For solar components we DO NOT recommend Aims Power / Aims Corp. Of all the solar and battery brands we've used we've had the most failures and poorest support from this brand.
Magnum, Victron & Renogy are brands we recommend checking out instead.
Tested and Trusted Products and Services
See something you like on one of our buses? We shop Amazon a ton!! Click the link below to find items in our buses and buy them from Amazon! With Amazon you can easily add a new address at checkout so while you're on the road you can ship stuff to a family members house or camp site office!
Why we love it: We have the 16.5TI-S winch paired with an Epic snatch block. Together they can pull 33,000 pounds! I've seen so many skoolies get stuck trying to go off the beaten path, yet I've never seen one with the proper recovery gear. With this winch set-up we can venture down those dirt roads & never have to worry about getting stuck & not being able to get out. Proud to call Warn Industries a partner!
Why we love it: Get 15% off with code buslife15 !! The Froli sleep system helps keep your mattress from developing mold or mildew by keeping space for air flow underneath. As a bonus it makes your bed more comfortable, too! So many nomads have had to buy new mattresses and even rebuild their entire bed areas after finding mold. We searched for so long to find this perfect solution! Click below to check them out!
Why we love it: After seeing a bus family have their bus catch fire while they were asleep and getting badly hurt, I realized we needed to do more to protect from fire. After research, I decided these are a must-have on a skoolie. They are triggered by coming in contact with a flame and will extinguish a fire even if you're not around! I immediately purchased a whole inventory and now put several of these in every build. Follow the link below to learn more.
Why we love it: Unique gimballed design allows complete 360 degree airflow. You can face this fan any direction! This means you can strategically place it where just one fan can bring air flow to multiple areas of your small space! Check them out at the link below!
Why we love it: You don't have to sacrifice! Period. When I started prepping to move into the bus I didn't want to give up any of my pots and pans. But I didn't have room for them all. So I went on a quest for a solution and found these! I. Fell. In. Love. I use their 10 piece set and added their Colander to my set as well! Find your perfect set at the link below!
Why we love it: It's self-powered and distributes your wood stove heat throughout your small space! When we put our first wood stove on a bus we included a fan because without it, the heat would mostly just hover around the stove. This fan helps to get that hot air delivered throughout your space and thereby helps with condensation as well! Check them out at the link below!
Why we love it: If you're already on the road, you know - it's not always easy to find a place to park a skoolie for the night. But Harvest Host locations welcomes buses, they have locations throughout North America, and the membership cost is super affordable! Even better, you can get 15% off through our link, below!
What you'll find here:
Products that we truly love. We will never promote anything we don't believe in. I always wonder when I see someone sharing a brand or product if it they are doing so because they get a kickback or if the product is genuinely good. So transparency around that is important to me. All of the products listed here are ones that we have personally selected and used on our own builds. We've gone through our fair share of brands and products that didn't work well so we aim to help save you some of that time, failure, and frustration by passing along what does work.
With that said, the products we buy and share are the ones we find most valuable. For our clients we have the responsibility to find a balance between quality and cost. The intersection between those is where you find value -- the most bang for a reasonable buck. This the category of items we use and share. Most skoolie folks do not have a huge budget, but we also can't afford to have things malfunction on the road. That has led us to seek out products that for the value provide the highest performance with the lowest failure rates.
Froli is the only brand that we have a monetary affiliation with, as we do receive a small commission for each Froli purchased using our promo code buslife15. We chose to partner with Froli because their product is unique, necessary, and not yet well-known in the nomad community. I searched far and wide for something to get proper ventilation under the mattress in order to avoid mold. In a household setting putting your bed on slats is enough, but in a nomadic setting where condensation is an ever constant battle, a slatted bed frame doesn't suffice. I knew of the mesh bed mats but those weren't enough to prevent mold and mildew either. Once I found the Froli I was absolutely ecstatic because this is a problem all nomads will eventually run into and yet there isn't a well-known solution. After seeing so many nomads battle with mold in their sleep space and have to tear out part of their build and buy a new mattress, we just want to help spread the word that there is a solution! It's called a Froli.
We set up our Amazon Storefront (and are still adding to it) in response to being asked so many times where 'this or that' came from. Outside of building materials, we buy 90% of what we use on our buses through Amazon. So I created a store front for you to see what exact products we use -- from water pumps to solar tidbits to decorative items. When you buy items you find from our Amazon Storefront we earn a tiny bit of commission from Amazon. It's Amazons way of saying "thank you" for us sharing items from their site. Just like all the products we share, our Amazon Storefront only includes items we have personally used, had success with, and trust. If it's in our Storefront, it's a winner. We appreciate any purchase you make through our Amazon link. The prices are the same for you and the small commissions can add up for us.
As builders we are sometimes asked to try new products. If it's something we find valuable and decide to incorporate into our future builds then we may add it to this page or our Amazon Storefront. If it's not of the quality, value, or up to standard for our buses, then it doesn't make the cut here.
What you won't find here:
No hidden paid partnerships here. We only promote products we would put into our own buses. If it's not something we are excited about and trust to go into a clients build, then it doesn't make the cut on this page either.