BradKW said:
It appears fairly lived in, I'd really be interested in what your thoughts are now that some time's gone by....both on the vehicle itself and on the build design. Any changes you plan, or would like to make?
A good question. Thank you.
My priorities have changed so much since starting this project. If I was going with my original intent to travel more, I would have just bought a minivan and hit the road. Toyota Previa maybe? haha
I've invested a lot of time and money into this little home now and it holds most everything important to me so I can't make the same risks as I would with a rig I could just junk if all went wrong. With that being said though, I
have a home. I love being in this mobile sanctuary here. It's very livable and comfy, and meets my needs. I think this is a major leg-up in life to have my living situation figured out, and it be portable, and it can be left in a safe spot if I ever need/want to... like, if I want to travel abroad, or be firefighting for a month. Whatever. Makes life cheaper, offers some vocational independence. Not that I have to explain any of this to the vandweller community. Ya'll get it
Now, with this same rig I would do a few things different if I had to start at day 1 again.
First, I would not sacrifice the cubic footage needed for the roll-door cubby spot (I hope follow). It was literally the first thing I framed out, back when I thought it would be a much smaller project. I thought if I didn't replace the roll-door for some barn-style doors then it would get me in the road quicker. Now I have to slouch under that spot, and in such a small space it doesnt make any sense to not utilize every cubic foot well. I have a plan to fix it, but right now it's functional and really isn't a big problem. I'lll have to first some barn doors before tearing down that part of the ceiling.
Second, I underestimated the bathroom situation. Especially for accommodating guests. I'm improving that already... but a real bathroom is invaluable. I'd way more seriously consider designing one in if I were back to the pencil and paper. And I swear, it's the first thing people ask about all the time when checking it out in here. The new plan aint bad. At least I have the porch area to work with.
Third, it was silly to do all this work on a vehicle I wasn't absolutely certain ran good. I'm not very mechanically savvy. I've learned some while running into problems and had to drop a grand into the engine on one adventure (radiator issues). Everything seems pretty fine and it's probably got a lot of life left. Baby steps right now though. I haven't left Oregon in it yet. I need some more savings first so I have a better safety net.
And lastly, well, it's hard to say. Again, my intent is very different now then at the start. I worked super hard at first and the progress slowed and and even paused as my priorities changed. Life's crazy. So, yeah, lastly I would say you should have a clear vision on what it is you want outta life and keep that in mind. Be flexible too. Sometimes what you want changes so be realistic about how long your current goal is gonna take. Stop dinkin around and get to it (for what it's worth
).
