Anyone in Eastern WA / Northern ID?

[SHORTS]

welcome to the site;
sounds like you've got a plan and i'm envious. my thoughts follow along with smitty, check out the escapees website, they are all about fulltimers and retirees living in rv's longterm, they have tons of usefull information and options about the lifestyle.

my opinion of the various bus options is that mechanically a conventional dognose bus is going to be the easiest to work on, next would be a pusher and the hardest will be a front engine flat front,(who wants to work on their engine in the livingroom?) flat fronts give you about 5 more feet of interior space over a conventional. if you want a large rear door or to pull a heavy trailer a pusher has limitations. I thing that a larger engine doesn't have to work as hard as a small engine and will be more reliable, it should also come with stronger transmission and axle assembelies and are more likely to have highway gears since they have more power to get things rolling. mechanically controled engines and transmissions are less expensive to repair than electronic/automatic controlled ones.

keep working on your lists of necessities and priorities and then try to make an informed choice.

 

[Thomps-SKO]

I live in Brewster, Wa about two and half hours west of spokane.

 

[KevinCoughlin]

Aha, there you are. Just getting back onto the Skoolie board after a couple months being away. Life intrudes at times.

I think that a nice full timing rig can be done up with a RE bus - my Carpenter is a 35' RE setup and will become a barely mobile cabin (once I stop using it for storage!) and the dognose we lived in for a year and a half will turn into something else - I'm really leaning towards toy hauler\flatbed with a tiny camper section (still titled as an RV). Count me in on the build parties when you are ready.

Kevin