Hello - new to this forum

[772ark]

Hi there, First time posting here in the Skoolie forum :hide:

I'm Mark from Colorado and I just bought my first school bus, and as all of you are doing trying to turn it into a RV/motorcoach. I have a grand job, letting me traveling across the country performing, not to say it's all fun, there is a lot of hard work too. So I'm hoping to use it for both living in when I'm on the road and also holding a lot of my props/equipment.

Like I said I'm new here and was wondering if someplace was a list of non-yellow friendly states?

http://logsdonescapes.com/pages/bus/felix_the_bus.htm

 

[bansil]

Welcome :welcome:

 

[EastCoastCB]

Welcome.

Nice bus, is it from Colorado? Great buses out there. Great people too!

 

[Crazy]

Like I said I'm new here and was wondering if someplace was a list of non-yellow friendly states?

I think it is safer to just paint your bus. You don't want to drive hundreds of miles out of your way to avoid a state.

 

[Tango-SKO]

I agree with Cal...I believe that the vast majority of states all have pretty much the same laws regarding Skoolie colors...not legal.

 

[Robin97396]

That's because big yellow buses are invisible. Cops don't really even look at them, same as most people. The government doesn't want you in an invisible school bus doing who know what.
Personally I like the anonymity of driving a school bus when in town, however the big yellow bus doesn't look like it belongs when I'm at a high mountain lake. I'd say it more resembles a stranded student outing and I can understand why officials don't want to deal with a report of a stranded school bus in the mountains.
Most states don't seem to enforce the repainting issue, because why? Big yellow buses are invisible. I tested that theory for a couple weeks by driving without plates without getting stopped when I first got this bus. I was legal but not plated yet. Never got stopped or questioned. As long as you don't give yourself away by having kitchen spatulas and junk hanging in the windows, so you actually look like a nice clean school bus, nobody seem to see the big yellow thing until you do something unusual like stop at a grocery store. Still looks natural parked in front of Walmart.

 

[772ark]

I'm running out of money fast. got a trailer hitch and a tow dolly and hoping to get water tanks in and a working loo in this year, so what kind of paint should I use?

 

[dredman]

I'm running out of money fast. got a trailer hitch and a tow dolly and hoping to get water tanks in and a working loo in this year, so what kind of paint should I use?

I painted my entire bus with a gallon of Rustoleum, thinned to spay from a gun and compressor. 45 minutes to paint the whole thing. Three days to prep. Holds on great, except where I did a crap job on the rusted, Bondo'ed metal. Paint was $50.

 

[mysty]

Looks like there's some advice for cost-conscious painting here:
http://www.skoolie.net/forums/f10/painting-a-bus-524.html

 

[EastCoastCB]

I painted my entire bus with a gallon of Rustoleum, thinned to spay from a gun and compressor. 45 minutes to paint the whole thing. Three days to prep. Holds on great, except where I did a crap job on the rusted, Bondo'ed metal. Paint was $50.

+1
Rustoleum. Cheap and easy.

 

[cadillackid]

like another post stated.. most states dont seem to enforce the painting.. I see plenty of old school busses driving around .. in fact the last bus I had I only painted over the "school letters" with a line of yellow and even still had school lights.. never got stopped.. though I didnt drive it that much...

the reason school busses dont get noticed is that they are common place.. IN TOWN.. so for those that are building and driving a yellow bus on short jaunts around town you wont get noticed or hassled...

once you go out on the open road you will get noticed.. esp if its Plated and its an out of state plate.. it will instantly be flagged as a NON-SCHOOL operated bus.. it wont be the local sheriff that pulls you over.. but the pesky DOT inspector that trolls rest areas and truck stops looking for any commercial vehicle in violation to hand you a BIG ticket...

if its painted other than yellow, it will be marked as an RV.. and DOT doesnt seem to bother RV's as much.. im not sure how much jurisdiction they have over RV's.. but as an RV the DOT inspector knows he cant write any tickets for Over-weight, CDL violations, expired DOT inspection tags and a whole host of other commercial-only requirements.. so they tend to go bother truckers instead....

the nicer and well-kept your bus looks the less likely you are to get bothered..

most all states the requirement is the School lights have to be painted over or removed and stop signs painted over / removed.. you cant have the name of a school system on the side and it cant say "school bus" on it anywhere

some states require NO yellow... others like ohio you can have half yellow and half another color...

do a decent clean white paint job and you will be fine pretty much everywhere..

-Christopher