Hello From Barrie, Ont, Canada

[CanadianSkoolee]

Hello Skoolie's,

My family and I are about to begin our Skoolie journey and I'm so very happy to have found this forum. I've been binge watching a YouTuber called Transcend Existence and his episodes have shown me exactly what I want in a Skoolie. I'm hoping to find an 84 passenger bus with enough power to tow a trailer loaded with a car and a couple toy's. We won't travel too far normally because we'll have it in an RV park for weekends, but we will make the trip out to Newfoundland in summer and sometimes winter for the Christmas holidays, so I need a rig that can pull through those types of wintry conditions. What do you think FE or RE for that type of travel set up? I feel the RE would give us better traction in bad weather on the in/declined highways. Of course a retarder would work wonders too.
In my searches so far I found what I believe to be a gem, a 1998 Thomas RE 5.9 Cummins MD3060. It has an engine block heater and just 142,000 Miles on her. Any advice you Skoolies can give would be of a great help and appreciated by myself and my family big time. :Thanx: for reading

 

[slidewayzm5]

Welcome! That's a great find - there are a growing number of us Canucks on this forum. FB has a group as well - Skoolie Canada.
Most of the knowledge you'll need will come from here but it's a lot easier to meet up with people on there.
Good luck!

 

[CanadianSkoolee]

Awesome! The wife is a FB user so that works, thank you.

 

[Tootalltechie]

Welcome to Skoolie.net from Northern British Columbia

Sent from my SM-G530W using Tapatalk

 

[REDD-SKO]

How's it goin' eh!

Would love to drive mine with the ATV's to "The Rock" as well, one of two Provinces I haven't been to...Saskatchewan the other.

The challenge with the RE is mounting a trailer hitch...

I'm a little over an hour south west of you.

 

[BlackJohn]

Greetings

Nice to see another Canuck with the bug too. It is an adventure to be sure. I am down in the Picton area and still building with just a fairly simple kitchen area to build. I'll be heading to the Maritimes also and the Rock when done. Pulling a 22ft flatbed trailer with some toys and small diesel tractor for snowplowing myself out when needed.
So happy New Year to you and everyone reading.
Enjoy your build.

 

[CanadianSkoolee]

Welcome to Skoolie.net from Northern British Columbia

Sent from my SM-G530W using Tapatalk

Thank you Toot! My son and I were out your way this past summer. My father passed and so we went out to pay our last respects. As a bonus all my brother's and one sister made the trip as well making it a joyous occasion. I also was able to introduce a very close childhood friend to my family as he moved out your way nearly 15 years ago now. Last time I saw him was when I was there once before in 09'. I really love B.C. would have went with my buddy if I knew how beautiful it was back then.

Kelly John

 

[CanadianSkoolee]

How's it goin' eh!

Would love to drive mine with the ATV's to "The Rock" as well, one of two Provinces I haven't been to...Saskatchewan the other.

The challenge with the RE is mounting a trailer hitch...

I'm a little over an hour south west of you.

It's going, lol!

Yep you have to make the trip out East my friend from N.B. to P.E.I. to Newf you'll love every klick'O'meter.

Do you know of any RE hitch examples you could send my way? That would be awesome!

So your rig is completed? Maybe this summer we can meet up and talk shop? I'm game for any help and advice to make this journey as problem free as I can.

Thanks,

Kelly John

 

[CanadianSkoolee]

Nice to see another Canuck with the bug too. It is an adventure to be sure. I am down in the Picton area and still building with just a fairly simple kitchen area to build. I'll be heading to the Maritimes also and the Rock when done. Pulling a 22ft flatbed trailer with some toys and small diesel tractor for snowplowing myself out when needed.
So happy New Year to you and everyone reading.
Enjoy your build.

Hey BlackJohn,

Thanks and Happy New Year to you and yours too!
When will your build be complete before summer? Do you have a RE or FE rig? I want a RE but need to know that a hitch system works on one before I buy it. That won't be for 5 or 6 months but good to know right!

Kelly John

 

[Tootalltechie]

Thank you Toot! My son and I were out your way this past summer. My father passed and so we went out to pay our last respects. As a bonus all my brother's and one sister made the trip as well making it a joyous occasion. I also was able to introduce a very close childhood friend to my family as he moved out your way nearly 15 years ago now. Last time I saw him was when I was there once before in 09'. I really love B.C. would have went with my buddy if I knew how beautiful it was back then.

Kelly John

Sorry to hear of your loss. Family makes everything better.
Gordon

Sent from my SM-G530W using Tapatalk

 

[CanadianSkoolee]

Sorry to hear of your loss. Family makes everything better.
Gordon

Sent from my SM-G530W using Tapatalk

:Thanx: Gordon.

 

[REDD-SKO]

It's going, lol!

Yep you have to make the trip out East my friend from N.B. to P.E.I. to Newf you'll love every klick'O'meter.

Do you know of any RE hitch examples you could send my way? That would be awesome!

So your rig is completed? Maybe this summer we can meet up and talk shop? I'm game for any help and advice to make this journey as problem free as I can.

Thanks,

Kelly John

Been east, just not the rock....my newfie contacts here guess it would be 700-900 bucks each way on the ferry. I believe they charge by the foot & weight.


I can't help as far as the hitch goes....it's been brought up a few times, I myself haven't seen one on here. That doesn't mean it hasn't been done.

No, rig's not done...very close. I got mine July 2015 and figured I have it finished by the end of July 2016[stored for winter]. Still got a ways to go and I'm only building a 40 foot tin tube tent for camping and two ATV'S. No real hydro, plumbing, heat, ac, etc... If you think it'll take you two years, count on 3-4, just sayin', lol.

Check out Vlad's build.

 

[CanadianSkoolee]

Been east, just not the rock....my newfie contacts here guess it would be 700-900 bucks each way on the ferry. I believe they charge by the foot & weight.


I can't help as far as the hitch goes....it's been brought up a few times, I myself haven't seen one on here. That doesn't mean it hasn't been done.

No, rig's not done...very close. I got mine July 2015 and figured I have it finished by the end of July 2016[stored for winter]. Still got a ways to go and I'm only building a 40 foot tin tube tent for camping and two ATV'S. No real hydro, plumbing, heat, ac, etc... If you think it'll take you two years, count on 3-4, just sayin', lol.

Check out Vlad's build.

Hey Redd,

I've attached the rates for crossing to The Rock. (Canadian Dollars)

I can only hope that with a little help from friend's it doesn't take longer than 2 years :hornet:

 

[CanadianSkoolee]

Conversion Concept Plans

Here are my plans for my bus...

 

[CanadianSkoolee]

While I was thinking about the plumbing for a Kit/Bath set up I thought would it be possible to use the grey water to flush the toilet with? Why use fresh water when you have a whole tank of grey water that just gets dumped anyways. Has anyone done this before?

 

[REDD-SKO]

Hey Redd,

I've attached the rates for crossing to The Rock. (Canadian Dollars)

I can only hope that with a little help from friend's it doesn't take longer than 2 years :hornet:

Wow a lot better than the guesstimate I was given. 4 passengers, bus and 4 berth cabin[day]...under 500 bucks. Thanks
[Not much cheeper for my pick up, 20'-8"]

 

[CanadianSkoolee]

Wow a lot better than the guesstimate I was given. 4 passengers, bus and 4 berth cabin[day]...under 500 bucks. Thanks
[Not much cheeper for my pick up, 20'-8"]

Every time we drive to Newf we take the night crossing with the birth so we can sleep while crossing at night, between 6 & 7 hours. Day time is much harder to fall asleep, for me anyways. Then you hit the road early next morning refreshed with daylight to drive around the Island. Something to think about.

 

[1olfart]

No idea about your "gray water/black water dump" question, but wondered the same thing myself. I think that if you moved the question to the section about plumbing, water, etc. you might get more response. My guess is that it could be done if you could, properly, separate the liquids from all the other "goodness" in the gray water.
I didn't want anyone thinking I was hijacking your post, or I would have done it.

 

[CanadianSkoolee]

No idea about your "gray water/black water dump" question, but wondered the same thing myself. I think that if you moved the question to the section about plumbing, water, etc. you might get more response. My guess is that it could be done if you could, properly, separate the liquids from all the other "goodness" in the gray water.
I didn't want anyone thinking I was hijacking your post, or I would have done it.

Thanks, I thought of that after and did go ahead and post it there.

Kelly John