r/skoolies

Was about 60% done with the renovation, just needed to add the electrical system, and get new tires, after having it parked for a couple of years.

Forgot to start my skoolie in the last 6 months, and while we were able to charge it the engine would not turn over, and we had to abandon it to make sure everyone made it out safely (we did), but my skoolie did not survive the fire.

It is time to start again, not sure what Exactly I am going to do. My friends family has an rv they have offered me, and while I will take it, at least for now, I am also considering getting and converting a Van, and giving the RV to my parents, as thier house was lost to the fire As well.

Long story short, I was probing my ECM harness to check continuity to DEF sensor and I bent the internals of the female end. Lesson learned to use the proper tools. I went to fix it and I broke this off. It was the J2 harness to the ECM if that makes a difference. 96 pin layout. Where can I find the female ends that go to this harness? This first picture has the wire it broke off of. Sorry if the pictures are bad. Thanks in advance,hopfully I didn’t screw myself.

Hello, I wanted to pick some brains on bus designs I've had, I don't have a bus yet, but I'm looking at getting a 40' as I feel it would best fits my needs: a room for me, a room for my daughter, and a living/kitchen space. I'd like to have a aquaponic/hydroponic set up but at the same time, I know space is already a premium so the aquaponic/hydroponic isn't a must so I'm not to worried if I don't have it. what I'm looking for is any ideas to help save space, or anything I'm not taking into consideration, or anything else to help me fine tune designs.

I really like putting my mini split here. How much room do I need to leave on the sides and in the back for air flow around the unit. The blue square is the size of my outside unit and the white circle is approximately the fan on the side of the unit. The back wall of my living space is on top of the gas cap so I can use any room I need up to the gas cap. I also am spray foaming that wall once the ac and solar get installed so heat from the unit shouldn’t be an issue in the part the ac blows into

This 2011 Chevrolet G3500 Express began its life in Florida as a hotel shuttle bus. It was brought to Minnesota, we purchased it in 2020 and converted it into a camper/skoolie. It is registered as an RV with a clear title. We’ve enjoyed road trips, including a circle tour of Lake Superior, a trip to the Black Hills, and many weekend trips around MN. Never driven in winter. RUST FREE!

6.6L V8 Duramax diesel engine (260 hp, 525 lb-ft torque). 97,000 miles. 16-18 mpg on the highway. New tires in 2022. New power steering pump in 2024. New battery this spring. Requires a new DEF heater…dealer quote available. Definitely drivable as-is.

Camper/skoolie setup:
Seatbelts for 4 plus the driver. Adaptable bed: king or 2 twins and a lofted twin (we comfortably sleep 4). Sink with electric water pump & grey water tank. Smart & ample storage. 6’3” interior height. LVP on the floor. Screened windows.

Portable solar panels & 1800w power station available for $500. 52 quart 12v electric cooler/fri available for $200.

Asking 12K. Open to offers.

I’m quite happy with how far everything has come. As you can see, we’re just installing the composting toilet. The shower needs to be finished and I have electrical work to do. But most of the construction is done. Hopefully by the end of summer, it will be ready to go.

My friend has a company that uses a full sized 42' pusher school bus that goes around to daycares and has a bunch of gym equipment inside that the daycare kids play on.

I am currently finishing a smaller 30' front motor skoolie build. I have insulation, 2 maxair fans, a DC AC, tinted windows with blackout curtains.

Sitting next to each other my bus is noticeably cooler without using fans or ac.

I installed a RV AC unit in the middle of her bus because I originally was going to install 2 in my bus but opted for a 2nd fan instead.

I understand that one ac unit is not suffecient to adequately cool her bus. We have a 43' 5th wheel and it has 2 units and struggles when its hot outside and it has insulation. She originally tried closing all the windows like you would in a house but aside from the area directly around the AC it really had little impact on the overall temps. She may end up adding a 2nd ac but she asked me if there is anything else she can try.

I'm wondering if opening windows in the front and back of the bus and using a couple fans would help.

I originally told her to park in the shade but some places dont have shade.

Any creative ideas would be appreciated.

The pictures are of from my bus. Almost complete.

1. roof is ‘sinking’. I stopped the leak after putting tons of silicone and patching tape on roof. It’s not leaking anymore, it still has a ‘pond’ every time after raining. I think I should add one roof bow, maybe two to strengthen the sinking area, before I put insulation on. I would not be able to do it after insulation.
2. It’s just a patch. To properly fix it, I might have to cut that part of aluminum panel out, undo the sealing, put a new panel in, and reseal. That’s a lot of work.
3. So I bought a roof bow from fleet&pride, it’s about $45.
4. I cut off about 3 inches for it to go in. And I also cut a piece on the edge, for my wrench to go in. So I can bolt it.
5. It’s very amateur, but it’s what I could do for now

We are working on converting a shuttle bus into a home on wheels and part of that includes a roof rack for our 1320 watts of solar. We finally mounted the Unistrut to the roof our bus and now we are having leaking issues, we've gone back and tried to add Sikaflex anywhere we thought water might be getting through but are still finding leaks.

The way we created our rack was by drilling through the frame and inserting a sealant covered bolt with a fender washer into the hole. Then on the outside we used hockey pucks as spacers (except for the rear mounting rails where we needed additional metal spacers between the pucks and the Unistrut to raise the rails above our buses AC). Then we put the Unistrut on top of those, put a square washer on the bolt and then tightened a locknut on top to complete the attachment. We then used lap sealant on top of the bolts and Sikaflex 221 everywhere else(around the pucks, between the pucks and Unistrut, over the metal spacers ect).

We have found definitive leaks in the rear where we used the metal spacers but are also concerned there are more leaks that we just have not yet found or that the water may be leaking into the metal frame in other parts.

Our questions are as follows - Do you think there is a problem with our rack construction?(If so what would you do differently?) What would you do to fix/troubleshoot the leaks? We are seeing some cracking in the roof, could that be caused by the rack/tightening the rack on or us walking on the roof?

Photos attached show the mount design, puck/spacer setup, sealant, interior bolts, and roof cracking.

Looking for affordable links or suggestions for a windshield cover for Molly. We’re making curtains, but summer beat us here. Thanks in advance!

So, original thought had been to paint the bus in red and gold, similar to the finish in my bandsaw from when I refinished it a couple years ago.

Then started spraying the side of the van, and the red was too much, just .. not good. And poor confidence on being able to trim it in enough gold to break up the red.

Wife and I are partial to the metallic colors, and actually kinda like the gold metallic color — but really really don’t want a “big gold turd” that it could end up looking like.

So we dabbled with copper and silver metallic and enjoy them.

The silver is probably the favorite choice, but seems in danger of becoming too “end of the world” industrial feel.

I really like the copper, but don’t “love” it.

So I thought I’d source the wisdom of crowds.

Which do you guys like?

((About 2.5 spray cans of gold, 1 each of silver and copper)).

Silver is too reflective to be on the hood. The sun spot just in the driveway on the fender was painful.

And will it interfere with my three hour drive tomorrow, or will I make it? No telling how long it’s been like this. I noticed it when filling my water today.