Newcomer to Van Life

[Outdoorslife]

I became inspired by Bob wells and others and decided to try the Van Travel life for myself. Fortunately I have a job where I can work remote over LTE or WIFI so I can be almost anywhere. I am based out of Silicon Valley in California. I'm a Relatively young 39 years old male and love being outdoors hiking and camping. I bought a 2013 Roadtrek Popular 190 to get started on the road. It has everything I need already, and I just recently added 2 Renogy 100 watt panels using Curved mounts and VHB tape. I used all renogy cables, panels, mounts, except used a BlueSky 3000i controller instead of a renogy commander as it was a smaller form factor for my Roadtrek Cabinet. I learned how to install my solar watching videos on Youtube, like Will Prowse and Hobotech. Installing the Solar Panels and Charge Controller was fairly easy. Running the Cables from the Roof to the Vehicle and then down to the battery tray was the challenging part. I had help with a local mechanic family member and we got it done with about 2 Nights and a half day. Approximately 10-14 hours of total labor. I have 2 Lead ACID GC2 batteries that require maintenence. I figure if I am going to disconnect everything to get them out of the tray I might as well replace them, so I just ordered 2 Battleborn GC2 replacement Lithiums to save on weight and give me faster recharge times as well as over double the capacity. I will be installing these in the next couple of weeks after they arrive. I may have to switch out the Battery Isolator as well after the Lithium Battery install.

I am currently only traveling weekends in the VAN until I finish my Solar/Battery install, then I am hitting the road full/part time.
I am looking forward to going to RTR in 2019 and meeting other RV life folks.


Thanks

 

[travelaround]

Hi Outdoorslife - sounds like you're all set up for van life. Congrats on that - I still don't have a van but expect to get one within the next six months. So, from Silicon Valley, what are your favorite places for the outdoor life, hiking and camping? I used to live in the SF Bay Area and hope you can remind me of some places I've been to, or tell me about new places I haven't heard of. How do you park for the evening? Do you have boondocking spots in the Santa Cruz Mountains?

 

[Smitty716]

Congratulations, A welcome to the forums .
I had thought about a van but I wanted a bathroom and shower so I got a used class c.
Hope to cya at RTR.