autoevolution
 

This Freightliner Skoolie Conversion Has Everything, Including a Basketball Hoop

If the road is calling you and maybe you’ve put off answering that call for as long as possible, how about a dose of vanlife inspiration? Bessy, a DIY skoolie conversion, is more than happy to serve.
Freightliner school bus is now Bessy, the DIY skoolie with a very cleverly designed interior 18 photos
Photo: KelsAndJay
Freightliner school bus is now Bessy, the DIY skoolie with a very cleverly designed interiorFreightliner school bus is now Bessy, the DIY skoolie with a very cleverly designed interiorFreightliner school bus is now Bessy, the DIY skoolie with a very cleverly designed interiorFreightliner school bus is now Bessy, the DIY skoolie with a very cleverly designed interiorFreightliner school bus is now Bessy, the DIY skoolie with a very cleverly designed interiorFreightliner school bus is now Bessy, the DIY skoolie with a very cleverly designed interiorFreightliner school bus is now Bessy, the DIY skoolie with a very cleverly designed interiorFreightliner school bus is now Bessy, the DIY skoolie with a very cleverly designed interiorFreightliner school bus is now Bessy, the DIY skoolie with a very cleverly designed interiorFreightliner school bus is now Bessy, the DIY skoolie with a very cleverly designed interiorFreightliner school bus is now Bessy, the DIY skoolie with a very cleverly designed interiorFreightliner school bus is now Bessy, the DIY skoolie with a very cleverly designed interiorFreightliner school bus is now Bessy, the DIY skoolie with a very cleverly designed interiorFreightliner school bus is now Bessy, the DIY skoolie with a very cleverly designed interiorFreightliner school bus is now Bessy, the DIY skoolie with a very cleverly designed interiorFreightliner school bus is now Bessy, the DIY skoolie with a very cleverly designed interiorFreightliner school bus is now Bessy, the DIY skoolie with a very cleverly designed interior
Inspiration comes from all places, but where vanlife inspiration (vanspiration?!) is concerned, you’ll always find it online. Over the past three years, the number of people who have taken up a more nomadic lifestyle and, in the process, turned the transition and the experience into monetized content, has increased. Kelsey and Jay were among those people, until not long ago.

Kels and Jay, as they’re best known online, got their start as nomads – of the digital kind, no less – with Bessy, a most creative and awesome skoolie conversion they did themselves. You probably know the story already, because you’ve heard it from others: sick with the 9-to-5 routine, these two young people decided to buy a bus, convert it in the home, and then make the move to live on the road. They had no building experience and no plan for the conversion, but it all worked perfectly fine.

In many respects, the story of Bessy does play out this way, but there are notable exceptions too, which makes it both an inspiration and a cautionary tale. Unlike most nomads and vanlifers, Kels and Jay always strove to paint a realistic picture of this kind of mobile existence, from the high highs to the very low lows, and every other stage in between.

Freightliner school bus is now Bessy, the DIY skoolie with a very cleverly designed interior
Photo: KelsAndJay
It all started with Bessy, or better said, with the idea of it, in March 2019. Kels and Jay, who had spent an entire year traveling the world together, had fallen into a routine that was both numbing and depressing. He suggested they buy a skoolie to start traveling again, and this is how Bessy came into their life.

Bessy started out as a Freightliner school bus, which they bought off eBay on the cheap. The entire conversion took them 8 months and almost $26,000, including the bus itself, new brakes and new tires, and all the materials and appliances they put inside. Kels often says she had no experience in building, but Jay is obviously skilled with his hands – so much so that, at the time they bought the bus, he was working in construction.

This is no discredit to the work they did on Bessy, but it only offers context to their saying that anyone could do what they did with just YouTube tutorials, an empty driveway, and plenty of determination. They cut off the roof of the bus to raise it, removed all the seats and laid the interior bare, and then set out to create their ideal home.

Freightliner school bus is now Bessy, the DIY skoolie with a very cleverly designed interior
Photo: KelsAndJay
It had to be open-space and airy, comfortable, and fully equipped for a life on the road. Behind the cockpit, they put a sofa in the lounge, perfect for welcoming guests and doing Netflix marathons, and on the opposite side, a breakfast bar that doubles as an additional prep counter and their office. Jay built the thing himself, and that goes to show that he’s far from inexperienced around power tools: in road mode, the table barely takes up any space, but when the two are in work mode, it folds out and thus offers plenty of space for all their electronics.

The kitchen is compact, but with residential appliances, including a three-burner stove with oven that runs on propane, a deep farm sink, and plenty of cupboards. The original fridge and freezer they put in was upgraded after one year to a larger unit; the wood countertop was also upgraded to laminate after it cracked. But changes like this are the norm with vanlifers, and they will always update their followers about the changes.

As you move to the rear of the bus, there’s a generous pantry and a wardrobe, and the bathroom across the hall. The latter holds a very narrow and long shower with subway tiles and a rain showerhead, and a Nature’s Head composting toilet, and while apparently inconvenient because of its layout, it worked just wonderfully for them.

Right at the rear is the bedroom area, with an elevated bed and additional storage both underneath and on the sides. The reason the bed is so high is because both Kels and Jay are very tall and because they wanted a larger garage for their stuff in the back. So the garage fits everything from a couple of bicycles to the 100-gallon (378.5-liter) freshwater tank, on-demand propane water heater, golf clubs, an inflatable kayak, and a basketball hoop.

Freightliner school bus is now Bessy, the DIY skoolie with a very cleverly designed interior
Photo: KelsAndJay
Kels and Jay met through a common love of basketball, so they wanted to integrate that into their home. The hoop hooks on the rooftop deck and is easily removable when they travel. Speaking of the deck, it’s accessible through a handmade wood and rope ladder and offers the best views in the house – including of the three 175W solar panels that allow them to go off-grid for some time.

For almost two years, Bessy traveled across the United States, but stayed mostly in warm climate. The two lived off $10,000 they had in savings and then worked full-time while also making money off their story. Those two years were enough to tell Kels and Jay that Bessy was too “big-bootied” for the kind of travel they wanted to do. In 2021, they sold Bessy, moved into an apartment for a short while, and converted a Ford van before they set out on the road again.

Right now, Kels and Jay are no longer traveling, because they’ve started their own business of van conversions. Kels says that she still misses Bessy, their first mobile home, and that she’s itching to travel again, even though she knows it’s not possible now. If you’re looking for a positive spin to the story, it’s in the fact that these two young people followed their dream of living a nomadic lifestyle, and were then able to spin it into a new business. How’s that for awesome inspiration?

If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)
About the author: Elena Gorgan
Elena Gorgan profile photo

Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends.
Full profile

 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories