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Old 12-28-2018, 09:10 PM   #1
Mini-Skoolie
 
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Unhappy Decided to poor my Heart Out in hopes for some help and...

Skoolie Friends.
Well, here I go..Last summer my partner bought a 2002 Chev express Bus in hopes to go out west in late summer. Well, it didn't turn out that way. Both of us had no idea of what we were doing and it almost split us up.

Now that winter has approached us The partner and I are no longer but I still have this bus and I have no idea on how to do some things such as the wiring. I can cut and design but properly insulating and taking windows out etc..with some guidance and help, I know this can happen.

I have put it up for sale so I can buy a camper van but the price is too high, I have put so much $$ into it I can't sell for less.

I live in on a reserve and my friends are very limited and I have a business.

I have even posted ads out and contacted electricians but no one wants to touch it. I have resorted to paying my mechanic for the power set up but my funds are dwindling. Hence the reason I can't just leave work.
I really don't know what to do other than to stay put living with my ex...I sold my house to travel so for me to get an apartment that I have to furnish and start all over when that is the last thing I want to ...Hitting the open road has been my dream for many years.
Any advice would be great! Plez no judgements.

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Old 12-29-2018, 03:40 PM   #2
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Start with an honest assessment of the effort and cost it's going to take to get that bus finished to where you need it to be.

Next look at the effort and cost of buying a camper van that suits your needs. Subtract from that price the amount you could realistically receive by selling your bus. Now you can make a fair comparison: does it cost more in money and effort to finish that bus you have, or to swap it for a camper van? Which fills your needs best? (Think functionality, cost, and timeline.)

It's a difficult thing emotionally to sell a bus or anything else at a lower price than what you've put into it because that's a loss. But truly the money was gone long ago. Now you have a physical asset that might be worth less than what you paid to get it. That's how investments go sometimes. DIY bus conversions are almost always like that, even when they're completely finished.

Your time, your cash, your skills, and the bus you already have are your current assets. To get what you want (a camper to live and travel in) you have to work out how to best apply those assets at their current value, without regard for how they came to be. You might spend your time to increase your skills, then spend your new skills with more time and money to move that bus toward what you need. You might spend your money to acquire other people's time and skills to put into that bus. You might "spend" that bus to get money, then spend the money to get a camper van.

Emotions (ie holding back because of value lost in an asset) generally don't help make good financial decisions. It's important to work out honest numbers and let the numbers guide the choice.
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Old 12-29-2018, 06:23 PM   #3
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Ditch the bus.. I realize you'll take a financial hit, but it needs to be gone for emotional reasons.. you can get another one someday.. or a van, or an RV...


Next, go rent a room someplace... away from the ex... if you can be friends, thats great, but dont try it living together....



Next take your time.. work, yes pay a little rent, and figure out your real plan for getting in the open road without the rush of time and the pressures of emotions..


I acquired an old Beat up Monte Carlo.. my partner at the time had always wanted ot be part of a hotrod rest-o-mod.. we had met just as i was selling my previous project car.. so we embarked on what to me was a magical journey.. as for the many hotrods and cars id built previous were simply just me.. no one to hang with me in the garage or who really even cared what it was I did out there...



during that time I acquired a 1988 Bluebord shortie bus.. a dream come true for someone who had been a bus geek all my life.. the kid who sat behind the driver and asked about every button and switch... and wit ha family friend that sold busses, I had driven a bus around the block before even driving a car...



then the partner ran away.. off with another guy who had more "prowess".. oh and fancier cars apparently... depressed that summer I finished the monte carlo... drove it to a couple cruise in's then parked it...



I soupled up the motor a bit on the bus ,did some custom A/C then parked it... after all I had hoped someone would ride behind me while i drove... each time I drove it I looked in the mirror to see an empty seat.. so it sat.. for 5 years.. in a garage.. I did little more than start it now and then...



the car - I did list it and sell it.. wow in a way it was one of the best builds i ever did.. and the fastest for sure.. the loads of relief i felt when I watched it go down the street sideways - smoke rollin from the tires. was amazing...



the bus burned in a garage fire.. the insurance payed out pretty well...



another relief.. and once again was re-ignited that powerful fire inside of myself which was the big ole grin every time I even thought of driving a bus.. which brings me here 3 years later.. with 3 busses... one of them I drive all over the country.... and all of them I enjoy building and improving...


take the emotional load off of yourself and get down to taking your time to plan and live your dreams.. yeah you can do it.. but believe me please when I tell you not to do it from emotion or adrenaline for from stress.... do it when you WANT to, not when you are Forced to..
-Christopher
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Old 12-30-2018, 12:53 AM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DogHouse View Post
Skoolie Friends.
Well, here I go..Last summer my partner bought a 2002 Chev express Bus in hopes to go out west in late summer. Well, it didn't turn out that way. Both of us had no idea of what we were doing and it almost split us up.

Now that winter has approached us The partner and I are no longer but I still have this bus and I have no idea on how to do some things such as the wiring. I can cut and design but properly insulating and taking windows out etc..with some guidance and help, I know this can happen.

I have put it up for sale so I can buy a camper van but the price is too high, I have put so much $$ into it I can't sell for less.

I live in on a reserve and my friends are very limited and I have a business.

I have even posted ads out and contacted electricians but no one wants to touch it. I have resorted to paying my mechanic for the power set up but my funds are dwindling. Hence the reason I can't just leave work.
I really don't know what to do other than to stay put living with my ex...I sold my house to travel so for me to get an apartment that I have to furnish and start all over when that is the last thing I want to ...Hitting the open road has been my dream for many years.
Any advice would be great! Plez no judgements.
Cadillackid is “dead on” in his advice Doghouse. Ditch the bus and take the loss. Do your best to not make a financial decision based on emotion. I’ve never come out on top of those kinds of decisions. It won’t be your last loss. Trust me. Also don’t forget, most growth comes from our mistakes. At least we are supposed to learn from our mistakes. Good luck, you’ll be okay.
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Old 12-30-2018, 09:54 AM   #5
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Thanks for the advice and I have decided to cut my losses and sell the bus at a selling price. I wish I could just rent a room somewhere but I have 3 dogs which are the loves of my life, the pup is a 7-month bull mastiff so you can understand he is a pretty big baby. I'm a pretty easy going kinda gal to being civil with my ex is not a problem.
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Old 12-30-2018, 11:27 AM   #6
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May be you can put some pictures up from what you have sofar so that people here can see how far you are a long and give you advise about how difficult it is and or what a reasonable selling price would be. If you sold your house and bought the bus and you bought the conversion stuff then there is not much emotional link to your ex. If it is all in good shape then thee is not much sense in selling it a low price and starting again.



my 0.02


Good luck J
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Old 12-30-2018, 11:41 AM   #7
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Its in good shape but its the electrical stuff thats a mess. I hear yeah the asking price is what i put into it. If i was on my own after selling my house i would of gotten a campervan. Im not a carpenter at all. Im not sure how post pics on here but it is posted on kijji. Its a White chev express
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Old 12-30-2018, 02:31 PM   #8
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can not find it, any working link?


later J
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Old 12-30-2018, 06:35 PM   #9
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When you say the electrical is a mess, that can mean a lot of different things, from it's not drivable to you don't have enough power to run the things you need to live, to all the wires are hanging out. It would be good to know where exactly you are with things. That is, if still have it. If it's sold, then the decision is made, and they say things happen for a reason!
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Old 01-01-2019, 06:07 PM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by firebuild View Post
When you say the electrical is a mess, that can mean a lot of different things, from it's not drivable to you don't have enough power to run the things you need to live, to all the wires are hanging out. It would be good to know where exactly you are with things. That is, if still have it. If it's sold, then the decision is made, and they say things happen for a reason!
The dude before me ..cut a bunch of wiring for the inside and out mainly the school bus part of it. It runs but last time it broke down on me every shop that I took it too had no idea.which is hard to understand cuz it's a Chev, all of them said what a mess!

Also, the dash is all messed up..the fog light is on & goes off when I put the fog light on. Its stupid things like that and there is a bunch of wires that don't have any power and I have no idea of what to do with them considering some lead to the engine.

It's a very time-consuming project

I have also decided to leave the bus in Gods' hands & wait it out til the Spring!
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Old 01-01-2019, 06:20 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DogHouse View Post
The dude before me ..cut a bunch of wiring for the inside and out mainly the school bus part of it. It runs but last time it broke down on me every shop that I took it too had no idea.which is hard to understand cuz it's a Chev, all of them said what a mess!

Also, the dash is all messed up..the fog light is on & goes off when I put the fog light on. Its stupid things like that and there is a bunch of wires that don't have any power and I have no idea of what to do with them considering some lead to the engine.

It's a very time-consuming project

I have also decided to leave the bus in Gods' hands & wait it out til the Spring!
Ah, yeah, sounds like a time consuming mess! You probably don't want to put even more $$ into it but for me, someone who is learning but not experienced or confident enough to take on some of the more complex stuff, finding the right mechanic who wasn't intimidated by what's in front of them was the key. In my case, my bus is a decade older than yours and it's diesel, so not a lot of people get it or see the value in learning about it. Still, my guess is there is someone out there who is famous for being "the electric guy," just like there was someone out there for me who was "the IDI guy." It's a question of finding them.

You'll of course find differences of opinion on this but personally I think your decision to not make a decision right now is pretty wise.
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Old 01-01-2019, 07:16 PM   #12
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van buses are a bitch to work on and yes the wiring is usually ridiculously horrible.
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