Newbie from Northwest

[Squirrel-SKO]

Hey everyone. New to this whole bus conversion (or any conversion) and came here to get and share ideas. Recently the wife and I bought a 78 GMC Shorty that had already been partially converted into a basic camper. It has 2 cots, a small propane stove, awning, non-working stereo system, and a paint job. I've spent the past few weeks working on the engine getting it running as it had sat for 2+ years, and the wife helped me gut and clean the interior. Right now, we're putting the cots and a bench seat back in to make it usable for hunting season which is less than 2 weeks away.
We eventually plan on doing a full remodel to make it into a camper that will work for the two of us and our two small dogs. I've done a lot of looking on youtube and google and seen very little as far as buses of this size. And, although we have seen some great ideas on conversions, we're a little limited on space. I've seen this forum a time or two in my searches so thought we'd give it a try and see where it goes.

 

[Kylebetaclark]

Yo! Awesome. gotta get the horses under the hood rocking.
Where in the Northeast are you? I'm in VT.

Are you looking for parts? Ideas? hidden junkyards?

This is our rig: Inside the Magic Harry Potter Bus | Interior Design | Seven Days | Vermont's Independent Voice

 

[Squirrel-SKO]

I'm actually in the other corner of the country: Washington. It's taken a little work to get 'er up and going and she still needs more, but it'll make it to the mountains for hunting this year. lol The wife LOVES the Harry Potter theme! Nice ride!

 

[Kylebetaclark]

Oops...read northeast .
Cheers!

 

[Squirrel-SKO]

I'm back! It's been over a year since I was on here mainly due to the bus project being put on the back burner; life happens. But, seeing that I'm 'technically' still a newbie, I thought I'd just comment on my original post from when I joined.
Update from last year: the bus never made it to hunting camp. It blew the radiator about 10 miles out of town. I got that replaced, as well as a bunch of other mechanical parts, replaced and insulated the floor and tried again this year to make it to camp. It broke down again, this time due to a bad fuel pump. At this point I decided 'RoadKill' was definitely a fitting name for the bus and shut it down to properly go through everything and begin the actual camper conversion on it.
And finally, I started up a YT channel to share updates of the conversion. I know there's already a metric ton of skoolie videos out there, but my shorty and some of the ideas we have planned are a little different and unique so I hope others will find it interesting... assuming they can get past my horrible filming/editing skills lol

 

[EastCoastCB]

As long as you don't do like that one guy and basically cut away to an annoying wife or gf every 30 seconds, I'll check out your vids.
Its not the video quality that matters to me, its the content. Most of the vids on youtube are dreamers trying to "brand" their vacations and collect money and "followers". There's a weird fakeness to nearly ALL the YT "builds" I've seen.
Just my thoughts on TY and buses! My YT videos aren't great, but I don't try to pretend I'm some other guy in them, either.

 

[Squirrel-SKO]

As long as you don't do like that one guy and basically cut away to an annoying wife or gf every 30 seconds, I'll check out your vids.
Its not the video quality that matters to me, its the content. Most of the vids on youtube are dreamers trying to "brand" their vacations and collect money and "followers". There's a weird fakeness to nearly ALL the YT "builds" I've seen.
Just my thoughts on TY and buses! My YT videos aren't great, but I don't try to pretend I'm some other guy in them, either.

I hear ya on the YT builds. I actually started my channel due to another forum I belong to (not bus related). Several members there have YT channels and wanted to see progress of my bus build.

My YT channel is Squirreled Life. Let me know yours and I'll check it out

 

[PNW_Steve]

Where in WA are you?

We have had a number of number of new faces from the NW over the past year. Perhaps we will have success having a PNW skoolie get together in 2018?

 

[Squirrel-SKO]

Where in WA are you?

We have had a number of number of new faces from the NW over the past year. Perhaps we will have success having a PNW skoolie get together in 2018?

Im actually an idaho resident, but temporarily live in Clarkston. My wife and I ride motorcycle all over the PNW so eventually we plan on trailering the bikes behind this to places like the coast.

 

[PNW_Steve]

Im actually an idaho resident, but temporarily live in Clarkston. My wife and I ride motorcycle all over the PNW so eventually we plan on trailering the bikes behind this to places like the coast.

We are almost neighbors. I am about 65 miles West of you on Hwy 12.

 

[Rusty-SKO]

As long as you don't do like that one guy and basically cut away to an annoying wife or gf every 30 seconds, I'll check out your vids.

Dunno. Some of these guys wives/gf make their terrible videos worth watching.

Sure, a lot of the guys seem like posers and talking heads, but you got to admit- they sure are good at conning their buddies to do their builds. a bunch of them are more interested in the fame then turning wrenches. Videos titled : "Today I finish roof transition" and it's the dude and his gf painting cabinets while his good buddy is up on the roof welding !

So, please do not take away the eye candy or there is empty shell remaining. If I ever did a bus video, it'd be loaded with attractive women with real skills. Nothing like a woman working with her hands.:wink1:

 

[Twigg-SKO]

This series is well worth watching:

 

[dan-fox]

YouTube tossed up something called "Mad Max Bus" on my recommendations last night, and I clicked. It turned out to be someone interviewing MuddaEarth and touring his bus. Good vid.

Now just because he's worked a couple of skulls into the decor,.......

 

[PNW_Steve]

This series is well worth watching:

Hey Twigg,

I second that, he is a great example to follow.

Is there any chance that you may have contact with this guy?

I have tried to message him via YouTube and not having perfect success.

Thanks

S

 

[Twigg-SKO]

Hey Twigg,

I second that, he is a great example to follow.

Is there any chance that you may have contact with this guy?

I have tried to message him via YouTube and not having perfect success.

Thanks

S

I don't have his contact details, but he has mad skillz that he shows in a very understated way. I like the videos.

 

[Squirrel-SKO]

First, apologies for the delay. Life has a way of keeping one busy. Plus, I'm still getting used to the way this forum is set up. The other forum I belong to shows notifications at the top for all kinds of activity, whereas this one I don't even know if someone has replied to me. Will have to check my settings and such.

Anyway, my take on youtube builds is they're a great source of how to do, and more importantly, what not to do. I will admit there are many vids with appealing eye candy in them, and yes, I do watch them lol. But mostly, I check them out to see what they did and how it worked. I have a few ideas planned for my shorty that I got off youtube such as flipping the windows, but I also have some ideas that are 'oh, that's cool, but what if I did it this way instead?'

But I got a long ways to go before any of that. I just finished pulling the last of the interior panels and insulation the other day and now it's time to go through the wiring and start sealing all the leaks.