I bought my van!

[Sheena]

Hey y'all.

Sheena here. Just here to introduce myself. I'm a Designer and Artist soon to be van dweller. Raised in the Northwest, I spent a few years in the deep South too and I currently lay my head down in New England. I have two dogs that are my family and best friends. I spend a lot of time camping, backpacking and I generally enjoy doing things out of doors. I recently started riding a motorcycle (1974 Yamaha RD250) and I love it too. Van dwelling feels like a good fit for me. 

I started looking at building a tiny house or living in an RV about a year ago. Mostly just reading a lot about it. I decided to go with van living as it best suits my current needs. Currently, I'm getting rid of material things, paying down debt and doing lot's of reading on the matter. I just bought my van yesterday, rather impulsively so I guess research continues but the ball is motion. I'll be working on making a few improvements to my van before I jump in. I'm here to learn and share. I'm so excited to join y'all.

Things I'm excited about:
The prospect of living smaller
Learning - I love taking on new challenges
Being more sustainable
Seeing my friends all over the country
Cooking in my van - This is just the most fun thing to me!
Having time for focusing on self-improvement and creativity
Travel and stillness
Joining and helping to build a creative community with like-minded people (but pleasantly individually unique!) 

Fears/Apprehensions 
My dogs - keeping them safe and giving them a high quality of life
Van maintenance - I'm no mechanic
General safety - I'm practically fearless. This is not always safe. Taking risks isn't bad, but I want to be smart. 

The Van:
1989 
Dodge Ram
Xplorer Camper van
Drives like a dream
Low miles - 51,000
Interior is excellent condition
All the features are working and are in incredible condition. It's like they never used it other than to drive and sleep
Downside - it's got some rust underneath. I know this isn't great. Bought it in New England so this is not uncommon here. I only paid $1000 though. I figure I can start here and then upgrade once I've got a little experience and know what I like better.

 

[rvwandering]

Welcome to the CRVL forums! Congratulations on your new soon-to-be home! As always we do want to see pictures. From your introduction it looks like vandwelling will be a perfect fit for you!

To help you learn the ins and outs of these forums, this "Tips & Tricks" post lists some helpful information to get you started. We look forward to hearing more from you.

 

[cyndi]

Many of us center our lives around our 4 legged companions. Their safety and comfort is paramount. At the most it can be a little inconvenient. The worst? I may not be able to go to a museum, eat out, go shopping or hike some trail because it's too hot or they're not allowed. It's not a problem for myself and many others.

 

[SoulRaven]

Sounds like you are on your way to a new life. I'm older and have always had dogs. The dogs always loved getting in anything with wheels and even found tents exciting. I have spend long term in a pop-up camper with up with two dogs, larger ones and they just find a place because they want to show that they fit. My dogs are both microchipped which might be a good investment but they have all sorts of ID on their collars. I always use the collars with the standard metal buckle since I had the plastic ones break in the past. Also, have some way to protect them on walks, like pepper spray, big walking stick or what we use which may not be legal everywhere, a stun gun - we had a "run-in" when walking the dogs in the neighborhood. If your dogs might decide to "take off", I would do some obedience work with them so that when you say "stop", they will.

Yes, feeling "fearless" is the extreme opposite of "fearfully frozen" with neither be the best, so you'll have to work on that.

With the van maintenance, hopefully, you'll have good luck and if not, lots of people online willing to give you guidance from do-it-yourself to best bet for repair shops.

 

[Canine]

Congrats on the van.Van dwelling sounds like a good fit for you.

 

[eDJ_]

Welcome and congratulations !    Nice to see another artist/designer among us.

You may want to have a rustproofing shop check out the bottom of your Van for you.  There may be a product that they can spray coat it with that will stop the rust from progressing.  Such as:

http://www.rustguy.com/


In your research did you see a copy of "Dwell" magazine ?

www.dwell.com/magazine

 

[OpenSpaceman]

Hey y'all.

Sheena here. Just here to introduce myself. I'm a Designer and Artist soon to be van dweller. Raised in the Northwest, I spent a few years in the deep South too and I currently lay my head down in New England. 

Congrats! Two years ago I was in your shoes...It took me a while to get back to zero debt and build my travel fund. I'm sure you'll be hit'n the road way before then. Everything's out there info wise for the asking and of course on Bob's forum. Excited for you.

 

[Anans1]

Welcome! I recently finished my first full conversion and I'll be using what I've learned to do at least one more for myself... If you need any advice on building feel free to pm me! I'm happy to help.

 

[Theadyn]

Hi and Welcome!!

 

[rvpopeye]

Sheena
Welcome to the CRVL forums.
Your new life begins and this is the perfect source for your questions.
Lots of us travel with dogs .
Lots of us can help with mechanical information.
Lots of advice here on personal safety.

 

[Varmint]

Welcome to the forum, Sheena.
Nice van, that Dodge....they seem to run forever with minimal maintenance and are relatively easy to work on. As for the rust, you might want to check out a product called MONSTALINER....it can be rolled or brushed on. A 4" bench grinder with a wire wheel can remove a lot of rust for you in preparation to the rust-proofing. One guy I know of even painted his entire volkswagon vanagon with that stuff! His link is here: http://www.tosimplify.net/p/rig.html

Good luck in your preps and travels!