South Carolina - Checking In!

[DBG8490]

So - my wife and I have been living on boats for the past five years. We started with a very small sailboat, but the last one was a forty-plus-year-old, 44-foot, twin screw beauty that we hated giving up, but we had to for personal reasons. However, both of us wish to continue living the "mobile" lifestyle, and the Skoolie World seems like the perfect transition from the universe of - what amounts to mostly DIY - boating to living on land once again.

We haven't bought a bus yet, but we've been researching and planning, and it seemed like a good time to join this site and start becoming part of the community.

Currently, the plan is to buy a blank-slate 35- to 40-footer and turn it into a Mobile Expeditionary Vehicle, doing as much of the work ourselves as possible and documenting every.last.single.damned.thing because in boat world, you figure out very quickly that NOTHING any previous owner (or the builder) did is documented. And while two boats may have been built right next to each other in the yard using the same molds, the similarities end right there - with the look. Everything else - yes, everything else - is, in all likelihood, different based on which poor schlep was scheduled to do whatever thing the day it was done.

Once built, we want to live and work from her while traveling pretty much wherever we want.

That's basically it.

Thanks to the community, and hopefully we can learn and eventually contribute

 

[nikitis]

Welcome back to solid ground.

I'm in South Carolina, Rock Hill area, so if you need any help with the build let me know. I'm just a small trip away, and I'm happy to give any advice to help your build for free.

 

[DBG8490]

Awesome! We're just outside of Columbia. We would definitely appreciate the help - and we are dragging around a LOT of knowledge and info from living/working on boats that could prove to be valuable as well, so...

 

[nikitis]

I used to live in Columbia. Went to Spring Valley HS. Check your DM's.

 

[Bjorkinman]

Welcome and good luck finding your bus. I'm just north of Atlanta. Not sure what you're timing will look like, but the family and I plan to hit the road full time after selling our home some time this spring or early summer. I do plan to take a welder and tools along with me on the road so I can work here and there helping with roof raises/solar/everything else etc.

 

[DBG8490]

Welcome and good luck finding your bus. I'm just north of Atlanta. Not sure what you're timing will look like, but the family and I plan to hit the road full time after selling our home some time this spring or early summer. I do plan to take a welder and tools along with me on the road so I can work here and there helping with roof raises/solar/everything else etc.

That's awesome!

We'll be in the Atlanta area for Thanksgiving - my mom and both my adult kids still live there. Maybe we can get together while we're over.

 

[Rucker]

Mobile Expeditionary Vehicle! Sounds cool. Which coast are you on?

And how expeditionary were you thinking? I've heard of some pretty incredible rigs, and some (colloquially called 'overlanders') that failed out the gate because of weight and clearance.

 

[Jolly Roger bus 223]

i am in north carolina about 4 hours from you.
welcome.

 

[DBG8490]

Mobile Expeditionary Vehicle! Sounds cool. Which coast are you on?

And how expeditionary were you thinking? I've heard of some pretty incredible rigs, and some (colloquially called 'overlanders') that failed out the gate because of weight and clearance.

Right now, we're in South Carolina - a few hours inland. But the plan is to start heading west once we're at a point where we are ready to move.

I can't imagine using a 35-40-foot bus as an overland vehicle. Weight and clearance would definitely be an issue...

I have friends who overland in rigs built mostly from 4-Runners, and while they're cool, they aren't comfortable enough for two adults and two big dogs to live in full-time. And the one thing I've learned from living on boats is that comfort is key. Being uncomfortable sometimes is okay, but you need a break from that if it's going to be a lifestyle.

In boats, you go from place to place, take it as close to shore as you can get, and drop anchor. From there, you take a dinghy to land to either wilderness camp, explore, or provision - or all three. When you're done, you go back to your base, where you can be clean and rest until you're ready to go out again or head to the next place.

The idea for this bus is to operate on the same concept. Use it to go from place to place, take it "off the paved road" as far as we can, then "anchor" it out. Then, we'll use it as a "base camp." We'll operate from there using a toad Jeep "dinghy" to get even farther "off the paved road," so to speak. When we're done at that place, we hoist anchor and get underway to the next place.

We're shooting for being able to spend at least three weeks - about 21 straight days - completely off-grid before we have to find a place to dump tanks and whatnot.

And I'd like to see if I can bring some of the things I've learned about boat system engineering into the bus-building world because the advantage to this is being able to design and engineer all your systems from the ground up instead of having to deal with thirty to forty years of what the original builders and the subsequent owners did - in nearly all cases with little to no documentation. And in the case of some systems - VERY limited access. I feel like if I build it myself, I can solve for nearly all of these problems.

 

[nikitis]

You can solve for all your needs. We do it here on this site daily so you're in the right place. If you have any questions just ask here on your build story page and you'll likely have an answer within hours if not sooner.

 

[blueskybluebird]

I saw the green one in Colorado and fell in love…….until the sticker heart attack. Opted for the blue one. Two week warrior.

 

[DBG8490]

I have decided that finding the right bus is going to be as painstaking as finding the right boat, LOL

Plenty of them match the length, but then don't have the right engine. Or they have a decent engine, but paired with the AT545. Or they match all three, but are: mileage-crippled, half-built, or horribly neglected and still overpriced.

If you want a 12-window dog-nose, pre-EGR/DPF/DEF, DT466/Cummins/Cat, with at least a 2000 series Allison, with around 200K miles or less, you're basically hunting unicorns.

And SO MANY buses are being sold by auction buyers who have no idea what they have, no idea what "build tags" are or where to find them, and have no interest in helping someone who tells them up front that they are 800 miles away and not in the mood to drive that far, only to find out the bus won't work. I swear if I hear "Just come see it" one more time...

 

[nikitis]

It's getting tougher out there to find the good ones. As time moves on they are becoming harder to find.

I was in the same boat and just kind of gave up too and bought the unicorn body style. I love the shape of my bus and don't think I could have chosen better shape wise. It's very classic FS65 but before FS65 body was owned by freightliner and on an international chassis which I think are the best looking dognose bus front ends in the last 30 years, The T444E is a great engine but I had to sacrifice and accept an AT545. I figured it'd be slow but can still drive okay, and that wouldn't matter much if we park it to live in it which we'll probably end up doing. I will upgrade the transmission on this some day which will cost me dearly to do, but then I'll have the unicorn bus with everything great.

 

[DBG8490]

I have ONE that I'm hoping to see on Monday, the first of December.

If it checks out good in person, I will be driving it home as it's as close to a unicorn as I will get, even though it's a bit, well, flashy for my tastes. I'm not into the ice cream truck look, but that's an easy fix, LOL

There were several available two weeks ago, but thanks to the banks screwing up the transfer, payment from the boat sale was delayed, and in the interim, they all sold - of course...

 

[Bjorkinman]

That's awesome!

We'll be in the Atlanta area for Thanksgiving - my mom and both my adult kids still live there. Maybe we can get together while we're over.

I'm working night shift the whole week, right near 285 and 85 in Doraville. My bus is here with me, your welcome to pay a visit if you'd like!

 

[Bjorkinman]

Did you see This bus listed on this site located in Alabama? Seems to match what you're looking for.

 

[Kentucky Dreaming]

Did you see This bus listed on this site located in Alabama? Seems to match what you're looking for.

Helluva bus. I was close to buying it from Porchdog. Talked to him a couple of times. He offered things that I never would have asked.

I just had an incident last week that made me question my physical ability to actually do even a bare bones camper conversion.

I know I will never find another bus that is a better fit for me. I recommend it to anyone looking for a shorter full sized bus.

 

[DBG8490]

Did you see This bus listed on this site located in Alabama? Seems to match what you're looking for.

I wish I could do what I want to do while living in that little space because I love those little buses. And if it were just me and my dog, then it would work. But with another adult and two large dogs, it's not gonna happen.

I learned living on boats that comfort is the key to having a good relationship in close quarters.

We are looking for something between 38 and 40 feet. That way we have separate spaces when necessary.

 

[nikitis]

I've done the finalization of the layout for my bus just today. Until now I've always had a rough idea of what I wanted where, but today I now know where I want everything and taped it out. I have 20 feet from end to end on the cab to work with. (Not including the dash area)

I did end up making a single drastic change in finalizing. I really wanted a small nook I can kind of hop into and work on a computer job remote or just chill in private. Otherwise I think I'd go insane. I'll have to crawl into it from my bed area but as I crawl into it I'll sink into a cushioned chair, with a desk top with keyboard/mouse and a screen. It'll feel like one of those 80's arcade racing boxes, but it'll be closed off. It's gonna be me and 3 girls, my wife, and two daughters living in it. So being the only guy, I'm gonna need my break from them from time to time. So I can't have a man cave, but I can have a man nook.

Point is. Having a bathroom, kitchen, bedroom, dining area, study area for the kids, places to sleep for 4 in a 20 foot length space is really going to take some engineering. So having a 40 footer will be nearly double the space, and will work out well for you.

 

[Ozbozz57]

If I didn't already have the bus I have now, I'd buy Porch Dog's bus in a minute!