Little Miss Skoolie
She’s a small bus. A mini. A shortie. Alias: Sunny the Bus. My wife and I liked the Little Miss Sunshine movie so much, we actually named our first-born pupper after Olive. So, naturally, while it’s not a VW Bus (I think I’m longer than a VW Bus anyway), we went along with a Little Miss, uh, Little Miss Skoolie theme.
No, we’re not that crazy to paint it yellow with a white top, as this is illegal in most of our united states, but we just liked the whole vibe of the underdog rising up and busting through the whole ‘being normal’ thing. We are, after all, far from normal. Eclectically quirky, let’s say.
We wouldn’t have it any other way.
The particulars for the geeks (myself included):
Sunny is a 2005 GMC Savanna 3500 Dually with a Corbeil coach (that’s the bus part), 5-window, with a 6.0-liter, gas-powered V8, with an automatic transmission that’s only gone 99k miles in her 17 years. We found her locally in Putnam, CT, and bought her from a fella who worked for, and bought her from, a local prep school, Marianapolis, in Northeastern Connecticut. So when you board, please wear a tie or something argyle.
Just a quick note: Throughout this build, I have used many, many products from Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. However, I will only link to products that I used and found helpful. Some products I even provide mini reviews for because they are so good. Screws and sandpaper are not always created equal. OK then, now get going!
How we built a flippy bed in a bus
Sunny sat stable in launch mode, up on ramps, pointed at the sky for a long time. Some might say too long. So after we stabilized the cabinet and counter, it was time to give her a little run around town to blow out the cobwebs. The worst thing you can do to a vehicle, especially one of this vintage, is let it sit. And we let it sit.
Misfire Mayhem: How I fixed our 2005 GMC Savana skoolie’s soupy fuel injectors
Sunny sat stable in launch mode, up on ramps, pointed at the sky for a long time. Some might say too long. So after we stabilized the cabinet and counter, it was time to give her a little run around town to blow out the cobwebs. The worst thing you can do to a vehicle, especially one of this vintage, is let it sit. And we let it sit.
How we started our skoolie kitchen and scored a Big Box deal
Allrighty, now that we’re back from the tour down Memory Lane, let’s build some things that don’t require curves, like walls and a kitchen! Steph and I both like to use stuff that’s already existing whenever possible. We have a few good reasons for this: Cost savings, the funkability of repurposed and upcycled pieces, and the fact that those things won't end up in a landfill.
The dawn of building a DIY camper
Photo by Ihor Malytskyi on Unsplash We're taking a little detour from the how-to this week. Everyone needs a break every now and then. Today I'll be chatting about how I became interested in camping and campers in general. It's funny how a few memories from childhood can last a lifetime. So here we go... Once I rode up to the Saco River Campground
A dried-in wet bath: The skoolie bathroom is done (mostly)
Photo by Waldemar Brandt on Unsplash Just get to the point, would ya? By this time in the build, both Steph and I were in graduate programs at YouTube University. For every one good video on “How to Build a Bathroom in a School Bus”, there were 10 videos that had us sighing and huffing and puffing at the TV. They would have titles like
A flush of a different sort: Building the skoolie throne room – Part Deux
OK, so I think I just discovered all that is wrong with carpentry — it’s their naming conventions. See that orange triangle in the photo of bathroom tools below? Triangle, right? Nope. Square. Those weird wood people from @ThisOldHouse call that thing a square. A Speed Square, no less. A square? Come on, Norm. Tommy, clearly that’s not a square. Also, Kevin, where’s the speed? It’s
How we built the Throne Room structure for the Royal Flush
I started watching @ThisOldHouse in the mid-1700s and have been fascinated by the whole wood thing ever since. I thought it was so cool that Norm and Tommy and the dudes could make brand-new lumber match centuries old lumber and keep the whole character of the house intact. Plus, who doesn’t like the smell of fresh-cut lumber? That smell means something’s happening. Sh*t’s gettin’ done. Know
Sealing in Skoolie Windows: What a pain in the A$$!
Sometimes when it rains, it pours — inside the bus. You know how we got that fresh new floor in and how snazzy it looks and all that good stuff? Well, we found out pretty quickly it’s also waterproof! Last time I said we were moving on to wood, but not so fast. Somehow I forgot this little part, or at least tried to erase it
From Mad Scientist to Silly Seat: How we installed our passenger seat in the bus
Big buses, little buses, school busses, and city buses, all have plenty of seats. Typically in that range, you can fit from 6 to 60 school kids, commuters, or people on their way to LA to make their way in the world today. That’s a lot of seats! But one seat that buses typically don’t have is a front passenger seat for a co-driver, or navigator
Stairway to Heaven: There are no donut ghosts in this Grand Ballroom
So after we painstakingly installed the floor in the Grand Ballroom of the bus (disco ball coming soon), we had to turn our attention to the entryway. After all, if the foyer of the mansion is a mess, nobody’s going to want to see the rest. Well unless, y’know, curiosity. That said, last time we saw Steph in Beast Mode tearing up the stairs. Once she
