Hello from New England

Slapdash · 11-25-2022, 02:44 PM

Jumpin’ on the bandwagon here...

Wifey and I are building out a mini that we bought last September. Sunny is a 2005 GMC Savana 3500 6.0-liter gas dually with a Corbeil coach. We bought it from a fella who bought it from a local prep school in CT (he worked there too). It has/had a lot of rust in weird places (think it was parked in a puddle), but we’ve gotten most of that cleared up already. Only 99k on the clock.

We got it at a time (it may be still be ‘the time’) when school buses were not available at all locally, like kayaks were the year before, but we lucked out I think because the PO listed it as just a ‘van’.

So we became skoolieists sort of by economic accident as we were looking to upgrade to a travel trailer, up from a vintage popup camper I restored, but the prices went absolutely bananas. We also heard camper quality was suffering too for supply-chain and demand as well.

Anywho, we’re not done by any stretch, but we’re a lot further along than the blog suggests. If you’re interested in that, it’s SunnyTheBus.com.

The plans are thrice-fold for this rig. We’re not going to be full-timers (I like my home-base), but we will use it for my wife’s worksite wellness business, general camping and extended road trips, and for hauling around my stage rally car. I am a writer/graphic designer by trade, but do have plenty of DIY automotive experience. Building a house on wheels though, that’s a whole new thing to both of us.

**Polarweasel** · 11-28-2022, 11:42 AM

Hey OP, your thread was held for moderation due to the links. I cleaned up the HTML and CSS in there (please don't do that!) and approved the post.

Rucker · 11-28-2022, 12:25 PM

Nice. Sounds like you might have some trade skills in your background if you've already gotten some of the chassis work done...

Slapdash · 11-28-2022, 01:25 PM

Thanks! Not sure what I did, but thanks for clearing it up!

Slapdash · 11-28-2022, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rucker

Nice. Sounds like you might have some trade skills in your background if you've already gotten some of the chassis work done...

Thanks! Years of DIY and YouTube University, with a lot of pro help from friends along the way. Mostly from the rally world.

ermracing · 02-22-2023, 09:09 PM

Hi Kris, are you going to be at the March rallyx?

Slapdash · 02-23-2023, 12:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ermracing

Hi Kris, are you going to be at the March rallyx?

Is there one at 508? If so, possibly as a spectator, but without rally cah and/or bus. Just my usual, of late, Xterra. You?

ermracing · 02-23-2023, 03:22 PM

Yes, back at 508. I plan to cruise down with the bus that Friday night and camp at the Wal Mart and spectate/help out myself.

Slapdash · 02-23-2023, 04:08 PM

Oh, cool. Yeah, I'm only like an hour from there. I think I'm free that weekend too. Luckily(?) I had to miss the 150-below weekend! If you don't mind, I'd love to pick your noggin about bus stuff whilst we're there.

ermracing · 02-23-2023, 04:23 PM

Absolutely, glad to chat. It was fun getting the bus started at -15, but it worked fine all day once it was thawed out. See you then.

Slapdash · 02-24-2023, 08:01 AM

Oh, I'm sure that was a wee tricky, getting that thing started! See you in a couple of weeks.

Corbi · 03-03-2023, 05:55 PM

Welcome to the forum. I'm from the Boston area and on my second year of my street build of a 4 window 99 M Corbeil build. Lots of financial, siting, and skill limitations here. Got to the Green Mountains and back. Slowly adding mods. The 6.5 td needs minor upkeep, but seems OK at 145 k miles. Thoughts or experience with the 6.5 appreciated.

Slapdash · 03-06-2023, 12:40 PM

Thanks!

I grew up in Beverly on the Noth Shaw.

Same here on the timeline. We're about 1.5 years in with some timeline setbacks and the like. Finally painted the outside though, so it looks like 'something' happened.

Unfortunately, I don't have any diesel/6.5 experience, as we picked up the 6.0 gas version, which has been running well. Been fighting brake issues of late, but think we got that nailed down at least. Maiden Voyage should be this May to a semi-local destination.

If you know any rally / racecar people, most of them have some sort of tow-rig (I don't) that might be able to help with the 6.5. I'm pretty sure that went into pickup trucks as well, so it might be a common thing in Chevy's / GMC's.

Cheers.

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