Tag: car seat mounting brackets

12 Hacks for Living in a Skoolie
12 Hacks for Living in a Skoolie | Destination Unknown

We’ve come up with twelve ways to improve living in your skoolie or other small space. From organization to food, we share the tips that have helped improve our skoolie travel.
1. Seeing sunlight & starry skies with a skylight
2. Installing a pull-down faucet that can double as an outdoor shower
3. Having a dedicated wet space
4. Cleaning your compost toilet weekly
5. Treating your gray tank
6. Installing a water filtration system outside & inside
7. Getting outside at least once a day
8. Using your space intentionally
9. Removing packaging before it comes into the bus
10. Purging unnecessary items frequently
11. Perform weekly engine maintenance
12. Run your AC or heat source weekly to keep moisture levels down
Seeing sunlight & starry skies with a skylight

Our skylight is toward the back of the bus, in the captain’s quarters. We love this skylight because it brings in so much natural light and we don’t have to open up blinds or sunlight screens during the day. At night, we get to look up at the stars from the comfort of home.

Installing a pull-down faucet that can double as an outdoor shower

This is the skooliest skoolie hack! We installed a pull-down faucet in our kitchen. It has been so handy to have it when we come back from a day at the beach. We can swivel it around and pull the handle outside of the window to rinse off gear or ourselves. It has two settings: stream and spray.

See a detailed list of products we purchased for our skoolie transformation here!

Having a dedicated wet space

We love being able to use our shower to store gear, scooters and our outdoor rug when they’ve gotten wet outside. It is so lovely to have a dedicated wet space where things can drain and we don’t have to worry about water escaping.

Cleaning your compost toilet weekly

Our best practice is to dump the waste in the bag and clean the bucket & urine diverter with soap and water at least once a week. Our compost toilet is comprised of a 5-gallon bucket with a garbage bag and a urine diverter going to our gray tank, located under the bus exterior.

When we first started living in our skoolie, I dreaded this part of the bus; however, we’ve gotten the hang of how much coconut coir we need to cover the waste in the bucket and tossing frequently has become a part of our normal cleaning routine.

After using the urine diverter, we make sure to spray it with a mixture of vinegar, water with a few drops of essential oils. Poopuri spray is great to keep on hand too because the bottles are so discrete.

Treating your gray tank

We treat the waste in our skoolie‘s gray tank with a chemical treatment monthly. We don’t really have any issues with odor in the bus since we installed back-flow attachments in our plumbing system; however, it’s nice to have a less odorous smell when we drain our tank. You can find environmentally-friendly treatments at most RV shops or online.

We prefer to drain our gray tank weekly. Since we have a 100 gallon tank, it can take up to 30 minutes to drain. Instead, we like to drain weekly as part of a normal cleaning routine and that cuts down on time to drain the tank.

Read this blog to see how we determined what size gray water tank we needed for our family size.

Installing a water filtration system outside & inside

Keeping clean, filtered water on-demand is important to us. When filling our 100 gallon fresh water tank, we have an in-line filter, which reduces sediment and some bacteria.

At the kitchen sink, we have a second filtration system to filter out bacteria and more deposits. This gives us clean drinking water. Before we installed this, we were purchasing loads of plastic water jugs, and that takes up so much space in a tiny place. We’ve found this system to be so convenient and low-maintenance.

See a detailed list of products we purchased for our skoolie transformation here!

Getting outside at least once a day

Fresh air is really important to us, so we try and get out for walks every single day. Even if it’s just for an hour, getting fresh air is essential! Even when the weather is bad, we do this.

Living in a tiny space, you just need to get out of it to literally stretch your legs. When we dream of this lifestyle, a key thing was for us not to spend as much time indoors and give us the opportunity to explore with our family.

Using your space intentionally

We designed our home to use our tiny space intentionally. For example:
- We have a built-in shoe caddy so shoes come off immediately. Coats are kept at the front of the bus in a basket behind the driver’s seat.
- We installed outlets with USB & USB-C ports so we can charge electronics easily without a “dongle.”
- We have hooks in each room so nothing lands on the floor.
- We built a custom cabinet above the captain’s quarters for clothing storage and diapers.
- The children’s bunk beds have a storage compartment for clothing and another space for toys.
We truly enjoy having a place for everything, and everything in its place. Things don’t get misplaced and nothing falls out of place when driving.

Removing packaging before it comes into the bus

Living in a skoolie means you can just head to the stores when you need something; however, the amount of packaging that comes with any shopping haul is immense for a small space. We plan ahead and it drastically lessens the amount of packaging before it ever enters our skoolie.

We do this by:
- Purchasing dried or concentrate items, like JOI Plant Milk concentrate
- Bagging groceries directly into our cart (no plastic or paper bags)
- Removing things from their boxes, like cereal boxes around the plastic bags
- Repackaging things like dried beans into storage containers that fit our storage space
Purging unnecessary items frequently

Purging as part of a normal cleaning routine happens seasonally. We go through our belongings and keep what we need and what we’re going to use often.

When we travel, we feel it’s important to not overwhelm your space. If it doesn’t have a dedicated space or the item no longer serves us, we remove it from the space.

Perform weekly engine maintenance

Like any automobile, performing routine maintenance and giving your skoolie some TLC helps it last longer and perform better.

We do this by:
- Checking the fluid levels before we drive
- Performing regular brake checks as we drive
Run your AC or heat source weekly to keep moisture levels down

When the exterior temperature differs greatly from the interior temperature, moisture builds up. If that moisture has no where to go and the interior space doesn’t dry out, mold and mildew can grow. We start to see this first along window sills.

We combat this by running our AC or other heating source weekly, especially during the winter months and during the rainy season. In the summers, we frequently have our windows open so we are able to keep air flow going.

What hacks have you created for living full time in your tiny home on wheels? Are 12 hacks for living in a skoolie too much or too little?

Watch our full skoolie tour!

Thanks for following our journey. – Ingrid & the HildeFam
October 30, 2021
Installing Car Seat Mounting Brackets in our Skoolie
In this blog, we share our process for installing car seat mounting brackets in our skoolie, including a diagram of our school bus conversion car seat latch system.

Disclaimer: We are not professionals and, therefore, are not imparting any professional-level knowledge from the manufacturer to you. We are only sharing what we did. Please do your own research.
Table of Contents
How we installed our car seat mounting brackets in our school bus conversion

We built a custom couch in our living room that was attached to the steel frame of the bus.

We decided to have three points of latch contact like a passenger vehicle’s car seat latch system.

Diagram showing the car seat latch system in our school bus conversion.

Skoolie Car Seat Installation Tips

Overall, the installation is simple. As with most projects, measure twice and cut once. We also installed the same brand car seat for each of our children, so there was no variation in how we would attach our latch points.

Plan the attachment points

Plan to attach the mounts to the steel ribs of the school bus. Since we had to accommodate 3 car seats, we first made sure every car seat would align along a rib of the bus.

Drill the top tether mount

To install the top tether eye bolt, Eric drilled through a rib of the bus to the exterior, between the windows. Install the top tether mounting bracket closer to the base of the couch, so the center of gravity on the mounts stay low. Drilling between the windows requires some steadiness, since a slip may cause the glass to break.

He purchased these wall mounting eye nuts.

Drill the two batch latch mounts

To install the base latch mounting brackets, Eric drilled through the wood in our couch. He installed 2 base square brackets per car seat. He made 2 holes per mounting bracket, for a total of 4 holes.

He purchased these square u bolts.

What hardware quality did we use?

Purchase bolts with a high shear rating (for example: Grade 8 bolts), so they are less likely to break in a collision.

Car seat latched to mounting brackets in school bus conversion.

Side-facing instead of forward-facing or rear-facing

Due to the design of our couch, we had to install our car seats facing sideways instead of rear- or forward-facing.

Three kids riding in a school bus conversion in car seats.

The likelihood that car seat placement would affect the outcome of a crash is lessened given the construction of a school bus compared to a passenger vehicle. Most school buses do not have car seats, so our opinion is that a car seat facing any direction is better than none at all.

We have 3 children who would otherwise be in car seats that are:
- 2 forward-facing
- 1 rear-facing
Because of the size and construction of the bus, compared to that of a passenger vehicle, we do not feel that the issue of forward-, rear- or side-facing is as significant of a concern as it would be in that of a normal passenger vehicle.
- 2 at the base
- 1 at the back, commonly called the “top tether strap”
Car seat recommendation for Skoolie

We purchased the Graco 4Ever DLX 4 in 1 from Amazon. We like how their base latches have a quick release feature with the press of a button, rather than depressing a lever.

How to store a car seat in an RV when not in use

We unclip the seats from the couch and store the three car seats in the shower and close the curtain. We then replace the couch cushions to have additional seating in our living room. Those couch cushions are typically stored under the rear bed when the car seats are installed, so they are also out of the way when not in use.

Disclaimer

We do not recommend traveling with any unsecured passenger in any moving vehicle, and we feel that this is the best and safest solution for our family since we do not tow another vehicle with us or drive separately anymore. Our suggestions do not follow the manufacturer guidelines. Please do your own due diligence.

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Thanks for following along with our journey! – The HildeFam
July 10, 2021