Hello.

[drivan]

Recently retired early. Thinking what to do, or where to go, now. I've been an infrequent lurker to the VanLife way for several years. Watching Bob's (and many others') videos, following hashtags, window shopping conversions, categorizing the VanLife know-how, recently binging 80/20 YT videos.

There's a song by the Cowboy Junkies that encaptures the mood of my soul for so many years called 'Witches'. Maybe it's time.

 

[jacqueg]

There is literally no time like the present! Start going camping. If full-timing is for you, you'll soon know it. Then you can get serious...

 

[eDJ_]

Have you any hobbies that would lend themselves well to travel ? Such as Photography or perhaps watercolor. Maybe you like to write songs where traveling could inspire your craft. Perhaps even podcasting about your travels and places you visit.

I would advise against burning bridges behind you and making lots of changes all at once. Some times the slow growth is the best growth.

 

[tx2sturgis]

Welcome to the forum....

Early retirement worked out for me also!

 

[bullfrog]

I early retired at 53 years old but continued to work seasonally just because I enjoy helping people and having something to do I enjoy. In the last 18 years I’ve only not worked 3 or 4 years. I turn 71 years old in a few days maybe I’ll try to retire again! Lol!!!

 

[drivan]

Thanks for the responses, everyone!

@jacqueg Love camping. Haven't done enough to soothe my heart as it needs but I can manage 30 degrees Fahrenheit for two weeks of tent camping. I love nature, always have.

@eDJ_ Some bridges were already washed over I'm afraid. Not all. Trying to keep the stable and important ones intact. Slow is good. Admittedly, there is an itch to just jump in as fast as you please but I understand there are so many things to do, work out, understand. That takes time. So, time must be given.

@tx2sturgis Glad to hear that! Wish it could have waited a bit longer but then I'd be several years older, stiffer, and likely less motivated to consider this.

@bullfrog You know, I'm certainly interested in seasonal work. I'm surprised there are so many things to do. All sorts of stuff. Also, would love to volunteer so I'm hoping to keep that up on my priorities list of things to accomplish yearly. Good stuff.

Some of you might wrinkle your nose but, I'm coming out of Los Angeles (yeah, I know). Been here since 1985 aside from a brief stint in the USMC. Got into college, then a job and career (queue Admiral Ackbar). The way the world turns now, it's just so unfortunate, uncertain, and sad. I will be glad to get out of this city finally.

My current issue is, and it's becoming more frustrating the more I research, is finding the right vehicle. Cannot plan anything till I decide what the best choice is. Juggling the PM, Transit, and thirdly a Chevy/GMC. Still investigating.

 

[maki2]

It is more cost effective to frame your cabinets with aluminum angle and also lighter in weight than it is to use 80/20. That is what my cabinets are constructed with. I have worked with 80/20 on occasion but I was also an aircraft fabrication mechanic at Boeing so have I have done a LOT of work with aluminum angle as well.

 

[afblangley]

My current issue is, and it's becoming more frustrating the more I research, is finding the right vehicle. Cannot plan anything till I decide what the best choice is. Juggling the PM, Transit, and thirdly a Chevy/GMC. Still investigating.

Those are very different vehicles. A bit of hands on research may quickly whittle it down. It took less than 30 seconds after stepping inside a Savana, to eliminate it from my list. The difference in build quality of the Promaster and Transit is readily visible in the bare cargo van. Ditto with the handling, ride quality, and ergonomics. And engine power, acceleration, and lag.

It is a seller's market, so choices are somewhat limited, prices are high, and quick action is required once the desired vehicle is found. Are you buying new or used? Is price a limiting factor? Is the ability to stand upright important? Keep your list of essential criteria short and be prepared to be flexible. I wanted a new (or lightly used) Transit. The only options I required were high roof, windows, EcoBoost, and AWD in any color but white. I thought my criteria was short, but a nationwide search was fruitless. I pivoted and found a Sprinter that met my criteria. I put down a deposit, traveled 1500 miles, and closed the deal within a few days. They had two backups behind my offer.

 

[drivan]

It is more cost effective to frame your cabinets with aluminum angle and also lighter in weight than it is to use 80/20. That is what my cabinets are constructed with. I have worked with 80/20 on occasion but I was also an aircraft fabrication mechanic at Boeing so have I have done a LOT of work with aluminum angle as well.

Thanks for the idea maki2. TBH I have not seen anything in the videos I've watched about build using aluminum angle. Last night I did a brief google search and felt I did not find much. Do you know of any resources online I can look into?

 

[drivan]

Those are very different vehicles. A bit of hands on research may quickly whittle it down. It took less than 30 seconds after stepping inside a Savana, to eliminate it from my list. The difference in build quality of the Promaster and Transit is readily visible in the bare cargo van. Ditto with the handling, ride quality, and ergonomics. And engine power, acceleration, and lag.

It is a seller's market, so choices are somewhat limited, prices are high, and quick action is required once the desired vehicle is found. Are you buying new or used? Is price a limiting factor? Is the ability to stand upright important? Keep your list of essential criteria short and be prepared to be flexible. I wanted a new (or lightly used) Transit. The only options I required were high roof, windows, EcoBoost, and AWD in any color but white. I thought my criteria was short, but a nationwide search was fruitless. I pivoted and found a Sprinter that met my criteria. I put down a deposit, traveled 1500 miles, and closed the deal within a few days. They had two backups behind my offer.

Thanks for replying afblangley.

Agreed. I imagine the PM and Transit are close cousins (different drivetrains though yeah?); I would prefer AWD (though not a deal breaker). Did some further looking into Chevy/GMC vans and realized there are benefits there too. One of my priorities is build small as this will be my first time. Aligned with that is the idea to be minimalistic. I do not want space to trick me into buying unnecessary things to fill said space. Ideally, a small enough space to hold what I need and not much more.

Clearly see the advantage of being able to stand up in your space. But I don't really know how many hours of the day vandwellers stand up in their homes opposed to spending time outside of them, sitting down in them, or sleeping in them. Storage space, in the form of cabinetry, comes to mind with higher roofed vans as a necessity. That might be the deciding factor regarding that. Again, I would prefer to remain as small as possible. Foresty Forest upgraded from a Mini Van to a used Quigley Chevy van and build it out in Canada. In the middle of winter. While he was living in it. Me ---> mind-blown.

Gas mileage is also somewhat important to me. And Chevy / GMC vans perform miserable compared to the PM and Transits. However, if I'm going out and spending a couple of weeks in BLM several times a year that does diminish your use of gas. I may decide at some point to check out the eastern US, see some Natl Parks, etc. but this would not be my primary use for the vehicle. I do intend on settling into places for a week or two pretty frequently. Might even do seasonal work, camp work, volunteering to mix things up. The idea is that I do not plan on driving all the time. Hopefully very little. So not sure if that eases the financial strain of having to pay for more gas because your vehicle loves to drink dead dinosaurs.

I would prefer a solid used vehicle; clean title, low milage, a trustworthy engine and transmission. Only would buy new if other options were not panning out. Still perusing used vehicles online in AZ and SoCal. Many of those used vehicle prices are not far off from their newer counterparts. And I have not seen many, if any, owner sellers. I'm in no rush yet. Just looking, browsing, considering.

 

[maki2]

Not much to it. Cut to length and use pull rivets to assemble the pieces.

 

[maki2]

Photos for the 1/8" thick aluminum face frames for my cabinets plus one end result image.
Sorry the photos are not in correct order of the steps. I cut the aluminum angle to length using a carbide blade on my power miter saw. Fastest way to cut to length. Some notching of the angles was needed now and again and that was done with a bimetal blade on a jigsaw or bandsaw. The overlapping intersection are riveted with aluminum pull (pop) rivets. Some intersections use 2 rivets to which prevens the frame from racking. Other times only 1 rivet is needed. My horizontal frame pieces overlap my vertical pieces.That is an engineering decision. My cabinet door hinges are riveted to the aluminum frame but those areas where it is hinged have a flat aluminum 1/8" bar stock filler to level the vertical frame to the same surface height as the horizontal framing so that the cabinet doors close flush. Building with aluminum angle is something I have done for many years. In the photos you will see an easy way to clamp and keep holes aligned. Those are Cleco Clamps and pliers, a very common aircraft mechanics tool. You can purchase a set of cleco pliers and assorted cleco clamp sizes from Amazon.

In the photo you will see that using full extension drawer slides I also fabricated a custom slide out for my fridge that is built into the cabinet frame work. My Rosie the Riveter background of doing fabrication for Boeing lets me think outside the box of what you see other people doing for van builds.

 

[maki2]

I forgot to mention. you can now purchase rivet pullers that are powered by rechargeable screw drivers. I had access to a pneumatic puller where I was doing that phase of cabinet frame assembly shown above. But for building on the road one of those new types of pullers will be a real time saver versus pulling by hand powered squeeze tools.

 

[drivan]

My horizontal frame pieces overlap my vertical pieces.That is an engineering decision. My cabinet door hinges are riveted to the aluminum frame but those areas where it is hinged have a flat aluminum 1/8" bar stock filler to level the vertical frame to the same surface height as the horizontal framing so that the cabinet doors close flush.

So the vertical pieces end up having 2 x 1/8" width of aluminum? I assume this is for the entire length of those vertical pieces yes?

Also, three additional questions:
1. What's involved with anchoring to the van?
2. Is there any welding involved?
3. What is the weight bearing of these cabinets?

Thanks much for your responses, pictures, description and time!

 

[maki2]

Aluminum T 6061 angle 1x1 by1/8”is way stronger than any piece of wood that would be typical fora cabinet face frame. Do not worry about load bearing but you can find online, engineering charts if it thrills you to mess with such things.

As to my using a 2”x 2” x1/8” piece of angle for a vertical support. It is actually 1-1/2”. That is only partially related to the load for the cabinet itself. My build is inside a fiberglass travel trailer. At that corner of the cabinet I have a stainless steel post that goes up against the roof. So that frame member of the cabinet face frame is taking a fair amount of load from the roof and transferring that load to the trailer floor which then distributes it onto the frame under the trailer. I have a pop up section in my trailer roof and the roof can not wholly support itself at the opening at that area. If I was in a van which has a self supporting roof I would not have used 1-1/2” angle.

I was fortunate for my build to have access to a low cost sources and also even some free supplies of aluminum angle stock.

 

[drivan]

Aluminum T 6061 angle 1x1 by1/8”is way stronger than any piece of wood that would be typical fora cabinet face frame. Do not worry about load bearing but you can find online, engineering charts if it thrills you to mess with such things.

As to my using a 2”x 2” x1/8” piece of angle for a vertical support. It is actually 1-1/2”. That is only partially related to the load for the cabinet itself. My build is inside a fiberglass travel trailer. At that corner of the cabinet I have a stainless steel post that goes up against the roof. So that frame member of the cabinet face frame is taking a fair amount of load from the roof and transferring that load to the trailer floor which then distributes it onto the frame under the trailer. I have a pop up section in my trailer roof and the roof can not wholly support itself at the opening at that area. If I was in a van which has a self supporting roof I would not have used 1-1/2” angle.

I was fortunate for my build to have access to a low cost sources and also even some free supplies of aluminum angle stock.

Thanks for sharing again maki2. You've given me some more to think about and have given me some ideas to boot!

Also, really appreciated the pics. They helped pull it together in my mind.

 

[rruff]

My current issue is, and it's becoming more frustrating the more I research, is finding the right vehicle. Cannot plan anything till I decide what the best choice is. Juggling the PM, Transit, and thirdly a Chevy/GMC. Still investigating.

Where will you camp (where in the country, how remote), what times of the year (hot and cold envelope), how much stuff do you need?... etc.

Oh... and what is your budget?

 

[drivan]

Where will you camp (where in the country, how remote), what times of the year (hot and cold envelope), how much stuff do you need?... etc.

Oh... and what is your budget?

Hey rruff o/

Really want to slow trip once around the states. Focus on Natl / State Parks or other Historical locations I've never been to.

Would love to check out Canada every 2 to 3 years. Maybe even try for Alaska once. No interest right now south of the border.

Perhaps seasonal work or part-time and volunteering in between. Most of my time though will be spent west of 100-degree longitude to the west coast.

I want the ability to go remote for weeks when I choose. Do the snowbird cycle generally.

I'm pausing on a firm budget right now to see if dealers will let up on prices in the next 6 to 9 months (i've read they may drop next spring). Don't need to leave quite yet. Flexible in that regard.

 

[rruff]

Used prices will probably continue to improve (from a crazy high level), but I don't know if I'd count on prices dropping on new... not with general inflation of 8%.

Sounds like you don't need offroad capability that much. If you did, a truck camper would probably be a better choice. A class B RV might work well for you unless you like building things yourself. Look for a good brand, low miles, well cared for. I'd steer away from a Sprinter base, but anything else is probably fine.

 

[rruff]

I missed one of your important posts... doh! Sorry about that.

PM and Transit are pretty different. PM is front wheel drive, has a lower floor, but also a low rear axle... but there is a fix for that. Gas mileage is a little better than late model GMs (if you get the non-turbo Transit) but I don't think it's huge. They all seem to be in the same ballpark as far as reliability goes. AWD is only available on the Transit. If you want 4WD low range, I think a truck is better. The conversions on vans are so expensive. If a truck interests you, look at Spacekap, Maranda, and Tufport as camper starting points.