Hello from Michigan and moving out west

[FreeEnergy4All]

Hello from Mid-Michigan and moving out west

I am from Lansing Michigan, selling the house, and will be converting a school bus into an off-the-grid boondocking RV.

I like getting back to nature, and about 20 years ago I have lived in a school bus for nearly a decade on a farm with no grid power in northern Indiana. I loved seeing the deer in the driveway.

So this is not my first rodeo, but that bus was not fully converted, just the bare essentials of RV heater and a bed, and it remained stationary.

~~~

This time I will do the conversion fully and stay mobile. I have been planning on this for years and have made hundreds if not a thousand bus conversion designs in CAD.

Follow along with my bus conversion which has some unusual design features like giant opposed slideouts for the ultimate in spaciousness and a second user-selectable shower drain that is a filtered loop that wastes no water!

I will be able to enjoy half-hour showers in my RV out in the middle of nowhere!!! This is more energy-efficient than a house shower because you are heating already heated water. :marshmallow:

 

[FreeEnergy4All]

BTW, my bus will have a raised floor and slideouts so I'm starting out with a larger bus that has greater load capacity axles.

And then I'm going to remove about 5 feet of the rear of the bus so that it's the right length, but yet still has the heavier load capacity so I shouldn't go overweight on the axles despite having a heavy build RV design.

I'll be looking for a 34-36 foot long front engine flat nose school bus with activities bus highway transmission.

~~~

The ultimate upgrades will be replacing the petroleum powertrain with an electric one and also fitting the front wheels with motors for "4-wheel drive"!

At least that is the eventual plan way down the road someday.

In the meantime, I'm fast approaching 60, hoping to live to 111, so I'll be happy just having such a cool RV and living (mostly) off the grid!

 

[HamSkoolie]

The ultimate upgrades will be replacing the petroleum powertrain with an electric one and also fitting the front wheels with motors for "4-wheel drive"!

Well there is no such thing as free energy it all has an economic and environmental cost. It also, regardless of apparent source, (solar, wind, wave, coal, petroleum, etc.) derives from nuclear fusion. Yes, the diesel in the 18 wheeler truck or your bus, the gasoline in the little cars, the electricity in your home, IT IS ALL the result of nuclear fission consuming finite hydrogen sources in the core of the sun.

When we do a proper cradle to grave analysis, there isn't much difference in environmental cost (on this planet). Those cute little "Zero Emissions" badges on the Nissan Leaf are literally false advertising as the emissions are mere displaced to a coal, gas, hydro, based electrical grid that has a bit of solar and wind attached.
They have recently "succeeded" in building a an electric bus and driving it across the country using only established commercial recharging stations. It was little more than a marketing ploy and has no real life usability as those recharging stations had to be within the 283 mile maximum range of the bus after which it had to sit on the recharger for many many hours. I suppose that gave them plenty of time to research the next charger within their range though.
Perhaps some day electric vehicles will be economically and technologically viable without destroying the places where lithium and other rare earths are mined and where the local environments in out of the way places where it's not seen, are literally turned into toxic wastelands.
However, you being 60, even if you do live to 111 (not very likely) that's only 51 years. We'll still be running strong on the best portable energy source out there....petroleum..... long after that. Don't forget that Peak Oil was predicted to happen in 1910 and we were supposed to be out by 1925.

 

[DeMac]

Welcome

Crazy or not, FreeEnergy4All, you are in the right place.

Welcome to the Insane Asylum.

 

[FreeEnergy4All]

Sorry, this post is my mistake.
Admins, please delete this post.
Thanks

 

[FreeEnergy4All]

Crazy or not, FreeEnergy4All, you are in the right place.

...

Welcome to the Insane Asylum.

Over the years I have done hundreds of CAD drawings of bus conversion designs, so I figure I've been hooked for a while. :biggrin:

I also lived in a school bus for a decade ending around 15 years ago. And I'm back. I can't seem to stay away for too long. Thanks for the welcome. I think.

 

[FreeEnergy4All]

Well there is no such thing as free energy it all has an economic and environmental cost.

...

that's only 51 years. We'll still be running strong on the best portable energy source out there....petroleum..... long after that. Don't forget that Peak Oil was predicted to happen in 1910 and we were supposed to be out by 1925.

You contradicted yourself in your first sentence. If there's no such thing, then how does it exist? LOL, Your funny sometimes. Please learn the difference between "free energy" without a meter on it, and what it takes to "collect it" or "store it". Ok? Gee thanks.

As to betting on the corrupt establishment continuing to oppress us all, gee, who's side are you on anyway? Any child can say, the way things have been is the way things will be.

Let's be clear, do you have some sort of financial investment in petroleum oil or its byproducts? Is that it? We know the government seems together with the energy cartels because the IMF said that the fossil fuel industry gets 10 million a minute in subsidies.

~~~

That is $5.25 TRILLION a year. Are you into maximizing metric tons of free money for the richest and most polluting?

But actions speak louder than words, and we know even you don't stay in a closed garage with your petrol car running because you know you would soon be dead from its poisonous emissions.

But petroleum fuel is not harmful to humanity or the environment... LOL Yeah right.

 

[FreeEnergy4All]

... It also, regardless of apparent source, (solar, wind, wave, coal, petroleum, etc.) derives from nuclear fusion. Yes, the diesel in the 18 wheeler truck or your bus, the gasoline in the little cars, the electricity in your home, IT IS ALL the result of nuclear fission consuming finite hydrogen sources in the core of the sun..

Actually, if you want to be deep and fundamental. At the basis of quantum physics and all physical things, is the notion that all things are made of atoms and molecules. Right?

Zero-point energy has already been validated by the discoveries around the quantum field and the fact that every atom works/spins/vibrates from some unknown energy source.

So sure, as you suggest, we have existence on a planet because of things like nuclear fusion so that lets say suns or planets can be created, and the sun fundamentally powers the solar system. So the sun is the primary energy source in the solar system. You make a good point.

~~~

But the fact remains, if it physically exists, then that's only possible because of a somewhat mysterious universal energy linked to the quantum field/flux entanglement.

However, SNAP!!! Wake up. Let's get back to reality. We have wind and sun and water flow, and we ALSO have other forms of alternative energy that is not just the traditional stuff. Also, some inventions exist but are suppressed.

So that you use slanted historical criticism of yesteryear, you keep showing the dated nature of your view.

~~~

And that you side with our mutual oppressors, the cannabis prohibitionists, suggests you're on the wrong side of history concerning the cannabis issue.

I have original ideas for improvements, and I am an inventor of better alternative energy inventions.

So please don't just assume when someone says green energy or alternative energy, that means it's junk so go against it. No, it can mean what we need the most.

 

[DeMac]

Physics/Philosophy - Good Stuff

Energy is a commodity which we all consume, expend and earn. The things we buy, services, our earnings, all have energy invested. The Energy is what affects the value of everything.

It's actually ridiculous that we don't farm and store more of it while expending less. Compost. Solar. Fuel. Wheat.

Energy economics. The plow saved energy, right? Fertilizers (stored energy) energizes the soil, add sun/water = food, we eat energy to sell ours back to employer/clients....

 

[FreeEnergy4All]

Energy is a commodity which we all consume, expend and earn. The things we buy, services, our earnings, all have energy invested. The Energy is what affects the value of everything.

It's actually ridiculous that we don't farm and store more of it while expending less. Compost. Solar. Fuel. Wheat.

Energy economics. The plow saved energy, right? Fertilizers (stored energy) energize the soil, add sun/water = food, we eat energy to sell ours back to employer/clients....

Let's not be shy, cannabis hemp aka pot/marijuana/grass is the only plant, not wheat that could save the world. That's true as per the worldwide $50,000 challenge against the thesis of the book from Jack Herer, "The Emperor Wears No Clothes".

And no one ever won that prize against the book's far-out claim because cannabis truly is the only plant that could save the world. Why is cannabis so important it could save mankind?

Mostly because it's a renewable energy resource in biofuels, but also because its seed is one of the few complete foods, and from the plant, we can do anything petroleum oil can do, and most things wood, cotton, and tobacco can do, only better and sustainably and more cleanly.

~~~

We are literally cannabinoid critters complete with an ECS or endogenous cannabinoid system and it's just in charge of keeping us healthy is all, yet big pharma can't incorporate it as cannabis is also an effective detox agent helping the body get rid of some unknown amount of the drugs they wish to sell us.

And since their dangerous drugs usually must be taken by exact dosage, they don't recommend taking a detox agent which interrupts the proper dosage of that drug in your body.

And so cannabis is what we need to stay healthy but it's not really allowed by the allopathic medical community. The United States now has way more states that have pro-cannabis laws that directly contradict the federal prohibition against it.

~~~

Michigan's medical state law came before our recreational law and it states that we have found cannabis to be a safe and effective medicine.

And so does the federal government who HAS A PATENT FOR CANNABINOIDS AS MEDICINAL AGAINST INFLAMMATION AND OTHER BENEFITS LIKE FIGHTS AGAINST CANCER, ETC while at the same time wages a war against cannabis (really it's against we the people) for HAVING NO KNOWN MEDICAL VALUE. Serious hypocrites.

US patent 6,630,507, granted in 2003 to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is well known to beat cancer, fix glaucoma, and most seizure disorders, it helps with pain and nausea in nearly miraculous ways, the list goes on and on.

~~~

They even made a drug that shuts down the CB1 receptor that is mostly located in the brain and is in charge of giving us the munchies when we use marijuana.

Well, allopathic big pharma controlled capitalism thought it would be great if we just make a diet pill out of shutting down the munchies CB1 receptor but they forgot it is connected to our remaining healthy bit.

This was over in Europe somewhere. So normal people who just wanted to lose some weight started taking this god awful drug, and they become so despondent and depressed and with health problems some of them started committing suicide, to the point they had to take the drug off the market.

~~~

We are very clearly cannabinoid critters, but the establishment does not want you to know this. I am off of 9 dangerous pharmaceuticals thanks to one safe and effective plant. So yeah, cannabis is way more important than many of us realize.

 

[FreeEnergy4All]

Sorry for the off-topic pot topic, other than the notion that I am relevant, and the remark was about my handle and I feel I have the right to defend myself is all.

Bless us all I am here to help, not hinder or hoax. I have no plans to continue with the weedy off topic.

BTW, my wind turbine which might be made from hemp-based composite plastics should be 4 times better than the best we have today, but one can't easily patent something like that and remain unsuppressed by the big pockets of the soulless energy cartels. But, I digress.

~~~

When you're first great alternative energy invention captures all the wind that crosses its sweep path, while the best we have today only redirects a small amount of wind, illustrates how my design is so much greater.

So I speak from an exceptional,, understanding. I normally am not flippant, but consider things deeply because I care deeply. I care about the world and the truth deeply and have given the last half of my adult life in hopes of blessing you all.

I am happy to say, some of my dreams are coming true. Please don't take me or my handle as an offense just because I dare to care about alternative energy and living off the grid.

~~~

The "horse and buggy" Amish do it every day and I am from parents who were each born and raised Amish, but not me, I was raised Mennonite/normal. They are arguably one of the world's most respected cultures of peaceful organic dissent against the polluting modern wicked world system.

Some might call it the NWO or the Robber Barons, or the corrupt establishment, etc.

I have no plans to continue off-topic discussion other than to simply defend my name and way of life. And thank you for allowing me to explain myself, and to some degree, defend myself after free energy was attacked.

~~~

Alternative energy without a meter on it could be what we need the most but talk about the least.

Bless you all. One last thought. What if humanity championing alternative energy is a human right that has been suppressed by the energy cartels and the central bankers who back them?

Suddenly we might understand a little better how the ancient people from prehistory were able to build such enormous megalithic structures that we usually can't match today. Think about the idea that they most likely had championed alternative energy without a meter on it.

~~~

That's quite possibly central to how they could achieve such monumental works.

Championing free (or alternative) energy.

I hope some of what I have said blesses many. I wish it blessed us all.

 

[FreeEnergy4All]

I don't know how long it is overall, it's kinda long, but between the wheels, I guestimate is about 14.5 feet of windows between them. Which is about the perfect wheelbase length. It doesn't exist??? LOL

 

[DeMac]

I Present Facts. Not Fantasies.

I don't know how long it is overall, it's kinda long, but between the wheels, I guestimate is about 14.5 feet of windows between them. Which is about the perfect wheelbase length. It doesn't exist??? LOL

Let's estimate:
Wheelbase is an axle center to axle center measurement.

(oranges pictured)

Each window is 27", on that model IC.
Start counting at the rib between the first & second window. Finish at the rib between the 10th & 11th. 9x27=243", estimate only (it's actually 234", fact). Now, measure the total bus length. (40ft pictured)

That's not a 34-36ft bus nor is the wheelbase 18-19 feet.

Your OP "Seeking help finding the right bus" (Apples)

You presented Oranges, bro. You asked about apples.

Still, look for IC, Navistar, AmTran & Ward FE buses. You will find a suitable wheelbase FE. Maybe even those exact measurements, very low probability. imo.

 

[Rucker]

BTW, my bus will have a raised floor and slideouts so I'm starting out with a larger bus that has greater load capacity axles.

And then I'm going to remove about 5 feet of the rear of the bus so that it's the right length, but yet still has the heavier load capacity so I shouldn't go overweight on the axles despite having a heavy build RV design.

I'll be looking for a 34-36 foot long front engine flat nose school bus with activities bus highway transmission.

~~~

The ultimate upgrades will be replacing the petroleum powertrain with an electric one and also fitting the front wheels with motors for "4-wheel drive"!

At least that is the eventual plan way down the road someday.

In the meantime, I'm fast approaching 60, hoping to live to 111, so I'll be happy just having such a cool RV and living (mostly) off the grid!

My God, man, baby steps!

 

[#1FordFan]

I like all your ideas although going electric I think is a long shot in the next year or so. I will remind you if you cut off the rear of a bus you will increase front axle weight.
Myself I’d look for a std size 22-24 seat bus (36? Ft)and not do any cutting.

 

[kazetsukai]

Hello, and welcome.

Over the years I have done hundreds of CAD drawings of bus conversion designs, so I figure I've been hooked for a while. :biggrin:\

Would you be open to doing a design or two by request? This is something I've been pretty bad at. I'll likely be starting another conversion within the next year or so and want to figure out chassis requirements early on.

 

[FreeEnergy4All]

Let's estimate:
Wheelbase is an axle center to axle center measurement.

(oranges pictured)

Each window is 27", on that model IC.
Start counting at the rib between the first & second window. Finish at the rib between the 10th & 11th. 9x27=243", estimate only (it's actually 234", fact). Now, measure the total bus length. (40ft pictured)

That's not a 34-36ft bus nor is the wheelbase 18-19 feet.

Your OP "Seeking help finding the right bus" (Apples)

You presented Oranges, bro. You asked about apples.

Still, look for IC, Navistar, AmTran & Ward FE buses. You will find a suitable wheelbase FE. Maybe even those exact measurements, very low probability. imo.

Concerning the placement of the rear wheels, it's much less about the wheelbase than it is the swingout. I want the longest bus with the heaviest load capacity with just a 9.5-foot-long swing out.

I want no more than a 10-foot swing out, mostly for safety reasons so I don't smash into the other lane when making sharp turns.

So that I can just remove a section from the middle of the bus to reduce the overall length to 30' long. removing one section and reconnection the two halves is serious work!

~~~

Maybe forget the wheelbase spec as that does not matter as much as the rear swingout distance. I don't want to have to cut out two sections of the bus when I can just cut out one section of the bus for MUCH less work than removing two sections of the bus!

 

[DeMac]

Flat-Face Bobber

I figured as much. I really dig the look. The bus below is a factory AmTran, Genesis. Although, it'd probably take longer to find this model than to diy.

 

[FreeEnergy4All]

My God, man, baby steps!

Thanks for recognizing the scope of this project. It's extensive to say the least. LOL, this is bus living 2.0 for me.

I already lived in a bus for nearly a decade about 15 years ago on a farm with no grid power in northern Indiana. All that was just the future plans for full completion, and not what I'm planning to achieve in the near future. LOL

I have been designing bus floorplans for about 2-3 years simply because of this project. It pays to have your goals clarified before you do them!

~~~

I plan to have two 30-foot RVs. The lead would be the motorcoach with the dining room and the kitchen and lastly the bathroom. Then in the Trailer would be an expansive living room and master bedroom.

Don't forget the loft above the trailer has an enclosed sun room for chilling out with an elevated view. When dreaming, why not dream big?

This rig is more of an overlander but on the cheap. Just add front-wheel drive to make the experience complete. Upgraded offroad boondocking.

 

[FreeEnergy4All]

I figured as much. I really dig the look. The bus below is a factory AmTran, Genesis. Although, it'd probably take longer to find this model than to diy.

Right on. Dig it,, except that the only thing is, right away, that rear end is way shorter than even a rear engine bus, so that's a serious no no. Rear engine busses only have about a 6-7 foot swing out, and that's just not long enough.

I don't want a 30-foot model because it would only have a 30-foot bus "load capacity" and I want more of a full-sized bus load capacity, so I need to DIY, no real choice about it. I'm installing large heavy slide-outs and large holding tanks for off-grid boondocking so I need the extra load capacity.