2000 Chevrolet 3500 Short Bus
The short bus was our first adventure vehicle that Rachael and I built together and traveled in for nearly four years. The bus was also our first project to be built from the ground up. The plan with the bus was to sell out belongings, rent out our house and travel North America until our money ran out.
Before
The Build
We purchased our skoolie from a small church in Oklahoma and it still had the heater and rows of seats in it from the factory. We stripped the entire bus down to the sheet metal, insulated it, and installed our furniture and storage around it.
After
Exterior
We had planned to keep the exterior of the bus as simple as possible, mostly out of being frugal. Some elements of the exterior were necessity such as the 3 100-watt Renogy solar panels on the roof that powered our entire house. Or the Fantastic Fan that kept us cool in the heat of the day. Other elements were not as necessary and were more of a convenience.
The stock GM lighting is awful on these vehicles (and every van we have driven) so we added a pair of amber fog lights and a cheap Amazon light bar to the front bumper. While the light quality from this setup is not the best that we have used over the years, it was simple and cheap. We never had to worry about someone stealing lights off of our rig and even if they did, it was easy enough to simply replace them.
We painted the roof with Henry’s Elastomeric Roof Coating and we are extremely glad that we did. There was a noticeable temperature difference after applying the coating. The rest of the exterior was painted with the cheapest dark grey paint we could find on amazon.
Interior
Electronics
Suspension and Tires
The Adventures
We purchased our skoolie from a small church in Oklahoma and it still had the heater and rows of seats in it from the factory. We stripped the entire bus down to the sheet metal, insulated it, and installed our furniture and storage around it.