Hello world!

[Krusty-SKO]

So excited to have found this community, and I'm even more excited to get started on my Skoolie journey!

Little about me:
I am located in Washington state, currently renting an apartment and in a hurry to find a bus (either converted or unconverted) so that I can move onto the vacant pieces of land that I own.

The bus will be part of my shorter to mid term plan. One piece of land is in the mountains, the other is in the city. They are about 1.5-2 hours apart. I plan on making the land in the mountains be my primary home base, and staying on the land in the city when we need to resupply or feel like being more in the middle of the action.

I am planning on having some sort of tiny house on the main property, whether that is a THOW, a shipping container, or a finished shed. Currently leaning towards a shipping container in the short term as it seems to be the most cost effective, with a local company offering "finished" containers for around $15-20k.

The property is "off grid" until I am able to invest the time and money into getting utilities onsite, and I am picturing either having all the utilities live in either the skoolie or a towable trailer. This would be things like large water holding tank, LIFEPO4 batteries and solar setup, etc. I would like the utilities to be easily movable so that I can do things like visit RV dump stations to get the tanks emptied, and be able to enjoy both properties without needing separate/duplicate utility setups.

So... that's where I'm at. I have the land, I have the resources, but now I need to acquire a bus and build my skills!

I am on the lookout for a dognose bus right around (ideally under) 30 ft long. Believe I am looking for 2004 or earlier to avoid issues with the EGR systems (someone please correct me if the year is wrong!)

I am also very open to suggestions for skoolie friendly mechanics in the greater Seattle area. Really looking for a community I can gather info from, and bounce ideas off of as I jump into this journey.

Our goal is to be out of our apartment and living on our land by winter... call it November. That gives us just 5 short months to continue getting the land in order and figure out an acceptable level of living situation to get us through winter.

 

[nikitis]

I am on the lookout for a dognose bus right around (ideally under) 30 ft long. Believe I am looking for 2004 or earlier to avoid issues with the EGR systems (someone please correct me if the year is wrong!)

That would be an 8 window bus like mine. 2000-2004 are great picks right now, and you're correct about EGR and DPF to avoid.

I am also very open to suggestions for skoolie friendly mechanics in the greater Seattle area. Really looking for a community I can gather info from, and bounce ideas off of as I jump into this journey.

I can't help you there as I'm east coast, maybe someone else can chime in here?

Our goal is to be out of our apartment and living on our land by winter... call it November. That gives us just 5 short months to continue getting the land in order and figure out an acceptable level of living situation to get us through winter.

It's not very long. Winter in Washington is quite cold and you will need to get to the point of insulating the bus and including diesel heaters. The later is quite doable but the insulation within that time is difficult.

Some items you will likely run into:
Possible mechanical issues that will need fixing. Often times when someone buys a bus they are selling it for a reason. Sometimes age, sometimes mechanical. And that can take time to fix it digging into your 5 month window.

If you dedicate every day (Without working) it's possible to reach that 5 month goal and have her insulated in time, but it's a difficult timeline historically to meet and you don't even have the bus yet.

I suggest move quick or make new plans cause you might be caught out in the cold otherwise with an inability to keep the heat inside the bus for the Winter.

We typically say it takes on average 6 months for a dedicated worker to get it done as life gets in the way more than you will realize. Bus building fatigue is also a real thing. 1-2 years for an average person to get up and running.

If you are truly dedicated though it can be done. You could have seats out in a week, walls demo'd in another week, floor done (Includes rust fixing etc)

 

[Krusty-SKO]

Perfect, glad to hear I'm at least on the right track in terms of what kind of bus I'm looking for!

Great input, and I totally agree that completing a build in 5 months would be unrealistic for someone with my level of skills. I am planning on buying SOMETHING that's already completed and somewhat livable in the short term while I build up the other components of this plan. Could be that I find the right bus that's already converted and live in that, could be that I buy a shipping container or tiny house on wheels that's already finished and live in that while I build out a skoolie.

What seems to make the most sense in my mind is buying a completed shipping container/tiny/finished shed and living in that while I build out the skoolie. But I am also keeping my eyes open for the right completed skoolie that already has all amenities I need like a serious battery system, large water holding tanks, shower, etc. Kind of all in flux at the moment! I really need to find one piece of the puzzle first in order to get the ball rolling. I've been so focused on getting the property ready that I haven't given the actual living structures as much attention.

 

[Rucker]

You'll get some of the best advice here. Welcome to the group.