For Sale
2007 Thomas MVP-EF. An all seasons, full custom 37' skoolie conversion titled as an RV, 5.9L Cummins with only 87,500 miles, 3,200 watts of solar, heated floors, and a walnut interior built by hand. Designed and lived in full time by the family that built it.
5.9L Cummins ISB
Drivetrain 87,500 mi
3,200 W
48V Solar Array
Storage Boxes
Dry Lockable 80+ cu ft
Roof Raise
16 inches
Hydronic Heat
heated floors
The Short Version
Chester is not a weekend project that got out of hand. It is a house; insulated, wired, plumbed, and finished to the standard you would expect in a luxury home. Chester the bus was fully planned and engineered to be a timeless work of art and assembled with the care and attention to detail you would expeect from a craftsman builds a home for his family.
The bus was meticulously reasearch, plannned, and fully drawn in AutoCAD before construction began. All the systems work together to create a comfortable space free from worry. The 48V solar array feeds a Victron stack that runs the whole house. The hydronic boiler handles the floors, the hot water, the grey tank, and the cabin air, and it can pull heat off the engine while you drive. Cabinets are walnut. We milled, sanded, finished, and installed every one of them. Everything reports back to a Home Assistant dashboard, so tanks, temps, and valves can be monitored and controlled in one place.
We built it to live in, and we did. Four of us, full time from as cold as 4ºF to as warm as 110ºF. We fully enjoyed the entire process from planning, design, construction, to actually hitting the road and creating memories we will never forget. While we are excited for the next chapter, it is bitter sweet to list our home for sale. Take a look at the details and photos and let us know what you think!
DM us @ChesterTheBus
01 — Chassis & Drivetrain
The 5.9L Cummins ISB with an Allison 2500 is one of the most reliable drivetrains you'll find. It's a simple drivetrain that shops know how to work on and with only 87,500 miles on the odometer it has a lot of life left in it.
02 — Shell & Finish
The roof raise means a larger, more airy interior. The new storage boxes provide over 80 cubic feet of additional space for gear and supplies.
03 — Water & Camp Setup
How long you can sit somewhere without hookups comes down to water tank size. Chester carries a hundred gallons of fresh and a hundred of grey. You can fill from city pressure or by gravity, and there's a shower on the outside for rinsing off before you come in. A composting toilet elimates the need to find dumping sites.
04 — Vision & Lighting
Two cameras point back and one on each side makes blind spots non-existent and give peace of mind when backing into tight spots. Every light on the outside got swapped to LED, headlights included.
"It has a spectacular design, esthetic, and is loaded with features."Inside Chester
05 — Woodwork
Every cabinet was designed and built for this bus. None of it came from a kit or an RV parts catalog. The fold-out table is solid maple with a walnut leaf inlayed into it.
06 — The Rooms
The curved couch is up front. The kitchen is next to it with the shower and bathroom after it. Kids' bunks sit midship and the queen sized bed is at the back.
07 — The Details
Cabinet doors and drawers lock themselves at the tap of a button, so nothing falls out while you're driving. Every window opening is already wired for 12V, so powered blinds can go in later without opening a wall.
08 — Materials
Nobody sees this part, and its next to impossible to redo once it's built. There's two and a half to three inches of spray foam everywhere except the floor, where there are four inches of rigid foam under the subfloor.
A full Victron energy power system, the industry standard for off-grid living.The Power Bay
Systems
With so many systems in a small space we had to plan ahead. Each system was carefully designed before construction began and everything talks to home assistant, our central dashboard.
48 Volt
83 cycles on a pack rated for thousands. There's a lot of life left in it.
Hydronic
A heated grey & fresh water tank and engine pre-heat are what make this thing usable when it's below freezing.
Climate
The rooftop unit runs on 48VDC, so it pulls straight from the batteries. No inverter in the way.
Fitted
A washer, dryer, and dishwasher in a bus this size isn't common. We got all three in without giving up living space.
Tanks, valves, temps, and lights. All on one screen.Home Assistant Dashboard
Photo Gallery
60 of the finished bus · 37 from the build
Open the full galleryDrag or scroll
Included
The whole build is written down. Budget, material usage, bus info, and the full maintenance log.
A full set of as-built construction drawings, so you'll know what's behind a wall before you open it up.
A manual covering each system and how it works. You won't have to reverse-engineer anything.
Inquire
$140,000
Serious inquiries · Showings by appointment
I'm happy to walk you through every system and the methods we used. Call, text, or email and I'll answer whatever the photos don't.