Melvin and Emily spent 2.5 years building out an incredible short bus home, complete with one of the coolest handmade cedar doors we’ve ever seen on a skoolie. They decided to travel the country after finishing their military careers and discovering how much they enjoyed camping and exploring the outdoors.
The handbuilt home is incredible on the inside as well, with wooden cabinets holding huge drawers for kitchen storage, a high-up bed with a built-in step-up, and a tiled bathroom that houses their shower and removable cassette toilet. You’re going to love the tour below!
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Rooftop Deck and Handbuilt Cedar Door!
Images via Tiny Home Tours
They have oodles of storage space in the kitchen, with huge, deep drawers.
Images via Tiny Home Tours
Their dinette is on the right, and there’s a bathroom on the left.
Images via Tiny Home Tours
VIDEO: Veteran’s DIY Cozy Bus Home
Highlights:
- Melvin and Emily were in the military when they met, and spent some time camping together.
- When they were getting ready to leave the military, they were trying to decide what to do and they knew traveling was high on the list.
- They purchased this bus to convert and spent about $50,000 on the conversion.
- The front door was a special project by Melvin, and he’s especially proud because he had no construction experience beforehand and everyone stops them to ask about the door.
- There’s an exterior ladder to the rooftop deck.
- Inside they have a tiled shower stall with a removable cassette toilet.
Learn more
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- Freedom on the Road in Their Shuttle Bus Build
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Natalie C. McKee
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Very neatly done. A lovely interior!
Wow! Great Job! What is a cassette toilet?
Hi Maria, good question!
A cassette toilet is a type of portable toilet often used in campervans, RVs, and even in some tiny homes like the one in a short bus conversion. It consists of two parts: a permanently installed seat and a removable waste container or cassette. The cassette can be easily detached and taken to a suitable disposal point to empty it, making it a practical solution for situations where conventional plumbing is not available or feasible.
Cassette toilets are popular in mobile homes and tiny living spaces because they are compact, easy to use, and do not require a connection to a sewer system. They are also known for being more odor-free compared to other portable toilet solutions, as many models come with chemicals or other means to manage the smell.
Same as a Porta Potti, except it’s permanently installed and you can usually remove the cassette/black tank from the exterior of the vehicle for convenience.
Aside from being self contained, they function like regular flush toilets and just make use of chemicals to mitigate odors and why they’re also known as chemical toilets.
Effectiveness varies, you have to learn the proper amount of chemicals to add to be effective, though and small tank size means they have to be dumped more often than regular RV black tanks but you can basically carry the cassette into a public bathroom to dump it and not have to rely on RV dump sites.