Gins Bus Is a Motorhome That Boasts a Functional Kitchen and a Dog House With a Wall Mural

Kaetlynn lives full-time together with her dog, Mako, in a school bus RV. The transformation started by taking out all the seats, rubber tiles, interior walls and floors, and rails followed by installing the insulation. This is an important step when planning to live in a metal box such as a skoolie. Otherwise, in the summer, the heat will be trapped inside, and in the winter the cold weather will make the interior feel like a refrigerator. A few of those insulation pieces were made to be taken apart so she can easily access the fuel tank and transmission if needed.

Only after all of this was done, the true homey feeling started to come in. Plywood was added to the floor and walls. After more hard work, she finished the rig by painting the interior white and the exterior green.

When it comes to getting this thing moving, however, one should not expect much, as it comes with the Navistar T444E engine. While this is a reliable power unit that will run for a long time if properly maintained, it is lazy. The 210 hp (213 ps) and 425 lb-ft (576 Nm) of torque it puts out will get the motorhome where it needs to go, but it will be a scenic, slow journey.

If you thought this skoolie could not get more awesome, well, you are wrong. It not only runs off-grid with two solar panels, but it also has a roof deck. There is even a large storage underneath this deck. And when the bus is parked, Kaetlynn can connect it to the shore power.

The interior is quite cramped but bright and cozy. Once you step inside, you are greeted by a multi-functional room. We usually see the living room being used as a guest’s room. This area is not only two-in-one but four-in-one, with a dining space, a guest’s bed, an office, and of course, a living room.

It comes with an extensible L-shaped sofa and a lagoon table attached to it. But you cannot call it a mobile home unless it has storage compartments inside and underneath the sofa. Those compartments are hiding the backup battery bank and water tank, a heater, a projector screen, and lots of dog toys.

On the other side of the living area, we find a small but functional kitchen. Everything in the kitchen, beside the cabinets, has been either reclaimed or thrift. These include the stovetop, a teensy-weensy copper sink, a mini fridge, and the butcher block countertop.

Kaetlynn loves to cook a lot with spices, and for that reason, she has an immense amount of mason jars either in the pantry or screwed to the bottom of the upper cabinets. The pantry is a larger cabinet separated into two parts. The other half is a wardrobe.

The bedroom is located at the rear side of the bus. My favorite space in this area is not the queen-size bed itself but the small crate beneath the bed that is used for the dog. It can be closed to keep Mako inside, and it also has a hand-painted mural with a Mako shark.

Other features of the bedroom include a small TV, wall cabinets, a storage headboard, and even more storage underneath the bed. The side rear doors can be opened, and there is even a little staircase to bring you outside.

Instead of a full bath, this bus only features a toilet closet. It has an RV shower curtain for privacy and a composting toilet built by her.

This bus was purchased in April 2020 for $3,100. It took one year and a half of hard work to convert it into a working RV. It ended up costing around $10,000 with all the reclaimed wood and also discounted electrical parts.

The price of a school bus can vary greatly depending on the year it was produced and the state it currently is in. You also have to keep in mind that most of the items used in renovating this motorhome were mostly thrifted or purchased at a substantial discount. Meaning that, normally, such conversions can cost double that amount or even more.

Kaetlynn has some advice for all the people who want to buy and live full-time on a bus. She says some parts of the bus have to be in the best shape possible. These include the tires, the fuel system, and the engine. This is most important if you do not want your vehicle to break in the middle of nowhere and avoid spending even more money on repairing it.