You want the Skoolie Hump! You Need the Skoolie Hump. This hump is what every roof-raiser wishes they had. And we got ours out of pure luck!
School buses are for children, literally. Which means they are not concerned with height, just safety. Consequently most school buses are not very comfortable for anyone close to 6 feet tall.
Some of the time, on older buses you will see a hump on the front of the roof of a school bus. This hump is to give the door extra room and for extra headroom for the driver’s area. Not far past the driver’s area the roof usually lowers.
Our Skoolie Hump!
Our bus is a bit different. The Skoolie Hump goes the other way. Why this hump is different goes back to the buses origins. We got the bus from a government online auction. It was used by the Navy to transport adult people. Because of this the roof was raised. By how much you ask?
Interior height of 76 Inches!
That is 6 feet 4 inches. More than plenty enough headroom for the average 6 foot tall adult. I am 6 feet tall and the bus doesn’t feel low, or short by any means. Maybe that is why we don’t understand why anyone would raise the roof of a school bus.
Luck played a huge roll when it came to our bus. We bought is over the internet. We were told it was not running. There was no thought given the interior height. The only thing we did know was that it was missing a roof hatch and the interior was very dirty.
Look For the Skoolie Hump
If you are looking to buy a school bus, we have some advice. First look for the Roof Hump. Try and find a “school bus” that was not used for children. Most of those types will be taller inside, even if they don’t have a roof hump. If you are shopping online see if you can get an interior measurement. It is almost impossible to tell from photos how much headroom there is.
Oh, and ceiling handrails are awesome! We use them all the time, and not just to hold on to. The one thing our bus didn’t have was under-floor storage. Because it was shorter, only 9 windows and has two A/C units there is no room under the bus for storage. But I’ll trade under-floor storage for headroom any time.
