Almanzo – the self sustainable mobile cabin

[Little Red]

I finally found the perfect bus to turn in to a self sustainable mobile cabin.
I had already bought a school bus before and started on a conversion but due to it not being what I really wanted I sold it and about 2 months ago I came across this bus at an auction in Oregon.
It was used by the Tillamook County Library as a Bookmobile and is a perfect start to an awesome motor home, so I just had to buy it.
It’s a bluebird CV2000 bus (the same as the school busses) and comes with a Cummins diesel engine, Allison automatic transmission and is even pre-wired and powered by an Onan diesel generator.

I couldn’t have possibly found a better starting platform.
I plan on installing a solar power system and wood stove as well as all the regular amenities of a motor home.


what the bus looked like when I bought her


what the bus looks like now

I am leaving tomorrow with the bus on a trip from WA to CA, so that’s all for now but you can see more pictures as well as follow my blog on facebook at www.facebook.com/followalmanzo

 

[MicroBird]

Very nice platform. I am envious. You don't have to skin windows or move doors. Looks about 27-29 feet. Perfect size. Short wheelbase too. I can't wait to see what you do to her.

Did you manage to get registered onto skoolie.net? You can't register with a gmail or hotmail account. Way to much spam. Register with a regular email account, then you can ask Steve to change it after.

 

[shachagra]

Great platform. This is a great forum for questions about things like solar. Looks like you've got a lot of roof to cover- 25KW array??

 

[Baloo]

I love it! Great idea, can't wait to see that thing on the road...

 

[Vegasrandall]

Bus

What was your bid?

 

[brp]

I would set that thing up to run veggie oil. With the huge payload a bus like that can handle, you could carry enough oil with you to go thousands of miles.

I don't know for sure, but I bet you can run heaters/stoves on the free vegetable oil as well.

I have been looking at used shuttle busses to convert. Same idea as a skoolie, just a little smaller.

Anyway, good luck with the conversion and have a blast.

 

[Little Red]

Update

Thanks for all the comments and sorry I haven't been on this site in a while.
The weather here in Western WA has been unusually nice so I am trying to spend as much of it outdoors as possible.

I drove the bus from WA to Lake Tahoe in CA (and WorldFest), in July for my vacation and all went well except for some minor issues.
There are some pictures of the trip on my facebook page.
Pretty soon I intend on starting work on the conversion again.
I am currently looking for a small woodstove to install in the bus, that and a kitchen area is going to be first on my list of things to do.

While looking for ideas I found this site: schoolbushomestead
It's a very well documented conversion and this bus is almost exactly what I want to do with mine.
Here is a picture of that bus



And one of my favorite conversions on Skoolie: Wild Blue
And a picture of that bus

 

[Little Red]

Very nice platform. I am envious. You don't have to skin windows or move doors. Looks about 27-29 feet. Perfect size. Short wheelbase too. I can't wait to see what you do to her.

Did you manage to get registered onto skoolie.net? You can't register with a gmail or hotmail account. Way to much spam. Register with a regular email account, then you can ask Steve to change it after.

Yes it's a much easier start than an actual school bus and it's indeed 29ft long.

I tried to register for an account at Skoolie but was unable to do so. I only have Hotmail and Gmail so no other way to sign up. At least now I know why it wouldn't let me create an account.

 

[Overland Hadley]

While looking for ideas I found this site: schoolbushomestead

Thanks for the link.

 

[MicroBird]

Yes it’s a much easier start than an actual school bus and it’s indeed 29ft long.

I tried to register for an account at Skoolie but was unable to do so. I only have Hotmail and Gmail so no other way to sign up. At least now I know why it wouldn’t let me create an account.

Send me a PM with your email address. I will send it to Steve who owns the site. I will include a link to this thread. I'm sure he will set you up with an account. The problem is the amount of spam they have been dealing with is massive. They had no choice but not allow new accounts with gmail, hotmail, etc.

 

[Little Red]

Finally started work on my bus again

It's been a while but I decided to finish my bus build and for the last couple weeks I have been working hard on the bus.
I want to take a year off work and travel across the world and the bus will be used for part of that journey. I was able to register for an account at Skoolie too and started a build thread there also Skoolie but I will try and keep this one updated too.
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I found someone close to where I live who was parting out an RV and scored a bunch of parts that I needed.
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Then I took out all the wall panels and started adding insulation.

I started taking out the carpet and painted the floor with a special anti mold paint.
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More to follow...

 

[Little Red]

I had a couple extra days off and have been pretty busy working on the bus conversion.

I got a table saw from a friend and started working on building a wall in the back.

I added more insulation and started on the cedar paneling for the wall.

More to follow...