Hello, brothers and sisters RV living

[Karalee]

Have been studying you all and following your joys and pains for several years while contemplating my own lifestyle as a vandweller.  Retired, and my two main interests are dryfasting to cure up some major health issues, and whilst doing that learning everything about vandwelling and making dozens of sketches of floorplans, etcetera, and working out all the technical details - a lot more than I ever thought of.  I love simple and beautiful and well crafted, and seek competency in all the necessary technical and aesthetic issues of vandwelling - plus the socializing side of it too.  Taking care of elderly parents right now and healing up this ole body - and then onto the next chapter.

I'm attaching my latest floorplan vision, which is basically a bed and a small sitting room in a 13' long Ford Transit cargo van, high top, EL.  I found it in an Airstream remodel. 

There is a small washing up space and storage space each side of the bulkhead door. of course a rooftop deck for sleeping under the stars.  I decided to place the storage space up against the slider door and enter the home on wheels only through the cab bulkhead door.  

At my age I have no business carrying a lot of stuff around and have more attention on tending to my mental state before I leave for higher ground, and focus on mental entrainment, being a "mind whisperer".

 

[rvwandering]

Welcome to the CRVL forums Karalee! I like the airy, uncluttered look of the tiny home in the attached photo. It looks like a vardo rather than an Airstream to me because of the straight walls. If possible get the interior dimensions of your chosen van, tape those dimensions on your living room floor, and see how everything will fit in the space.

To help you learn the ins and outs of these forums, this "Tips, Tricks and Rules" post lists some helpful information to get you started.

Most of our rules boil down to two simple over-riding principles: 1) What you post should provide good information (like your introductory post), and 2) Any response to someone else's post should make them feel glad they are part of this forum community.

We look forward to hearing more from you.

 

[Qxxx]

Welcome Karalee. A sitting room and a long work table, very cool. I find I can store most of my stuff under the bed in my van. No need for cabinets all over the place. And I do essentially all of my cooking outdoors.

 

[eDJ_]

Welcome to to the CRVL Forums    

I've covered a lot of the ground you have described.  What I like most are your ideas of simple beauty with less being more.  One of the complaints I hear  most about Nomad's & RVer's rigs are that they look like a Gypsy Caravan of sordid rag tag rats nest.  Not all of them are this way of course.  I try to travel clean with my rig neat and orderly as I believe it draws less attention from Law Enforcement.  When on the road the most a person has to speak for them is the way they carry themselves,  the state of their mind when they converse, and the abode they are traveling in.  Unless you wish to carry business cards with with a web address to your Facebook page. (showing your home and members of your social affiliation)

Let me invite you to view my profile in which you'll find a link to a book titled "Nomadic Furnature #1 by Victor Papenek and James Hennessy.  My signature lines below may be of help too. 

I've made the observation that I'm not going on the road as a Prepper nor to homestead somewhere.  The way of the enlightened minimalist may be the best fit for the Nomad.

 

[Qxxx]

I thought I would chime in again on minimalism. I have a regular length GMC Savana van, and discovered after my first few trips that, for me, the most important thing was to have as much open floorspace as possible. It's much more livable if you can move around without feeling like you're in a small closet. I have bed, computer table that I can work at using a regular folding deck chair, and a small cabinet for solar batteries. That's it. [font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]120 VAC lights (Led) [/font][font=Tahoma, Verdana, Arial, sans-serif]off an inverter. [/font]I can work in there just like when I'm at home.

I've seen many many videos where people spent some months and thousands of $$$ building all sorts of fancy woodwork, but in the end ended up with barely room to turn around in. Plus then they have to drive all that weight around. So doing a build a step at a time can give one time to see what's really necessary. Starting with bed and table and sitting chair, and small wash area provides the essentials. then see if you really need all the other things. 

After all, that sitting room picture does look so pleasant .

 

[lmcgil03]

Beautiful floor plan!!! Best wishes & hope to see you on the road!