12 Skoolie Problems in 76 Days

We have learned a lot about skoolie living during our first 76 days of being skoolie dwellers.  Here are some problems we have had to solve while living in the bus and finishing out the conversion.

Weird Smells

Our builder didn’t put a p-trap in the shower.  I kept telling Chris that the composting toilet smelled off.  He kept telling me it was the shower.  I didn’t believe him.  When he finally got down there and checked it all out….he was right.  You need a p-trap in your shower, friends.  It keeps all of the gross gray tank smells from coming inside the bus.

The Nature’s Head Fan Didn’t Work

The Nature’s Head composting toilet was already installed when we picked up the bus.  The fan wasn’t working at all, so we were without a toilet until Chris was able to figure out the problem.  If we had used it, the fan wouldn’t take care of all of the smells.  No one wanted that!  He called Nature’s Head and found out that the builder had wired it backwards.  Problem solved!

Unprepared for Snow

The entire time we planned our skoolie lives, we said that we would follow nice weather.  Instead, we picked the bus up in April and spent the first night in snow.  We ended up buying this heater and it works great!  At night, we divide the sleeping area from the living/kitchen area with a curtain and heat just the back of the bus.  During the day, we heat the front half or the entire thing depending on temperatures.  This is a temporary solution.  Those 1 lb bottles of propane don’t feel like the most efficient way to heat our space.

Bumping into Each Other

We thought our floor plan had eliminated all of the “excuse me” and pushing past each other all day moments.  We thought wrong.  We put the kitchen stove top in the wrong place.  See photo and imagine all of the traffic jams that take place here.

Flooding

The campground we are in is in a flood zone.  We knew what we were getting into when we made the decision to stay there to finish the build.  There were more ups than downs.  I mean…they let us use power tools.  No one cared that we were living in a construction zone and we were close to family.  Plus, it was safe.  Think retired military guys and retired police officers as our neighbors.  What better place to be when you don’t have locks on your doors yet?

Tornado Watches

We have sat through 2 tornado watches in the same Wal-Mart parking lot.  The second one was scary.  It was in the middle of the day and the boys and I were stuck in the bus.  I’ll save the long version of that story for another day though!  I will say, I’m thankful there aren’t any windows in the middle of our bus.  It makes for a nice little storm shelter.

No Locks on the Doors

Which leads us to another problem.  We wanted to keep our original door, but we couldn’t figure out a great system for a lock.  Chris installed a system that allowed us to lock it from the inside.  If we wanted to leave, we would then crawl out the back door and push a kid back in through the back when we returned.  Other times, we just didn’t lock the door.  It kept us from going certain places with the bus or sometimes one of us would stay behind to make sure everything was safe.

Breaking Down

We got our first breakdown out of the way!  Judy went from running fine, to only going 25 mph.  Since she can hit 70 mph without any problems, it was a little scary.  We pulled over on the side of the road and had a few moments where neither of us knew what to do.  That was actually okay, because doing nothing was the answer.  Cars zoomed by as we let the bus cool down.  We decided we would try again after she rested a few moments.  She still would not start.    Chris had noticed on an earlier fuel stop that the fuel tank had a vacuum when taking off the cap.  After several minutes of trying to figure the problem out, he decided to see if opening the fuel cap to release the vacuum would help.  Sure enough as soon as he opened the fuel cap, he could hear the air.  Once the vacuum was released, the bus started right up and we drove home.  Once back at our home base, Chris found the fuel tank vent lines and discovered one was clogged with dirt. Thankfully, this was an easy fix.

Except Then We Had a Major Breakdown. Read about that here.

White Smoke

The clogged fuel line was causing another problem.  Each morning, when we tried to start the bus, it wouldn’t start the first time.  We would try again, it would start, and a puff of white smoke would come out of the exhaust.  Once the fuel line was fixed, the white smoke problem went away.

Batteries Dying at Tiny Fest

We were ill prepared to attend a tiny house festival, but it was so close and we really wanted to go.  The generator they had for us didn’t work out so the only way to charge our batteries was to start the bus each night and let the alternator charge them for us.  During the day, we turned off all the power and taped up the fridge so we wouldn’t drain the batteries.  By the end of the second night, we decided to hit the road because we were losing power so fast and the fridge wasn’t cold enough.  That experience kicked us into high gear on finally getting our solar installation planned out!

The Bus Shakes

You can feel the slightest movement that anyone makes.  We ordered jack stabilizers for the back of the bus and there is so much less movement now!

Missing Air Horn

Before we sent the bus off to the contractor, we had the air horn fixed so the bus could pass inspection.  When the bus came back, the air horn was was gone.  Pieces are missing and we have to re-order them.  Annoying since we sunk money into having it repaired in the first place.  Also, we both have this thing about re-doing work that has already been done once.  We hit some kind of mental block and just keep putting it off.  The horn on the steering wheel works great so we haven’t been in a rush.

I’m glad we are going through most of these things while we are in a place where we can fix them.  My father-in-law lives close by and it is giving Chris an opportunity to spend time with him.  We are learning every inch of our bus in the process and I feel like we will be better prepared once we are on the road full-time.  I’m documenting more than complaining…if that makes sense.  Flipping our lives upside down requires us to learn some new things!

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