Newcomer

[Asa60]

Hello Everyone,

In the process of converting a 1999 Dodge Ram Conversion Van 1500 into a comfortable camper van. It is not a hightop. I had all kinds of plans for the conversion until I camped in her. I had hoped to put in a comfortable bed, bathroom area, and a decent kitchen. Totally unreasonable. I now know my priorities. I need a private bathroom with a shower, a comfortable bed and I can cook outside. Any suggestions regarding private bathroom/shower options?

 

[OptimistInAVan]

Welcome to the CRVL forums! To help you learn the ins and outs of these forums, this "Tips, Tricks and Rules" post lists some helpful information to get you started.

Most of our rules boil down to two simple over-riding principles: 1) What you post should provide good information (like your introductory post), and 2) Any response to someone else's post should make them feel glad they are part of this forum community.

We look forward to hearing more from you.

 

[eDJ_]

Welcome to the CRVL Forum

Below are a couple of links in my signature line. The top is basically how I set up my first rig years ago. I had been a Boy Scout and knew how to take care of myself including bathroom and keeping myself clean. Today it's easier for people.

The bottom link is a portal of information which showcases how to make oneself comfortable on the road. But not that the Corona Virus is upon us it may be more difficult again. I had designed an outside shower enclosure (basically shower curtains with a small wooden pallet to stand on. The curtain rod attached to the roof mounted luggage carrier. (as did my awnings) A 5 gallon plastic pail would sit inside this area for a toilet when I wasn't when I wasn't using the enclosure for a shower stall.

At the time my rig wasn't insulated. I didn't feel the need to insulate and wood panel the interior and lose the few inches of space.

In this time I was looking for work in my field of Industrial Design. I wasn't retired
or living the Nomad life style. But I did do a lot of traveling. I rented a small storage cell in a complex so I could remove the camping gear and have a bare Van to use
in my work.

I would imagine that if you get your rig together, set up a website showcasing examples of your work, have cards printed with the URL to your website shown on it that you could shop yourself around and find some "Gig work" with a number of sources varying from Architects to house flippers. You may want to have a small biz license where you would have some tax advantages. Florida has no state tax so that's a plus.

So good luck in your ventures.

 

[WayOutWest]

Hello Everyone,

In the process of converting a 1999 Dodge Ram Conversion Van 1500 into a comfortable camper van. It is not a hightop. I had all kinds of plans for the conversion until I camped in her. I had hoped to put in a comfortable bed, bathroom area, and a decent kitchen. Totally unreasonable. I now know my priorities. I need a private bathroom with a shower, a comfortable bed and I can cook outside. Any suggestions regarding private bathroom/shower options?

I got a Ford Transit and was advised by those on the Ford Transit forum I'm on, to not make a bunch of plans until I'd actually spent time on the road in the van.  This was great advice.  You learn a lot by actually testing out your vehicle. 

In terms of your private bathroom with shower:  could you go with a composting toilet?  I explored a lot of toilet options and realized that a simple composting toilet made out of a 5 gallon bucket with airtight lidded toilet seat on top was the best most compact option. The "luggable loo" brand. 

For your shower:  do you need or have the headroom for a stand-up shower enclosure inside the van? I see a lot of people putting in a shower enclosure in their vans, and to me this is wasted space as I don't see that it is necessary.  What IS necessary for indoor showering, is the basin. So if you can find a large enough plastic container or kiddie pool, you can take a shower in your van using either a battery pump showerhead or water heated up and put in a Simple Shower (find on Amazon).  Alternatively, there are various small sized pop up canopy tents designed specifically to be used for toilet use or showering or clothes changing, eg this one https://www.amazon.com/Pop-Up-Privacy-Tent-Lightweight/dp/B07NQW55KV/ref=sr_1_4

My recommendation would be to avoid building into the van anything that you can put up outside, such as the cooking materials or showering setup.  Given the very limited space of all vans, I think it's a mistake to build into them things that can be done outside, as this ends up crowding the space unnecessarily. 

My van conversion blog is here: https://dragunfire.wordpress.com/2020/07/21/van-conversion-diaries/