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Hi I’m Hank, and I bought a bus
- hayksaakian 13y agoCould it be viable to refurbish old busses into mobile homes?
- nazgulnarsil 13y agoWhile cool, I'm betting a used mobile home + mods is cheaper. Of course you have to give the bus some points for the wow factor.
- keithpeter 13y agoThere was a chap living in an old 20 seat bus some time ago in the Midlands, UK. No conversions, just basically sleeping rough in a bus. I've seen much nicer converted railway carriages in Scotland, and there is at least one converted railway carriage you can rent for holidays. These are static of course. This chap should do a line of those storage bed units for people in small flats!
- kalms 13y agoWhen I was a kid, we lived regularly on a camping ground during the summer. There was an older couple with a beat-up bus they had converted - They drove happily through Europe with it, so I guess it's viable to some people!
- sliverstorm 13y agoProbably no less viable than any other boutique that makes at least half their money applying the word "vintage".
- ars 13y agoOnly in temperate climates. The bus is unlikely to have all that much insulation.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- hudibras 13y agoLike almost anything, there's a large and vibrant subculture of people who convert buses into mobile homes. My own grandmother actually lived in a school bus back in the 1970s while she built her home in Alaska.
- 10098 13y agoAll I can see in my imagination is Hank Hill working on that bus.
- songzme 13y agoIts this kind of out the box thinking and guts to follow through with your idea that makes a true difference in this world.
- joelrunyon 13y ago> Its this kind of out the box thinking and guts to follow through with your idea that makes a true difference in this w I'll be the first to say this is a sweet bus & transformation and kudos to Hank for finding something he wanted to do and going after it. BUT, I think it's a bit of a stretch to say it's going to change the world. Maybe Hank's got bigger plans for it - but is it too much to ask to just call this a "freaking awesome project" and congratulate Hank on his out-of-the-box thinking without saying it's "revolutionary", "world changing" or some other hyperbole?
- sliverstorm 13y agoMaybe the best thing to do is just run with the hyperbole, join in with songzme, and pray like hell that when the hyperbole reaches critical mass it will implode on itself.
- solistice 13y agoMaybe it'll lead to a hyperbolic chain reaction, destroying everything in a hundred mile radius. That fallout will linger in the environment for decades, from molehills to mountains, killing all living discussions or grossly mutating them into beastly overstatements. It's a horrid picture.
- sliverstorm 13y agoSee, you've got the right idea already!
- solistice 13y agoFools, turn back. In 1908, Tunguska, my grand-grand father, at least so he tells, was involved in a similar happening. Two russian farmers in the area had come up with a new breed of cold resistant potato, and after sucessful tests, they took to a local inn to celebrate. Little did they know that the congregation had just a little too much liquid joy, and how focused the praise would be. After several days of nonstop praise, the hyperbolic density reached critical levels, and the russian authorities were alerted. Realizing the magnitude of the problem, they knew that they couldn't disperse it by themselves. They sent a letter to Prussia, world reknown for its somberness under Bismark, to send a congregation of the most straight faced military officers that they could find. My grand-grand father was within that troop. But alas, they came too late, as by the time they reached the village of Kezhemskoe, a flash was visible and loud explosions were heard, as the inn had reached critical hyperbole. You may not want to believe me, as all signs of the potatoes, the inn are gone, and all records were wiped during the cold war. Overstatements are hell.
- jonah 13y agoBeautifully clean lines. I sure hope he used Formaldehyde-free plywood though. It would be terribly noxious to live in if he just used the standard stuff. http://www.epa.gov/iaq/formaldehyde.html http://www.epa.gov/iaq/formaldehyde.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methanal https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methanal
- 001sky 13y agoMarine plywood (ie, epoxy resin) if he has any sense. Well tested in these types of confined living applications, too. Resists the thermal cycling and condensation likely to be found in this application.
- ballard 13y agoOh man. After smell of VOCs, etc. Fire is the other concern. Exits gotta be clear and plenty.
- brazzy 13y agoAll those windows can be converted into exits on the fly via the application of a $5 emergency hammer.
- lignuist 13y agoReminds me of Gabriel. He bought a Firetruck. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5432962 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5432962
- quaunaut 13y agoHoly hell. I'd love to live in that. Sure, I live in a rather cheap apartment right now, but come on. That's beautiful work, cheap, and probably could sell for a hell of a lot more. The only stipulations coming to my mind that would stop me from rushing out and doing it /right now/, are * What are the laws like, regarding parking and sleeping this somewhere? Do I have to find campground or something, or just live in Walmart parking lots all the time? * What's done for cooling/heating? Does this require a pretty temperate environment, or is it relatively well sealed? * Is all power generated by the bus? If so, does that make traditional tasks on the computer or other places hell, with the shaking, and if not, what generates it and how much can you support? In general, I LOVE the idea, and the execution. That bus looks as roomie as my(once again, crappy, but still, a real) apartment.
- sliverstorm 13y agoWhat's done for cooling/heating? Does this require a pretty temperate environment, or is it relatively well sealed? Vehicles leak like sieves unless you seal them up yourself, which could be a catastrophically bad idea if exhaust starts to find its way into the vehicle while it is running. Aside from opening windows or bundling up and shivering, your cooling/heating options are either typical house HVAC appliances, or extending the functionality of the onboard heating and cooling and hoping that you bought a diesel, which are much more tolerant than gasoline engines of idling all day. Which brings me back to the risk of exhaust gasses when the passenger compartment is mostly sealed. For electrical power to run appliance-type HVAC, you could use a small generator.
- quaunaut 13y agoShouldn't all mechanical areas be able to be sealed off from the living area, given enough insulation at the windows? I could see the driver area not being sealed off, but still having the living area be absolutely safe.
- ars 13y agoThe operative word is "Should". And in fact that's how they make them, but they don't always stay that way.....
- ktd 13y agoThis is a refreshingly good post.
- suyash 13y agoIt's called living in an RV like a modern day Nomad. People have been doing it for years in America, what is new about this?
- lost_aether 13y agoI hate to be a downer...but this has been all over the news and I don't get why. Bus conversions have been around for ages. From the most basic to the most space shuttle like... It's a nice project and congratulations to Hank - I converted a van myself recently - but I fail to see the wow factor here.
- hudibras 13y agoHe has a website, that's the reason.
- ISL 13y agoThat, and he's good at selling the dream. Through some eyes, his website looks like freedom.
- spiek 13y agoHe himself acknowledges that it has been done before, but he wanted to explore it further. I don't think claimed anywhere that this was somehow revolutionary or ground breaking. Why does it have to be so? Is there anything wrong with appreciating a well executed and beautiful project (with great documentation)?
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- foodstances 13y agohttp://www.tynan.com/living-in-a-small-rv-introduction/ http://www.tynan.com/living-in-a-small-rv-introduction/
- ljf 13y agoIf you want to some of the more 'rustic' end of the bus conversion world check out http://www.travellerhomes.co.uk http://www.travellerhomes.co.uk - full of interesting traveller bus conversions, mainly from the 80s. My sisters bus is somewhere on the site, though she gave up living in it years and years ago.
- Raphmedia 13y agoOut of curiosity, what are the laws on these? (in USA, Canada or UK) Can you legally sleep in a vehicle?
- jonah 13y agoSame as an RV. Varies from city to city. In mine, (in California) they try to prevent people from sleeping in their vehicles by posting signs like "no vehicles longer than x feet" or "no parking between 3am and 6am" on certain city streets. Fortunately, they allocate some parking spaces in city lots specifically for RVs. Also, some private organizations (churches, etc.) allow a few RVs to park in their lots during off times. It's definitely a challenge though.
- capex 13y agoWhat are the rules for this in Australia?
- perlpimp 13y agoWhat is the milage on the thing by the way? Wonder what part of his monthly budget is allocated to Gas.
- maxmem 13y agoMost full sized buses get 7-8mpg. It's like driving a Hummer.
- ballard 13y agoAs to possible improvements (it's both a house and a vehicle, so there's plenty to keep one busy if that's the choice): Solar panels are much better these days and a bus has obviously tons of space to put them. AGM batteries are also the way to go. If there were an raspberry pi + app to remotely report battery charge level on a mobile, that would be awesomesauce.
- jonah 13y agoMy dad did something similar back in art school. He bought a used postal delivery truck and it was his semester project to convert it into an RV. Once completed, he'd take weekend trips. Leave SF Friday evening and drive an arbitrary direction until he was tired. He'd find a place to park and in the morning wake up in a new and unknown location to explore for the weekend.
- ballard 13y agoProbably ~16 mpg, so a donation link for fuel budget would be fair. I think people would help because of the awesomeness.
- ics 13y agoSlap a fat QR code next to the license plate to donate bitcoins. The future is nigh! ;)
- m_ram 13y agoHe wrote 10mpg in the comments [1]. That means $0.39/mile on average driving in the U.S. [2]. [1] http://www.hankboughtabus.com/a-tour-of-the-bus/#comment-508 http://www.hankboughtabus.com/a-tour-of-the-bus/#comment-508 [2] http://www.eia.gov/petroleum/gasdiesel/ http://www.eia.gov/petroleum/gasdiesel/
- joonix 13y agoDonation, seriously? How is this any different than an RV? And don't forget you're encouraging inefficiency.
- ronaldsvilcins 13y agoThis is awesome!!!
- gk1 13y agoI designed (but did not build, alas) a yacht in architecture class. Researching and designing the interior cabin was incredibly fun and challenging... I bet Hank had a blast designing this thing. Ideas for the empty space currently being used as overflow storage: * Water and/or fuel tanks (more necessary on a boat than on a bus) * Shower * Brig * Pantry * Rifle stowage * Server room (I went on to be a naval architect for a short while but never had a real project as fun as the catamaran design.)
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- nchuhoai 13y agoBecause there seem to be some people that have seen similar projects: Is there like a website for such cool conversions of vehicles and other places into living spaces?
- Yuioup 13y agoMy question is: Do you take turns smoking and driving?
- basicallydan 13y agoBloody hell. I want to do this. Good job, dude!
- gambiting 13y agoIs it true that in the US you could drive this monster with a regular driving licence? In the EU you would need either a C class licence(if it's over 3.5 tonnes) or a D class licence(if it can seat more than 9 people). Both are rather difficult to get if someone is not used to driving large vehicles, and require completing additional 20-30 hours of learning, not to mention the fact that you can't get them until you held a regular(B class) licence for at least 3 years(in most EU countries, exceptions apply).
- chrisrogers 13y agoMy American shoot-from-the-hip response to this would be to consider the road differences. Most American roads, interstate, state highways, and main city throughfares, are able to accommodate large vehicles quite easily. This is not the case in EU cities built for smaller traffic volumes. Many American vehicles are built to spec for these roads, and the difference between driving dad's F-250 and a garbage truck becomes less significant. Tractor trailers, farm vehicles, and heavy machinery are classed differently. But a petrol-driven bus or heavy-load truck is not.
- mogrim 13y agoThere are a few places in Europe that you wouldn't be able to get to - the centres of some small villages, for example, or some smaller residential streets - but they're a definite minority. Don't forget we have buses and delivery trucks here, too!
- chrisrogers 13y agoOh yes, certainly -- It's not a matter of the roads being incapable of supporting large vehicles period, but simply that many of those roads are not as accommodating to large vehicles as those of American cities. Thus it would require much more operator care to successfully navigate with those large vehicles.
- ars 13y agoThe license limits in the US are by weight of vehicle (max legal weight, not current weight), not by size of vehicle. There are extra restrictions for commercial driving. A 15 passenger van requires no extra license, but that's about the largest you can go.
- deepGem 13y agoLove the morphed school bus. I'd just take this idea to the next level and design a nice Volvo/Scania bus into a mobile living space. Would cost a hell lot more but this design is way way way better than any of the custom Scania/volvo designs that I've seen.
- stcredzero 13y agoThere's someone who converts Volvo semis into RVs Asa business.
- codeulike 13y agoThis is great, but living in vehicles is not a new idea, I'm sure there are thousands of people in the US living in buses/trucks/etc. Hank did a great job on the design though. It reminds me of the interior of a canal boat - they often have the same layout techniques. Here's a UK couple that converted a double-decker bus: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-18651140 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-18651140
- makomk 13y agoNot even close to a new idea, I vaguely knew someone who did the same with a single-decker bus. (Sadly she had to get rid of it due to health issues that meant she couldn't drive it anymore.)
- JoeAltmaier 13y agoHey, normally architecture students draw a house or an office building. Not a new idea either. It wasn't supposed to be completely novel. As a senior project, I imagine it blows the lid off the school requirements.
- davidw 13y agoIt was apparently quite popular in the 60ies. Where I'm from in Eugene, Oregon, there are even hippy busses that got permanently parked and added on to as they formed the nucleus of a house. If I'm not mistaken, this is one such example: https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Fox+Hollow+Rd,+Eugene,+OR,+USA&hl=en&ll=43.952015,-123.156567&spn=0.025983,0.066047&sll=45.406504,11.891245&sspn=0.202712,0.528374&oq=fox+hollow&hnear=Fox+Hollow+Rd,+Eugene,+Oregon+97405&t=p&z=15&layer=c&cbll=43.951995,-123.156418&panoid=6sr2cT1Lhfm_rllcGE8Vyg&cbp=12,22.58,,2,-2.77 https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Fox+Hollow+Rd,+Eugene,+OR,+US... ( I'm kind of amazed that I managed to find that - I haven't lived there in years, although I did ride my bike up and down that road dozens of times )
- stcredzero 13y agoSaw an example of this in Homer, AK
- erikstarck 13y agoImagine this being a self driving car/bus. You could fall asleep in Berlin and wake up in Barcelona. Now imagine it being electric and solar powered. Is that the future of cities? On wheels.
- dalore 13y agoOr not wake up at all.
- moondowner 13y agoI think you're implying dying from carbon monoxide poisoning? I think that it can't happen if it's "electric and solar powered". And leave at least one window fully open (or the sunroof) for fresh air and the other cause (suffocation) is eliminated as well.
- drdaeman 13y agoI'd think of road accidents. I'm not sure vehicle's AI would gracefully handle a case of meeting some idiot full-speed cruising through a red light.
- GFischer 13y agoI want to see how self driving cars handle South American / Latin traffic... if it can handle itself through Buenos Aires, Lima, or Rome, it's a better driver than I am (and probably passes the Turing test :) )
- tuananh 13y agoor Vietnam ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPModTuJA_M http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPModTuJA_M )
- plantain 13y agoI doubt artificial intelligence would handle it any worse than regular intelligence...
- TezzellEnt 13y agoThis reminds me of the shipping container turned relocatable dwelling: http://www.fabprefab.com/fabfiles/containerbay/059MDU-lotek/MDU-UCSB-home.htm http://www.fabprefab.com/fabfiles/containerbay/059MDU-lotek/... Of course you'd need to rent a truck to drive it around, but it expands similar to some RVs.
- droidist2 13y agoReally awesome. About the heating/cooling, maybe you could just drive to a nicer climate, like down to Florida for the winter. Of course, life obligations permitting. Seems like a great setup for retired people. Ultimate snowbird vehicle.
- marincounty 13y agoI'm a big fan of this type of living. We need to provide cheap places to park overnight RV's/buses. We have been conditioned to believe we need to live in high priced boxes. If things don't work out for me, it's a boat off Dunphy Park. It will have a very well designed 12v solar system.
- claudius 13y ago> We have been conditioned to believe we need to live in high priced boxes. The housing market in the US (and the UK) always surprises me. People here just rent medium-priced parts of boxes, often far after they found a family and only move into their own homes in their thirties/fourties, if at all. In the US/UK, on the other hand, it appears to be much more common to buy and sell houses like commodities whenever you feel like moving.
- shawabawa3 13y agoI'm in the UK and my general impression is that people absolutely hate "throwing away" money paying rent, and would rather they were "investing" in property. Of course, they often don't take into account that they might end up paying more on mortgage interest than they were on rent anyway, and if they hate the place they're going to be out potentially 10s of thousands in fees
- HipstaJules 13y agoIt beautiful, I really like it!
- lotsofcows 13y agoNice sales pitch. Not so sure about the end result. It's quite pretty and the bed arrangement is novel although I'm not sure how practical it would be for a couple over time. The loo is very basic considering what you can rip out of a 15 year old caravan. I don't like the long central aisle design although it makes everything look bigger. Most boats, vans and caravans tend to use L shapes to break things up a bit. Still, an interesting part of the USAian dream... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travels_with_Charley:_In_Search_of_America http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travels_with_Charley:_In_Search...
- pettycash 13y agoawesome. he should sell advertising on side of bus as he tours the country.
- secretdark 13y agoI live on a canal boat in London (http://everythinginthesky.com/tagged/boatlyfe http://everythinginthesky.com/tagged/boatlyfe) that I'm looking to do up in a similar fashion. It's a long road, though - I installed solar panels and a basic 3G wifi setup, but it's all been delayed while I have it stripped back to bare metal and rebuilt. The nice part about the boat is that the arrangements for moving it / living on it are a bit more formalised than I imagine this is and are part of the lifestyle. Still, this seems like a much more mobile solution. Good post!
- pimpl 13y agoAaaawesome! Are you planning to post some new photos?
- secretdark 13y agoYep, will do when the work continues. It's on pause right now while I'm away.
- fnordfnordfnord 13y agoWow, I kind of like that. Thanks for posting.
- scrumper 13y agoInteresting project, and it looks well executed. I wonder whether Hank took a look at British narrowboats at all? The design constraints are very similar and there's a couple of centuries of experience to draw on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrowboat http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narrowboat
- debashis23 13y agoThis is great....
- hoopism 13y agoMy oldest brother built a bus too. It's a different approach but similar concept. Love these builds. Check out my brothers bus and build log here: http://www.bunedoggle.com/skoolie/ http://www.bunedoggle.com/skoolie/
- blufox 13y agoWonderful....Great blog and photos..Keep em coming.
- bendoidic 13y agoThis brings back memories of the first school bus conversion I ever saw covered extensively online, from the genius mind of Jake Van Slatt [1]. He took the reuse of discarded materials as his main inspiration, and really turned out something beautiful. His blog is full of all sorts of kooky inventions and reclaimed item builds. He posted two great summaries of the bus interior and construction on his newer website: http://steampunkworkshop.com/bus2.shtml http://steampunkworkshop.com/bus2.shtml http://steampunkworkshop.com/bus1.shtml http://steampunkworkshop.com/bus1.shtml [1] http://www.vonslatt.com/ http://www.vonslatt.com/
- slm_HN 13y agoMy favorite bus conversion is at http://digitalmastery.com/creativecruiser/?page_id=107 http://digitalmastery.com/creativecruiser/?page_id=107 or https://www.facebook.com/CreativeCruiser https://www.facebook.com/CreativeCruiser for more recent updates. Lots of design and construction pictures.
- maxmem 13y agoThat looks like a very limited conversion. Did you do an electrical system at all or a powered water system?
- grecy 13y agoTraveling around countries, continents, or the world is becoming more and more popular in 4x4s and unimogs converted in this way. See this [1] for a good example of what the back of a Land Cruiser capable of driving around the world can look like. I drove Alaska->Argentina in 2 years, and now I'm in the planning stages of an around-Africa trip which will flow into a Europe->SE Asia->Australia trip. For anyone interested, checkout http://wikioverland.org http://wikioverland.org for all the logistical info you'll need, and forums like http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum and http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/ http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/ to meet people actually doing it. [1] http://www.geocruiser.nl/images26/inbouw2-100.jpg http://www.geocruiser.nl/images26/inbouw2-100.jpg
- tiatia 13y agoHi Grecy, Do you speak German? www.kohlbach.org/Download/kohle_afrika.pdf
- burritofanatic 13y agoI did a search for the word splinters, and found none in the comments or in the post. Has this issue been addressed?!
- ChuckMcM 13y agoVery nice, I was also very inspired by this guy's bus : http://steampunkworkshop.com/bus1.shtml http://steampunkworkshop.com/bus1.shtml which has a Victorian theme going on. Converting school busses into RV's is quite a hobby, there are lots of them out there. But more importantly there are lots of good resources for not getting screwed in terms of buying a bus with 3M miles on it that needs a new engine or something. Also "filling up" is not for the faint of heart when you drive a bus. Things I like about this conversion are the simplicity and ability to re-configure easily. Things that might be a challenge are stuff flying around when you turn corners and what not.
- cjensen 13y agoBeautiful and neat hacks. Wood is a good choice for the project since it's cheap and looks good if you put labor (which he has) into it. Wood is also extremely heavy, which makes it a terrible choice if you actually plan on driving.
- giardini 13y agoBuses are designed to be driven everywhere while full of human beings so, although the mileage might be atrocious, there should be little concern about the safety of a wood interior.
- eyeareque 13y agoNot to knock his accomplishment, because this is really cool. My first thought was: this thing must creak and squeak like crazy as you head down the road.
- pearjuice 13y ago>about $6000 in improvements He could have saved around $2000 if he didn't include the riced Macbook.
- o0-0o 13y agoSo much taste. So much style. So much... Coors light? Gosh, Hank. Ick.
- vonmoltke 13y agoThat's Coors Original. Not much better, but still.
- fluxon 13y agoA friend of mine has a school bus, but it needs a new suspension bladder and those a) aren't cheap and b) are hard to replace. There's nothing more expensive than a cheap (insert noun here).
- sequoia 13y agohttp://tinyhouseblog.com/yourstory/the-novelty-unschool-bus/ http://tinyhouseblog.com/yourstory/the-novelty-unschool-bus/ Another, slightly more lived-in one, slightly lower-design one.
- 205guy 13y agoI didn't read all the comments, but I did see a few people mentioned boats. I was going to say that there are many, many, many layouts for small, mobile, livable spaces such as RVs, motorboats, and sailboats. Given that many are more creative and better done than this example (straight line), I'm not too impressed. In fact, I don't like the openness--it looks too much like ... a school bus. I do like some of the details, such as the ceiling lighting and the modular bed/storage. But the kitchen and dining and bathroom areas are uninspired. I much prefer the little U-shaped kitchens in modern sailboats, where everyting is easily reachable. Also, if I had such a project, I wouldn't be constrained by the existing ceiling either: I'm thinking a pop-top loft sleeping area or a roof terrace with interior ladder/staircase access. Not to be overly negative, but I don't see the connection to architecture here. There are a few tenous links, such as the shape of the ceiling (dictated by the bus) and the thought that went into the bed-storage. But all the rest seems more like rough out interior design (fit and finish of the furniture)--and the unfinished bathroom and kitchen aren't appealing at all. I do think he got a lot done for a short project, but is it architecture?
- awjr 13y agoI would say that in the EU you would have a nightmare with this bus. You'd be able to drive anywhere, but parking over night would be a major problem. I did a 6 month stint over winter, in the UK, 'stealth' living in a converted Ford Transit HiTop LWB Van (had bed, cooker, toilet, bank of 3 batteries and a diesel heating system.) It worked well, but primarily it worked because you could pull up anywhere and park for the night without calling attention to yourself. Showers where provided by whichever local sports centre I could find :) Oh and this is an exceptional site if you ever want to try this http://www.parkopedia.co.uk/ http://www.parkopedia.co.uk/
- andyidsinga 13y agothat is sofaking amazing. cheers to Hank! If he can figure out how to convert it to a serial gas/electric hybrid that would be cool. cover the roof in solar panels - blinds could be solar panels too.