So excited

[luap928]

So I have been wanting to buy an 'ol school bus to convert into my full time home for several years now but was never really ever able to bite the bullet and get er done... Until now!

I bought a 1990 Bluebird for $3500 two weeks ago and I have to say I am so very impressed so far. It's in the I live just outside Cleveland and we haven't seen over 2 degrees in a couple weeks yet my new baby bluebird starts right up. On the rare occasion when the temp falls to like -10 I have to put the jumper cables on it just to give it a little extra huff and puff to get it started. Unfortunately the storage place I keep it at does not have power for me to keep the block heater plugged in.

Work this far has been a little slow because I have to find time to convert a beat up old school bus into a beautiful tiny home and my time is so very limited. I am full time nursing student, single father and since my kids like to eat every day, sometimes twice a day I have a full time job as well. So i'm a bust little bee right now, but i made great progress today! After spending way to much time with my angle grinder in my hand I finally got all the bolts out of the floor and the seats are completely out of my buss. When I drove the buss to the dump to get rid of the seats the lady working there was stunned, she said that a school buss at the dump was a first for her. I gave away 6 seats to a friend and the rest to the landfill. The landfill got 850lbs of seats and only cost me $11! Whoop Whoop!

I have to find the time to keep working on her because festival season is fast approaching and I want her looking her best for her maiden voyage.

I am doing primary heating with a wood burner i picked up off craigslist for a hundred bucks, secondary heating will be propane.

I'm looking for a good composting toilet for less than the $1000 price tag ive been seeing so far so if you know of someplace i should be looking please by all means point me in the right direction.

https://scontent-lga.xx.fbcdn.net/h...=1f7330ff439faaa1893e79b2ad83400b&oe=554C54B9
https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd...._=1435228448_b4d6160df8da01bff24cfc4232cec2f4
https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd...._=1435478770_d1437cad7014a4a8367b4d475d03ef92

 

[HolyBus]

Welcome and congratulations on the purchase. I too am looking for a composting toilet. This is a future live aboard for me. Keep us posted.

 

[EastCoastCB]

Kind of a waste of landfill space. But to each their own.
welcome to the forum.

 

[luap928]

I know, I didn't want to dump them I tried to give them away, and only found a home for 6. I live at my parents house with no place to have stored them. Luckily I believe this will be the only trip there throughout the rest of the build. I even posted on cragslist with no luck.

 

[nat_ster]

Welcome.

Be sure to post lots of pics.

Nat

 

[barbar0ssa]

Welcome! I look forward to seeing your progress.

 

[Stu & Filo. T]

Welcome and congrats, tell the kids we all need to make sacrifices to see this thru so your cutting them back to 3 meals a week plus one extra on birthdays only , I'm sure they will understand

 

[weaselblade]

For a (somewhat) cheaper composting toilet, take a look at the c-head.

A bit different in design than the other names; seems well suited to a bus or boat to me, but I haven't bought mine yet.

 

[luap928]

You know what cutting the kids meals back is a great idea! I'm gonna try that out!

 

[luap928]

I'll look into the c head thank you

 

[nat_ster]

I researched a long time trying to decide if a composting toilet was going to work for us. It just would not, and here is why.

I don't want my poop rotting away in my bus.

A single container composter will never work right. You need one with removable pails. No point in me trying to compost if I have to remove it from the bus. I may as well toss it into the garbage.

Cost. Everyone of them was at least $1500.

Size, most of them were too big to fit in a bus.

This leads us all back to the 5 gallon pail. It cost $5, you can get them anywhere. Using a bag as a liner, wood ashes from your stove, saw dust, kitty litter, ect to cover your waste each time is highly effective without smell. When the pail fills up, the liner get's pulled and added to the garbage disposal.

A nice plywood box to hold the pail and seat is what some of our fellow members have done. I also use this method, and It works well.

I don't leave mine in the pail. I use small grocery bags, coal ashes, and pull the bag after every use. Then I incinerate the bag in my coal stove. I like this better than tossing in the trash, as no matter what temp it is outside, there is no smell.

Tossing human waste into the trash is not breaking the law in most places. This is where all baby and adult diapers get disposed of.

So build a box, buy a pail, a seat, and save over $1000.

Nat