Sunny, the School Bus Camper Conversion

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April 13, 2014 by Mike Oscar Hotel

For those of you who have been following our story for awhile, you will remember that last summer, we bought land in the middle of nowhere.  We call it Santa Lucia.

In the beginning, we decided that we would put a 10×12 Tuff Shed on the land and convert it into a tiny house, because if a structure is 10×12 (in the county where the land is), you don’t need a permit and you don’t have to pay taxes on it.  Our plans were foiled when we found out that before you can have a shed on your property, you first have to have a main structure of 600 square feet or more.  Being that we don’t have the money for a structure that large, we had to change our plan.

So, we decided to find an old school bus and convert it to an RV.  Why a school bus instead of a traditional camper?  School busses boast two layers of metal and are engineered to roll, if needed.  They are built beyond the safety standards of most vehicles and make for a good, sturdy base structure.  When I think about a traditional camper, I think about the thin layer of metal on the outside, a few 2x4s and insulation on the inside, and some wood panelling on the inside.  There isn’t much between you and the world.  Santa Lucia is known to have driving winds often.  The bus will stand up to those winds.

So Sunny, as the children call the bus, is a 1986 GMC 65 passenger school bus.  We bought it in a Podunk town in eastern Colorado and drove it home. On the way home, we figured out that it has a pretty bad oil leak.  For us, it is no big deal, as we don’t plan on moving it off the property much, if at all.  In addition, as I was driving it home, my hands and feet went numb.  I pulled over, thinking I was having an allergic reaction to something.  When I exited the bus, the symptoms went away within ten minutes.  I got back on the bus and continued driving it.  The symptoms returned and I figured out that we must have a pretty bad exhaust leak and that I was experiencing carbon monoxide poisoning.  Who needs brain cells, right? I opened the door and a few windows and the symptoms went away.  While scary, it again is not a big deal because we plan on using it as a structure, not a vehicle.  We will vent appropriately when the bus is running.

When we got the bus home, I started removing seats.  It was not an easy task, as most of the bolts were rusted an broken.  We bought an angle grinder and went to work removing each bolt.  After the bolts, I borrowed a scraper from my brother-in-law and removed the rubber flooring.  It was dry, cracked and stinky. The children were a great help, utilizing screw drivers to peel up the flooring.

After removing the rubber flooring, I painted the floor.  We used whatever paint we had and the floor ended up being a bright yellow.  The yellow paint is simply a base coat to protect the plywood beneath.  We will be putting carpet in at a later date.

I then modified many of the seats, turning them into positions where I wanted them.  I removed many of the seat backs with a cutting torch.

At night, we will add backless benches to the dining area, which will make beds for the children.

During the day, we will move the benches over one of the wheel wells, restoring the eating area and making a couch for lounging.

I have a really bright future – hence the eye wear.

For those of you that have been reading for awhile, you’ll remember this sink.

This is a utility sink from the 1950’s.  We’ll use it for washing dishes.  There will be a 3-gallon bucket beneath, which will catch gray water.  We’ll filter the gray water and use it on  vegetables that I have yet to plant on the acreage.

Lastly (for now), I’ve begun framing a counter top that we will use to house our cook stove. Beneath it, we will have storage for things like dishes.  On cold or rainy days, we will use the surface as a place to house our laptop so that he children will (occasionally) be able to watch a movie.

What comes next?  Carpet tiles.  We bought carpet squares, which we will put on the floor.  They will act as floor insulation and will add a nice, homey touch and allow us to take off our shoes and get comfortable.

I’ll keep you all posted as the project progresses.  We intend to move the bus to the land in the next few weeks, which will present some challenges as well.  To get to Santa Lucia, we have to cross two major mountain passes that reach above 10,000 feet above sea level.  Being that the bus has a carbureted 366 cubic inch gasoline engine, getting it over the passes may be a challenge.  For those of you who don’t know, carburetors don’t do well at high altitudes, unless adjusted correctly.  We have no plans to adjust the carburetor.  Like I said, get it to the land, use it as a structure.  I really wanted a diesel school bus, but finding one in our price range was impossible.

As of now, we have the initial investment of buying the bus itself and the carpet squares.  Other than that, we are on a tight budget and plan on reusing materials that we find to make the conversion.

Pax Domini Sit Semper Vobiscum,

Mike Oscar Hotel