How to make a skoolie look less like a school bus

[cadillackid]

The beautiful part of buying a school bus and converting it to something you want is that you can do just that.

Some like to do certain things - others like to do something else. There is no right or wrong way.

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I, too, kept all windows - there is no leaking - I use reflectix on the inside to keep the heat out during the hot summer or in during the cold winter - if needed - but usually have them open - I like the natural light. The door, I just like the door - it does get colder down there - but hasn't ever been a big issue. If it gets really cold - I have a few extra blankets. But I like the camping aspect.

A lot of what you do will depend on what you want and where you will be. I plan to travel north in the summer and south in the winter - so insulating or replacing windows did not seem needed. I am happy with how things turned out. I like it looking like a school bus - (but green).

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I removed the stop sign and put it in the bathroom - I use it as a bathroom light - the only thing that I think you have to remove is the "school" lettering.
In most states that I have researched, the only regulation is that you can't control traffic - so the lights can't function as a school bus (alternating flashing ambers or reds - and no stop sign extending out (you can leave the sign and paint it a different color (I believe the red with "STOP" in white may not be a looked on the exterior).
I am sure some states may not allow the lights at all - but I have not seen anything in writing about that from a state agency.

I look forward to seeing your bus!

this guy has it right!!.. im not sure what a souless RV is...

the busses here.. everyone here is doing something different to their bus.. everything from coaches to city busses,airport shuttles, school busses all being transformed into dasily drivers, campers, homes, tool vans, mobile repair rigs, food trucks, and the list goes on.. some emphasizinbg mechanics, others electronics, or structure, interior finishes, green-factor, again the list goes on.. no one is constrained to "it cant look like a bus" or "it has to look like a bus".. just build it.. its yours.. not theirs...

onto "souless" RVs.. the only "souless" RV's are the brand new shiny ones with the stickers and the new wood smell.. sitting on dealers' lots.. they are only souless until someone comes along and says "i'll take it".. and off it goes.. to the ski slope, or beach, or roadtrip with friends to a concert, a race, florida for the winter, coure-de-laine for a car show, and each mile on thise tires it gains soul... you put the soul into the bus, RV, home. car. etc that you build...
-Christopher

 

[stone21]

this guy has it right!!.. im not sure what a souless RV is...

the busses here.. everyone here is doing something different to their bus.. everything from coaches to city busses,airport shuttles, school busses all being transformed into dasily drivers, campers, homes, tool vans, mobile repair rigs, food trucks, and the list goes on.. some emphasizinbg mechanics, others electronics, or structure, interior finishes, green-factor, again the list goes on.. no one is constrained to "it cant look like a bus" or "it has to look like a bus".. just build it.. its yours.. not theirs...

onto "souless" RVs.. the only "souless" RV's are the brand new shiny ones with the stickers and the new wood smell.. sitting on dealers' lots.. they are only souless until someone comes along and says "i'll take it".. and off it goes.. to the ski slope, or beach, or roadtrip with friends to a concert, a race, florida for the winter, coure-de-laine for a car show, and each mile on thise tires it gains soul... you put the soul into the bus, RV, home. car. etc that you build...
-Christopher

 

[Gdog 5651]

That Christoper fellow I can't relate to him he just makes too much sense:wink1:

 

[Gdog 5651]

Cadillackid sorry I spelled your name wrong for some reason I couldn't edit it. Gene

 

[Robin97396]

I thought it was just a speech impediment.

 

[Gdog 5651]

Not hardly it's a brain impediment

 

[Rivetboy]

Maybe if I rephrased "soul" as the Pride of accomplishment it will clarify what I am trying to say.
Still have no use for staple and stick anything.
Fiberglass ain't much better.
One can certainly be proud of the Motorhome that you buy off of the lot, it is big and beautiful but the pride that you have in something you have dreamed of and brought to fruition is the stronger draw for me.

 

[snonut]

pengyou has posted numerous queries and has yet to act on any of our responses.

He's beginning to look like a troll.

Actually he said he wanted to do a poll, looks like a lot of people felt the need to to discuss this.

 

[pengyou]

Thanks for all of your responses. I was out of town for a couple of days and can't access this site unless I am on the computer in my apartment (which has a vvvppppppnnnn). I appreciate your responses, as well as dozens of responses to other questions I have asked. I am 70% sure that I want to go the skoolie route now, so it is a matter of waiting, while still educating myself. The bank account says that spring of 2019 is the time to move, though I am trying to find a way to make that happen sooner.

Your responses have made me think. I am not trying to avoid a bus/coach look but rather just the "school" part of "school bus" - certainly not trying to stir something up here (I had no idea that there were such passions about the subject). Part of the reason is that, based on posts I have read in other places, school looking school busses are more likely to be denied access to camping places than converted busses/coaches. Another reason is that, after doing an inventory of what I like and don't like, privacy comes up near the top of the list and keeping all of the windows in a bus would make me feel like a fish in a bowl. It is possible that I will spend only half of the year in the bus - it is possible that I will live in it almost all year. If I spend the whole year, then I have to be more careful about my "fearless inventory" of needs.

 

[Tango-SKO]

I know several folks who have converted earlier model Blue Bird All Americans into full blown WanderLodge look-a-likes. One even got his titled here in Texas as a new Blue Bird motor coach which his banker said was good for a $250K loan! He had a total of about $25 grand in it.

For many years the Lodge & the BBAA were built on exactly the same chassis and running gear and share the same basic sheet metal. A little paint and some windows & trim turn them into "respectable" RV's.

 

[Robin97396]

I didn't know we were trying to be respectable. Seems like kind of a long shot.

 

[ben2go]

I didn't know we were trying to be respectable. Seems like kind of a long shot.

 

[jdawgsworld]

3 tone Metalflake Paint Alloy Wheels 4 on the floor and a rear spoiler Oh! it will still look like a Skoolie shoulda bought a Prevost

LMAO

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[JamieJackson]

Speaking of doors and not putting on a house door, can anyone point me in the direction to get the type of door they use on the blood mobiles or book mobiles?

I am looking for a front door similar to this one, but my google searches haven't come up with anything close... :/

 

[jdawgsworld]

Speaking of doors and not putting on a house door, can anyone point me in the direction to get the type of door they use on the blood mobiles or book mobiles?

I am looking for a front door similar to this one, but my google searches haven't come up with anything close... :/

I bet if have a heavy vehicle scrap yard you might find a door

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[ben2go]

Speaking of doors and not putting on a house door, can anyone point me in the direction to get the type of door they use on the blood mobiles or book mobiles?

I am looking for a front door similar to this one, but my google searches haven't come up with anything close... :/

Custome built RV door. Good luck finding one. Salvage yard or Epay. Possibly crig's list add or want to buy add placed upon the site.

 

[Robin97396]

Here's a thought. CL has lots of RV parts like furnaces and tanks. Obviously those RVs being deconstructed had doors but there's not much market for them. You could try contacting one of the used parts sellers.

 

[BigDeb68]

@Robin

I hate seeing a bus with a house door, especially wood doors.

BLBHAHHAHA Like OMG Robin, I thought I was the only one who hated house doors and wood flooring on buses!! That's a good one!

 

[Robin97396]

That's probably a response from when I was a kid watching the old hippie buses drive through town leaving a smoke screen behind the bus.

Don't take me wrong. I'm a big believer is using what you got. I've got a lot of military surplus in my bus. Still, a six panel wooden door bolted onto a bus is kind of on the hideous side. That's right up there with the 55 gallon water tank strapped to the roof.

 

[EastCoastCB]

BLBHAHHAHA Like OMG Robin, I thought I was the only one who hated house doors and wood flooring on buses!! That's a good one!

We all have different tastes, opinions, and egos.
But yeah, I hate house doors on buses, aside from a couple I've seen.
I really don't like the school bus service doors either. I know most of you do, I'm in the minority that doesn't care about keeping a shred of the "school bus" stuff. I want it all gone.
My bus is gonna be a dirt road country coach, of sorts.
I love the way a nicely paneled in RV door looks installed in place of the service door.

We all have our own opinions, of course.