I lived for 2 years in a 45ft Newmar Essex and it was the BEST Time of my life!! So much so I have learned to live with so much less and I was so much happier. I learned how homes are so inefficient with space. I have no desire to live in 1 place anymore. Traveling was so mind altering and I even started video blogging from the bus on vision since I retired from Optometry. Having a home that travels is the most liberating experience!
I've been somewhat concerned regarding where I'd live after graduating, and I've recently started looking up tiny houses and how efficient and low-cost they are. But a $4000 bus and about $3000 cosmetic and internal features could make it a respectable, contemporary home! This is an amazing concept, and I do hope to undertake such a project on my own soon!
We have a Coleman propane stove, a cast iron skillet, a water kettle and a bunch of other misc. kitchen supplies. We have cooked up some pretty mean meals on this trip so far. As for his grandpa's property, the issue was that building code was going to demand a cabin much larger than they were going to need, and much of the infrastructure required by building code would have been unnecessary given the amount of time the cabin would actually be in use throughout the year.
Wow! I first read up about your project from Houzz and got even more interested. It looks like you had a great time implementing you idea from scratch. Hope your tour around the west coast turns out great!
Hey, Hank! Love your project! And I would love to live in such a bus as well! Wish you all the best with your blog! (About your cabin on your gradpa's land, have you considered hanging cabins and live bridges, it has so much potential! I love planning hanging houses in the forest! ;) )
He needs to take advantage of the stability and strength of the area directly over the axles. I would suggest water tanks and holding tanks for gray water, a composting toilet, and a shower stall. Walls can be mirrored on both sides to trick the eye into seeing greater space and depth, and also for reflecting light to increase energy efficiency. I would not be able to resist putting window shades on every window that were very light weight and all decorated with a landscape with great depth, so at night when closed, the area would still seem to be a wide open space.
it's not really new to the scene but the idea is, He brought back the old hippies of campers trip to this age and give it a new kind of taste to contemporary modern arts. So I adore he's modern twist... .
I love it. I'd love to live in something like this. I'm sure you could make better use of the vertical space via shelves and other things. If I could put a washer/dryer in this I'd live here.
Hank has been asked about this on a number of occasions and is definitely open to the idea. We'll probably post them to the website when the time comes.
this has been going on for over 10 years. come to venice beach and see all these people doing this. Its still a great thing of art and creativity. OH go to the burningman festival. they are everywhere out there. steve hopkins bus is amazing.He owns 3 converted buses
Love it! And there are so many spin offs from this. If you can teach people how to do this, or even set up a company doing it for them you would get a lot of trade. Chris Guillebeau's Art of Non-conformity could be a good model for that. Good luck!
could travel like this, from place to place, staying for a few months at wwoofing, helpx and workwayay destinations around the globe, doing an internet or creative job to sustain basic costs and expenses..Nice conversation! love it!
My uncle did this with a charter bus it already has a bathroom in it you can put generator in one of the cargo bays, and you have more room, and it took lees than a month to design and build
@ spenceanjess, That sounds like a good deal to me. Thanks for the information. Friends of mine bought a pop-up trailer. It's pretty low and gets hitched to the car. When they arrive at a campsite, they have it go to a 7 feet tall RV. It has all the amenities one would need. I don't know what they paid, but I'd be interested in one of those also. Thanks.
@manthony777 he paid 8000 for it used, another good thing about it is that if it breaks down they're relatively cheap to rebuild the cylinders are sleeved, he even put regular kitchen cabinets and a standard size refrigerator, ther was no shower, but I assume it woild be possible to build a shower stall beside the existing bathroom stall at the back. He was able to build about queen size bunk beds and single bunk beds, he took his wife and 8 kids all over America while they home schooled.
This is great, but it's anything but original. my grandparents made a school bus into a cabin off a lake over 70 years ago that I, too, slept in, ate in, made memories in as I was growing up. Hippies and roadies are no different.
Hank has two golf-cart batteries wired underneath the bus into a number of wall outlets that can supply power for our laptops and phones for at least 3-5 days without needing a recharge.
pretty cool if you ask me l now get the open concept it has .l ve seen many with bunks built in them but yours allows for more seating area. l lld like to see a complete explanation of how it all works on video please :)
+rennmaxbeta probably a composting toilet... but with multiple occupants, it needs a privacy barrier and a vent fan... not that it would block any 'strange' noises...
Very nice idea. How's the water situation? (for drinking, cleaning, cooking...etc) I guess what I'm asking is the amount of water it can contain. And it'd be cool if there's a water-recycling system within the bus.
Hey dude. Saw your project and it is awesome. Have you thought of mounting a solar panel to the top of your bus. Or even placing a skylight? Also, having your windows be remote controlled.
Yours is my favorite story regarding a conversion. You were the inspiration for my own journey into bus life.
I lived for 2 years in a 45ft Newmar Essex and it was the BEST Time of my life!! So much so I have learned to live with so much less and I was so much happier. I learned how homes are so inefficient with space. I have no desire to live in 1 place anymore. Traveling was so mind altering and I even started video blogging from the bus on vision since I retired from Optometry. Having a home that travels is the most liberating experience!
I was so inspired I bought my own bus!
I've been somewhat concerned regarding where I'd live after graduating, and I've recently started looking up tiny houses and how efficient and low-cost they are. But a $4000 bus and about $3000 cosmetic and internal features could make it a respectable, contemporary home! This is an amazing concept, and I do hope to undertake such a project on my own soon!
Hank, you are a genius! God bless you!
Very inspirational. I have started to plan a bus conversion of my own and ran across this video during research. Thanks for the video...
Great idea, great project, well done indeed! Keep us posted!
Great imagination! Wonderful project!
We have a Coleman propane stove, a cast iron skillet, a water kettle and a bunch of other misc. kitchen supplies. We have cooked up some pretty mean meals on this trip so far.
As for his grandpa's property, the issue was that building code was going to demand a cabin much larger than they were going to need, and much of the infrastructure required by building code would have been unnecessary given the amount of time the cabin would actually be in use throughout the year.
It's incredible what you have done Hank, I just loved it :)
This is amazing. I have always admired creative minds. Good job.
Hank or Evidon, You guys should have made more videos as you have been building the bus, thus it would have been very educational.
Wow! I first read up about your project from Houzz and got even more interested. It looks like you had a great time implementing you idea from scratch. Hope your tour around the west coast turns out great!
Hey, Hank! Love your project! And I would love to live in such a bus as well! Wish you all the best with your blog!
(About your cabin on your gradpa's land, have you considered hanging cabins and live bridges, it has so much potential! I love planning hanging houses in the forest! ;) )
i love the design ideas here wish i could put some of my ideas to work around my house
You're either On the Bus or Off the Bus! I've always dreamed of living on a bus! Go Furthur!
My Dad and my uncle did this in the 70's. It worked out very well.
He needs to take advantage of the stability and strength of the area directly over the axles. I would suggest water tanks and holding tanks for gray water, a composting toilet, and a shower stall. Walls can be mirrored on both sides to trick the eye into seeing greater space and depth, and also for reflecting light to increase energy efficiency. I would not be able to resist putting window shades on every window that were very light weight and all decorated with a landscape with great depth, so at night when closed, the area would still seem to be a wide open space.
Amazing project.. Good luck with it!
it's not really new to the scene but the idea is, He brought back the old hippies of campers trip to this age and give it a new kind of taste to contemporary modern arts. So I adore he's modern twist... .
thats amazing i was reading bout yalls stop in Portland when he recharged it.
I am an architecture student and in few months I will be starting my thesis, your project inspired me. thank you.
Yes.. YES...I wanted to do this since I was a child! Hank is my spirit animal.
This is SO inspiring! What an experiment!
Mobile home,just fantastic !!!.My dream.
Amazing creative idea!!!!!!! Excellent!
Gives Tiny House *Movement* a new meaning. . .
Great idea! I am so down with that!
University of Minnesota whoot whoot! I recognize the bus: it was sitting outside Rapson hall for awhile.
You guys are so awesome! This so inspiring for me. I want to make something like that. So cool, your own moving castle :)
Sweet!!! Enjoy the ride!
No meth cooking station? Walter White not impressed
I love it. I'd love to live in something like this. I'm sure you could make better use of the vertical space via shelves and other things. If I could put a washer/dryer in this I'd live here.
what a genius idea. truly remarkable :-)
Hank has been asked about this on a number of occasions and is definitely open to the idea. We'll probably post them to the website when the time comes.
Amazing job.
this has been going on for over 10 years. come to venice beach and see all these people doing this. Its still a great thing of art and creativity. OH go to the burningman festival. they are everywhere out there. steve hopkins bus is amazing.He owns 3 converted buses
Inspirational my friend!
Love it! And there are so many spin offs from this. If you can teach people how to do this, or even set up a company doing it for them you would get a lot of trade. Chris Guillebeau's Art of Non-conformity could be a good model for that. Good luck!
could travel like this, from place to place, staying for a few months at wwoofing, helpx and workwayay destinations around the globe, doing an internet or creative job to sustain basic costs and expenses..Nice conversation! love it!
My uncle did this with a charter bus it already has a bathroom in it you can put generator in one of the cargo bays, and you have more room, and it took lees than a month to design and build
That's so amazing!
You have my respect, man
@ spenceanjess, That sounds like a good deal to me. Thanks for the information. Friends of mine bought a pop-up trailer. It's pretty low and gets hitched to the car. When they arrive at a campsite, they have it go to a 7 feet tall RV. It has all the amenities one would need. I don't know what they paid, but I'd be interested in one of those also. Thanks.
loveeeeee this idea! and i think he lacks sleep lol
his real name is sam witwicky. first bus, then transforming vehicles.
Need it in my life.
That's why I bought an old RV and rebuilt it inside.
RV's are not as safe or strong as a bus.
@manthony777 he paid 8000 for it used, another good thing about it is that if it breaks down they're relatively cheap to rebuild the cylinders are sleeved, he even put regular kitchen cabinets and a standard size refrigerator, ther was no shower, but I assume it woild be possible to build a shower stall beside the existing bathroom stall at the back. He was able to build about queen size bunk beds and single bunk beds, he took his wife and 8 kids all over America while they home schooled.
He came to our school today!! :)
Awesome stuff, man!
So awesome! I have ALWAYS wanted to do this to a bus!! :D
This is nicer than any college dorm I've lived in.
really hope you have a bathroom in there
This is great, but it's anything but original.
my grandparents made a school bus into a cabin off a lake over 70 years ago that I, too, slept in, ate in, made memories in as I was growing up.
Hippies and roadies are no different.
Yes, my good chap.
All i can say is YES! I want one!
I think you just won architecture.
Hank has two golf-cart batteries wired underneath the bus into a number of wall outlets that can supply power for our laptops and phones for at least 3-5 days without needing a recharge.
much props!
Awesome!
I love tiny houses!
Very cool. How about a tour?
Excelente Hank
pretty cool if you ask me l now get the open concept it has .l ve seen many with bunks built in them but yours allows for more seating area. l lld like to see a complete explanation of how it all works on video please :)
Creativity!
So how do you take a shower in there?
Or eat....
Where's the shitter?
Michael Scotti Shitter's full.
+rennmaxbeta probably a composting toilet... but with multiple occupants, it needs a privacy barrier and a vent fan... not that it would block any 'strange' noises...
Amazing! Good luck
Such an awesome idea! It is beautiful. Would you ever think of publishing plans for others?
I third this. Would love to see the plans.
This is the sickest shit ever. Please take my money... well if I had any LOL.
very nice
Buying a school bus by the end of the year & converting it :D
Very nice idea. How's the water situation? (for drinking, cleaning, cooking...etc) I guess what I'm asking is the amount of water it can contain. And it'd be cool if there's a water-recycling system within the bus.
I wanna meet the dude who made this!
architectural bang bus!
I'm in! Can I bring my pet turkey?
We could run the bus off his gobbles
Very Cool!
How do you take clean yourselves (shower, bathtub, basin, outdoor portable shower with cover) ?
good job Ted Mosby
Building codes prohibit you from building them too small. grr. Good job, though!
It's a good idea... But bathrooms? Plumbing, electrical?
That's so rad.
But yeah, where's the bathroom, shower, food storage/compartments..?
www.tinyhousedesign.com/hank-bought-bus/#more-10116
Are you guys coming through venice beach at all? I would love to see your setup.
Hey dude. Saw your project and it is awesome. Have you thought of mounting a solar panel to the top of your bus. Or even placing a skylight? Also, having your windows be remote controlled.
cool
make a study here in Rio, on Rocinha Slum, that's tiny houses
My Architect-Heart is beating faster now!
good job
He just... Bought a buss
Amazing but were is the toilet and the shower and also I want to buy that BUS!
-Sebastian >:)
Thumbs up!
Are you going to video your road trip?
i second this. i'd love it if you could open source the plans for those who want to do the same.
I dont know why peoplepost videos but never reply to others who are interested in the projects.
He came to our school before and I been in his bus before
Could you post a video of how your restroom works? ...
reminds me of travels with charley :P
could you make me a bus?
in the back.