Volvo B12M Tour Bus - Nightliner, Porvoo

Straight from a 120-gig rap run comes the third dimension of tour logistics: this Volvo nightliner gig bus.

Our backstory with this night-rider is short but rewarding. As gig numbers grew and a Kuusamo–Helsinki passenger drive left backs numb, we impulsively bought a 15 m bus a year ago and converted it into a band nightliner. It solved the problem — no more numb backs, not even for the driver.

We were fairly amateurish and knew little about buses, so the project could have gone many ways, but with generous sponsors the technical and larger conversions were done by professionals. The result is a genuine touring vehicle or mobile-lifestyle solution. There’s still plenty to tinker with to reach full potential. In practice you could live in it, and if fate allowed we’d quit rock & roll and park the bus in a Norwegian fjord for a few months.

That isn’t possible for us now — the band must work — and luckily the purchase inspired us and a partner supplied a newer, larger vehicle for the upcoming tour, so someone else can continue this successful tour-bus / summer cottage project.

The rear contains 8 bunks (8 × 210 cm) and a master bedroom with a 160 × 210 cm bed and “panoramic views”. Seating for 10 plus a couple of small Martela sofas in addition to the bus seats. The kitchen has all basic necessities with a proper tap and sink. Water pumps and a larger waste-water tank are fitted. The rear bunks have unusually solid slats — they feel very robust, likely crafted by a top carpenter (Big Pasi). There’s running water from the taps and electricity from roof solar panels. What else would a small or large person need?

Included equipment people imagined they needed: Apple TV, PlayStation, air-source heat pump, fridge, microwave, printer, 5G router with external antennas (you need your own SIM), a Marshall deck, various displays, Genelec monitors, Smeg toaster, coffee maker, etc. Direction is forwards — we’re not removing anything, so these items are part of the sale.

At the front are tables and chairs, in the middle the kitchen and WC/shower (not a full bathroom but includes WC, bidet and a floor drain — in a touring context it’s a bit of a luxury spa).

Almost all interior fittings have been rebuilt apart from the ceiling — or at least the rebuild was started. The ceiling work remains awaiting the next tour break; it doesn’t affect use but looks rough compared with the rest. The seats come from a newer scrapped Scania; as far as we know they’re not type-approved but they passed inspection for us. Seat belts may not be fitted to the small stools because everyone trusted driver Jari — a top bloke — so people moved between bunks without strapping in. Straps should probably be fitted properly before the next inspection. The vehicle passed its last inspection, although there were a few issues (a chip in the glass and other small matters).

The vehicle has worked surprisingly smoothly for us. We’ve driven non-stop from Helsinki to Rollo and toured Finland many times. Observed faults (that appear intermittently but then the vehicle works normally): it leaks a bit of coolant and this has been topped up a few times when needed (if left standing it leaves a small pinkish puddle on the hall floor under the radiator — not investigated in depth). The air-source heat pump works intermittently. The trip computer sometimes reports a “data transfer error” on pressure circuit 3 when cold-starting, but after driving a while the message disappears or restarting the engine often clears it. This wasn’t investigated further at the garage as they couldn’t reproduce the fault; they suspected an occasional sensor issue in a door or similar.

The vehicle has mostly been stored in a warm hall during our ownership. Its history is fairly unknown — it’s been used in charter service by Rajamäen Liikenne and then started life as a motorhome project in Ostrobothnia before we adapted it for touring. Built, as far as we know, in Lahti and originally sold new to Norway.

Decals will be removed for hygiene reasons before handover. Base colour is white — photos include one taken before our decals were applied.

The tachograph is not in use; the vehicle is registered for private use (M3). Requires a D licence to drive — a tax-exempt heavy motorhome/bus. This is a busy group’s motorhome, so the sale includes a “rear-light guarantee”: we can drive the bus to the buyer anywhere in Finland, go through the vehicle and its functions together and ensure mutual satisfaction with the purchase, but after that we won’t have time for ongoing support about individual buttons or features.