Irritating renaming of bus conversions tiny homes

[lvmci]

I know I always wanted a trailer after I saw this movie...I was happy to call the Streamline my trailer, by the way my wife collected rocks too!...

[luvrbus]

Clifford, is this what you're talking about?

LOL not quite the one he did remarkable work in the kitchen but it's a house type kitchen done in white

[lvmci]

Yes he did a nice job, sure hope he anchored the fridge, dishwasher and oven to the wall and floor...

[lvmci]

By the way Gary and Phil, thanks for making the pictures so easy to load...

[JT4SC]

This is an interesting topic, I'm surprised how many people have a passionate opinion one way or the other.  I think Richard is absolutely correct - people who use the term 'tiny home' are looking for just that, they don't care what the donor vehicle is.  Those of us who have bus conversions as a means of traveling enjoyment shouldn't take offense when people with a completely different use for busses call their bus something else.  Since the term 'tiny home' is still relatively new it will take time to figure out how we can all coexist/understand each other.  In the meantime I think BCM is wise to showcase how other people use their busses.  We might get something out of their different perspective and incorporate ideas into our own busses.  Just my .02...

[lvmci]

The title on the header reads Busconversions Magazine. Some people will be unobservent, some people will go out of their way to fit in to a group, they want to be a part of. My thoughts are, tiny homes are great for the right people and right now the term is a FAD or a TREND, morphing who knows in what direction. A tiny home has started out as a small studio style building for one or a start for a couple. Bus Conversions are on the opposite end of the spectrum. Some new Bus Nuts have figured out to jump past all the interm recreational vehicles in their life, to what they would like the most, some have to go thru all the steps to get to busnutdom.
Trailers evolved from Conestoga Wagons, 5th wheels evolved from tractor trailers, motorhomes evolved from buses. FMCAs logo still depicts a Bus Conversion on their logo. I just feel we have the correct term for our hobby and we dont need to be trend followers,.

[windtrader]

This topic is trivial. For someone who has a commercial stake in this market niche (busnuts), it seems highly relevant. As we all know this community is aging out and needs new blood. As mentioned earlier, hopefully folks like Gary are seeking ways to get swept up in the "tiny home" phenomenon for increased sustainability for we busnuts.

[lvmci]

triv·i·al
/ˈtrivēəl/
adjective
of little value or importance.

synonyms:   unimportant, insignificant, inconsequential, minor, of no/little account, of no/little consequence, of no/little importance, not worth bothering about, not worth mentioning; More
(of a person) concerned only with trifling or unimportant things.
synonyms:   frivolous, superficial, shallow, unthinking, empty-headed, featherbrained, lightweight, foolish, silly

[chessie4905]

Lvmci; where did you get that picture? It's Clifford's first conversion.

[lvmci]

It was the first cab over camper, Clifford designed and built it for the Beverly Hillbillies ...

[Jim Blackwood]

A bus conversion can be a tiny house, but can a tiny house be a bus conversion? I don't think so, not without a lot of work.

A tiny house has no intrinsic need to move, to store fresh water or waste water, or to have any sort of independent power source. If it does have all those things, is built on a bus shell, in a way that allows it to stand up to travel, then I think it is a bus conversion. If only part of that is true then maybe it is a tiny house instead. Or just a really poorly done bus conversion.

BUT, it's not entirely a money thing. I've seen ridiculous sums spent to build tiny houses. To the point where you really wonder why the builder didn't just build a regular house. So what is the motivation to use a bus shell anyway? Appearance? Is there really any social value in being able to say, "I live in a bus"? Not from what I've seen except among a very select group. Less work to keep it clean I guess, and at least a decent intercity bus has a good roof that isn't prone to leakage.

OTOH, a well used school bus can still be had these days for not a whole lot over $1000 I believe, (It's been a few decades since my last purchase from Edwin up in Columbus so take that with a grain of salt.) and that's dirt cheap for a roof, floor, and walls even if they are full of windows and seats. For someone with a real cut-rate budget it's not a bad place to start. And I can see where you might want to call it a tiny house initially, especially if you have permission to park it in Dad's back yard and hook up to his utilities. But I think you do yourself a disservice that way by encouraging building practices that will ultimately have to be re-done if you ever want to take it on the road. Maybe sometimes there isn't a choice starting out, but as dedicated busnuts we are in a prime position to lead, instruct, and advise those wannabe owners and let them know that a little extra care take in the beginning can pay off big later down the road. So maybe we should be thinking about how we can mentor those newbies and help them stay out of trouble and not paint themselves into a blind corner. Wouldn't that be a better way to deal with this type of an "invasion"?

Jim

[peterbylt]

Might be off Topic.

This last February we went to a Bus Rally, called a Skoolie Swarm.

The School Bus converters all refer to their Buses as Skoolies, I did not hear the term Tiny House at all, although there are usually a couple of Skoolies at most Tiny house events.

There were 50 – 70 buses there, 3 of them (including mine) were Coach type Buses, Two MCI and one Prevost, our Coach style buses were totally accepted into this community, a great group of people, all the Skoolies wanted a tour of our MCI.

The Skoolie owners are just as passionate about their buses as we (Busnuts) are, they put just as much work, effort and money into them, most of the buses I toured were all well-constructed, the Skoolie mind set is a little different, most of the Skoolies have a composting toilet as opposed to a flush toilet and Blackwater tank, Skoolies tend to be a little more utilitarian than the Coach conversion.
   
The Demographic for the Skoolie owners appeared to me at this rally to be between 20 and 39 years old, there are some older but the majority appeared to fit in the Millennial age bracket. This also appears to be the same age bracket that the Tiny House movement falls into.

From what I have observed in my personal experience, this age Bracket does not have the greatest abilities when it comes to mechanical skills.

I do not find that to be the case with the Skoolies, almost everyone of them that I meet are very mechanical and do all their own engine and conversion work.

On the other hand, most of the Tiny House people that I have meet have no mechanical ability and just want to live in a prebuilt little house as opposed to building or working on one.

I have noticed that the Term Tiny House being applied to a Bus Conversion of any type is usually applied by the Tiny House community, and not used by the Bus community.
 
Peter

[Lin]

We all know the saying,"The more things change, the more they remain the same."  Lots of things are just recycled old ideas given a new vocabulary to make them acceptable to newer people who want to believe that they are doing something different.  The frumpy image of the old family station wagon was reincarnated as the more hip family SUV.  People now go "glamping (short for glamour camping)".  They even pay exorbitant prices to stay in someone's old trailer through Airbnb as long as it's listed as glamping not camping.  For those who care about the descriptors, it's preferable to say your part of the trendy tiny home movement than to say you live in a van down by the river.

No offense, Van.

[chessie4905]

Just think of the tiny house movement as a logical transition from cardboard boxes under bridges. Some are even making homes out of shipping containers, some even stacked.

[luvrbus]

A guy in Ft Mohave called wanting to sell me engines and other components from 6 MCI 9's he bought,you never would believe what he was doing with 6 buses lol I pull in the sides and roofs are off all parked in a nice neat roll I thought he was raising the roofs,I find out he converting old buses to friggn green houses, He  told me buses were cheaper than green house frames plus they had storage