Buses converted to campervans

The sixth (any one post is restricted to five).

Roderick

Roderick.

Nov 13, 2019 ‘We’ve seen things that we could have never imagined’: Inside one family’s van life adventure
The family of four are travelling the country in their refurbished bus they call Nelly. Photo: Civilian Life
After a road-tripping honeymoon through the Rocky Mountains, Kallie and Dylan Bergamaschi felt inspired. So much so that three years later, they have made a life of it.
The couple left Adelaide behind and now travel spontaneously, only planning three to four days ahead.
The family of four, Kallie, Dylan and their two children Lincoln, four, and Zephyr, 10 months, are travelling the country in a refurbished bus they call Nelly – a project they worked on over five months.
“Our original inspiration came on our honeymoon in 2017 after we road-tripped through the Canadian Rocky Mountains. We loved how much time we got to spend together compared to our everyday 9-to-5 lives,” says Dylan.
“We started to really believe that there was more to life than what we get sold by the majority of the population.”
Kallie is a house designer by trade so she was able to draw up the vision into a layout. Photo: Civilian Life
Like many Australians, Kallie and Dylan were of the belief that they should stay put and inject all of their time and energy into creating a base for their growing family, but after a while their desire to travel had them re-evaluating.
“Up until this point we had spent our whole adult lives saving for and renovating our house so we could ‘properly’ support our new family,” Dylan says. “We started to discuss the prospect of buying a van when we got home to do a bit of travelling on weekends and holidays, after that it quickly escalated to ‘let’s buy a bus’ for a more permanent lifestyle change and to travel Australia.”
When the Bergamaschis purchased their bus, it had a very basic fit-out: a Bunnings bench and a bed frame. After finishing their house renovation, they began stripping Nellie back to “a blank canvas”.
Adjusting to life on the road, especially with small kids, comes with its challenges. Photo: Civilian Life
“Kallie is a house designer by trade so she was able to draw up our vision into a layout and guide of what we wanted and we worked from that. It took us about five months of weekend work and late nights to complete, with the exception of a few additions and alterations,” says Dylan.
“We completed the whole renovation by ourselves with the odd set of helping hands from friends and family, and with a lot of coffee consumed.”
In August 2018, Dylan, Kallie and Lincoln hit the road for four months before returning home to Adelaide for Zephyr’s birth. After a few months they returned to life on the road.
On the flip side of the struggle there’s a whole lot of reward for the family. Photo: Civilian Life
Dylan and Kallie took inspiration for their style from the house they had just renovated, really making it feel like home, and a few local Adelaide coffee shops.
“We used vivid white to try keep the space open, and warm timber to give the home an earthy feel. We are really texture driven, so bringing some grooved ply into the mix worked really well in this space,” says Dylan. “There are some days we would love to make the bus a little more open, but the practically behind this just wouldn’t work for a family of four.”
Adjusting to life on the road, especially with small kids, comes with its challenges.
After a road-tripping honeymoon through the Rocky Mountains, Kallie and Dylan Bergamaschi felt inspired. Photo: Civilian Life
“Finding drinking water to fill up our tanks, running out of gas when you’re cooking dinner in a national park that’s over an hour away from the closest town or having to find and use public bathrooms is sometimes tough,” says Dylan.
“Having to use laundromats all the time or not having the option to wash clothes and having the dirty clothes pile up. Never having a fixed bathroom or sometimes a place to shower for extended periods and having to always wear thongs in said showers. “
On the flip side of the struggle there’s a whole lot of reward for the family. Most notably, a sense of discovery.
“We’ve seen things that we could have never imagined and connected with it in a way we never thought we would,” says Dylan. “The best part of all this is the ability to do it as a family and watch your children discover, grow and explore things a vast majority of people will never see and gain the same respect for it all as we have.”
Related: The Aussies using vanlife to get paid
Related: The best van conversions on Instagram
Related: When life on the road isn’t for you
< www.domain.com.au/living/van-life-family-906211 >

191113W-Domain-Toyota.campingvan (five views)

They named their children Lincoln and Zephyr? I wonder if they restored or hanker after a Ford USA built Lincoln Zephyr V12 from the 1930's? Back in 1965 I saw one in poor condition, with an ugly home-made camper body where the back seat and rear of the body used to be, in a car wreckers yard (breaker to you, Eightpot) The Zephyr name was also used on Ford of England six cylinder cars from the 1950's and 1960"s.

We had a full sized bus (30 feet long) I fitted out as a motorhome when the kids were young and Wife and I were working full time. Could only go away weekends and annual holidays. I would love to have a smaller one, cant justify the fuel cost of a big one for two of us, now that we are retired but we cannot afford one and I am too tall to stand up in a Toyota Coaster (as in the above article) sized vehicle and too long to sleep across one. We now both need easy access to a toilet at night. (One of a downsides of growing old)

Maybe one of those mini Hino coaches would suit, full width, proper standing headroom and an economic 6 diesel. Looked at a few conversions myself.

Must be watching to much Bus Grease Monkey but I'm loving these old Silversides coach conversions.

https://cdn1.mecum.com/auctions/ca0818/ca0818-346352/images/img1712-1533648027588@2x.jpg?1534896995000

190602Su 'Domain' - NZ mobile home (exterior and interior).

Roderick

I'm putting with bus conversions, and not with vendor vans. McLaren Vale is my favourite Australian wine region: I'll combine two hobbies and get there one day, as a side trip from SA boating.
The bus is a Leyland Atlantean. I have seen photos of others in SA, but quite possibly all were cascaded from NSW.

Roderick

Down The Rabbit Hole Wines: One of the most unusual wineries in Australia Dec 1, 2019
Is this the most unusual wineries you've ever seen? Photo: Elise Cook
When Elise Cook and her partner Dom Palumbo bought a Kombi van, they envisioned a life of adventure and travel while running their business, Down The Rabbit Hole Wines, from the road.
After a few years of travelling and creating envy online through their Instagram account, the pair decided to return to their home town of Adelaide and set up their winery for good. They’ve since created one of the most interesting wineries in McLaren Vale, South Australia.
The couple purchased a vineyard with a house on the property and have set about renovating it into an earth-toned dream.
Cook says they didn’t even get a glimpse of the house before they bought it but as their main focus was creating a cellar door, they didn’t mind.
“Because of the tenant we couldn’t go in or near the house, but we knew it was there and I remember saying to Dom ‘I don’t mind if we keep living in Scout [the Kombi van] for a year and just get our cellar door built first. There’s a bathroom we can use – great, we’re fine’,” she says.
Cook says they initially planned on giving the house some basic love, which they envisioned would be completed in around three weeks before moving onto the main project, but before long a fully fledged renovation was underway.
“Three weeks became three months … We’ve never worked so hard in our lives,” she says. “We worked all day, every day.”
Dressed up like a coastal home in tones of brown, white and pink, the house has been completely transformed. As it’s the first thing people see when they arrive at the winery, the style and colour palette flows through the entire property.
The cellar door came next with the couple transforming their shed into an unrecognisable and jaw-dropping haven for their would-be customers.
Unlike the house, which was in good shape with good bones, the sheds required more work than they imagined. Renovating both a house and a cellar door had its challenges, and Cook says there were a lot of unexpected setbacks.
“There was a huge amount of landscaping to do before we even got started on transforming the old farm sheds,” she says. “We also hadn’t considered that there wouldn’t be a sewage option. Every drop of water has to stay on the property and we had to build our own huge septic system.
“Really, we had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. We were working on a small budget, so we were prepared to do just about anything and everything ourselves. But, having zero experience, many of those things took a lot longer as a result.”
Now a fully functional winery experience, Cook says it was amazing to learn and explore their creativity when it came to the design and styling.
“It has touches of India, Morocco, South Australia and all the white cladding is very Byron Bay/Queensland,” she says. “We had structures to work with: two old farm sheds, a crumbled tiny garden shed and a bright orange and green double-decker bus.”
That double-decker bus Cook mentions is arguably the most exciting part of Down The Rabbit Hole.
Cook and her partner purchased a bus similar to the van they travelled in to be an extension of the cellar door and used as a tasting room. They converted it to include two levels of seating, where people can relax and enjoy what’s on offer. The bus, named Lennon, is Cook’s favourite space.
“I love what happens in there,” she says. “People sit down for about half an hour and engage with the wines, each other, and the Down The Rabbit Hole team in a really special way.”
< www.domain.com.au/living/down-the-rabbit...-in-australia-913705 >

With three views of the bus.

This one failed yesterday: it caused this part of the forum to stall, and I couldn't complete the upload or do anything.
I had to seek moderator help to remove the rogue post.
This isn't a conversion, but is related.
170505F-Melbourne'HeraldSun'-MiniSUV-rooftop-ss.jpg
It appears to have failed again today.

Buses for conversion seem to be stupid expensive.....which is crazy ,because a 25 yr old bus is finished as a bus,so scrap price seems more realistic.......but they are priced like they are already 4/5 Winnebago.......I think I would be more inclined to look at an insulated fibreglass body truck ,and cut some holes in the glass.Anybody had anything to do with buses can say what the bulk rust in the frames is like at 25 years.

There are buses on ebay for under $10,000 but as JohnK says, beware of rust. The 25 year old Ford I converted into a motorhome some 30 years ago had virtually no rust but it had been a country bus all or most of it's life.

Things I learnt after it was finished included:-
Beware of suburban route buses or school buses with a slow diff.
Pay extra for a rear or underfloor engine so you can carry on a conversation with family.
A completely flat floor makes it easier to put fittings where you want them.
Clear underfloor space for tanks for water; fresh, (I put a separate tank of 200mm pvc pipe with a hand operated caravan pump for drinking water alongside the tailshaft) clean water with battery pump for dishwashing , shower, etc; and a "grey" water tank for used water. People who allow their used water to run out onto the road or camping area should be shot! Toilet had it's own tank for "black" water.

If you were to go with a fibreglass reefer type van body, lack of ventilation would be your problem.

JOHN.K. wrote: .I think I would be more inclined to look at an insulated fibreglass body truck ,and cut some holes in the glass.

Its a good move. Pantec the way to go. best thing is when the truck is tied you can transfer the body over to another cab chassis.

Morris I direct my gray water straight out onto the grass, birds love the scraps and the soapy water is usually filtered through the soil long before it gets to a river
I find it better than directing it into one of the crappy CP traps which in most cases I've seen flows the water straight out into a nearby river.