You're in good hands...

So now I have a school bus, titled as a motor home in my name. Now we need insurance and license plates.

I have been keeping my insurance guy in the loop regarding our bus conversion. I'm not sure that he thought that we could pull it off.

Well, I guess upon further review, he and the corporate insurance guys decided that we were worth the risk, Insurance for the bus for one year is less than I pay for internet for one month !!!

Ohio Motor Home Title

"Let me get this right. You bought an old school bus? Old school bus, seats and all? You tore everything out and turned it into a camper? And you want to get this thing titled as a motor home...an RV? You know you gotta have a way to cook and keep stuff cold? You got a place to eat? A place to sleep? Do you think that this is gonna be easy? I need to get a supervisor, and they are in a meeting with some political big-wig trying to get elected next year. Why don't you just have a seat til someone calls you."

Based upon stuff I've read on the most trustworthy of internet sites, I expected to run into walls made of impenetrable materials that Trump only wished that he had.

It was a freakin' piece of cake.

I knew a guy from the local AMVETS Post that was a Notary Public. I said that I would pick him up, show him the bus and show him the list of required amenities that would qualify our humble bus as a motor home. He said no problem.

I had an issue as to exactly how the form should be completed, so I stopped by my local Title Bureau in Mentor.

Well, hello Chris! (Not his/her real name)

I asked my questions as to how the title form should be filled out. She/He asked all about the bus and I showed her/him pix on my phone. She/he talked to her/his supervisor, and in 15 minutes, I was walking out the door with a clear title for a 2000 Freightliner Motor Home.

Life's been good to me so far.....

The Big Four..Gettin' Legal

So, what's the deal on legally converting a bus into a motor home.

DISCLAIMER: I live in Ohio. I bought the bus in Ohio. I got an Ohio title and Ohio license plates. If you live in PA, FL, ND, SC NM, ME, MA (I always get ME and MA mixed up), UT or any other state in the U.S of A., this may not apply to you. Then again, maybe it does, but you didn't hear it from me. Do your due diligence.

Here's the form for a title.

So we need...

     A working stove
     A working refrigerator
     A place to sleep
     A place to eat

I just wanna get legal so I can drive the bus home to work on it. Work on it where I have electricity, heat and a bathroom.

So lets get started.

I'm building a temporary kitchen counter that the range/oven (from the ol' camper) will mount into.

The stove connects to a 30lb LP tank that sits next to it. The stove works.

By the way, did you know that there is a large selection of possible LP gas connectors.

I didn't. Go to Home Depot (or wherever) prepared. Bring samples and put on your Rube Goldberg thinking cap.

Mission one..complete.

Refrigerator...We are going to use the fridge from the camper. It runs on 120 VAC and LP gas. It needs a 12 VDC control voltage from a battery to operate. Since LP gas operation requires several vents to be cut into the bus, we are gonna start with AC/DC only.

HOWEVER...If for some reason the fridge takes a dump, we would probably replace it with a 120VAC unit from Best Buy or Sams or something. In the event that happens, I have reluctantly decided to waste some space and design the area to burn about 3" on each side of the camper fridge to accept a larger apartment size unit.

Mission Two...Complete

The next step...a place to sleep.

Hmmmm...

Either I'm not sure how we wanna do this

or

We are not sure how I wanna do this 

or

Anyway, I decided on a short-term sleeping assembly that uses the mattress from the camper as well as the hinged storage cover that helped support it.

The bed assembly is designed to slide half-way between the rear wheels, or slide back as far as the rear door. This allows flexibility in deciding on a final location.

Mission 3...Bed...Complete.

Finally, what's for supper? Where are we gonna play Skipbo?

Real high teck. I took the bench seats and table from the camper and gave them a new home on the bus. The table mounts on two legs that fit into flanges on the floor. 

The table turns into a bed that upon which I would wish my most bitter enemy a good night's sleep.

But it is...A PLACE TO EAT.

Mission 4...Complete.

So, let's go get legal !!!

...in a corner at a local storage lot.

dead buzzer   dead tree

Merry Christmas.

I was half way through a diatribe on how "Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanza" all basically mean "I hope that you and you loved ones are safe and warm and happy, and may the next year bring you prosperity and happiness".

But this is about the bus.

The bus and the camper share a remote corner at a local storage lot.

In this corner is where all of the transformation has taken place in the past year. Well, mostly the past six months.

I don't have pictures of me removing the seats, because if I did, I would have had someone to crawl under the bus with a wrench and maybe made this easier.

Me and my buddy, Angle Grinder, ground the heads off of the floor bolts with glacial speed.

The seats also bolt to a rail that runs along the walls the length of the bus. They were no problem, but being ambidextrous would be beneficial.

If you think you are going to substantial fund your project by selling the scrap metal, all I can say is "Bwaaah...Haaa..Haaa". Not gonna happen. I found it easier to put 'em out with the garbage on Thursday night and let the scrap collectors take 'em. It's not worth risking a trashed tire at the scrap yard.

Let's take a tour, shall we?

This is Believeland...

Welcome aboard !!!

 Now that the seats have been dispatched, let the chalk meet the rubber.

I laid out a basic floor plan based on what we could salvage from the trailer.

At this time, I think that it is important to point out that the primary goal at this point is to get an Ohio motor home title and license plates, as well as proper insurance.

That is the primary objective right now. Get it legal. Get it home. Get it on the road.