hello schoolie world!!

[Micahball]

I'm a newbie to this whole thing, I've been just kinda looking around trying to decide if this is something I want to commit to. both my girlfriend and I love being outdoors, we love to travel, but I'm young and broke. I have about $8k saved and budgeted to start the bus buying and building process (i know it's going to cost way more). One of my biggest questions is would it even be feasible? any comments or concerns would greatly be appreciated.

 

[ewo1]

Welcome!

My best advice regarding your “is it feasible” question.

Take that ten grand and put it in a cd., make believe your really broke!

Then start to think about a build. When you start you’ll see how money can go real fast into a build.

If you do it this way you might end up with ten grand in the back end for your travel monies!

It is not gonna be a good day if you spend your only ten grand, don’t finish your build and quit midway like many others do.

 

[nikitis]

Depends on your timeframe. I'm 1.5 years into my build but I'm only upgrading as I get money in. I ended up having to replace a computer in the bus which cost $1500, Did a king pin Job which if not done your self can cost $5-6k. If done yourself is gonna cost you $2k unless you can weld and fabricate your own press like I did out of an iron I-beam then it's $600. If you are real intelligent and can come up with unique DIY methods to fix some things and are willing to get in there and really tear apart your bus yourself completely and you got time to do it then sure. If money is an obstacle you gotta have a place to keep it without wearing out your welcome for 2-3 years till it's built. It also depends on how much work you want to put into it.

Things to consider

 

[LargeMarge-TC]

'Is it even feasible?'
.
Our perpetual suggestion:
* acquire a suitable candidate
* toss in some car-camping gear
* go have fun.
.
Allow the conversion to evolve organically.

 

[kromboy]

With so little wiggle room, it's possible but definitely difficult to pull off.

I bought my bus for $2600 at auction, with fees it was right about $3000, flew out to OR to drive it back and that cost about $2000 between hotel, rental car and fuel, about $1000 of that was just buying tools and gear so I could survive if I was stranded somewhere.

So with luck in my favor, I'm still looking at $5000 spent on the bus, $3000 isn't a whole lot of room left over and that's assuming no mechanical issues, any mechanical issue you run into could leave you dead in the water.

But if you're capable of fixing things and don't have a big list of things you absolutely need, you should be able to take the bus camping for your budget. Just don't build it out, demo it and insulate it and take it camping. That's going to be my plan, I'm trying to demo and insulate the floors and walls, will be leaving the ceiling and windows alone for now, then I'll take it to the mountains to see the leaves change.

 

[Micahball]

Thank you all so much, this is all very useful

 

[kromboy]

Oh yeah, and you'll probably need a new set of tires which will run just about $3k. So you're basically looking to buy a bus for $5k or less, and praying that nothing goes wrong.

I would suggest starting with a van conversion, like a beat up Chevy Express or Ford E series.