bus?
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Old 01-08-2019, 09:07 PM   #31
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that's what I wanted to hear - how many windows in that bus?



12 down each side. How many dogs need a window seat?


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Old 01-08-2019, 10:03 PM   #32
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12 down each side. How many dogs need a window seat?


John
they will be riding in the rear of the bus, each one in it's own apartment, with a door, complete with ventilating window, opening to the outside - a cut out section of the outside skin of the bus will accommodate the 'dog apartments' - I need about 12 feet of space to house the dogs, carry sleds, dog food, buckets, harnesses, lines, etc
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Old 01-09-2019, 06:05 AM   #33
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they will be riding in the rear of the bus, each one in it's own apartment, with a door, complete with ventilating window, opening to the outside - a cut out section of the outside skin of the bus will accommodate the 'dog apartments' - I need about 12 feet of space to house the dogs, carry sleds, dog food, buckets, harnesses, lines, etc

That sounds like a compact space for all your dogs and gear but whatever works. I would go bigger myself but do not know your travel routes and where you may have to end up parking a rig when you race .Could be some tight quarters to get turned around in the bush. Maybe a shorter bus with a trailer would help with that scenario?


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Old 01-09-2019, 10:40 AM   #34
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That sounds like a compact space for all your dogs and gear but whatever works. I would go bigger myself but do not know your travel routes and where you may have to end up parking a rig when you race .Could be some tight quarters to get turned around in the bush. Maybe a shorter bus with a trailer would help with that scenario?


John
41 years of traveling with sleddogs has seen me with simple boxes on the back of a single cab pickup capable of squeezing in 16 dogs, a rather crude double decker dog box on a terrible old ford crew cab flat deck which saw me on roads badly maintained in the NWT in temperatures of minus 50 C, a more sophisticated double decker capable of carrying 40 dogs with ease on a much better running chevy crew cab - I went to the IFSS World Championships in Fairbanks Alaska with that one as part of Team Canada in 2001 ( I felt good about earning a spot on Team Canada with dogs I'd bred, on a dog sled I had designed and built and that I was 62 years old at the time and still competing in an extreme sport at that level - from there I went to a trailer built on a camper frame - lifting 20 - 30, 50 lb dogs over my head to load them and lifting them down every two hours was starting to adversely affect my body, so the low trailer made it much easier to take dogs in and out of their boxes - the last race I went to, my helpers and I enjoyed the comforts of a small motor home and we pulled the trailer with that - but from experience, having the dogs on the vehicle being driven is the safest and most convenient way to travel with the dogs - the idea of converting a bus into a dual purpose vehicle seemed to have merit worth exploring, so after a bit of research I found this site, and by lurking and reading, I think the idea has more merits and more possibilities than I imagined - the idea of driving a bus doesn't bother me as I've driven tandem trucks as my job at one time, and 20' flat decks loaded so heavy that the front wheels didn't want to steer on icy roads in the back woods in mountainous terrain without crashing - ( a bit hair raising - lol ) I figure if I keep my bus well maintained, not do anything too cheesy or radical to it, it will still be salable when it comes time to sell it - in the meantime we, my helpers, the dogs and myself can travel in comfort and convenience - as you might guess, I've given this some serious thought with the background to be able to set it up right - the dog's comfort has to come first of course
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Old 01-09-2019, 12:49 PM   #35
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Congrats sledd on all your racing accomplishments. You did it the hard way too. Hope you find a great bus to carry on with, be picky for what you need and I'm sure there are a few good ones that can handle te north country.
It is a real pleasure to have met your acquaintance. Hopefully I will get out that way someday but think my boondocking future is on the Granite Planet.




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Old 01-09-2019, 03:27 PM   #36
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Congrats sledd on all your racing accomplishments. You did it the hard way too. Hope you find a great bus to carry on with, be picky for what you need and I'm sure there are a few good ones that can handle te north country.
It is a real pleasure to have met your acquaintance. Hopefully I will get out that way someday but think my boondocking future is on the Granite Planet.




John
it will be nice to meet you and others from this site - my girlfriend has lived the 'bus life' in the past and has had some good advice for me taken from her experience - we've talked about living/traveling in a full sized schoolie when it comes time for me to retire from the dog world - about 15 years ago I decided it was time I started giving back to repay some of the joys, love, adventure that my dogs had given me and started providing behavior therapy for 3rd strike ( last chance) dogs, to offer a viable alternative to euthanisation - that decision changed my life, the lives of many people and saved 100s of dogs from being killed for no other reason than they weren't given what they needed to be well balanced, useful, loving dogs - - I started with 3 pens that I used for females in heat and it's expanded to 27 or 28 pens at last count and there is usually a waiting list for dogs needing our help - what started as a one man operation now requires 5 - 7 people living here with us 24/7 - people from many countries have come here to help and learn, and we've had dogs sent or brought to us for help from as far away as Saudi Arabia - recently we had a request from a dog rescue in Cairo Egypt asking if we could take on 24 dogs! - retiring isn't going to be easy
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