Look above. That used to be a yellow cheese school bus! Man, when I first saw this, I was too interested. I read all the steps, and looked at all the pictures of what Jake Von Slatt did. What he did was buy a cheap school bus (a little more than $2,000) and transform it into a beautiful, homemade RV. I like his homemade RV for a couple reasons:
- He did it cheaply. The bus cost about $2,000, he did most of the work himself (or with his friends), and he got a LOT from the dump, craigslist, or freecycle.
- He reused a lot of materials, thereby creating his RV in a very “green” way (reused bus, materials from dump, reused mess off websites).
- You can see the process of the bus’s conversion. Seeing all the steps it takes is really interesting, and makes me want to (one day) attempt something like this. It’s really cool, so por favor take a look at it.
Anyhoo, enough with my thoughts. Enjoy this video of Von Slatt giving you a tour of his homemade RV that came from a lil’ ol’ cheese bus.
March 5th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
I wish I had that kind of creative talent! That looks really great! I could see myself riding around in such luxury.
March 18th, 2008 at 7:15 am
I wish I had the creative talent too,it looks great!!!!!!
April 4th, 2008 at 9:57 am
Very nicely done conversion and video.
May 14th, 2008 at 8:52 pm
Now all he needs to do is run it on biodiesel and he is good to go. I have been wanting to do a conversion like this for some time although mine would be laid out much differently. I would use it for myself and probably one other person so I wouldn’t need as many dividers. I would also recomend using sliding doors on cabinets and rooms to save footprint. removing those windows and skinning it over with sheet aluminum would also help significantly with wind resistance and weight. You could reuse them to make a green house.
June 21st, 2008 at 9:12 am
Wonderful idea. I was going to do something similar untill I found out you could not insure reasonalble any homemade RV. What insurance company did you use?
June 22nd, 2008 at 4:33 pm
I use USAA, but I’m not the guy who built that RV
I wonder what the going price is for a used bus…
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:16 pm
We’re doing something along those lines with a converted bus, too. We already had several policies with State Farm, and they were able to insure our bus (comprehensive & collision) for a little over $200/year. You just have to prove (usually by the agent sending in pictures) that it’s been converted permanently and you’re not going to use it for hauling passengers any more.
July 25th, 2008 at 6:54 am
My husband and I are about to embark on a project like this. We will be taking the frame off an older travel trailer and building a custom “rolling home” on it. The great thing about this is you can take your home wherever you go. Hurricane coming? Pick up and move. Obnoxious neighbors? Pick up and move. Want to take a vacation, pick up and go. Less to clean, less to heat and cool,I can have a dog without worrying about being able to rent a place, and no property taxes! It’s a no brainer in my book!
July 25th, 2008 at 8:08 am
Wow… let me know how that goes! Good luck on your project, I hope it turns out as well as the bus in the video.
July 28th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Thanks! I will. I’ll send pics when I’m done. My plan is to build my place as self-sufficient as possible. Recycling what I can off the original trailer and solar panels are both definitely part of my plans. BTW – Love your website! I wish more people in Texas were as excited about green living as I am!
November 16th, 2008 at 1:05 am
Well i'm hooked. I found a 65Pas. 1987 DT466 (I think) with an auto. tranny. for $1,000.00 in CO where I live and will pick it up today Sunday. I plan to have a large Bed room in the back, 4 bed bunk room, bath room, and small kitchen as I'm 6'4" and hate cooking in a RV. So it will have a out door kitchen or grill with water. and I plan to spend no more then $500.00 to build it all. How you might ask? I have a full set of kitchen cabinets from a job, mic. off a job, sink, water pump, a stack of wood and 2" fome for the walls and so on, all of witch where where off to the dump. I'm still looking for Black paint, roof mount AC units x 2 and elec. AC/DC parts but hope to find an old RV trailer for parts. we'll see how it ends up?
Love the flat nose but I cant find one for the right price, let ya know how it goes.
November 18th, 2008 at 4:08 am
That sounds awesome… please let me know how it turns out!
December 12th, 2008 at 1:38 am
Wow, that is awesome. Por favor send some pictures of that. That's great that you're reusing an old bus… hope it continues to work out for you (and doesn't go too much higher over budget!).
December 12th, 2008 at 7:54 am
Well I picked up the bus for $500.00 and wanted to keep the build under $1,000.00. Ok, well the $1,000.00 came and went 2 weeks ago:) LOL but I'm still doing well. I paid $500.00 to a local RV out fit and got most all the workings for my bus/rv AC, Water Heater, Pump, wast station, couch and some acces doors off a parted RV. All parts where new in box or new installed, not to bad. I went with 55gal drums for my water $10.00 each x2, I painted the bus black and blocked out the center windows, It will get some cool d-cals some day, Oh and I got an RV 24" door with frame that will go in the existing by-fold entry some day. I'll get some pix soon if you wish,
So far I have spent $500, bus $500 rv parts, $350 paint, $550 in front end parts I installed, and $200 in misc. this and that.
But it runs VERY NICE down the road, my wife is hating it less and less every day:)
December 13th, 2008 at 5:15 am
I don't have a bus, that is some other guy's bus in the article. I'm actually not sure what a good mpg for a bus is, but off the top of my head, some things to improve your mpg is keep the tires filled and accelerate smoothly and slowly.
December 13th, 2008 at 7:24 am
What a day! I took it out for about a 100 mil run in the city and hiway with a full tank and refild at the end, it used about 12 gal. 8-9 mpg. And that was with the ped. 2 the med. Looks like 65 is a nice croosing speed. What are you geting out of your bus? Mpg, Power, and top end? Is there something we can do to imp. MPG and the bumpy ride in the city? I was thinking going with an air bage systom.
December 16th, 2008 at 2:43 am
What is your email so I can get you some pix?
December 16th, 2008 at 3:28 am
It's "ecojoe" at this website. Dang, good job on remodeling the bus!
December 18th, 2008 at 7:03 am
LOL ya know I was GREEN at the age of 6, but then they called it dumpstre diving! And now i build $50k-100k kitchens and bath rooms. funny how it all works out:
January 14th, 2009 at 3:39 am
Yo Joe I just sent you 3 emails with our school bus into an RV hope you like them and feel free to add them or use them in any way you wish.
Thank you for all your green thinking in your sight and the support of all the others.
Kyle Stillmock
February 20th, 2009 at 5:48 am
bath auto insurance…
I found this on Friday while I was searching for bath auto insurance….
February 20th, 2009 at 7:52 pm
You could screw up a wet dream. Leave it as is,its perfect. Dont you recognize this mans talent? He went "green" enough with the paint. Besides he recycled a bus for the love of pete!! Thats the trouble with liberals,always tryin to cram your agenda down someone elses throat.Sit down,Shut up!
February 20th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Whatch you talkin' 'bout liberals for? Both political parties try to cram their agendas down everyone's throat, they both suck in their own special and unique ways. Besides, the guy never even said he was a lib, sheesh.
April 8th, 2009 at 10:40 pm
how did you insure it??? i have a converted school bus, and it is really hard to find insurance on conversions these days
April 16th, 2009 at 8:16 pm
I have just bought a bus to convert to a rv, but having trouble finding a insurance. Who do you
go through to purchase insurance
April 30th, 2009 at 2:45 am
Very cool,
Just bought a short bus for camping… Lookin for ideas…. Gonna start with a coleman lantern, cot and ice chest… but it will evolve …. Have great tents for remote stuff, an airstream I don't use except for a guest house and I am more excited about the bus than all the rest….. Thanks for the info, Bruce
May 1st, 2009 at 5:38 am
Awesome. Some of my best times were in a short bus. Really though, that sounds great. Good luck customizing the heck out of it!
May 3rd, 2009 at 3:30 am
We just purchased a 1982 School bus for really cheap and we too are looking to remodify it into a motor home. I saw your bus and it is what we would like to do to ours, so if you could give us some advice on how to go about it. We too have been checking out craigslist (we haven't checked the dumps yet) but we are kind of short on ideas on how to make it look like yours
May 3rd, 2009 at 3:24 pm
Good luck on that! Sorry, but that's not my bus above… it belongs to Jake Von Slatt. If you look up his name, you'll find his step-by-step process of bus resurrection.
May 18th, 2009 at 8:52 pm
Here are a couple of sites for conversion info:
http://www.rv-busconversions.com/buslinks.html
http://www.mobilehomestead.com/nomadics/conversio...
And of course
http://www.mrsharkey.com/
Check them out. Remember search terms like housetrucking, bus conversion, housecar, house on wheels, etc.
May 18th, 2009 at 9:05 pm
Gracias, Davidfromcali. Hopefully that helps out people who come here looking for housetrucking advice.
May 25th, 2009 at 10:45 pm
how did he remove the bus heater?? someone please help me. I have a 1988 blue bird I'm trying to convert and don't know how to remove the heater running on the ground. Any info will help. please call me 360-618-3205
June 9th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
I am new to this post so please be patient. My name is John Williams. My sister and I just bought a 1989 Blue Bird School bus with a detroit diesel, an automatic trans, air brakes, and a conventional front end. We thought about a flat nose, but they cost a lot more to purchase and a whole lot more to maintain. Our budget is very small and we want to document everything and keep up with the receipts so we can show that you can use what you have sitting around and yard sales, ebay, craigslist, etc to create a family project that will be very rewarding for our kids. We have already arranged the bus seats into a wonderful lounge area that can sleep 4 people just by moving 2 cushions! We are making curtains and seat covers from sheets and scrap material. We want to take the bus to our schools to show the kids how recycling a bus and some "obsolete" items can create something special. The guy I got the bus from has another one identical to this one for $1000 if anyone is interested. Call me if you want to swap ideas about your dream. John Williams 252-349-2441 or Ginger Hunter 912-270-4478.
June 9th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
Dang, good luck with your project. You might want to try Freecycle to find some free supplies. Let me know how it goes when y'all finish it!
June 22nd, 2009 at 8:18 pm
i wanted to buy a converted bus.husband bawled squalled.so,he bought a winnabago.went 30 miles engine blew up.had new engine put in to the tune of $2599.00.went 11 miles engine blue up again. is there anyway to remove engine and just use it for pull behind camper?it is in exellent shape[since it doesnt go anywhere] is it hopeless?i will junk it before i have another engine put in.thank you so much. nickles57@hotmail.com
July 15th, 2009 at 7:56 am
YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR,,,,USUALLY BUSSES FOR A FEW HUNDRED DOLLARS NEED A FEW THYOUSAND DOLLARS TO PUT THEM IN A-1 SHAPE, I JUST BOUGHT A 1997 LOW MILAGE DIESEL PUSHER WITH ALMOST NEW TIRES FOR $ 3000.
August 3rd, 2009 at 11:20 pm
how much everythin cost to make a school bus rv ,
September 9th, 2009 at 10:39 am
[...] can do what this feller did and transform an old bus into an eco-friendly RV. Or, you can use them to shuttle the elderly. Or, [...]
September 26th, 2009 at 11:29 am
Am interested in importing a used school bus for rv conversion here in the uk, the one I have in mind is a bluebird freight, with a habitable floor lenth of 5.94 metres / 19ft 6in, it is a 2001 for $7500 – 00. It has a 5.9 / 24 valve cummins motor; I am hoping this will give better diesel consumption than the international V8, with diesel or gas costing $6 – 43 per US gallon over here. I would welcome any comments or opinions from all.
Mel Glentworth
November 28th, 2009 at 2:57 am
Hello everyone! I am a eco conscious Community band director, and I want to buy a school bus to do a converion of my own for trips. I have a few questions that I know all of you intellgent folks have the answer to. Please guide me( a rookie) to this endeavour.
My goal convert a school bus to a eco friendly, space efficient, tour bus/ motor coach. i want to add a bath room, rear lounge, and add diffrent seats. I live in the state of Maryland. if that helps any one.
curently I have 500 USD to begin with. before i get in over my head I want to talk to those who know what is correct from what i think is correct.
January 6th, 2010 at 9:28 pm
try state farm for insurance, after it is converted, you must provide proof, the bus must hold the title of recreational vehicle, im from ontario and i must have valid ontario plates and the bus has to be registered as an RV. they should cover you.
Alex
January 7th, 2010 at 10:38 am
Am intent on importing a used American schoolie, for conversion to RV here in the uk; sure you can buy buses here, but they wont silly mony for them and I want something different and eye catching.
For those about to buy, or looking; check for highway gearing, many are geared for city use and some can be from states were a 45 mph limit is set for school buses. If the gearing is to low for decent cruising; and the transmission is an allison 545. Gear Vendors in CA, can supply an overdrive unit, this gives a 22% increase in gearing, this equates to about 700 rpm reduction and less engine noise, also very good fuel saving.
<info@gearvendors.com> Mel—in uk
February 4th, 2010 at 3:58 am
Great Video. It make me want to do this, it looks like so much fun. And what a great video!