Although I'm not a new member, this is my 1st post. I recently got the green light from my wife Heidi to find us a schoolie, or more accurately, a school bus to convert. I have been watching plenty of on going as well as completed conversions on Instagram and have been build our Schoolie in my head for roughly a year. We live in Southern NH, and I am just beginning to put some things together to raise the funds for the original bus. This will be a long term project that will get done in stages. The first stage will basically be the bus with a new floor down and some basics like a blow up mattress and some seating, along with the camping gear we already have. The end game is our home on wheels and checking out wherever we decide to go.
I took a look at a couple busses today just to wrap my head around what I need to pay attention to. I looked at at 04 FE Thomas, an 02 International standard style, and an 08 Freightliner C2 Safteyliner. That Freightliner was pretty much exactly what I want, just have to do some research on the drivetrain, which is Mercedes I believe. It was also my first time being able to really get a good look around a flat nose bus. I took some measurements for furniture spacing and fitting a bed, as well as just eyeballing the layout I have in my head on a real floor. It did still have seats in it but I got the general idea.
Being in New England the tough part will be finding a bus that does not have excessive rust. Unfortunately here in New Hampshire and in the surrounding states there is always salt on the road for the winter which eats up bodies and frames quicker than most other places in the country. So that will be the primary challenge once I figure out exactly what body style I want to use.
If anyone has a suggestion as to where to look it would be greatly appreciated, the buses I looked at today are owned by a husband and wife who have 80 plus buses available. They seem like cool people but you never can tell.
thanks to all of you who post here and share your experiences I will do the same as I move along on this project. 🤘
Smitty