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Van tour: this bus will make you want to live in a bus

August 3, 2016 by Mike 24 Comments

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When I was in Tarifa, Spain (see Tarifa the place for van life) my neighbours were a family of 3 living in a big blue bus.

Meet Danny and Cristyn and their kid Felix. They spent 5 months last summer in the UK converting this old bus into their travelling home and now they live here. 

living-in-a-converted-bus-home-feat

It used to be a party bus but now it’s a family home. It smells of different kinds of tea, sunday dinner and Nag Champa.

This is the best bus home I’ve ever seen. I need to show you this. Let me take you on a tour of the Blue Bus…

It’s an EX-USAF Dodge Commando G13 made in 1990

living-in-a-converted-bus-home-dodge-commando
Danny and Cristyn about to head to Portugal

It’s double the size of my van

living-in-a-converted-bus-home-size-vs-campervan

They put an actual house door on it

living-in-a-converted-bus-home-door

Let’s have a tea

living-in-a-converted-bus-home-1

This is inside the bus

living-in-a-converted-bus-home

Everything is made from solid wood

living-in-a-converted-bus-home-wood

It has a full kitchen

living-in-a-converted-bus-home-oven

A fridge and freezer

living-in-a-converted-bus-home-fridge

The biggest spice rack I’ve ever seen

living-in-a-converted-bus-home-spicerack

They’re always cooking nice food

living-in-a-converted-bus-home-kitchen-cooking

Here’s the wardrobe

living-in-a-converted-bus-home-wardrobe

The bedroom

living-in-a-converted-bus-home-bedroom

Sofa

living-in-a-converted-bus-home-2

There’s loads of storage underneath

living-in-a-converted-bus-home-storage

Solar power

There are 4x120W panels (wired for 24V because of the long wire to the back and voltage drop) to charge the living area batteries. The small panel (to the right) keeps the engine starter battery topped up – useful if you’re staying in the same place for a while.

living-in-a-converted-bus-home-solar-roof

440Ah of batteries

living-in-a-converted-bus-home-battery-bank

Refillable gas tank

This is a permanently installed refillable tank (filled at fuel stations with car LPG) made by Gas-it. This powers the water boiler, oven and hob.

living-in-a-converted-bus-home-lpg-tank

70L water tank

It doesn’t last so long but they are about to get a much bigger tank – there’s enough room.

living-in-a-converted-bus-home-water-tank

Truma ultra store boiler

For all water heating. It runs off gas

living-in-a-converted-bus-home-trauma-heater

Shower

living-in-a-converted-bus-home-shower

Toilet

living-in-a-converted-bus-home-cassette-toilet

It’s a proper home. What more do you need?

I don’t know if I could drive it though. They were saying if you go the wrong way on a narrow road it can be miles before you can turn round – no 3 point turns on little mountain roads. What do you reckon?

Oh and please share this post so other people get to see this amazing home on wheels

This family are an inspiration. Danny puts on parties in big inflatable igloos (IglooDisco.co.uk) – amongst many other interesting things. Their Instagram: @vagabusadventures

Comments below…

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Filed Under: Living and travelling in a van, van tour Tagged With: spain, travel

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Comments

  1. bargemast says

    August 3, 2016 at 6:04 pm

    Thanks Mike for showing this stunning bus. I just bought a 2002 Renault Master 2 with a 2.5D engine, no turbo and only 80Hp, mecanicly a very easy van to maintain, no electronics and not much to go wrong, it’ a L3H2 version, so plenty of space for 1 (2) persons. If I can find some money, I wil start fitting her out very basicly, extreme low budget.
    I would love a bus like this one, but if you have no source of income, the running of one of these will be much too expensive. Also because of my age, I have to renew my bus and also HGV-licence every year, I let it expire because I didn’t need it anymore, and unless I win the lottery I couldn’t afford to run a bus anyway, I will try not to be jealous..
    Your own Van, and hopefully my Renault Master (once done) is enough for me space wise, and they are still fairly economical on fuel.
    Thanks again for your updates,
    Peter.

    Reply
    • Ben says

      August 3, 2016 at 11:56 pm

      I have just today finished converting the exact same van! We are off around Europe for a month on Saturday… I have seen a few converted RMs from this time knocking about, and I can see why – they’re a cracking size, not too big/small, engines are tidy, drive like a dream, and like you say weirdly economical. We also converted on a budget by raiding the scrap wood in the car park of Ikea for most of our material.

      Good luck on the conversion!

      Reply
      • Peter Mastenbroek says

        August 17, 2016 at 8:32 pm

        Hi Ben, hope you’ll be happy with your RM, and think that you had a good idea to reduce the expenses by recuperating stuff from Ikea scrap wood. Too bad there no Ikea nearby here, and their scrap material dumps are well protected and surveilled.
        It will be quite a change for me, as I’ve spend most of my life on my barges and boats, but that’s something of the past now, apart from the boat I’m living on, but can’t really afford anymore. so we’ll see how it go’s, I’m in no rush, as long as it will be finished by tomorrow.
        Good luck on the roads.

        Reply
  2. rocsal says

    August 3, 2016 at 6:18 pm

    have fun!

    Reply
  3. Earthup Growing says

    August 3, 2016 at 7:00 pm

    What a bus!
    Just converting a Ford Transit Luton and there are some cool ideas in that place. Wish we has that much space, but like you I’d be terrified to try and drive it…

    Reply
  4. Mack says

    August 3, 2016 at 7:02 pm

    Cool bus- i think i was admiring this very same one from our cafe at Beat Herder a few weeks ago…

    Reply
    • Danny Savage says

      August 3, 2016 at 10:58 pm

      Hey Mack, yes that was us. We hosted the Igloo Disco at Beatherder

      Reply
  5. crusader657 says

    August 3, 2016 at 8:21 pm

    What an absolutely beautiful home! The extensive use of wood and all the amenities of a bricks and sticks house would make it a dream home for me. It must’ve taken an awful lot of work, time and money to build. I love the shower, water heater, LPG tank, loo, solar and battery bank and the comfy furniture. What a bonus for you Mike that they were also delightful people.

    I suppose the downside of having less manoeuvrability is outweighed by the wonderfully comfortable living space.

    It’s great to see people who would have the talent and ability to have a good standard of living in a traditional urban home opting instead to travel and enjoy our lovely planet. Must be an absolute dream for children too, having mum and dad so close all the time and seeing so much of our world. We have been fortunate enough to live on an incredible planet, and it doesn’t make sense not to see as much of it as possible while we’re here. Long may they continue to live this happy life, and thank you so much Mike and the Blue Bus family for showing us their home. Dave.

    Reply
  6. mitzimad says

    August 3, 2016 at 10:11 pm

    unless he has had the pick up modified that gas tank is orientated wrong the ally connection box should be facing down wards edge on the floor he will either be getting less or more cappacity les is ok but more could be dangerous

    Reply
    • David Sandford says

      August 4, 2016 at 4:04 pm

      you need to get out more mate…..

      Reply
      • steve james says

        August 5, 2016 at 3:58 am

        Is he wrong? Why wouldn’t they want to know of a potential danger for their family if he’s right? Good of him to point it out imho…..

        Reply
        • mitzimad says

          August 5, 2016 at 1:07 pm

          thank you imk a registered gas fitter so spotting faults is second nature

          Reply
    • Mike @vandogtraveller.com says

      August 5, 2016 at 8:46 am

      They’re designed to be mounted under a vehicle – so with the box and the tap facing on the side, outwards for easy access. It’s all good 🙂

      Reply
      • mitzimad says

        August 5, 2016 at 1:14 pm

        the box should be pointing downward mike ive fitted two on the end of the tank there should be an arrow depicting vertically up and yes to previous post i do get out plenty having built and run me vans for years , it was as a registered gas fitter i commented spinning it reduces capacity and can cause liquid pick up

        Reply
        • Mike @vandogtraveller.com says

          August 7, 2016 at 11:58 am

          Interesting. So you’re saying the box should be underneath, facing the ground? because looking inside this tank (from the gas-it website) the float is operating vertically when the box is facing to the side and the pick up is at the top of the volume so it will take off the vapour, as expected. If the box was facing the ground, the pickup would be half way and the float, well it wouldn’t work (moving horizontally). Are we looking at the same tanks?

          Reply
  7. groovydad says

    August 4, 2016 at 12:02 am

    Excellent Conversion and Nice people Good stuff Mike..:)…nice to see someone else,s Bus on you travels..:)
    ..

    Reply
  8. George Star says

    August 4, 2016 at 1:01 am

    The only way to live. Cheapest cost of living esp. with solar panels. Buses are built very sturdy to go 1million miles as opposed to a typical flimsy stick & cardboard RV made for 100k miles if that. In the US you can get an older converted bus in good shape for $10k-$25k. Mobility gives you so many options. If you get sick of the neighborhood or your neighbors you just drive away.

    Reply
  9. Wolves On The Road says

    August 4, 2016 at 8:22 am

    Awesome! Definitley We won to live in this bus! Great work! 🙂

    Reply
  10. Susie Southall says

    August 4, 2016 at 11:04 am

    Love how they have kept a couple of the old authentic bus seats, to make sure they’ve got a kid-seat that works and is legal. Great craftsmanship and reminds me of a canal boat I once had a holiday on!

    Reply
  11. jmdnnlln says

    August 7, 2016 at 11:26 am

    Brilliant article Mike, I was just commenting about your adventures last night and this ‘home’ bus is just great!

    Reply
  12. Going Nomad says

    August 9, 2016 at 12:13 am

    Very interesting bus. We are coming to the end of renovating a large lorry based motorhome we bought last year which is also 10m long. The comments about narrow streets and tight mountain roads have been our biggest fear in setting off in the beast 🙂

    Reply
  13. Celine says

    August 11, 2016 at 2:58 am

    That’s so awesome, I mean it really is a proper full on home on wheels. Although driving it must be a quite a challenge!

    Actually, Mike, can I ask you a question? I’m starting to think/look into the van lifestyle, and trying to work out how much I’d need to save before I could set off. How much do you need per month at the moment to get by? Thanks a bunch!! 🙂

    Reply
  14. Sandhiya says

    July 18, 2017 at 2:32 pm

    Wow interesting, Liked Idea and Implementation

    Reply
  15. Karrier Bag says

    July 8, 2018 at 12:32 am

    We fitted the solar system and removed the rear windows and plated them over on this bus for the owners at the dodge50 HQ in Yorkshire.

    Reply

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