2004 International 3800 Finished Skoolie Bus
2004 International 3800 Skoolie that is fully finished, including solar, and ready to roll. Story to follow; skip down a bit for the details.
I purchased the school bus from a church in 2021 who had been using it weekly for a few years until COVID happened and they were looking to sell. They had just replaced the brakes and tires shortly before I purchased it and had it routinely maintenanced, as they had to keep it up code with the state in order to use it for their purposes. I purchased from them when the bus had 95k miles, so I put around 10k on it. I did the conversion from March 2021 – July 2021; my wife and I then traveled with some friends who also had a Skoolie and lived in it until February of 2023; our son was due in April therefore we decided it was time to buy a house and move out of the bus. The bus is in great shape overall, and mechanically sound; I moved it to our new home in June of 2023 and realized there was a leak. I took it in and the radiator was at the end of it’s life, so it had a new radiator professionally installed this summer. Thanks for listening to the story, below are details.
The bus is fully set up and runs on solar, with 6 100AH lithium ion batteries and 1000w (10 x 100w panels) of panels; they are flexible panels directly on the roof so there is no rack mounted to the top of the bus. The inverter is a 3000w Victron Multiplus with a Victron SmartSolar MPPT and battery monitor. Photos of the set up shown; has an adapter on the outside to plug into shore power.
Underneath the bus in the middle on each side i’ve installed storage boxes, one holds the 100 gallon fresh water tank, water pump, water heater, and diesel heater. The other side holds the 60 gallon gray water tank, 2 propane tanks (used for the oven), as well as additional storage.
The living room area has a couch shown, as well as custom built table and bench; the table has an attached leaf that flips up to allow for more space so two people can sit on the couch and two people across on the bench to accomadate for guests. There are storage drawers underneath the sofa and a spot for shoes. There is a fan installed in the ceiling. There’s a small built in credenza and built in open shelf across from the oven, and a storage divider between the oven and couch. Above the drivers seat there is storage which we used for books; there is also a back up camera screen installed next to the drivers seat.
The kitchen has a full sink, apartment sized 4 burner gas oven (runs off propane), and 10 cu. ft. refrigerator as well as open shelf space, and ample cabinet storage. Outlets are installed throughout the kitchen, front room, and back room.
The back of the bus includes a small sink, mirror, shower and compost toilet with a urine diverter that runs to a separate 3 gallon tank below the bus for easy disposal. There is a closet for storage and space for a small portable washing machine (included). There’s a small built in wardrobe to hang clothes and 4 drawer dresser.
The bedroom has a full bed on a platform that lifts up with storage underneath. There is a 12000 btu 19 seer mini split that produces air conditioning and heat. There is a an escape hatch in the ceiling as well as another fan. There’s a small hidden door that leads to very back of the bus.
At the very end of the bus there is a storage room which holds the batteries and solar set up as well as the electrical box. This is accessible through the bedroom or the back door of the bus. I hauled a moped around that i stored back here as well as other sports equipment.
That covers most everything I can think of! I’m sure there’s plenty I missed so feel free to reach out with specific questions and any additional photos (the listing limits it to 10 photos). Thank you!
