Kinda rubbed me the wrong way.

[somewhereinusa]

Quote from another thread, I didn't want to reply on someones build thread. I have no idea if some of it is aimed at me, could be.

Most of the builds on here are done by very rich, very talented people.
All i read is, i put 30,000 in my bus. I made anew door out of scrape steel. I the gears out of the rear end, made news ones in my shop and put itback together..

I for one, am far from rich if you are only talking about money. I don't think anyone on this board is "very rich" or for the most part only slightly rich. I do however see a lot of very talented people. As for the $30,000 part I'm getting close to that. It's more like money dribbling out of a leaky bucket. I scrimp and save and price shop for everything. Instead of using expensive wood I use the cheapest thing I can find then, do my best to make it look like it was more expensive. If I see something I want, I figure out if I can make it myself. The Internet is your friend. My counter tops are made of plywood. One of the first comments I get from almost everyone is "I love your counter tops". Everything in my bus was designed and built by me. I have systems that even many of the high end RVs don't have. Hot water radiant heat, mini-split AC that is whisper quiet. I can control my door lock(which I built myself), porch light, flag light and two awnings with my phone. It has taken me six years to get to where I am now and it is far from finished.

When i get a bus, i expect to use a lot of duct tape and the fridge will be secured with a cargo strap.

Duct tape is fine in it's place, depending on what you fasten the cargo strap to, the fridge will likely go adrift at the most inopportune time.

All i see is home made furiture. Mine will be walmart.

For the most part, Wal Mart furniture is crap, made out of sawdust.

Everybody is building the taj mahal.

You do know that the Taj Mahal is a mausoleum?

I will be happy if mine doesnt look like a place to cook meth.

As will we all, and, people wonder why skoolies aren't welcome in campgrounds. If you don't know how to do something there isn't any reason in the world, with the information now available, that you can't learn how to do it yourself. I pulled into a campground last week and the lady at the desk said "Wow, what a cool bus".

[cadillackid]

the reality is there is a little bit of everybody in this forum...



there are Bus Geeks to Bus dwellers to RV dwellers to Food truck vendors to Church mission groups..



each and every person has a different talent, some can make their own cabinets, others can weld up complete frames, alter their Buss chassis, others can build drivetrains from the ground up and the list goes on..



of course there will be those that maje their own furniture.. and of course there will be those that buy IKEA or walmart furniture.. some want Air-conditioning others dont, some just want a deer shed, others want a Luxury Coach...



some busses are single use (going to travel the country for a year then done), others plan to live in the bus for a very long time..



some have lots of money others dont..



im not sure where the issues come in.. afyer all most here are sharing their skills, ideas, and inspiring others to follow their bus dream whatever that dream may be...



My busses get restored or Resto-modded so i have rows of seats and will even paint my latest one yellow... I park at hotels at night.. others wouldnt hear of sleeping in a hotel room.. does it really matter? we all sdhare ideas, inspiration,skills, and such..


-Christopher

[JDOnTheGo]

IMO, there is always someone with more money AND someone with less; someone with a nicer thing and someone with a 'lesser' thing. It happens with every aspect of life.

It sounds more like someone that has failed to read and understand most of what is going on here. It happens on the RV forums (and the other 'hobby' forums that I frequent). I'm not very thick skinned/good at ignoring comments but I'm getting better! There are many that aren't worth a person's time.

What did Bobby say?? "Don't worry, be happy!"

[BlackJohn]

I'm quite sure none of us are in "this" bracket of rich.
The other day a super yacht from West Palm shows up in local waters, needs fuel, diesel.
Not sure how much fuel he took on but the tab was $43,000.00 Cdn.
The deck hands paid cash for the fuel.
The owner is also the owner of the Buffalo Bills and the Buffalo Sabres and many other businesses. Estimated worth about 3.1 billion USD.
Made me appreciate my old schoolie that much more, who wants to carry that much in their pocket?


John

[JDOnTheGo]

Originally Posted by BlackJohn

...who wants to carry that much in their pocket?

No kidding!!!

[joeblack5]

That is why I spend it early in the morning.


later J

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by somewhereinusa

Quote from another thread, I didn't want to reply on someones build thread. I have no idea if some of it is aimed at me, could be.




I for one, am far from rich if you are only talking about money. I don't think anyone on this board is "very rich" or for the most part only slightly rich. I do however see a lot of very talented people. As for the $30,000 part I'm getting close to that. It's more like money dribbling out of a leaky bucket. I scrimp and save and price shop for everything. Instead of using expensive wood I use the cheapest thing I can find then, do my best to make it look like it was more expensive. If I see something I want, I figure out if I can make it myself. The Internet is your friend. My counter tops are made of plywood. One of the first comments I get from almost everyone is "I love your counter tops". Everything in my bus was designed and built by me. I have systems that even many of the high end RVs don't have. Hot water radiant heat, mini-split AC that is whisper quiet. I can control my door lock(which I built myself), porch light, flag light and two awnings with my phone. It has taken me six years to get to where I am now and it is far from finished.



Duct tape is fine in it's place, depending on what you fasten the cargo strap to, the fridge will likely go adrift at the most inopportune time.


For the most part, Wal Mart furniture is crap, made out of sawdust.


You do know that the Taj Mahal is a mausoleum?


As will we all, and, people wonder why skoolies aren't welcome in campgrounds. If you don't know how to do something there isn't any reason in the world, with the information now available, that you can't learn how to do it yourself. I pulled into a campground last week and the lady at the desk said "Wow, what a cool bus".

I saw that too, Dick.



30k isn't much these days. It will buy you a crappy plastic car that burns oil and lasts a few years less than the loan payout date.

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by BlackJohn

I'm quite sure none of us are in "this" bracket of rich.
The other day a super yacht from West Palm shows up in local waters, needs fuel, diesel.
Not sure how much fuel he took on but the tab was $43,000.00 Cdn.
The deck hands paid cash for the fuel.
The owner is also the owner of the Buffalo Bills and the Buffalo Sabres and many other businesses. Estimated worth about 3.1 billion USD.
Made me appreciate my old schoolie that much more, who wants to carry that much in their pocket?


John

Well there was that $200,000 VanHool conversion on here. They seemed pretty rich. The genny cost more than most conversions on here.

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by JDOnTheGo

IMO, there is always someone with more money AND someone with less; someone with a nicer thing and someone with a 'lesser' thing. It happens with every aspect of life.

It sounds more like someone that has failed to read and understand most of what is going on here. It happens on the RV forums (and the other 'hobby' forums that I frequent). I'm not very thick skinned/good at ignoring comments but I'm getting better! There are many that aren't worth a person's time.

What did Bobby say?? "Don't worry, be happy!"

Money is only a small part of it. If one is thrifty and willing to learn anything is possible on a shoestring budget.

[david.dgeorge07]

I remember when I first joined the forum it seemed like there were a lot of people who had fairly specific ideas about the only way to do things right.

In hindsight nobody was mean at all but I remember feeling kind of out of place and like people weren’t always ready to listen to alternative ways to do things.

Now that I’ve finished a build I have a lot of opinions about the right way to do things and I understand better where people were coming from and the advice that they were giving. One way or another we all learn and often times fall in love with the ways that we have chosen to do things.

I chose to put mini split outdoor units between the frame rails in places that seems pretty safe to me but that other people immediately saw problems with. Having driven the bus 7000 miles without issue I feel like I was smart to do it that way, but I’m sure that the reasons people objected have at least some validity.

Overall though, once you live in the bus for a while you realize why people gave the advice they gave and buy and large it is right on target.

[JDOnTheGo]

Good thoughts David.

I find the most difficult aspect of these forums is remembering that not everyone lives like I live, in the same conditions, with the same resources, and with the same goals.

An excellent example is running the A/C all night. I typically think that is crazy in all but unusual circumstances. I'm current sitting in Missouri (very typical weather) and cannot bear to NOT have the A/C running all night! Oh yeah.... now I understand what those folks were saying!

[EastCoastCB]

Originally Posted by JDOnTheGo

Good thoughts David.

I find the most difficult aspect of these forums is remembering that not everyone lives like I live, in the same conditions, with the same resources, and with the same goals.

An excellent example is running the A/C all night. I typically think that is crazy in all but unusual circumstances. I'm current sitting in Missouri (very typical weather) and cannot bear to NOT have the A/C running all night! Oh yeah.... now I understand what those folks were saying!

I'm a native Floridian and I can go all day without ac. But I NEED it when I'm sleeping.

[Tango]

Roger that for sleeping. As much for taking the moisture out of the air as for the cool. Damp, sticky sheets are not pleasant.



Ahhhh...life in the Tropics.

[brokedown]

I love this thread, it makes me want to swap my can of chrome spray paint for a can of GOLD spray paint!

[turf]

lol gold paint!

there is a financial concept called the "time value of money". we schoolies get that backwards and make it the "money value of time".

the amount of time we put in to our builds gives it our own value. and over time, that adds up quite a bit.

i feel very "rich" to have my own skoolie, however, my employer pulled into work the other day with his family in an EarthRoamer. Rich people are busy making money. we skoolies spend our time making our retirement homes, escape pods, weekend warrior vehicles, building our dreams with our time in ways we find value.

would i swap straight across for an EarthRoamer? probably not.

[Lamacose]

[Tango]

I just ran some numbers on my rig to date (seven years now) At about 25 hours a week average that's 9100 hours. At $80 bucks an hour that's, let's see...


25 x 52 x 7 = 9100 x $80.00 =


$728,000.00


If interested, I will consider selling it for only $540,00.00


PM me.

[brokedown]

540k? I mean it's a nice bus but I wouldn't pay a dollar more than 535k. i bet your built all your own furniture too, rich guy!

[aaronsb]

I kinda stopped counting how much money.

I admit I have a good paying job. But we have sacrificed a lot to get where we are. I know that feeling when people on a forum see what I've done and sniff at it like "well, he probably just has a lot of money"

I finally got an air conditioner that I planned on buying 4 years ago. The solar panels sat for 16 months. The roof raise was completed 3.5 years ago.

I think in most cases, the concept of time when people see a completed system or project is completely lost on them.

I've seen the 200k vanhool project, and the big dollar bluebird coach project, and I don't judge and instead try to steal ideas from what they've figured out with the money they invested.

Everyone has their own level that is operated at, and those that think I have some sort of privelage to do what I've done with my bare hands over literally several years timespan, I leave them to their own decisions about life.

It's just not worth my time.

I admit it bugs me when I feel judged/shunned. I'm proud of what I've accomplished and I love to share those things with others so maybe they can do it too. I think the good approach is for everyone to always take the experience shared by others, and be constructive with it.

To do anything else is just a waste of time, and it doesn't matter how many dollars you got, we all get the same amount of time so make the best of what you've got

[Tango]

If only I had been paying myself that $80 bucks an hour all this time!