skoolis not welcome

[peter36330]

We went to a Southeast Cruisers bus rally at. WILDERNESS RV PARK ESTATES ,10313 NE 102ND ave,,Silver springs .FL
be advised ,,,SKOOLIE bus conversions ,and all BUS CONVERSIONS,are NOT WELCOME they told us that SKOOLIE bus conversions are a fire hazard and are unsafe,,after 2days of travel from southeast AL and almost 400 dollars in fuel ...thanks to all for a long remembered lesson

 

[lornaschinske]

Please post that on www.rvparkreviews.com. By posting whether skoolies are accepted or refused will show campground owners that we are out there.The more times we can show that the campground owners are doing themselves a disservice by refusing us, the more that will accept us. The internet can be a powerful tool of persuasion. We need to use it.

 

[gbstewart]

We went to a Southeast Cruisers bus rally at. WILDERNESS RV PARK ESTATES ,10313 NE 102ND ave,,Silver springs .FL
be advised ,,,SKOOLIE bus conversions ,and all BUS CONVERSIONS,are NOT WELCOME they told us that SKOOLIE bus conversions are a fire hazard and are unsafe,,after 2days of travel from southeast AL and almost 400 dollars in fuel ...thanks to all for a long remembered lesson

fire hazard? does your bus have a flame thrower on it? its just wrong of them to do that, I bet that most of the camper people that went to it would love to have you there, its the people that organize the event that make the stupid rules, well its there lose for you not being there.

gbstewart

 

[bus-bro]

Peter, you should post a picture of your bus so we can see what might possibly cause them concern from a quick visual.

When (& if) I need to tell a park what my bus is, I'm going to tell them "it's a Blue Bird Wonderlodge". That's no lie, because I even wonder what it is.

 

[keith-SKO]

I tell the dum ass's at the camp's that its a Pierce bus and it was by them,if u look at the grill, thats i got on it.i ask them if they ever see a Pierce fire bus ?????and i show them that iam a fireman.....

they don't know ,just make sure that u have a the fire ext mark and got big exstinger's ,,i carrie two 40lb,,,,

 

[Skunky Bus]

Please post that on http://www.rvparkreviews.com. By posting whether skoolies are accepted or refused will show campground owners that we are out there.The more times we can show that the campground owners are doing themselves a disservice by refusing us, the more that will accept us. The internet can be a powerful tool of persuasion. We need to use it.

Perhaps one of us can start a page either as another forum here or a separate website (please, not Facebook et al; some of us don't use that) with a breakdown of skoolie-friendly and skoolie-hostile campgrounds?
Lorna, you mentioned to me in a separate thread Don Wright's Guides to Free Campgrounds as a potential source of places that accept skoolies - as long as they physically accommodate them. I remember you warning me that some listed sites aren't accessible to any motor vehicle - let alone buses.

I guess they would instead prefer to have some crappy 30-year-old S&S with a worn-out propane fridge and gen-u-ine wood and plastic construction (just feel the quality). Look at the number of burnt-out remains of RVs in junk yards all over the country. How many burnt-out bus conversions are out there?

Who do you think you are - you got something against cabinets made of furring strips covered in 1/8" paneling?

I'm fond of my '76 Winnebago (lots of sentimental value) but most school-bus coversions are far superior (all are with respect to crashworthiness). Which is why I'm here, getting ideas for the Skunky Bus. For example, someone (can't remember who) used angle iron screwed to the steel body as the anchor for the cabinets. 2x2 or 2x4 wall frames with thicker panels. House refrigerator instead of RV one. And that stupid campground in Florida still wouldn't take it.

Keith, that Pierce/BB rig is gorgeous.

 

[thommassey]

Keith... bee you teefull bus!

State Parks... Do they take Skoolie's?? Not much of a "park" fan, but curious, while driving 101 or something...

 

[lornaschinske]

Keith... bee you teefull bus!

State Parks... Do they take Skoolie's?? Not much of a "park" fan, but curious, while driving 101 or something...

We LOVE state Parks. Georgia Veterans in Cordele Ga is our fav GA State Park. I really like Fall Creek Falls in TN but Tim's Ford is well worth a trip (close to the FREEEEEE tour of the Jack Daniels distillery). High Falls in Seneca, SC, ChauRam (used to be state park, now county) in Westminster SC are good parks we used to frequent a lot. Rabun Beach (NF) between Clarksville & Clayton GA is close to Helen Ga and we used to stay there and daytrip to Bavarian Helen. Chester Frost (Hixson/Chattanooga, TN) is one of the nicest county parks we have ever stayed in. We LOVE public parks!

All PUBLIC parks take skoolies. That's Corps of Engineers (COE), State, Federal, County, City, BLM, National Forests (NF's) and Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) among others that I probably forgot. Basically, if it's listed in Don Wrights directory or on The Ultimate US Public Campground Project then you can stay there in a skoolie.

 

[Skunky Bus]

We went to a Southeast Cruisers bus rally at. WILDERNESS RV PARK ESTATES ,10313 NE 102ND ave,,Silver springs .FL
be advised ,,,SKOOLIE bus conversions ,and all BUS CONVERSIONS,are NOT WELCOME they told us that SKOOLIE bus conversions are a fire hazard...

Yeah, here is a Wilderness RV Park Estates-approved RV after a malfunction in a defective refrigerator. Both Norcold and Dometic (the top 2 RV refrigerator brands) have had fire-related recalls.

 

[lornaschinske]

And how many on this forum have put the RV refrigerators in? We pulled ours out of the Class C. We already knew their reputation for fires. they also do not cool well and they will freeze up and stop working in freezing weather. Basically not good for full-timers. An under counter AC powered refrigerator will perform much better in all type of weather AND uses less power!

 

[Jarlaxle]

But it's just not practical for boondocking.

 

[bus-bro]

12 volt compressor reefer, batteries and solar panels do, so I've read. Only cost is $$$.

 

[lornaschinske]

But it's just not practical for boondocking.

But we don't boondock. We do wallydock (parking lots) when traveling and they will definitely hold the cold over night. I'm putting a contractor genny in the bus (along with a bumper sticker that says.."Loud generator on board and we're not afraid to use it!"). Hopefully that will encourage folks from parking plastered up next to us in parking lots. We park out at the edges where no one else is parked, go in the store and when we come out, we are surrounded.

The AC undercounters are more energy efficient than an typical RV unit. But if you insist on a 12vDC, get a NovaKool. Seriously, stay away from the LP RV units. They are dangerous. Every RV fire that we have seen, was burned up at the reefer vent.

 

[RavensOracle]

I'm not a full-timer but I have wally-docked some in the new bus. I've got a 12V Small fridge in the bus now and I've thrown my small dorm fridge in when I've needed it. Right now I am using two generators depending on my needs. I have a nice 6K genny I run when I am using the AC, heater, microwave or any other power-sucking appliance. If all I am using are the lights and fridge, maybe the coffee pot or laptop, then I'll just run my little 1000W genny. It all comes down to your own preference and needs. If I am just using the 1000W genny I can actually get away with paying less for gas than I did to run my old camper that had a propane fridge. All I ran off the propane was the fridge and it burned through more cash for a weekend. And If I wanted lights I still had to run the genny to charge the batteries.

For short term the setup works great. For hardcore boon-docking I'd look at adding some solar panels for my battery bank. Right now though the cost is a big deterrent for the way I use it.

 

[Skunky Bus]

But we don't boondock. We do wallydock (parking lots) when traveling and they will definitely hold the cold over night. I'm putting a contractor genny in the bus (along with a bumper sticker that says.."Loud generator on board and we're not afraid to use it!"). Hopefully that will encourage folks from parking plastered up next to us in parking lots. We park out at the edges where no one else is parked, go in the store and when we come out, we are surrounded.

The AC undercounters are more energy efficient than an typical RV unit. But if you insist on a 12vDC, get a NovaKool. Seriously, stay away from the LP RV units. They are dangerous. Every RV fire that we have seen, was burned up at the reefer vent.

On the road I use an ice chest. The old Winnebago doesn't have an inverter or generator and I'm too damn afraid to use the LP burner - emphasis on burner - stuck with shore-power campsites. I just checked NovaKool's website - nice products. But I suspect that a Sears or Wally-World unit and an inverter would be cheaper either to retrofit my Winnie or for the Skunky Bus...

 

[thommassey]

But we don't boondock. We do wallydock (parking lots) when traveling and they will definitely hold the cold over night. I'm putting a contractor genny in the bus (along with a bumper sticker that says.."Loud generator on board and we're not afraid to use it!"). Hopefully that will encourage folks from parking plastered up next to us in parking lots. We park out at the edges where no one else is parked, go in the store and when we come out, we are surrounded.

The AC undercounters are more energy efficient than an typical RV unit. But if you insist on a 12vDC, get a NovaKool. Seriously, stay away from the LP RV units. They are dangerous. Every RV fire that we have seen, was burned up at the reefer vent.

On the road I use an ice chest. The old Winnebago doesn't have an inverter or generator and I'm too damn afraid to use the LP burner - emphasis on burner - stuck with shore-power campsites. I just checked NovaKool's website - nice products. But I suspect that a Sears or Wally-World unit and an inverter would be cheaper either to retrofit my Winnie or for the Skunky Bus...

Want to weigh in here... big cost is Refer for me... If LP is so dangerous, why are there so many? Is there a safer unit? I don't want to depend on çonnection' to have cold food..

I am Boondockin often.. Any help? $1k is alot for cold juice!!

 

[bus-bro]

Batteries, solar panel, and an efficient electric reefer. Though that will cost more than the propane reefer.

I was going to use a 12 volt compressor reefer, but they cost big money also.Instead I bought a Magic Cheif 120 volt one on sale ($17. It has a seperate freezer compartment on top, .7 amps running, and uses less than 0.6 Kw-hours per day, and it is very quiet. It should go for 4 days with my 450 amp-hour battery bank. Of course it will need an inverter to run off the batteries. So a boondocking electric reefer will only cost two to three times what a propane reefer would.

 

[lornaschinske]

A lot of things do not need to be held "cold" just cool. We use powdered milk over regular milk. I just get tired to tossing spoilt milk. I only use milk for cooking. Stop and think... What do you need to keep cold? Can you substitute something else for that product and do you HAVE to keep it cold? We use butter. I have a "butter bell" which keeps my butter cool. Uses the same principal as a spring house. Do you need cool drinks or cold drinks? There are "water crocks" that dispense cool water by holding it in a pottery crock. Check out Mother Earth News. I'm sure they have articles on how to keep food cool. You can build a super insulated ice chest. I don't know how long you boondock. We currently hold our food on the cart in coolers. We use ice and some "Nordic Ice Packs" that my daughter brought home from work. They get chocolate shipped in them during the summer. These things hold cold for a long time. Even better than the OLD blue ice packs that Colemans used to sell. A few ice packs and some cube ice or frozen jugs or bottles of water will hold food cold for several days. We used to tent camp for 3 to 5 days and used a 100+ qt ice chest with old Coleman ice packs, bag ice and 16-20 oz soda bottles filled with water and frozen. The stuff in the bottom tended to stay frozen. This was in FL. We also line the interior of the lids of the ice chests with Reflectix.

Also available at Cabala's

Do not think that ALL propane powered refrigerators are dangerous. The RV units are just so poorly made. I don't know why. The propane units like what is made by Servel is a safe unit. Oddly enough the Servel and the RV units is made by the "same" manufacturer (Dometic). They are comparable in price to the RV units.

Danby
Servel
Crystal Cold

Check out the super efficient AC refrigerators thru some of the solar outfits (propane appliance link will also take you to an electric page)

 

[wtd]

I built an icebox into my rig, something like on a sailboat.
If you're interested it's in my conversion thread, along with some simple formulas to figure out how much insulation you need, how much ice to use and how long it lasts for any size icebox and a little bit about how it was built.
Mine uses about 7# (standard bag) of ice in 24 hours and the temperature here is in the low hundred every day.

Don't know your requirements, but just personally I'm not trying to keep the arugula 'farm fresh' and don't need 'ice cold' stuff, just enough to keep the milk from spoiling or in my case 1/2 and 1/2 - I drink lotsa coffe and it's a weak spot .

TOm

 

[thommassey]

Lorna,
Good information...
Thank you for the links, guess I have more homework (don't mind that)

Tom,
I will try to find your thread. I have reconsidered solar. Not just for refrigeration, but as a battery tender as well. And an Icebox would be satisfactory for me. I too drink a lot of coffee, and like to have several types of milk, almond, cream etc. in the box.
I don't need anything Ice Cold. (except Ice, Lol) Mostly just cool and cooler.


I lived in a 20' Itasca for about a year (well, that's another story) and the propane fridge worked "ok" ... but was cheap to run, and i was on shore power, but the 120 side did not work as well. So fridge is not as important as I may reflect that it is.. I am just used to having one 'very cold' all the time. The Bus will not be a live - aboard... yet So thank you for some options. Today i have to figure out if I have a 24 v system or 12...