Dual-use Prevost

[TedCalvert]

Good Morning! 0 degrees and sunny here in southeastern Ohio.

What do you all think of building an XL as combo MH/Entertainer?  I guess not a lot different from many band busses, but with real bathroom and kitchen.  Bedroom aft, next bathroom clear across, with shower on curb side and sink & toilet on street side.  Next forward 3 bunks each side, then kitchen open to front lounge.  3 pocket doors:  between kitchen and bunk room, between bunk room and bathroom, and between bathroom and bedroom.  Obvious traffic-flow problems, but what else?

Bedroom and bath framed in steel! by PO, along with 3 roof airs.  Otherwise open.

Do you more-experienced builders care to share any thoughts?

Thanks in advance,

Ted

[TedCalvert]

by the way, it's an '87, 40foot, reman 8V92t, stick, former charter.

[digesterman]

40 foot might be crowded

[RJ]

Ted -

Have you bought it, or are you contemplating buying it?

[DKO]

That would basically be a star coach conversion plus a better kitchen. 40' will leave you little to no room for closets if you have bunks on both sides.

Davy

[bevans6]

You have to ask the question "why" and then tell us the answer.  I think your idea is totally dumb, but the most I ever travel with is my wife and two cats, and the cats don't need bunks.  I think the whole idea of 8 people (nine if you include the driver on a bus to live for more than a few hours is weird.  But if you are asking the question you obviously have some ideas and it makes sense to you.  40' and 96" is kind of small for more than four full grown people to live in unless they're getting paid to do it.

It goes without saying that just because I might not do it, it might not be a great idea! 

Brian

[Lin]

Is the idea to rent it to entertainers when you are not using it?

[lvmci]

Hi Ted, I think I saw this style on Extreme RVs on Travel channel, made by the people in Nashville. Had a high end kitchen, didnt look like mu h storage for when it was an RV tho. Certainly looked great, with marble and etched glass, like has been said, a hybrid, all depends on what your gonna do with it, seems to me it was a 102, not 96 wide, lvmci...

[muldoonman]

I've got a 40' 1991 Prevost XL Mirage converted and if I had bunks you wouldn't have any seating area (Lounge) up front. At today's coach prices,  look around and buy what you need and do some remodeling or change outs to what you what. Get you an Auto. You won't be sorry.

[Jon]

The number of people that are buying or building their motor homes with bunks seems to be increasing. I'm thinking of our 87 Prevost and even though it was a 40 foot coach it could have been easily changed to include bunks across the aisle from the bathroom which had the toilet, sink and shower all in the same room.

We would have given up our tall closets and the washer / dryer combo, but other than the loss of tall closets and the WD the coach would have retained all its original configuration. The key is careful planning, and if the coach is an empty shell I see no reason why with good planning a coach that can accommodate bunks cannot be built.

But as Muldoonman said, the best deal now is to buy a professionally converted coach and modify it. You will have far less money in it, you will have significantly better systems, the chassis will not have been beat down the highway for hundreds of thousands of miles, and you will be on the road enjoying it almost immediately. One thing to be aware of is that those older professional conversions allowed the sleeping of additional people because the sofa was usually a jackknife sofa that became a bed and the dinette often would change into a sleeping area also so there was room for 4 additional people.

I expect to get beat up for saying the professional conversion has better systems. Don't take it personally if you are the unique homebuilder who actually has created better systems. You are a rare and very talented and capable designer and craftsman.

[oldmansax]

My Wanderlodge has twin beds (which I don't particularly like) instead of a double or queen; however, I could add two bunks above the existing twins & only lose the overhead cabinets. I would be able to sleep 6 including the fold out couch with no change to the floor plan.

More togetherness than I want, long term.

TOM

[jetart]

I have just about the exact same set-up in my 40' (except 2 bunks on each side).  It's a little tight but it works.  The trade-off is that it's nice to travel with 4-6 people without having to convert couches and/or dinette every stinking night. Everybody has their own space.

[lvmci]

Ted, I so like the magic bed idea, Clifford has one in his Trek, I was thinking about buying a "C" class that had a rear livingroom, it had a rear slideout dedicated to a sofa bed, but the most interesting part, was a California king bed hidden in the ceiling, this large true livingroom/tv/office, became a bedroom with the flip of a switch! Unless you.looked close, you didn't even know there was a bed in there.  lvmci...

[bigred]

Don't know if they still have it or not,but a while back either Busforsale.com or Staily Coach Sales had a great Prevost star coach that had plenty of storage ,full galley and two sofas .The only thing that I saw wrong with it was the fact that it did not have a dinette.It was an older coach ,94 I think and wasn't a whole lot of money.I wouldn't be to concerned over giving up the wash/dryer,especially if it is one of the combo's as they won't wash much more than a pair of drawers at a time.Most camp grounds have laundromats that you can actually put stuff into.Finding coaches with bunks is not a big deal,but I can tell you after spending time on one of these busses,if you like smelling feet,month's old cologne,plus gas from eight people,by all means get you a coach with eight bunks in it !!lol.By the way ,check Prevost's for sale .com. The recently had a 45ft 95 model   for 75 grand.Don't remember if it had a galley or not ,but it had a dozen flat screen tvs in it !!

[TedCalvert]

I appreciate all your input.  Sometimes one can get "Kennel Blind" and not see the obvious things.

The bus already has me; 4 years ago after I retired, my wife said something like: You've got your bike and tractor, I wanna newer bus.  We've had an '04 about 15 years. So she found this started project and here its been for 3+years.  Time to do something with it.

BTW, I think its 102" wide.  And yes, an auto would be nice.  At least it's possible with this drive line. B500R would be sweet.  And professionally-built systems are usually well engineered.  I have trouble cutting a 2x4 squarely, but my strong suite is electrical.

As to intended use, wifey wants to travel, son wants a band bus.  (He's a singer.)  Trying to make them both happy.  Futile.

Bunks could be adjustable & removable.  But when you have more people you have more stuff.