You’re shopping for a bus and you keep seeing the same engine names pop up in every listing. Cummins this, DT466 that, something about a Cat 3126. But which one do you actually want under that hood, and which ones should you walk away from? (See our guide on Should You Buy a Gas or … Read more
Flooring is one of those decisions that seems simple until you realize your house is going to be rolling down the highway at 60 mph. I spent way too long going back and forth on this one, and after digging through forum posts, talking to builders, and looking at what actually holds up after a … Read more
Choosing a battery for your skoolie is one of those decisions that’ll affect literally everything else in your electrical system. Get it wrong and you’re either broke from overspending, stranded with dead batteries in the desert, or dealing with fumes in a space you’re supposed to sleep in. I spent a ridiculous amount of time … Read more
Finding a bus to convert sounds like it should be the easy part. You’ve got the plans, the Pinterest board, the YouTube playlist. But then you sit down to actually buy one and realize there’s no “school bus” category on AutoTrader. So where does everyone actually find these things? (See our guide on Where Do … Read more
You’ve got a freshwater tank, a pump, PEX lines to your fixtures — the plumbing is sorted. But what about what’s actually IN the water? Depending on where you’re filling up, you could be running campground water with heavy chlorine taste, well water with sediment, or worse through your system. Filtration is one of those … Read more
If you’re working with a short bus or a mid-size and wondering how people actually fit a full life into something the size of a large closet, you’re not alone. This was the question that kept coming up when I was digging into small bus builds — how do you not feel so cramped in … Read more
This is one of those questions that comes up every single time someone posts a tile shower in their bus build. People see subway tile or porcelain on walls inside a vehicle and immediately think, “There’s no way that survives the first pothole.” I saw it enough times in comment sections that I had to … Read more
Timing the re-registration of your bus is one of those decisions that seems simple until you start asking around and realize everybody’s got a different answer. The best time to re-register your school bus as an RV is as soon as you meet your state’s minimum conversion requirements, which usually means a permanent bed, a … Read more
You’re shopping for a bus and you keep seeing “Type C” and “Type D” and “pusher” thrown around, and nobody seems to explain what that actually means for your build. Which one’s better? Does it even matter? It matters more than most people think. Front engine buses (Type C, the classic “dog nose” school bus) … Read more
You’ve got the bus, you’ve started your build, and now you’re wondering if some state inspector is going to take one look at your DIY conversion and shut the whole thing down. It’s a legit fear, and it comes up constantly in the skoolie community. The hardest states to pass vehicle inspection with a skoolie … Read more