Minivanmotoman
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The idea is to maximize the minimize so as to obtain the most with the least. How to adjust or adapt ones attitude and choices to their daily living to be comfortable without stuff? Not an easy thing in our consumerist society where everything is easily obtained yet shackles us to our belongings and the corresponding obligations.
After living in a minivan for four years, looking to evolve into another rig and planning a build out.
What does one really need? Enough for a reasonable amount of necessities and comfort but not more, so as to gain space, save weight, better manueverability, max. mpg, reduce clutter.
Basically the first important thing is shelter. A safe place with protection from the elements to rest and sleep. That's the most important. Followed by the ability to transport yourself and belongings efficiently. Third is just enough shelter and room for daily activities. That is basically the requirement for me and a rig and how it should be prioritized. The best, efficient, reliable rig with enough room to sleep and live in.
Anything more, excess?
How big a comfort zone do I need to be happy? The less money I spend, the longer and farther I can travel.
Today's RV and status quo is too have all the luxury and convenience packed into as much overall space/ size that one can afford.
I want to go in the other direction to optimize valuable real estate which must be carried and the associated costs of hauling, space and ownership, thus time and money. For me, the lifestyle is about true freedom, simple living, minimal shackles from stuff. Of course it will be different for all of us.
So what do I really need vs want?
One thread on here by Rabbit was the inspiration to assess this. His suggestion was basically shower in a bag. Brilliantly simple, light weight, folds up when not in use taking no space, and cheap. This led me to thinking about planning space by prioritizing, what gets used the most and allocating to that need.
For instance, kitchens and bathrooms. How much time is spent there and how much space should it take up? Very little, if any imho.
So what do we spend the most time on and be the largest use of space?
Sleep, sitting, desk/tasks, thinking/reading/ entertainment seems to me to be the order of priorities. Cooking and bath are minimal time and priority to me so those space allocations should be small accordingly.
Other necessary aspects are storage and simply, comfortable living area or just comfort space if you will.
To me, space is not to be ignored. It is the ultimate luxury and enhancement to liveability.
Have comfortable room as opposed to packing every conceivable minimal convenience tightly into a restricted space. What do I need and what can I live without? How to minimize the comfort zone yet be comfortable and happy?
So in planning so far, have come up with the following ideas;
1. Sleeping is one activity that takes up a good portion of our lives and so important to give space and comfort, when in use. Rest of the time it is dead space.
Murphy style bed, drop down from vertical to horizontal. Space gain to be used for seating area that folds down under bed. This over comes the converted couch to bed setup which is hard to get truly comfortable and distorts the mattress sitting area. And generic foam cut into two parts isn't as comfortable as a real mattress. Ever keep falling into the foam cracks as you sleep?
2. Bath area to fold out for use. Using Rabbit's idea of fold out rods to hold the bag in place, use swing out rods with curtains instead. Water to collect into a pull out drawer basin from under a seat. Takes no space when not in use.
3. One sink, no pump or plumbing or hot water.
Simple garden sprayer for faucet for both sink and the shower, placed side by side. Heat hot water on stove when needed. How often does one need hot water and the necessary water heater on demand expense, space, weight and complexity?
4. Single stove burner for cooking and heating ala Bob Wells magic. Is more than this necessary? Portable and removable gains counter space when not in use. How many hours of cooking is there? Yes it's impressive to have the six burner Viking pro chef but at this stage in my life, so past trying to impress and feed my ego.
5. No oven as it's a space and energy hog. This will be heresy to many ingrained to baking/ roasting habits but get it on the road when you have that urge for fresh baked goods. Why carry and waste that space for infrequent use? And it is inefficient cooking, using air transfer and uses up more fuel than necessary. Mobile living is like nature ideally, don't carry more than you have to and always be efficient in action or movement. Look at how animals live, everything is efficiently done with little waste and no excess. Our living should be the same.
6. No fridge. Again, this will be sacrilege to many on here. Why spend the $1000s on solar and fridge if not necessary? I understand why, it's rhetorical. In my 4 years without a fridge, found that when I need something cold, I go out and treat myself, don't need to lug it around
constantly or use up space. But, but, yeah. Found that I can live on fresh, dry and canned well enough. Frozen is a luxury. Lots of things will keep long enough without a fridge. Eliminate dairy, alcohol, wheat, corn, beef, all the things that you think you need an oven or fridge for and maybe you will be healthier? Think about it.
6. Storage ideas. The first place to start is to minimize what you need storage space for. This is tricky as living in an RV, needs lots to maintain the lifestyle on the road as one must be truly self contained ideally. Needed? Utility? These are all valid questions and different for all. Finding nooks and crannies to stuff things is what it is all about. Basement storage and overhead storage are the two space efficient ways to go.
7. Utilize sliding doors instead of hinged on, cabinets. Cheaper, less complex, allows for lighter doors that don't swing out and need to be locked into position.
8. Wire rack upper shelving, light and strong and not ridiculously expensive.
9. The rig itself, just right big enough. A van is an ideal way to start for solo. Are there variations that would optimize even more? Exploring this right now.
10. Entertainment, hobbies and past times.
This should not be underrated. Actually very important to keep the mind active. Allocating space accordingly will be beneficial. Now this can be as simple as a tablet or laptop spot with an angled holder. Or swing out TV. A desk and or pull out surface can be useful or dual purpose table. How to incorporate this?Lots of ideas online and this will be specific to setup.
11. Empty space. This is room and comfort imho. Not being cramped, imprisoned by your stuff in an RV. Design efficiency to gain the luxury of space, free movement. Smart design and reduced stuff yields empty space, breathing room and comfort. That's why we all migrate to bigger is better. But this is only true to a certain extent and why the Class B and B+ are getting popular right now.
Yeah, this was long but ideally thought provoking for some or many. The more planning that you put into a build, hopefully better results. And isn't this the purpose of a forum, share knowledge and entertainment?
Have you got any space saving ideas or thoughts that are ingenious that you would care to share and help out others?
After living in a minivan for four years, looking to evolve into another rig and planning a build out.
What does one really need? Enough for a reasonable amount of necessities and comfort but not more, so as to gain space, save weight, better manueverability, max. mpg, reduce clutter.
Basically the first important thing is shelter. A safe place with protection from the elements to rest and sleep. That's the most important. Followed by the ability to transport yourself and belongings efficiently. Third is just enough shelter and room for daily activities. That is basically the requirement for me and a rig and how it should be prioritized. The best, efficient, reliable rig with enough room to sleep and live in.
Anything more, excess?
How big a comfort zone do I need to be happy? The less money I spend, the longer and farther I can travel.
Today's RV and status quo is too have all the luxury and convenience packed into as much overall space/ size that one can afford.
I want to go in the other direction to optimize valuable real estate which must be carried and the associated costs of hauling, space and ownership, thus time and money. For me, the lifestyle is about true freedom, simple living, minimal shackles from stuff. Of course it will be different for all of us.
So what do I really need vs want?
One thread on here by Rabbit was the inspiration to assess this. His suggestion was basically shower in a bag. Brilliantly simple, light weight, folds up when not in use taking no space, and cheap. This led me to thinking about planning space by prioritizing, what gets used the most and allocating to that need.
For instance, kitchens and bathrooms. How much time is spent there and how much space should it take up? Very little, if any imho.
So what do we spend the most time on and be the largest use of space?
Sleep, sitting, desk/tasks, thinking/reading/ entertainment seems to me to be the order of priorities. Cooking and bath are minimal time and priority to me so those space allocations should be small accordingly.
Other necessary aspects are storage and simply, comfortable living area or just comfort space if you will.
To me, space is not to be ignored. It is the ultimate luxury and enhancement to liveability.
Have comfortable room as opposed to packing every conceivable minimal convenience tightly into a restricted space. What do I need and what can I live without? How to minimize the comfort zone yet be comfortable and happy?
So in planning so far, have come up with the following ideas;
1. Sleeping is one activity that takes up a good portion of our lives and so important to give space and comfort, when in use. Rest of the time it is dead space.
Murphy style bed, drop down from vertical to horizontal. Space gain to be used for seating area that folds down under bed. This over comes the converted couch to bed setup which is hard to get truly comfortable and distorts the mattress sitting area. And generic foam cut into two parts isn't as comfortable as a real mattress. Ever keep falling into the foam cracks as you sleep?
2. Bath area to fold out for use. Using Rabbit's idea of fold out rods to hold the bag in place, use swing out rods with curtains instead. Water to collect into a pull out drawer basin from under a seat. Takes no space when not in use.
3. One sink, no pump or plumbing or hot water.
Simple garden sprayer for faucet for both sink and the shower, placed side by side. Heat hot water on stove when needed. How often does one need hot water and the necessary water heater on demand expense, space, weight and complexity?
4. Single stove burner for cooking and heating ala Bob Wells magic. Is more than this necessary? Portable and removable gains counter space when not in use. How many hours of cooking is there? Yes it's impressive to have the six burner Viking pro chef but at this stage in my life, so past trying to impress and feed my ego.
5. No oven as it's a space and energy hog. This will be heresy to many ingrained to baking/ roasting habits but get it on the road when you have that urge for fresh baked goods. Why carry and waste that space for infrequent use? And it is inefficient cooking, using air transfer and uses up more fuel than necessary. Mobile living is like nature ideally, don't carry more than you have to and always be efficient in action or movement. Look at how animals live, everything is efficiently done with little waste and no excess. Our living should be the same.
6. No fridge. Again, this will be sacrilege to many on here. Why spend the $1000s on solar and fridge if not necessary? I understand why, it's rhetorical. In my 4 years without a fridge, found that when I need something cold, I go out and treat myself, don't need to lug it around
constantly or use up space. But, but, yeah. Found that I can live on fresh, dry and canned well enough. Frozen is a luxury. Lots of things will keep long enough without a fridge. Eliminate dairy, alcohol, wheat, corn, beef, all the things that you think you need an oven or fridge for and maybe you will be healthier? Think about it.
6. Storage ideas. The first place to start is to minimize what you need storage space for. This is tricky as living in an RV, needs lots to maintain the lifestyle on the road as one must be truly self contained ideally. Needed? Utility? These are all valid questions and different for all. Finding nooks and crannies to stuff things is what it is all about. Basement storage and overhead storage are the two space efficient ways to go.
7. Utilize sliding doors instead of hinged on, cabinets. Cheaper, less complex, allows for lighter doors that don't swing out and need to be locked into position.
8. Wire rack upper shelving, light and strong and not ridiculously expensive.
9. The rig itself, just right big enough. A van is an ideal way to start for solo. Are there variations that would optimize even more? Exploring this right now.
10. Entertainment, hobbies and past times.
This should not be underrated. Actually very important to keep the mind active. Allocating space accordingly will be beneficial. Now this can be as simple as a tablet or laptop spot with an angled holder. Or swing out TV. A desk and or pull out surface can be useful or dual purpose table. How to incorporate this?Lots of ideas online and this will be specific to setup.
11. Empty space. This is room and comfort imho. Not being cramped, imprisoned by your stuff in an RV. Design efficiency to gain the luxury of space, free movement. Smart design and reduced stuff yields empty space, breathing room and comfort. That's why we all migrate to bigger is better. But this is only true to a certain extent and why the Class B and B+ are getting popular right now.
Yeah, this was long but ideally thought provoking for some or many. The more planning that you put into a build, hopefully better results. And isn't this the purpose of a forum, share knowledge and entertainment?
Have you got any space saving ideas or thoughts that are ingenious that you would care to share and help out others?
don't skimp here for sure 
