The Scholl Bus

About Us

This Blog is dedicated to the adventures of The Scholl Bus, our 35′ school bus we have converted into a very unique RV.  We are a family of 5, my name is Jody Scholl, otherwise knows as Dad…  My wife is Chasity (or Chas for those in the “know”), our 3 girls are Lydia – age 8, Lilah – age 7, and Laini – age 5…

The Scholl Bus was purchased through a Craigslist ad in the spring of 2010, it was used by Ft. Brag Schools.  Through several transactions, it ended up with a gentleman that removed all the seats and used it as a construction vehicle (hauling tools, materials to job sites).

Okay, here is the scoop for the info junkies out there:

  • 1991 Chevrolet C-60 Chassis
  • Detroit 8.2 Naturally Aspirated Diesel Engine
  • Allison Automatic Transmission
  • 35′ overall length
  • Interior Height (about 3″ too short, I have to duck to walk through it)
  • Roughly 42,000 original miles as of January 1 2012
  • Very little body damage, only thing of note is the crumpled side in front of the RH rear tires
  • Tires, like new
  • Averages a little over 9 MPG highway or city
  • Max speed 55 mph
  • Pop-Up is a 2003 Jayco
  • Overall Height 12′ 10″ with the pop-up lowered, ??? with the pop-up raised…
This is shortly after we purchased the bus. It was being used as a mobile "tent" camper at Roan Mountain State Park.
This was taken at Linville Falls, early summer 2010

 

 

The steel frame welded to the bus to support the popup

 

Here we are placing the popup on the frame.

 

The Pop-Up is installed to the top of the bus, fall 2011.

 

We cut a hole in the bus roof, then a smaller hole in the floor of the popup.  A ladder was constructed so you could climb into the popup from the inside of the bus.

 

 

Here I am working on some of the wiring in the front of the bus. The hole into the popup is just past the metal studs in the foreground.
I am standing beside the dinette table at the front of the bus. You can see the bathroom entrance on the left, the ladder for popup access, and the hole in the ceiling of the bus for extra head room for me in the kitchen area.
I am applying fiberglass to the seam so it will be water tight.

 

Lydia is painting the roof of the bus.

There are obviously a lot of behind the scenes steps, if you have any questions about how a particular aspect of the bus was completed please let us know.

 

Thanks for visiting The Scholl Bus

Comments

12 responses to “About Us”

  1. Rene Churchill Avatar
    Rene Churchill

    Where’s the center of balance on a schoolie? I’m thinking of mounting a popup on a shorter bus but rotated 90 degrees, so the would open out over either side. Any thought on if that would be stable or not?

    Reply
    1. Jody Avatar
      Jody

      By the time we loaded the bus with all of our gear, the pop-up didn’t really change the center of gravity very much. We made sure not to load anything heavy up there while traveling. Since a smaller pop-up is basically a square, it won’t really matter how you mount it on the top. You have to be sure your jacks are able to support the weight that is required to make it stable when setting up for camping.

      Reply
  2. Danicia Avatar
    Danicia

    I’m curious about how you cut through the top of the bus, and how you use the pop up every time. We are thinking about putting a pop up on the top of our bus, but my husband is not convinced we need to cut a hole in the roof. We have two emergency escape hatches on the top of our roof, and he is thinking about just using these with a ladder. I want to cut a hole on the side of the bus, on the roof, not down the center, and put in a small leaning ladder, more like actual stairs. Did you cut through any braces on the roof of the bus? I’m wondering if we cut through those, will we need to re weld some kind of frame work around the hole, or do you think having all the framework inside the bus will be enough, especially after we build walls in the bus? Do you get on the roof of the bus every time to set up the pop up camper?
    Thanks!

    Reply
    1. Jody Avatar
      Jody

      I cut a large hole in the roof of our bus for multiple reasons. The main one being I am 6’5″ tall, and the interior of our bus is not. That allowed me to be able to stand in our kitchen to cook and wash dishes without having to stoop over. I cut through several braces, but welded a frame of angle iron over the ends of the braces to add some structure back to the roof. Our pop-up is not attached to the roof, it is welded to a frame that is welded to the bus frame. We are required to get on the roof to pop-up our unit. The walk plank I added to the side of the bus that folds up when we are stationary provides the necessary room to walk around the unit. Hope this helps…

      Reply
  3. Dave Quirk Avatar
    Dave Quirk

    Just watched your video about cutting laminated glass. Thanks for sharing this.

    I was so happy to see the children being shown this: there seems to be so few people with trade skills around these days and, certainly in the UK, there seemed to have been an educational policy of deliberately closing down proper shop classes.

    Teaching these kind of skills a good way of building self reliance, something which makes life safer and less stressful.

    My father taught me how to bend and solder copper pipe when I was ten and I’ve never had to pay a plumber to fix my heating.

    Reply
    1. Jody Avatar
      Jody

      Thanks for your comment. We are trying to teach our girls a wide variety of skills, this is one that we could not pass on the opportunity.

      Reply
  4. REBA CONLEY Avatar
    REBA CONLEY

    wow! you guys are my inspiration! I have been wanting to do the rv thing for about 5 years now and to be honest just chickened out…..I have gotten that antsy feeling again and by readig your site I decided if a family with kids ca do it then so can I….the song is really beautiful and I hope someone with ties to an artist will hear it and get it recorded for you guys but kristi you did a really good job singing it…prayers to All of your family and God Bless!!!!

    Reply
  5. RV_Guy_Bill Avatar
    RV_Guy_Bill

    Wow! Turning a school bus into a family home! Sounds delightful. Good work and good luck!

    Reply
  6. Margie Lundy Avatar
    Margie Lundy

    Very fun! Our kids can’t wait to meet a family traveling in a bus! Hopefully our paths will cross soon. 🙂

    Reply
  7. Beth Avatar
    Beth

    The only thing missing is to repaint the front from “school” to “Scholl”

    Reply
    1. Jody Avatar
      Jody

      It is done 🙂

      Reply
  8. Kristi Miller Avatar
    Kristi Miller

    Love this family! Love that bus…Believe me, this RV bus can go ANYWHERE if it can make it to our house on Mars Mountain! You should have seen the look on the neighbor’s face when the school bus came roaring up our little dirt road. I always told our kidz that I thought the bus could pick them up at our front door…and Uncle Jody has proved me right!

    Reply

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