"Brighammer" (balcorn80)
03/11/2020 at 15:15 • Filed to: Schoolie, School bus, Rv, Ford, Econoline, E350, 351w
4
15|
"Brighammer" (balcorn80)
03/11/2020 at 15:15 • Filed to: Schoolie, School bus, Rv, Ford, Econoline, E350, 351w | 4
| 15 |
Heres SquatchBus as it sits.
Last year, I had a business partner and we were going to buy a rental yard. I was going to be the man on the ground with the wrenches and my partner had the $$. Well, 3 days before signing he decided the pie wouldn’t be big enough to share and backed out. After coming to terms with the fact that we wouldn’t be owning a business, and therefore also not able to buy the house we were living in at the time, my wife and I did the only logical thing. Buy a school bus. See, we were hit with the realization that, after planning on being tied down to a business the next 20 years for the last year, that since weren’t being tied down we could go camping and stuff with our boys.
So we bought this 1986 Ford E350 Collins Bantam School Bus. Powered by a 351w motor.
My wife spraypainted part of the Interior, and found a dining booth from a restaurant or something at a garage sale for $10. We found the blue bench seat that folds into a bed on CL and we were on our way.
We had dreams of building this out into a schoolie\tiny home bus. But quickly realized that this particular vehicle would best be suited as a mobile tent. There isn’t a whole lot of room.
We took it coming in August a couple times, which was rad. And then we used it as a moving van to move from Silverton, OR to Estacada, OR.
We will be remodeling it this spring, as I found some nice new bus seats that we want to install in place of the current dining table. I hope to construct\find a table that turns to a bed between the 2 seats. This way there will be legal seatbelts for the whole family.
Btw we call it the SquatchBus because we live in Oregon. And whenever we go camping we tell our boys to hop in the SquatchBus to go squatch huntin’(camping). It’s just a bus. ;-)
Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
> Brighammer
03/11/2020 at 15:22 |
|
That bus is perfect. Perfect. I’d love to retrofit something like that someday.
CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
> Brighammer
03/11/2020 at 15:27 |
|
You know what it needs right? Lights! And a winch
|
Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
> Brighammer
03/11/2020 at 15:39 |
|
Did that boy come with it or is he an aftermarket accessory?
|
Brighammer
> CarsofFortLangley - Oppo Forever
03/11/2020 at 15:39 |
|
Dude, I know. Part of the reason the wife and I want this one to be pretty minimal is... We want 4wd and diesel. But this is what we have, and it’s perfect to learn how to do\not to do what we want. ;-)
Plus it was $1800. The brand new tires were worth amost half that.
|
Brighammer
> Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
03/11/2020 at 15:41 |
|
Hes a custom one off, part of a limited run project between the wife and I with 3 unique versions. ;-)
|
Brighammer
> Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
03/11/2020 at 15:42 |
|
It really is a great thing to learn on. I want to get a larger one someday and outfit it more like an off-grid rv. Someday.
|
Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
> Brighammer
03/11/2020 at 15:44 |
|
That’s a lot of family for that size of camper though.
|
Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
> Brighammer
03/11/2020 at 15:46 |
|
Do you subscribe to Netflix? Check out Expedition Happiness . It’s a show about a couple who outfit a secondhand school bus and drive it like 10,000 miles. I don’t know where they get their budget, but it’s fun and they’re cute.
|
Brighammer
> Rusty Vandura - www.tinyurl.com/keepoppo
03/11/2020 at 15:49 |
|
You are very correct sir. We realized that quickly. We think of it as a mobile tent. And until we get larger one and outfit it, our boys sleep in t ents outside the mobile tent.
Its a learning process. And the first thing we learned is "you can always use more room in the bus."
Censored
> Brighammer
03/11/2020 at 16:08 |
|
Does your wife (presumed) we ar short skirt and long jacket as well?
|
Brighammer
> Censored
03/11/2020 at 16:16 |
|
That has been known to happen. On occasion. I’m a pretty lucky dude, seeing as she puts up with me.
|
Censored
> Brighammer
03/11/2020 at 16:35 |
|
I hope you got the reference....
She has good taste in music.
TheRealBicycleBuck
> Brighammer
03/11/2020 at 16:36 |
|
When I was young, it was common for people to buy some land, install a well, septic system, and a power pole, then buy a small travel trailer to live in while they built their house. Our neighbors, two adults and a child, lived in a 20-foot (it may have been a 16-foot) trailer for two years.
Your bus reminds me of that. Add some cabinets, a small kitchen, a small bath, and another fold-out bed and you’re there. Maybe it would be cheaper to buy a trailer to pull with the SquatchBus.
|
Brighammer
> Censored
03/11/2020 at 16:40 |
|
Oh I got it. ;-) we saw them 2 years ago at the woodland Park zoo in Seattle. So good. They covered War Pigs by Sabbath.
|
Censored
> Brighammer
03/11/2020 at 16:41 |
|
They're on my wife and I'd bucket list.