New guy, getting my van ready for full time vandwelling

[travel]

Hi everyone! I've been an avid lurker of the main CheapRVLiving website, as well as countless other vandwelling websites, YouTube videos and ebooks (including Robert's book). For some reason, I didn't really get into this forum - wish I had. So I have a lot of reading to do now! A year ago, this was a neat idea, but nothing more. Then 6 months ago, I started considering it as a viable option. In the last 3 months, I've made the mental shift, started getting rid of and selling&nbsp;unnecessary&nbsp;items, and started getting my van set up for full time living. For the last few months, I've also been living with my elderly mother, but it's not working out, for many reasons (mine and hers). She just announced that since I'm moving, she's selling the house. So I guess she's finally realized I'm serious and accepted it. And that means I "really" have to get my van ready and actually do this, not just keep reading about it! Oh, and I'll be taking a 30 pound mixed breed dog with me.&nbsp;<br><br>Technically, I'm not at the "point of no return" yet, but I know the time has come for me to make a change in my life and just do this. I don't want to stay where I am, and I'm free to go anywhere or do anything at this point. It's a very liberating feeling. Other that the guilt trip of leaving an elderly parent alone (and needing to raise a bit more money), there's nothing stopping me from doing this. I'm sure I'll be much happier and healthier - mentally and&nbsp;physically&nbsp; Although there is no set deadline yet, I imagine my mother's house will sell quickly, which means I could be moving out in as little as a month or two if things move quickly. If I really needed a few more weeks to get ready, I could stay with her at the new place, but I'd rather not.&nbsp;<br><br>I have a Chevy Astro passenger van that I've owned for 2 years, and I'm turing it into a "conversion van" or "travel van" now. Visions of a VW Westfalia setup danced in my head, but I don't have the time or money for that. The two rows of rear bench seats have been out for a while. I'll probably give them away or sell them. I feel pretty confident that the van is in mechanically good condition now and it "should" be fine to drive anywhere. Last month, I installed pop-out rear barn door windows that I've had laying around for a year. With no "raised roof" and dark tinted windows with blackout curtains, my van should be nice and stealthy. In the next couple of weeks I will get the windows tinted very dark. Tomorrow I am going out to look at mattresses (twin size) and either buy one, or a put a deposit on one (there's a an excellent sale that ends tomorrow, and I don't want to miss out). <br><br>Once I have the mattress, I can build the rest of the interior around it. Depending how much time and money I have, I may just throw that mattress in and some boxes of essential items and clothes. If I have a bit more time, I'd like to make a platform for the bed with storage underneath it, insulate the floor (and maybe the walls and roof). Make some privacy curtains, and a cabinet at the back (accessible by the rear barn doors) for a "kitchen" with a sink, fresh water, grey water tank, a portable 1 or 2 burner stove/cooktop, food storage and if possible, a fridge. Probably a small bar fridge from WalMart if I can figure out a power source for it. A NovaKool would be nice, but I can't drop $1000 or more on one right now. I've ruled out a 3 way fridge as they seem too finicky and prone to failure. Worst case, I'll start off with a 5 day cooler. <br><br>Also money and time permitting, I may get a house battery and a solar panel to charge it. The only electrical items I can see me using are my laptop and maybe that fridge. Any thoughts on those "booster packs" you can charge with shore power or via a 12V source while driving? Also not sure what to do about ventilation and keeping a stealthy look. A roof vent could draw attention, as could open windows (the pop-out rear windows), unless I park next to a hedge or back into a parking space that hides the back doors, I may not be able to open the windows and keep a low profile. I can attach screens around the windows in the interior with velcro or magnetic strips (if I screw in something on the plastic trim inside for the magnets to stick to).<br><br><br><br>

 

[rokguy]

<EM><STRONG><SPAN style="COLOR: #888888">Yeh Welcome travel,</SPAN></STRONG></EM><BR><EM><STRONG><SPAN style="COLOR: #888888">If it was myself I would go with an esky (cooler) and have the aux battery and solar first.<BR>Cheers Geoff</SPAN></STRONG></EM>

 

[blkjak]

<span style="font-size: x-small;"><strong>welcome .... blkjak</strong></span>

 

[jillbobill]

I don't think a roof vent would be as out of place as you think it would. I would get a smaller one, obviously, since it's a smaller van. But I think you could manage it. Tinting yourself isn't easy, but it is cheaper. I just did the rear two windows on my own van this past weekend and the film was only, like, $18 a roll (one roll per passenger-van sized window, but the box said one roll would do two 'regular' sedan sized windows). You can also buy similar stuff (made by the same company, Gila) at Lowe's made to cover windows. It's not 'limo black', but with curtains you might be okay.&nbsp;<br><br>I've seen a few people use milk crates to raise the bed and I considered it myself since they're always sitting outside behind grocery stores. And this bloke used metal pipe (maybe cheaper/easier than wood? Certainly more space effective):&nbsp;<a href="/post/94-Ford-E150-conversion-van-road-tripgetaway-vehicle-6229225" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://vanlivingforum.com/post/94-Ford-E150-conversion-van-road-tripgetaway-vehicle-6229225</a>&nbsp;-- But I would get it off the floor for no other reason than to maximize the limited amount of space.&nbsp;<br><br>But mostly, make sure you take photos and share them with us!&nbsp;

 

[rvwandering]

&nbsp;Welcome Travel! Sounds like a good plan. Stealth doesn't seem to be as important as many people believe so a roof vent should be fine. Get a house battery as soon as possible. Hook it up to charge as you're driving and then you can add solar later. I'm not sure how you would use a booster pack for power. Their main purpose seems to for jump starting a battery.

 

[travel]

Thanks for the warm welcome everyone! I've attached some pics of my van as it sits now. More pics will follow as I do the work. Inside, it's empty. The two rows of bech seats are out. I've done a few subtle modifications, but they are easily reversed. Before I thought of stealth camping, I wanted to "personalize" my van, hence the lightly tinted tail lights, blacked out grille, orange turn signals (stock lenses are clear), blacked out steel wheels with chrome center caps like a cop car.&nbsp;<br><br>Those are actually my winter tires, which I will probably not use much, if ever now that I decided to spend time in warm climates year round. My "summer" tires are on stock chrome Chevy Silverado wheels. They look like my current steel wheels, just chrome. And if I peel off the black vinyl from the chrome center bar on the grille, and swap in stock, untinted tail lights, that should make it look more stock pretty quickly. Then again, a lot of people probably wouldn't notice. But, some people who are into cars might notice. Now I want my van to look as ordinary as possible, so it blends in and people don't remember it.<br><br>I'm at the point now where I am ready to give up a bit of stealth for a low profile roof vent. In the past, I've camped in my cars in the summer months, and without fail, I'd wake up to the insides of windows covered in condensation. Sometimes, despite being summer, it was too cold to leave a window cracked open.&nbsp;<br><br>As for the window tint, I'm not going to do it myself. I found a few places that will do a nice professional job for $200 (all rear windows, but not the front roll-down windows). If I put limo tint over the factory tinted glass, that should give quite a bit of privacy. Not very good for night driving, but I plan to be parked most times when it's dark.<br><br>I think solar power is the way to go. But, I may have to add it in later. A decent solar panel is $500, plus the controller, installation (I'm not that handy to do it myself), and house battery/batteries... it's a bit out of reach right now. But when I do it, I'm thinking of attaching it to a sheet of plywood between the raised rails of my factory roof rack. From the ground, it should be almost invisible. But if someone's looking from a second sttory window, they'll see a solar panel. But for now... a comfortable mattress and storage for clothes, food and other supplies is more important. I could start with a cooler and then switch to a fridge later, although it would be nice to have all that set up before I head out. Today I'm going to mattress store that has a great sale, that ends to day. I'll either walk out with a twin size gel mattress, or put a deposit on it and pick it up in a few weeks.<br><br>My plan is to have the mattress lengthwise behind the driver's seat. It will be a on a wooden platform with storage space below it. In the near future, I will add a swivel base on the front passenger seat, so that along with a folding table, I wil have a place to work on my laptop. The Astro is wide, but short, so with a twin mattress, that will leave me with 12" of space at the back, for a small cabinet accessible from the back doors for my "kitchen" area. In the space between the mattress and passenger side wall, and between the rear doors and the passenger side sliding door, I will extend the storage cabinet. A twin mattress is about 38" wide. The van is about 50" wide unless I strip out the interior panels which could give me another 3 or 4" on each side, but then I'd have to put up paneling. If I use 2 small, non-vented 6V golf cart batteries, I could probably hide them, and an inverter behind the left rear panel where the rear AC was supposed to go (my van only has front AC). <br><br>I saw some nice, small bar fridges on Craigslist for $25 to $100. Not sure if I should pick one up yet, since I may not have electricity set up before I leave. Maybe I should pick up that cooler instead! And I think I'll forget about the booster pack. It will take up valuable space, and really isn't the best for regular daily use to power my laptop or slow cooker, etc. Hopefully I won't need a battery boost! I've got an Optima Yellow Top battery (bought it last year) for my starting battery, but don't plan on using it for running accessories unless it's an emergency, and for a very short period of time. And if I have a dead battery... I'll keep some jumper cables and hope someone can give me a boost, or keep my auto club membership active so they can give me a boost.<br><br><br>

 

[ontheroadagain]

Welcome travel! I am starting with the bed and solar/battery. Those seem like the essentials to me. Enjoy your self and keep us updated with your build and progress. People on here have a lot of really good advice.<br>best of luck,<br>rick

 

[rvwandering]

&nbsp;Have you read Bob's post about flexible solar panels yet? They're ideal for van roofs and really preserve the stealth factor if you have reason to be concerned about that. We were hanging around during the installation of the panels on Terry's van and we're really impressed by the ease of it. I think that they are more expensive than regular panels though.&nbsp;<a href="http://cheaprvlivingblog.com/2013/02/installing-flexible-solar-panels-on-a-fiberglass-roof/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> http://cheaprvlivingblog.com/2013/02/installing-flexible-solar-panels-on-a-fiberglass-roof/&nbsp; <br></a><span id="post_message_1277573528"><br></span>

 

[HoboBerg]

Welcome to the group travel!

 

[travel]

&nbsp;Have you read Bob's post about flexible solar panels yet? They're ideal for van roofs and really preserve the stealth factor if you have reason to be concerned about that. We were hanging around during the installation of the panels on Terry's van and we're really impressed by the ease of it. I think that they are more expensive than regular panels though.&nbsp;<a href="http://cheaprvlivingblog.com/2013/02/installing-flexible-solar-panels-on-a-fiberglass-roof/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> http://cheaprvlivingblog.com/2013/02/installing-flexible-solar-panels-on-a-fiberglass-roof/&nbsp; <br></a><span id="post_message_1277573528"><br></span>

<br><br>Great idea! I didn't see that article before and did not know the flexible solar panels existed. My Chevy Astro van has ribs in the roof... so I wonder if the adhesive, flexible panels are flexible enough to contour to the ribs? Or if they just adhered to the raised portion of the ribs, if that would be strong enough? I also wonder about water and dirt getting in the gaps and eventually causing the other areas to work themselves free. I could possibly find something to fill in the low spots between the ribs. The only thing that comes to mind is fiberglass resin.<br><br><br>My van also has a factory roof rack, with (I think) adjustable bars that can be moved toward the front or the back. I could also attach a solar panel between those bars. It would be virtually hidden from view to people looking from ground level. But from a higher vehicle, or a second story window, it would be visible. Either way, the cost seems to be a bit out of range for me right now. Between 2 or 4 6V AGM golf cart batteries, a controller, a solar panel or two, and installation labor charges, I may have to add this to the list of things to do later. <br><br><strong>As a temporary fix</strong>, I can use a non-powered cooler with ice, and for my laptop, charge it by plugging it into one of my 12V power outlets. I have a 12V to 120V inverter that plugs into a 12V socket somewhere, so if I get a slow cooker or pressure cooker, I could plug them in while the van is running, I guess during a long drive. But, I have an Optima Yellow Top battery for my starting battery (had to replace the cheapo battery last year, figured I might as well upgrade to a better battery).<br><br>Or... <strong>I just found some PORTABLE solar panel solutions!</strong> Some of them can hold a fair bit of power for use later at night. I'm sure someone's mentioned these before, but I'm still working my way through the forum. A company called "Goal Zero" makes several nice units. For $250 to $500 I could be well set up. Here's the US site:&nbsp;http://www.goalzero.com/ and the Canadian site:&nbsp;http://goalzero.ca/ with significantly higher prices than the US site for the same products. On Bob's blog I see he's selling the &nbsp;Suitcase Solar Power System, which is a bit bulkier, but still a viable option. Also on his blog, for anyone else who may be looking for solar solutions, or just a good explanation of how it works:&nbsp;http://cheaprvlivingblog.com/2013/04/solar-basics-understanding-batteries/ and Part 2 at&nbsp;http://cheaprvlivingblog.com/2013/04/solar-basics-batteries-part-2/<br><br><strong>A quick update on my progress</strong>... Yesterday I went to a mattress store, since it was the last day of a really good sale. I settled on a memory foam/gel twin size mattress. It's one of the better mid-range models and VERY comfortable. Keeps you cool in summer and warm in winter, supposedly. Regular $450 with free delivery. It was on sale for $339 with free delivery. I told them I don't need free delivery - my van is outside right now, just waiting for that mattress! It turns out they have to bring it in from their warehouse, but I got them to sell it to me for $300 and I will pick it up at their store tomorrow. Then I went to Ikea for a mattress cover and curved slats for a platform to put the mattress on. Ikea had a nice latex mattress for something like $559 or $599 which I was going to get, but I need to start saving money. <br><br>Comfortable sleep is not normally something I would compromise on, but the display model of that other mattress was so comfy and good quality (I think it's a Sealy too), I figured it would be worth it. I'm going to get the regular window tint for $200 instead of the "premium quality" stuff for $450 or $500. If I can cut the cost of each of my projects and upgrades &nbsp;in half, my money will go a lot further. I'm buying things in order of priority, and/or in order of what makes sense to build and set up the inside of the van. I figured the bed is the first thing I'll need, especially if I end up having to move sooner than expected. <strong>Dark windows for privacy is also high on my list, so that's next.&nbsp;<br></strong>

 

[LughTheBard]

Welcome Travel! Looks like you're really progressing on your van. This is great place to get excellent advice on getting set up. Best of luck to you!
Lugh

 

[Coffee Tim]

Hi Travel. Welcome and the best of luck!!!

 

[One Awesome Inch]

Sounds like you are on the right track. Bed is definitely priority 1 to me... and so is comfort.

Wishing you the best of luck.