The Conversion

As might be assumed, the process of converting a passenger bus into a motor home was a lot more work than we anticipated, took a lot more time than we allowed for, and cost a lot more money than expected.  (But, then again, most DIY projects usually do, right?) 

Initially, I naively thought, "Oh, we'll have this done in 3 or 4 months, and be on the road!"  However, having never attempted something on this scale before, it was a very short-sighted assumption.  One of the difficulties of doing one project as nice as you can (reasonably) do it is... it sets a benchmark for the rest of the projects you wish to do.  When you spend a lot time making one thing nice, you sort of want to make the rest of it the same level of niceness.  In the beginning, I pictured a more open floor plan (quicker to do).  But the more I/we thought about it, and the individuals it would be home to for the next year or two, the more separate spaces made sense.  For sanity's sake, each person really ought to be provided their own, dedicated space in the bus - a place to call their own.  As well,

I was amazed at the price of plywood alone.  (When did good wood hit $50 a board?!?)  The cost of wire.  The cost of flooring.  The cost of everything!  It all adds up, and fast.  There are a LOT of components and systems that need to work (and fit) together.  Be sure you have a budget to fit your plan. 

If you are looking to do a bus conversion yourself, great.  Just be sure you have lots of time, money, tools, and the skill (or drive) to do it.  Otherwise, we wouldn't recommend it.  Being short on any (or several) of these will make it a very frustrating experience.  If you can afford to, just buy an RV that suits your needs.  Really.  Or, maybe modify one, if you need to, in order to fit everyone/thing in.  Unfortunately, taking such advice wasn't really an option for us at the time.  Large RVs are really expensive, and there just aren't any made that that will sleep 9 people comfortably, in dedicated spaces.  So, as they say, "poor men have poor ways", and this was the only way we could figure out if we were going to take our entire family on an trip around the country - seeing many things they would otherwise likely never see.  So, we jumped in, head first, and hoped for the best.

...

Visit the sections below to learn a bit about what we chose to do for each step of the conversion process.  Again, this is only to show what we decided to do for our bus - not a suggestion of how it should be done.  I'm pretty sure there are better ways to do a lot of things we did.  But, that said, what we did works.