Newby - Am I too old to start?

[Janncwebb]

I am a 66 year old grandmother. :-/ Right now I live in a sticks and bricks with my father. He is 86 and on hospice. The end could be within a month to a couple of months. This house goes into my name when he dies, but I do not have the income to pay taxes, etc. I found Bob's YouTube videos and think this is the perfect solution for me. Before that I was thinking of possibly a tiny house. I live in Texas and have grandkids here, Florida, and West Virginia. I would love to travel to see grandkids (and other stuff, too). I'm thinking I could sell this house and convert a panel van. I would also probably have enough for a small house that my disabled daughter and her children could live in. 

My main concern is that at 66 I'm not sure I could do the conversion myself, but feel a professional will charge me an arm and a leg!

 

[geogentry]

Welcome to CRVL!!  

No you are not too old.  You got twenty or thirty years left in you I am sure.  Time for you to get out make new friends and enjoy life.  Your van doesn't have to be perfectly converted ya know.  You may just want to go with bare minimum until you figure out just what you need and want in it before you get it all done and then wish you had done it different.  Dont let the small stuff hold you back.

 

[highdesertranger]

Welcome Jann to the CRVL forums! 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. highdesertranger

 

[bullfrog]

Keep looking and researching you will find some way to do what you want to do with the help on this site. Get to asking questions and determine what your absolute needs are. Go to a gathering or RTR asap with what ever you have or can borrow/rent. You will be surprised how little you need but how much better a few additional things can make it!

 

[Sleep]

Hi There and Welcome!

Age is a state of mind. (I think) That being so sometimes I feel much older. I was also worried about how much I could physically do and I watched a ton of Bob's videos of people who had done very simple builds in order to get on the road. You might try to find those and also the Conversion Tab on the main home page has several as well. Those helped me decide what direction I wanted my build to go.

Don't rush, examine all the possibilities, they will help you make informed decisions.

Good luck!

 

[drysailor]

Jan, while there are folks of every age & circumstance in this kind of life, "Retirement Age" seems to be a fairly common starting point. At 66, you're really just a spring chicken. If you follow these forums, you'll find many other similar people, and probably find ideas that seem to fit you. There are always the options of a small RV or Travel Trailer as well. Welcome!

 

[dawnann7]

Welcome Jann! I am almost 60 and I have been having similar thoughts. I am thinking and scheming and I think I will be hitting the road within the next year, two at the most. It's our time now, girlfriend. We may as well enjoy the last half of our lives as much as we can. We've been taking care of others for so long. I don't begrudge one moment of the care I gave to siblings, parents, friends, children, etc., but now is my time. Best wishes as you work it out and I hope to meet you on the road sometime!

 

[Janncwebb]

I made a start! I got rid of some things at home and I bought a Luggable Loo!! I've looked and looked at vans for sale online that I can convert. I think I need to know what all other things I need to buy before I know how much I can spend on a van.

 

[rvpopeye]

Welcome aboard Jann !

You're not too old.AND
You have found a huge new family to help support your new dream !

Ask all the questions you want until you run out of them !
(Every time you learn something , it will create more questions so keep asking. )

The experience and knowledge here in the tribe is enormous and you will end up knowing more than you imagined.

Also , there is a huge amount of information already posted here on the forums so explore and read all you can by going to the links on the main page as well as the individual threads where you are now on the forum.
(There are people living in a Prius so a van or anything bigger will be a palace.)

You CAN do this , lots of help right here.

 

[Almost There]

Welcome to the forum Jann!

Some people are too old at 50 and some people aren't too old at 80!

The interior build can be as fancy and expensive as you want it to be or it can be as simple and as frugal as you need it to be.

Finding a dependable vehicle that is the right size for you is the most important part. That and making sure that you  have an adequate financial safety net set aside are the two most important things of all. All the rest is window dressing.

Take a look at some of the build threads and if you can, watch a bunch of Bob's videos of other peoples vehicles BEFORE you go buying a bunch of stuff. You probably  have most of what you need sitting there already and the rest is not expensive if you don't want it to be.

 

[ValerieP]

I agree, you are definitely not too old! As far as figuring out all you will need to convert, I can only say that I thought I knew, but I discover new things almost daily. I’ve used a lot of IKEA in my extended van, but I’ve also built a bed and a desk, and had a high top put on. It’s a work in progress. Start with a van and then go from there. I was most worried about mileage, so I bought newer than older with low miles.
Good luck!

 

[MrNoodly]

...I'm not sure I could do the conversion myself...

Find a vehicle that doesn't need building out. A Class B or small Class C RV perhaps, or a van that someone else built out then decided they wanted something else. 

There are ways to make it happen for you.

 

[Janie]

Find a vehicle that doesn't need building out. A Class B or small Class C RV perhaps, or a van that someone else built out then decided they wanted something else. 

There are ways to make it happen for you.

Thanks, I wish I could get another vehicle but I can't afford it.  I have a 2005 Chevy Tahoe but I really wanted a cargo van high top or conversion.  Somehow I hope to get an older and cheap smaller travel trailer, not sure if I can because my credit is almost maxed.

 

[Bohemian scout]

I am a 66 year old grandmother. :-/ Right now I live in a sticks and bricks with my father. He is 86 and on hospice. The end could be within a month to a couple of months. This house goes into my name when he dies, but I do not have the income to pay taxes, etc. I found Bob's YouTube videos and think this is the perfect solution for me. Before that I was thinking of possibly a tiny house. I live in Texas and have grandkids here, Florida, and West Virginia. I would love to travel to see grandkids (and other stuff, too). I'm thinking I could sell this house and convert a panel van. I would also probably have enough for a small house that my disabled daughter and her children could live in. 

My main concern is that at 66 I'm not sure I could do the conversion myself, but feel a professional will charge me an arm and a leg!

If you watch enough videos on YouTube you’ll learn so much you will find there are so many things you can do yourself.  I had never built anything but I found some plans for building a platform bed in a van online.  I had to modify the dimensions for the size I wanted. I found a drill went to Home Depot and had the boards cut. I wanted to make sure I could set up right and have enough room for storage containers underneath the bed.  Then I just started... Soon found out I had the wrong kind of screws and went and bought hex Screws.  The bed turned out great, I love it!  Plus, you don’t have to do the whole conversion at once. It’s really better if you go slowly because you always find things you wish you had done different. I have already made modifications on my bed, decided it was too big! Recently I have cut the width back now it’s  like a twin size.

 

[mpruet]

You can start out very simply - just a mat on the floor.   Then you can determine what you have to have additionally.

I recently purchased a class-B, but was seriously considering getting a van conversion kit from Wayfarer Vans (https://wayfarervans.com/).  I really like the layout that they put into the Promaster, and thought that it wouldn't be all that hard to add the remaining stuff that I would need such as solar.  I already have a Dometic fridge and propane camp stove from while I was car camping, so wouldn't need to add that to the conversion.  This would have been a heck of a lot cheaper than what I paid for the class-B.  But I decided that I had the means for the class-B so decided to go that way instead.