“The Church Bus”
We purchased this bus in January of 2021 from a small church in Charlotte, NC that was downsizing. Hence the name that stuck, ‘the church bus’. We originally advocated for a renaming, but everyone loved the nod to its past life, so we kept it.
We spent about 45 days gutting and rebuilding the bus into a camper and have been thrilled with everything about the build and design.
We have lived on the road for the past four years and this is our second custom build. We’re ready for a little break from the road life, so we’re sending the bus off down the road with new friends.
Please respond with any questions.
Details
The bus –
The bus is a 2004 Super duty Ford V10 gasoline engine. This chassis is a very common base for many popular RVs on the road today. The bus portion was later installed by a private company in NC that isn’t in business anymore.
The bus from nose to tail is about 30’ long, the exterior height around 10’, interior height floor to ceiling is 6’3”.
The bus currently has around 92k miles on it. The church we purchased it from was the original owner and only used it locally to transport churchgoers a couple of times a week.
Shortly after buying it, we had all six tires replaced (new) and the front brakes replaced.
In August 2021, we replaced the transmission, which is still under warranty until August of 2024.
We are very scheduled with oil changes and keeping up with maintenance. The previous owners also treated it similarly to a fleet vehicle, and I have service records of them taking it to the same Ford dealership for years for maintenance upkeep.
The bus gets around 10mpg, and a little better on the highway. Our comfortable cruising speed is 65mph, and we usually stick to that pace.
The build –
Seating: Two couches, one is 4 feet long, the other is 6 feet long, and can serve as a guest bed. Half of the six-foot couch houses the electrical components; the other half is for storage. Two standard seats in the cab with seatbelts for the driver and passenger.
Sleeping: Fixed queen-size bed. Currently has a memory foam mattress. Reading light in the bed nook. As well as overhead storage and compartment storage at the foot of the bed.
Cooking: Propane double burner cooktop/oven combo. You can cook pretty much anything on it. The 20lb propane tank lasts forever and we have only topped it off twice. Large pantry. Dometic electric fridge wired into the solar setup. Electric sink and faucet with 3-gallon grey tank and 14 gallons of fresh water (optional to keep more in the garage area).
Heating: Cubic mini woodstove! This thing is so cute. Burns small wood pieces/chips/cubes. Warms the bus well and provides a fireplace ambiance to the room. The cabinet it sits on was reinforced with multiple layers of heat-resistant concrete board and finished with a brick fireplace. It comes with a heat-activated circulation fan that helps to move the warm air around, its own mini care utensils, and a cleaning wand to remove soot from the flue. I will paste the exact model below.
Shop Cubic CUB Wood Stoves and Accessories – Cubic Mini Wood Stoves
Electrical:
The bus can be fully off-grid (solar) or plugged into a 20 amp outlet. This system has been great. It charges quickly and we have never run low on power. Individual electrical components listed below:
– 1200 watt pure sine wave inverter
– EPEVER MPPT 40 amp charge controller
– Battery isolator (charges the batteries off the engine while its running)
– 560 watts of monocrystalline solar panels on the roof
– Vmxtanks 125 amp hour AGM deep cycle batteries (3 of these)
– Simple to read battery percentage monitor
– Appropriate fuses and breaker protections in place
– 12 USB charging ports (DC)
– 3 standard home dual power outlets (AC)
Bathroom: We created a hanging closet/potty combo in the build. The toilet is a simple collection tank design that we use for number 1 only (personal choice), and then remove to dump at a dump station or any toilet. We liked the simplicity of this method. They are also cost efficient, costing around $100 on Amazon. The trash can is also located under the pantry in a closed compartment.
Storage: Tons! Under the bed storage is accessible from the back doors. Large enough for bikes, bins, pretty much whatever. Also storage in the kitchen, closet, pantry, couches, and front loading cube organizer we built the bed on top of. There is also an overhead compartment over the cab, and most of the space under the woodstove is available (except for the propane tank).
Lighting: LED strip lights hidden in the ceiling recess down the length of the bus. These can change colors or stay white, controlled by a remote or Bluetooth to a phone app. Reading light in bed. Light bar over the cooktop. Light fixture on the living room wall. And a front porch light.
Safety: Deadbolt that requires the key from both sides (if someone breaks the window they will not be able to flip the lock). Propane alarm on the floor. Early detection system for any leaking propane. Smoke and CO2 alarm. This thing is super sensitive, we have to take it down when we cook sometimes.
Extras:
– Typed manual on the bus and how all of the components work. We also have an Amazon list to share with the buyer of all the products we used in case you ever need to replace anything.
– RV grade skylight.
– Bug screens on the sliding windows to allow for circulation without pests.
– TV with HDMI cord to watch movies/tv from a streaming device.
– Two fans for airflow.
– Rung-stylele ladder attached on the side for roof access.
– Upgraded stereo system in the cab that is Bluetooth compatible.
