Hahaha.. I swear the people on this forum give the funniest responses!! -- love this place!
First off, @TMG51, man you've got a beautiful van. What beach is that? Pooping in the woods... i gotta try that sometime sounds like so much fun. Do you use a shovel to bury your poop? Your van is a great example of what I'm about to say about stealth. "Hiding in plain sight" or "100% stealth" can mean very different things depending on different criteria IMO, including exactly what you (and others like @GotSmart) have done with your beautiful vans, being a "soccer mom" driving a mini van, and more on the 'hiding' side (i.e., unmarked cargo van parking overnight somewhere strategic like a repair shop or autozone, next to other commercial vehicles in an urban area), and probably others. To me, all of these people have achieved 100% stealth, just by different means. Different types of people in different types of areas will be able to achieve 100% stealth and maximize security/safety through different routes, and would probably need to pick a different route based on who/where they are. In regard to the comment from @Canine about the "war on men", I agree with you - I am also a man and van dwelling for me, actually, is just an outcome of deciding that I would not like to get married so that no woman gets to tell me what to do, where to go, when to come home, how to spend my money, etc, etc... So, I am in the same boat as you, as I'm sure are many other men on this amazing forum, and didn't mean to offend you. My comment about that men shouldn't hang around elementary schools in a white ford transit is based purely on the state this world is in (pedophilia is a real and present threat) and I still would not advise for any man to do this. Bigoted towards men the world may be, and it is, but men still have to live in the world we are in whatever your opinion may be. In response, I would say that the good thing about us men is that we are survivors. When men are trampled upon in today's society, some men will just submit in the end, yes, but the other men will always find a way to tinker, engineer, find a solution, make it work, put in the elbow grease/hard work/blood/sweat/tears to find a way out, "no matter what". No amount of rain, snow, ice, sun will stop a man (literally). It may seem a little off topic and it does belong in it's own, but this is what brings me back to achieving 100% stealth, which I am absolutely determined to achieve for my own security and safety as a man working in an urban area, and at all costs.
Based on everyone's responses and the very meaningful discussion we have had on this thread, I have come to the following conclusion regarding 100% stealth, which I have summarized for everyone into the following 3 points, which are ordered in terms of priority with 1 being the highest:
1. Location, location, location. Probably the biggest topic in terms of things to talk about, just like a regular house if you think about it. This could include any location include urban vs rural, paid/free parking spaces, commercial vs residential vs apartments/condos vs retail vs industrial vs schools vs universities vs parks vs beaches vs anywhere, different types of commercial places such as walmart vs bodyshops vs autozone vs used car dealerships vs anything. This also includes street parking within the vicinity of any of these types of places. To me, anything is fair game to talk about as long as you're not breaking the law (check your jurisdiction for van dwelling) and there's no posted sign to not park (e.g., fire hydrants). Location could mean the middle of a huge swath of BLM land in the middle of nowhere for miles and miles in the middle of the woods off a beaten path where no one will ever see you to the middle of mid-town Manhattan. Even different locations that are the same type of location, for example one walmart vs. another walmart. Every location is going to be different in terms of stealth and what type of van will be required to acheive 100% stealth. Someone in a small town where "everyone knows everyone" do benefit by staying in a traditional beautiful camper van like the one @TMG51 or @GotSmart has in order to not look suspicious as they have pointed out. However, in an urban area, I would say a traditional camper van is not the best choice in terms of stealth, security, and safety. For example, the city is filled with a LOT of weird people, you just simply don't know what you will get. You could get a homeless crackhead seeing you sleep in your van and then try to mess with you physically like mug you, or maybe just as worse, just sit there starring at you sleeping, like crackheads do -- that would really creep me out. Or you will run into that rookie police officer that knows he can't arrest you because you're not doing anything illegal, but he will try and mess with you with anything he can find. Almost all police officers i like and respect the service they perform so dutifully for our communities, but what I am saying is that it only takes one person to compromise your safety. What if an undercover cop starts knocking on your door and dosn't show his badge to you right away? You could mistake him for a robber in the heat of the moment or in the middle of the night and come out of the van holding a weapon like a knife and then get shot in return and then you die. Now, I would not personally answer to anyone knocking on my van, but the point here is that the city is a place that is full of danger, and from all sides and angles. In many ways, cities are sadly very broken places that require you to find a way make things work, and stealth camping is one of those ways whether you are a "soccer mom" in a mini van or a "contractor" in a cargo van. Some people like to mess with people living in their vans, and not just crackheads (just some crackheads), but all kinds of people. This is why I think that the less people that know you live in your van, the better, from a security and safety standpoint. Even if your employer found out, you could get in trouble (i.e., for not "living with the joneses").
2. Who you are. This could mean male vs. female as we have pointed out, but also your appearance. This includes the way you dress, how clean/smelly you are, the way you act outside, the way you talk to strangers, if you follow little children around elementary schools, you get the point. I won't get into this too much because this is more about common sense and this applies universally to all types of vans and locations. Don't be stupid.
3. The type of van you drive. In the end, this is probably the least of these 3 things, but it does have at least some impact and it is the only one of these 3 areas that you can have total control over. Technology is always updating itself so the best way to do this 15 years ago may not be the best way to do this now, which may not be the best way to do this 15 years from now, and it probably won't be. I am updating my own build continually based on this thread discussion, but i am going to leave that out of the discussion for now until I solidify the electrical system i am planning so you guys can see exactly what i'm talking about in terms of not needing solar panels instead of just disagreeing with me because that's not the way you do it. Personally, I think solar has some way to go before it really becomes a more mainstream technology in terms of efficiency. Give me a 12v solar panel that will output about 50 amps and I will find a way to use it, and I will use at least a few or couple of them. Solar panels right now are at most 23% efficient (like at the top of the curve), which to me is not enough - 10 amps if you're lucky is not enough. Battery technology is another thing to talk about, but an LFP bank has many advantages over a lead-acid bank that allow you to use them in new ways - but that's a discussion for a new thread i promise to start!
It takes a few hours to top off the batteries. When the batteries are low, yes they will suck up just about anything you can throw at them, but when it comes to topping off the batteries, that takes time. You could have 3000 watts available, but that won't speed up the charging process during the last charging stage. That is an important stage that is even more important for AGM's and other types. If the batteries don't get that last bit, the batteries won't last as long.
