I noticed the fluid is low, does that mean there is a really slow leak somewhere or is it normal? It's been parked for a few years and I just changed the oil, it looked fine.

Hey everyone,

I’m looking for some advice from people who have experience owning skoolies. I’ve never owned anything like this before, but I’ve been considering getting either a converted school bus or a small travel trailer that I could tow with my Honda Pilot.

For some background, I regularly have to travel across my state (~800 miles round trip) a couple of times a month and usually stay for a few days at a time. I’ve been thinking something like this might be a good investment and give me some flexibility when traveling.
I came across this bus and wanted to get some thoughts on whether it’s worth considering.

Here’s what the seller provided:

2011 GMC collins 6.0L V8 gasoline engine
138,xxx miles
Four brand-new rear tires
New 30-gallon water tank
New portable tankless water heater/shower system

I’m not familiar with what these buses typically sell for, what maintenance costs look like, or what I should be watching out for when buying one.

A few things I’d really like some opinions on:

1. What would you realistically pay for something like this?
   
2. Based on my situation, would you recommend a skoolie or a small travel trailer instead?
   
3. How expensive is it to maintain and insure something like this compared to a regular vehicle or RV?
   
4. What are some common problems or hidden expenses that first-time buyers overlook?
   
5. Is there anything about this particular bus or conversion that raises concerns?

I’m not necessarily looking to live in it. It would primarily be used for trips lasting a few days, multiple times a month.

I’m open to hearing the good, bad, and ugly about owning a skoolie. I’d rather know what I’m getting into before spending the money.

Thanks!

TLDR: First time buyer considering a 2011 GMC skoolie with 138k miles. I travel about 800 miles round trip a couple of times a month and need somewhere to stay for a few days. Is this a good buy, or would a small travel trailer make more sense? Looking for advice on pricing, maintenance, and potential headaches.

Hi everyone, I have been in a pretty tight spot the last couple of years with the price of rent going up up up, we've been struggling to pay our 1000 Sq ft 2 bed 1 bath apartment at now 2500 dollars a month. We work all day 5 days a week or more and still just struggle we barely get to spend time with our kids its just a never ending cycle. We have two teens and have been really looking into getting a skoolie and starting from almost scratch. My kids and husband are thrilled about it ( literally they love stuff like this) but my family thinks I'm insane for even considering it.

Thing is, we plan on buying one that's already been labeled as an rv, and already gutted. I'm trying to do the cheapest build possible to just move into it and start saving all that rent money going down the drain when we could be spending it on fixing up our skoolie. There are several offers near me for busses under 10k. And a few under 5k, and we would plan to put I in an rv park. But right now we live in the city in our apartment and we just don't have anywhere to work on it.

I'm wondering what tips anyone has, or if im just being genuinely insane right now.

I'm not incredibly familiar with the busses/engines but I'm doing a ton of research. I don't have any help from my extended family, so I come to you beautiful creatures for any advice on buying a bus and perhaps good builds for the plumbing/electrical. I'm very overwhelmed but quite motivated and on a time crunch because I don't make a ton of money and want to get started sooner rather than later so we can stop hemorrhaging money on a trashy apartment.

Hi everyone, I'm currently in the process of converting my 2011 E-350 fiberglass shuttle Chuck style (I'll post an update soon). Chuck's videos have been invaluable in this process but there's so much content between the videos and lives, it's easy to miss or forget things. Chuck FAQ was the best resource we had for searching his videos quickly, but it recently has become unavailable because it was too costly to maintain the website. To help myself with information overload, I uploaded all of the video transcripts to NotebookLM to create an entirely comprehensive searchable database of Chuck's publicly available knowledge (I used yt-dlp to automate the transcript downloads). I also uploaded content from people I knew worked closely with Chuck: Wes from Transcend Existence and Brianna from Wolf Dog Buses. Since I'm working on a fiberglass bus, I also uploaded videos from the Chuck of the boating world: Capitan Joe from Fish Bump TV.

All these guys have a wealth of knowledge and I wanted to make it easier for myself to access their knowledge, and I figured I would share this with you guys. If you are unfamiliar with NotebookLM (as I am), I believe you can make a copy of the notebook and use it as you please. If I update the notebook with more content, you should be able to come back to the link below and get the updated version. It is an AI chat that uses your sources as material to answer questions, so this is an entirely natural language powered knowledgebase. Have a question about a product you need? Ask and it can also link you to the video and timestamp so you can see exactly what these guys say.

Let me know what you guys think. This is v1.0 so if anyone has any suggestions of sources to add, let me know and I'll do my best to add them. Enjoy!

Check out the notebook here.

Using the Dicor Acrylic Elastomeric coating system and at the primer phase. The Emergency hatch patch I installed had some surface rust and I had aggressively wire wheeled and used a paddle 60 grit wheel to get those spots down to shiny metal before I put down TWO coats of the acrylic Dicor primer. But, as you can see, the rust seems to be coming back through. What am I doing wrong!?

It would be great if I could use it as a WiFi booster as well.

Basically the title. Just curious what everyone is trusting with the black gold.

I can't for the life of me find out how to put this into priming mode online and my heater came without a manual. (LF-Bros ES5.0 5KW 12V Parking Diesel Heater if that matters. I think the controller is a T2). I have a tiny little air bubble in the line. This happened last year, but my ex fixed it. Can't contact the guy now. I tried to squeeze the line and push it through but my fingers are not strong and I'm worried any tool would rip the hose. I've determined I need to put it into priming mode, but every manual says to press the power and "time" button. There's no such button 😭

Hey I want to eventually like in a few months and stuff buy a short bus and start living in it im going to do travel welding in the more distance future but want to get my life set up for that ie buy a short bus get it set up and all that and was wondering things like

How much money should I have saved for emergencies like repairs and stuff and how much separate for just other stuff (before buying a bus)

What are some things I should buy that I might not already have

What are some pros and cons to think about

What do you do if the bus you live in breaks down

How just in general does one get started with this kind of thing

I did want to note I also want the experience the fun the *hatred* of converting it because I like build and I also have experience in woodworking and construction and all that

I have the stuff called chassis saver and I can weld. What should I do? Let me know if you need more info.

I just recently picked this up for $5k.

2000 e450 Econoline El Dorado build with turtle shell.

Has the 7.3L V8 Turbo Diesel (Power Stroke) in it with 90k on the original engine. 55 gallon tank I think. It sat for about 2 to 3 years in the guys front yard.

THE PROS: I bought it basically fully converted already. It has a full bathroom, on demand hot water heater,kitchen sink and stove (propane powered) mini fridge, renogy wanderer solar setup (I don't know the wattage on the panels yet) new sound system, onboard generator, cedar ceilings with LED Puck lighting all wired into the solar and the lighting was all wired into on board dimmer switches, brand new belaire 3800 roof top rear AC unit. See pictures for possible other things I haven't listed or forgot.

THE CONS: Old original doors for front and back entrances, owner said the water heater may need to be replaced, front cab AC isn't working, back tires may have some dry rot based on visual inspection. Cab entrance bottom stair sags when stepping on it

I'm new to this world and have a few questions.

I live in a predominantly warm climate that has very hot summers.

1: What is my best option for sealing the roof joints? There's no evidence of water intrusion but want to prevent it in the future.

2: What is the recommended oil and what are the recommended change intervals? I'm seeing that the Shell Rotella T6 15W-40 Full Synthetic is considered by most and that 5K should be the max I run until a change? Looking for real world user experiences.

3: what are thoughts on upcoming services I need? I've attached a photo of the service history for reference.

4: absolutely any recommendations for this specific vehicle and traveling/camping in it in general. I'm all ears.

Thanks!

In tow bars subject to this notice, the T-bolt (See Figure 1) assembly consists of a large bolt and nut secured by a roll pin. Not all tow bars, even of the same model, have a roll pin and roll pin hole. If the roll pin is missing, damaged, or partially backed out of its hole (more than 1/16 inch above the hole), vibration and repeated loading may allow the T-bolt to disassemble. This could result in separation of the tow bar from the hitch receiver, potentially causing the towed vehicle to separate from the motorhome and increasing the risk of crash.

The condition addressed by this recall develops gradually and can be identified through visual inspection. The roll pin does not become dislodged suddenly. Rather, if affected, the roll pin may slowly migrate from its installed position over many hundreds or thousands of miles of towing due to vibration and repeated loading.

Credit: Roadmaster

https://www.roadmasterinc.com/content/nw/recall.html

I’ve been in my current build for about 10 years. I got a urine diverter off of eBay, which goes into a gray tank. Solids go into a 5 gallon bucket lined with a trash bag that eventually goes to trash after composting a while. Use peat moss

But I’m having some issues. The bucket and diverter are under a wood board (sealed plywood I cut a hole in) urine splatters like crazy off that diverter. The board is gross on the underside, always getting splattered on the top.

And I live on a farm, not far from farm animals. I have failed to make the bus sufficiently air tight I guess, I get flies depending on weather conditions. The flies love the toilet. I try to use more peat moss, but my current design doesn’t create a full seal, so flies can get in and I believe it’s a spawning point. I’ve heard to use more peat moss, and potentially to puff the top with diatomaceous earth powder

Thinking about wasting money on a nature head with a urine diverter tube. Any other suggestions? At least the NH is aesthetic and creates a seal, had one in a previous build

My bus is half white and half black. Check out that difference in temp!

It's about 130f and 102f for you fahrenheit-enjoyers

What is everyone’s favorite website or tools for help with designing the floor plan for their skoolies?
Is there anything you wish you would have done differently?

Why is this spray foam yellow, while most that I see are white (pics are of 2 different buses for reference)? Is this normal, does it affect performance? Thank you for helping with such a dumb question

1990 Wayne School Bus with 7.3 IDI in good mechanical shape. Ready to drive away. WA state no rust. As I enter my later years, my idea of camping in my bus have morphed into comfortable motels.

I got this bus about the beginning of spring with high ambitions. I have since seen the regulations and have realized how out of my depth I am. I have some people checking local for me, but I thought I'd offer it up here too since this place really has a good community for it. I'm looking to either sell or trade my bus for a trailer. The trailer needs to be 14' to 20' and at least 7' wide. Ramp door is a plus, but not required. Looking to get about $6k for it in cash. The engine runs strong and still needs the 2 deletes if it's legal where you register it. Has 115k miles on it now, with the functional wheelchair lift in back. Please let me know if there are any issues with this post or questions. Thank you all for reading.

Does anyone have any experience with keeping or getting rid of the ac units that came with their bus? My bus came with 3 units. They work great, so part of me wants to just keep them. However they take up a lot of room and I’m not sure if I can raise the roof without take them out and then reattaching them. Which seems like more work than just taking them and replacing them with a newer unit. Basically I’m just looking for maybe pros and cons or like a resounding “yes! Do it this way you idiot…” type response…

I’ve seen in business news, and in increasing prices, that diesel is only going to get more and more expensive. I’ve been dreaming of buying a skoolie for over 20 years (since I was a kid, literally a childhood dream). I’m nervous now about the increasing costs of driving from camp to camp.

How are you all handling increased fuel prices? Do you have a plan for if fuel becomes too expensive? Where would you be able to set up a more permanent (if even still temporary) life while waiting for prices to go down?

Looking for ideas on how to make this life work even if I want to be budget conscious and conservative with my money while traveling.

Thank you!