New to the skoolie world

[TatDaddyjoe]

hey my name is joe i am a disabled army vet and out of necessity
we (my family) bought a 98 thomas built 71 pass. flat nose schoolbus that i am attempting to do for as cheap as humanly possible if any one has any cost saving ideas or knowledge of what to pull out of a rv for electric wise im open to advice

 

[superdave-SKO]

thank you for your service brother. most will use stove/oven,water tanks,pump, vent hood, antenna,sink, toliet, and power cabe/inverter/charger, ac. its up to you. lots of builds to look at on here. good luck and good reading.

 

[Carytowncat]

Welcome Joe, thank you for your service.

My best savings come from me waiting for things to come my way. When i bypass that to have it sooner i always pay much more.

Now sometimes i spoil myself in the tool or parts department and buy the good stuff. I never regret buying myself good tools, tires, or machine parts.

And last but not least i dumpster dive. I bet my bus is adorned with 95 percent dumpster and alley find

Good luck, sounds fun!

 

[Bluebird-SKO]

Just starting

We found so many things at auctions. We got our cabinets
Counter tops, sink, faucet, and plywood this way. We found a lot of items we
Could make our selves. We also barter a lot.
We found out biggest expenses are going to be
The solar, batteries, the cushions. I bartered to have welding done to add to the back rack and battery compartment and back window fixed.
We found smaller water tanks on line at Amazon then bought 2 5gallon containers for drinking water. We made a composting toilet for 30 dollars
And it never smelled on our last camping trip. We used pet moss. And separate
Container for urine. I was really skeptical but was amazed.
Hope this helps

 

[TatDaddyjoe]

update on the build

i got all the seats out of the bus i have some welding and bondo work to repair some rust. i found a nice scrap yard near me that is 25 cents a pound for all used metals (steel of a Deal pun intended). I also talked to some electrical box installers working for the city and got 150 sq ft of white pine 1"x6"x5' boards for free and am told the will give me more until i scream no more lol that is what i will be using for my walls and floor i'm looking to use something like rolls of quick roof to insulate my floor from road noise. i have began dumpster diving and have got a sink and will continue to look for more i will post pics as soon as i take frames from the videos i sent my wife as progress updates still hashing out the floor plan i am planing on storing 300 gal fresh water on board and having a 55 gal grey water and a 55 gal black water tank under the bus. that's all for this dispatch back to work for me

 

[AlleyCat67]

300 gallons? Better rethink that, that's 2400 lbs of extra momentum. And if you're gonna haul that much fresh water, you need to have grey/black tanks at least that much (combined) as well. I don't know of any bus that has the space for 600 gallons of tankage underneath, even if it's rear engine with no luggage bays. Only reason I can think of to need that much is if you're gonna live in the desert for weeks at a time.... and even then I'd recommend waiting till you get where you're going, then fill the tank(s) just before you park.

Just my 2 cents.

And from one vet (Desert Storm) to another, thank you for your service.