Kendall & Dreama

[KeenKeem]

Hello from Washington! My girlfriend and I just started the saving process for our bus - we decided this was the best project that will pay off in the future. At 19, we have already travelled the country and moved across the coast to the PNW and decided to prioritize travel and bus the bus!
Looking for busses currently. Why do you guys like/ not like the size of your bus?

Picking the perfect size is hard

 

[cowlitzcoach]

Just be aware that there is no one perfect sized bus.

Every sized bus is built for a specific purpose.

The most common bus made, bar none, is the Type 'C' conventional school bus with 10 to 13 rows of seats. Every year there are more of them built than all of the transit and motorcoach buses combined.

Common equals lots of them which then equals lower cost. Many times you can find a 35' Type 'C' bus for sale at prices much lower than other buses of the same vintage.

There are also a lot of different sizes going from as few as 5-rows of seats up to as many as 13-rows of seats.

The one real advantage the Type 'C' bus has over smaller buses is there is a lot more truck under the bus than Type 'A' (van cut-away) or Type 'B' (buses built on the same type of chassis as bread delivery trucks hence the term bread box buses) of the same number of seats. They also have the easiest access to mechanical components of any type of bus. The fact that they look like trucks also makes finding parts and pieces to keep them going easier and many times less expensive.

So good luck on your search and as you determine what your needs are you will be better able to narrow your search as to what will be the perfect bus for you.

 

[Tango-SKO]

Welcome! --- Good to start young. Read as many build threads as possible and you will begin to develop a picture of what will work best for you. As Cowlitz notes above...there really is no "one size fits all". Big buses have the advantage of more floorplan options, room for underbelly storage and such, but also are trickier to find a place to park and use more fuel. Shorties on the other hand can often fit in a standard parking spot and can get better MPG but are very tricky to cram minimal niceties into. It all comes down to your own personal vision and needs. Get that worked out first and the rest will fall into place.

Best of luck on the research & hunt. Keep us posted on your progress.

 

[FlyboyHPD]

It's all going to depend on how you intend to use the bus. You need to ask yourself these questions first. Do you plan to travel all the time? If so then you will need to have ample water storage for drinking, showering, and possibly using the toilet. You will also need to have ample battery storage for your electrical needs, whether it be 12v DC or using an inverter for 110v AC. The more you plan to travel the bigger the bus you will need to equip all the necessary items.

If you plan to stay in RV parks the majority of the time then you will have the use of the water, electricity, and shower facilities when parked and can get by with maybe a smaller bus.

Last but not least, will you be using the bus for just a weekend or maybe a week long getaway, or do you plan to live in it full time? Will there be children or pets with you? If living in it full time then you will really appreciate the biggest you can afford because even empty the biggest ones are still only around 230 sq. ft. of inside livable space.

Read up as much as possible in the Skoolie Conversion Forum here. It may help to answer your questions. Good Luck !