Hello all-

We began converting a school bus to a motorhome in December 2004, and just finished last month. On August 1st 2006, we started living in it full time.
We kept a log of our progress during the conversion:

http://seanf.smugmug.com/Bus%20Conversion

Hopefully it will be helpful to anyone considering or in the process of a bus conversion...school, Greyhound, etc.

Best wishes
Sean, Rhonda, and LBT

Sean-

Looks great. Let the adventure begin!

I enjoyed looking through your pictures. So where are you headed as you begin fulltiming?

Will you be working on the road?

Rick

Hi Rick-

Thank you for the comments. We don't really have a firm plan at the moment. We like the climate of northern Arizona during the summer, so we'll probably be here until the weather turns cold. After that...we like SE Arizona, the Chiricahuas, etc., but we also don't rule out Mexico. :-)

As for working...I work full time as a programmer, so the job can go with me courtesy of the satellite-based internet.

Sean

Sean, I really enjoyed your project. I would like to see you follow up with the ongoing additions/changes. I would also like to see a breakdown of cost. As detailed as you have been up until now you must have kept a spreadsheet of what you spent. Just curious. I envy you your ability and obvious approval of your partner. Mine just rolls her eyes when I mention anything as big as your undertaking. Have a ball and keep us up to date on your travels.
Ray.

Nice Job! What did you use to paint it with? I oly ask because the paint job looks like one I did on a pop-up we had. I used a Wagner airless sprayer and it left the same slightly textured finish. The plus side was that it seemed to show the dirt less. I will use the same set up to repaint the Class C (first have to get my sprayer... it's in NC and we don't go back up until Easter weekend). On "fine" spray, it seems to work pretty well (and I did the pop-up on "coarse").

Hi-

Thank you for the comments.
Ray: Beyond a few adjustments too minor to mention, we really haven't done anything else to the bus that is not in the Conversion Addenda section. I actually didn't keep a detailed cost spreadsheet, but the total for everything, including the bus, was around $20k. Yes, having an approving (and helping!) spouse was a huge benefit.

Lorna: We used short-nap rollers to apply the paint. At what stage is your conversion? Just starting or coming down the home stretch? Love to see & hear the conversion stories.

We're fixing to head to northern Arizona in mid-April...probably just some place quiet and remote. We'll definitely keep the website updated.

Thanks again!
Sean

Question? When you replaced the school bus door, what kind of a door closer did it have? Electric or air operated? I would like to talk to you about this>

The stock door was opened/closed manually via a lever and rod of sorts.

Thank you very much. Enjoy your new home.

quote:

Originally posted by Sean F:
...At what stage is your conversion? Just starting or coming down the home stretch? ...

We have a "naked" bus. Stripped down to the frame. Since it's an Eagle (they have steel frames and rust alot), we wanted to rust proof the frame before converting. Unfortunately, we haven't gotten much past that stage. Now we need to rehook up some of the elctrical system so we can get the motor started. Have to be able to drive it onto a low-boy in order to transport it to TN as soon as we buy a place there.

I really enjoyed looking at the photos of this conversion. Thanks, Cathy