250 sized Van vs 350 sized Van?

[Wabbit]

... Was hoping for some help but getting no where...

Hi Magbobnum. If you need help with something, pick a subforum that fits the topic and start a thread. Choosing the right subforum works best because some people just check certain subforum because that their area of expertise. That make sense? If not PM me and I will help walk ya through it. I'm not on 24/7, but will get back to you if I see a new PM. Best of luck!

 

[K9EZ]

I hope to facilitate remote health care which sometimes starts with washing.

Hi Magbobnum. If you need help with something, pick a subforum that fits the topic and start a thread. Choosing the right subforum works best because some people just check certain subforum because that their area of expertise. That make sense? If not PM me and I will help walk ya through it. I'm not on 24/7, but will get back to you if I see a new PM. Best of luck!

Valid suggestions; and btw, I'm going to call carrying more water a mission-critical topic for 100's and 100's of Van Dwellers.  The technical difficulties of having enough water appear to be unsolved or addressed — just an observation.

 

[Van-Tramp]

I carry 25 gallons (for two adults and two dogs) and consider it enough water. It lasts a full week for us (and one of our dogs is part camel). I find water easy to come by and do not feel the need to carry more from difficulty or scarcity. I would consider 40+ gallons to be a ridiculous amount to have in a van. It is a massive waste of space for a resource you use only a tiny fraction each day. You will be unable to carry any food with all the storage space taken up by water, meaning you will have to go right back into town for food more often, eliminating the whole purpose of carrying so much water.

Part of van-living is living within one's means. If you want to continue living in a van, you have to drop the sticks-n-bricks mentality that huge amounts of water (or electricity) is necessary to have a happy or clean life. If you must hold onto your previous water use from your sticks-n-bricks life, you will not last long in a van. 3 gallons a day usage is a huge amount for a single person. If you can't pull that off, I fear your plans are already doomed.

Instead, I offer the out of the box ideas that come standard to most van-dwellers...
1) bathe elsewhere (gym, community centers, lake/stream, etc)
2) bathe less often (it is a false that you must bathe daily to be clean)
2) bathe from a pot, pan, bowl, or bucket with a washcloth and soap and use only a fraction of the water

Good luck

 

[B and C]

My Roadtrek has a 35 gallon fresh water tank and I carry 7 more gallons (reserve) in a blue water jug. It also has an outside shower that could be helpful for you. Bigger RVs will have a bigger fresh water tank and may have the outside shower as well. If you really want to live in and carry that much water, you're probably better off looking at a cube van in the 450 class.

 

[popcorn2007]

If your wanting to lug all that water, get a small enclosed cargo trailer.

 I have a noob question or two....
 At what point is a v6 or 1/2 van a bad choice? I'm sure i'm going to overload it and/or would be puling a trailer behind it
 Would a 1 ton have a higher repair costs? Any unknown down sides to a 1 ton?
 At what point is the ford plug problem resolved? I hear it was 2009
 
Someone out here has a budget 3/4 ton with a v6 and theres a few budget 1 ton vans. All the other vans are v8-3/4. And most of the vans listed are ford.

 

[highdesertranger]

I agree you don't need to carry tons of water. the water I carry I only use for drinking, cooking, and minimal washing. I carry 30 gallons for this, last 2-3 weeks. for my prospecting, big washing, some cooking I use spring or creek water. I spend most of my time in the desert I can find water in most places no problem. highdesertranger

 

[bullfrog]

If you are doing showers for patients wouldn't they have a water source where they live? Most van dwellers have worked out what works for them and if they couldn't went to an RV with larger tanks or to places with hookups. Filtering, treatment and recycling are newer ways some use but sometimes cost prohibitive foe many.

 

[Doubleone]

At some point on a medical mission to an area without potable water, facilitating clean drinking water for the entire population becomes more important than treating individual patients. If there were rivers, lakes, or existing wells I'd plan a system to treat water onsite, or I'd be thinking about drilling some wells for people. The only circumstance I think it not viable would be industrial chemical contamination (hexavalent, arsenic, etc). Imagine pulling into a remote area and word gets out that you have clean water; you'd have a line of desperate people begging for drinking water.