Hi, I see the thread is quite a few years old but here goes anyway.
I recently bought a 1988 24' Sprinter by Mallard. Definitely not a stealth van, at all. Beginning in April of this year I started boondocking on Seattle city streets. I moved out of a house in the Beacon hill neighborhood and really fell in love with the area the past ten years prior in the house. Very convenient to transit (both bus and light rail), very quiet, and for the most part (its starting to change now with the overwhelming homeless crisis as of late) people have this live and let live attitude, at least in this neighborhood.
1] I have taken to trying and for the most part succeeding in finding empty abandoned dilapidated looking properties to park in front of, so I don't piss off the neighbors or take their parking spot.
2] Although my rig is 30 yrs old it has been very well taken care of and could pass for 10 or so. No tarps slung over the roof. No broken or boarded up windows.
3] When I am either forced out by the "72 hour" per block parking rules here in Seattle. Judgemental, nosey, jerks use it to push me on down the road without giving me a chance or even talking to me. Or when I choose to pull away and find different "accommodations", I make sure you cannot tell I was even parked there. Something that is very easy to do, yet most homeless/vandwellers/rver's here in Seattle have failed to do and then we all get a bad image.
4] Most times nomads are either given an area or take over one. It very quickly turns into a trash heap with needles/paraphernalia, prostitution, drug use/dealing, and all sort of negative activities. People begging/pushing and quite aggressively for money/food/whatever.
I mention the last two items not as something I do but something that hurts my chances of staying anywhere to long before I even park. It really has gotten out of hand and very quickly needs to be addressed by the city before something really bad happens and no one is allowed to boondock.
Lets stop this rambaling wall of text.
In closing Seattle still has its opportunities to boondock/van dwell/live in your car. So please keep it clean amd if you see me rolling through please wave.
Jennifer