Hi all, I'm new to the RV life. My husband and I are looking to buy our first RV and we basically have 3 options. We can buy a newish (~10 years) class C, an older class A to renovated, or convert a school bus. We have an 18 month old daughter. The school bus is my top choice safety wise. I've done a ton of research and I can get bucket seats installed that will keep her as safe as a motor vehicle, and buses are basically roll proof. The biggest downside here is the stigma against buses, how they aren't allow in certain parks. We would do everything to ensure it is in proper functioning order and safe. Also, it's easy to find a well-maintained bus for very cheap around here. My next choice is a class C for size. Class C motor homes aren't as safe and are basically a paper house in a roll over accident, and they aren't designed for car seats. Installing safer seats isn't a great option here. The class A option is sort of in between. They are more durable than a class C, and more widely accepted than a bus. However, buying one in good shape and renovating it/updating is going to be the most expensive option. I guess I just want to know what you would do? Which one of these would you eliminate right off the bat? Our plan is to be 50\50 in 5 years (live up north in summer/fall and down south in winter/spring), but we are buying this year and will be taking multiple cross country trips as well as weekend trips before then. I really want to do the bus conversion but I don't want to get it done and be discriminated against based on the fact that it's a bus.

Wow. Typos. Sorry, fat thumbs and autocorrect.

Guess you didnt see the news a few days ago about the high school team whose school bus rolled over from a simple side swipe. From the looks of the pictures on the evening news there is little bracing that could have prevented the roof collapse. Personally I think that a school bus is the least safe, least economic and leased attractive option.

Wow! Hard decisions. I suppose that's why I have a Travel Trailer :) ...Your choice REALLY depends upon your own want's. Personally, I think renovating a school bus would be a LOT of fun and the end results can be as glamorous as a million dollar motor home the Hollywood stars own. It's all a matter of how much you want to put into it. However, to do it correctly, you will probably end up investing as much or more than that CLASS-A motor home.I honestly don't ever remember seeing a school bus at any campground I've visited in the last 30 years of camping. But when I was a kid (in the middle 1960's) it was very common. It REALLY all depends upon what type of camping you want to do.I do know, others successfully transport young children in CLASS A's and CLASS C' with no problem. And I'm sure someone will post here how they do it. All will be good suggestions.I know, this does not answer your questions, but it really does boil down to your own preference, your construction abilities, the amount of time you can invest into any one of these 3 options, your finances available for each project, and the type of camping you plan to do.

Keep in mind, so far your choices are the number one most expensive for of RVing $ per sq ft. Add the basic fact you need about four feet longer to equal a pull trailer makes this not as good of an idea as your thinking. Add the 10 year rule you can find many places and..... please rethink your ideas. I just had a long discussion with another couple wanting to do the same thing. After a lengthly discussion they decided a TT might be a better choice.

Fulltimer50 wrote:Guess you didnt see the news a few days ago about the high school team whose school bus rolled over from a simple side swipe. From the looks of the pictures on the evening news there is little bracing that could have prevented the roof collapse. Personally I think that a school bus is the least safe, least economic and leased attractive option.Have you seen the aftermath of a class C rollover? Buses are tested for safety and can have standard car bucket seats installed; motor homes are not tested and cannot have safe seats installed. I would say a bus and a motor home have a similar center of gravity making them equally vulnerable to rollovers.

My research is running me in circles! | Good Sam Community

CharlesinGA
Explorer
Mar 26, 2016
School bus will cost a small fortune to build into a nice RV, as cabinetry and everything will have to be fabricated from scratch. If you don't have lots of mechanical skills, a shop to work in, a woodworking shop, forget a decent bus conversion. If you plan on putting that kind of work into a bus, do it with a decent over the road bus such as a '60's GM (go HERE for a good example of a GM bus conversion in use.)

If this is part time travel, get a class C and go see the world and quit worrying about the what if's. I have had a couple of friends that used to analyse everything to the n'th degree. They ended up buying obsolete computers because by the time they acquired all the data, reviews and such, new and better models were out, but they bought an old one because the new ones "might be questionable". I had a friend who shopped prices for his airplanes parts even down to whether the company had a 800 phone number to call (pre cell phone days) and he sometimes made bad choices after being warned to not deal with a certain company..... as noted, analysis paralysis is a disease and you need to let it go.

I knew one thing, I wanted a C class and I wanted something that didn't get single digit fuel mileage, so the requirement was a Sprinter chassis. If I had analysed it I would have never bought, because the Mercedes is so quirky it will scare you off, now I have this '07 View on a '06 chassis and have spent the winter doing upgrades and reliability improvements so I can have a trouble free summer (I hope).

Charles
koda55
Explorer
Mar 25, 2016
This really is a question that only you can answer. Each type vehicle has its draw backs. Even pulling a TT or fifth wheel with a truck can be in an accident and people killed. It all depends on driving defensively. With many millions of miles driven I can honestly say that most accidents are caused by people not paying attention or being an aggressive driver.
For me a class A with slides is what I like and I feel safe driving it. I like the roominess when we open the 4 slides. no one plans on having an accident. Many people go through life and never get a ticket or have an accident.
timmac
Explorer
Mar 24, 2016
path1 wrote:
Good luck with your decision...Here is an old article, but I don't think anything is changed.

Updated: 1:37 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 22, 2009 | Posted: 11:34 a.m. Friday, April 25, 2008
http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/rv-crash-deaths-under-investigation/nDrSW/

"NHTSA (The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) hasn't crash tested finished motor homes because they are fundamentally safe-- there simply haven't been enough deaths to warrant the cost of purchasing and testing these types of vehicles."

As to this long post about how unsafe motorhomes are how about a motorcycle, I would rather be in a crash with a motorhome before a motorcycle, the biggest problem I see with motorhome crashes are the drivers, I see so many here in Vegas driving 75 mph just cause they can as well as the semi's, maybe the best why to make these safer is limit the speed limit to 65 mph for anything over 10,000 lbs.
kkmack
Explorer
Mar 24, 2016
When our daughter was still in a car seat, we had a class C. We always took one of our daily driver cars. The spouse drove the C and I drove the kid in the car. It wasn't too bad. She had the safety I wanted and we then had a vehicle to drive around in when we reached our destination.

Our next RV was a TT, so we always had a runaround car. Now that we are in a C again and often all travel in it, we sometimes wish we had the extra car with us. I refuse to disconnect and pack up the house just for a beer run. ;-)
rockhillmanor
Explorer II
Mar 24, 2016
Jabbi wrote:
Hi all, I'm new to the RV life. My husband and I are looking to buy our first RV and we basically have 3 options. We can buy a newish (~10 years) class C, an older class A to renovated, or convert a school bus. We have an 18 month old daughter. .

Used Class C.

Unless you have TONS of extra money laying around to burn renovating ANY RV you will be better off just buying a nice new to you RV.
thestoloffs
Explorer
Mar 24, 2016
Jabbi, if you like the Class C floor plan or other features, before you eliminate them due to crash safety, check out a used Born Free.

BF's owner, John N. Dodgen, observed another Class C's rollover accident and vowed that he'd never let anyone have such a crush in one of his vehicles.

So, for the last 40+ years, EVERY Born Free unit is built with a 3 steel bar roll cage! No one has ever died in a BF unit in an accident! (Check out their history at Born Free's website or read about their history in the April 2016 issue of Family Motor Coaching magazine.
2012Coleman
Explorer II
Mar 24, 2016
OP wrote:
and buses are basically roll proof...

I guess you didn't do the research on that.

Good luck
azdryheat
Explorer
Mar 24, 2016
I wasn't aware there was a roll-over problem with RV's. School buses have a fire problem if they are hit in the fuel tank by the door and aren't all that safe. If it was me I'd go with an older class A diesel or a newer class A gasser.
opnspaces
Navigator II
Mar 24, 2016
I went through much of the same thinking process when I bought my RV. I eventually wound up with a Suburban and a trailer for the following reasons.
It has to meet federal safety standards and is crash tested.
It is roll over tested.
Only one engine or transmission vs a MH towing a car.
I could leave the trailer at a campground and have the Suburban to go shopping or see the sights.
If I had an engine or transmission problem on the road I could park/stay the trailer and almost every mechanic knows how to work on a Chevy.

I think buses are cool, but it it would be an enormous amount of work, time, and money and in the end it will still look like a school bus.
Veebyes
Explorer II
Mar 24, 2016
A bus conversion might be an interesting excercise if you have loads of time, have the tools & know how to use them. Figure the conversion will cost 2 to 3 times the original estimate. Best chances are the dream will turn into a nightmare.

Also accept that with a custom anything, when the day comes to sell it you will not get anything near what you put into it back. Much better to get a production something.

Maybe years from now with experience behind you & if the do it yourself itch is still there, then hunt down your bus & go at it.

If child safety is the big concern best option is a towable & the child rides in a vehicle which has seats & child seat mounting points for the job.