simple/solo boondocking: Promaster 159 high roof

[frater secessus]

Some updates:

• starting to stare at the overhead cabinet area with intent
• picked up a new-but-used low end laptop which is working surprisingly well.  It will be the campervan laptop because of the very low power consumption.  Some notes about it in this other thread.
• lesson learned: hygiene
• lesson learned: climate control
• lesson learned: clothing and laundry

 

[breeze]

Sorry if I missed them because you have been expedient, but your boondock plan had:
1.  hot water.  Dump load or solar heating would be a nice plus!
2.  minimal shower in wet bathroom.  Aisle shower if I must.
================================================
My progress observations:
1. Even 'tankless' water heaters are a huge hassle, but eventually look like the best alternative.
2. Except for going all the way shower stalls, the hokey outside (Coleman) camper ones do not seem sturdy enough for a couple of uses. Camper World has a 10" high 2'x3' tube and a 5' high (3-sided) shower walls with an added (aisle) flex shower rod. It's only a couple of hundred dollars MINUS the plumbing (THEN add a couple of thousand dollars?!?!)

Both of those areas are a huge area of planning and design: constrained by space primarily and multiple simultaneous expert labor secondarily (for me, but not you maybe.)

BUT, I found Planet Fitness had a National plan for $22/mo +$40/year at 1500 locations, with all the deluxe accommodations which separates it from the $10/mo 'street person' plan  

** Oh yeah, where did you stash your 35 gal fresh water supply at? I have decided on 30 gallon arbitrarily due to that is what (nasty diesel) Sprinter builds have. I am looking for SS tanks now to put in cab somewhere.

 

[frater secessus]

Yes, tankless is awesome.  For now I am just heating water and spongebathing in a basin.  I did make the sink sprayer long enough to reach outside the van for coldwater rinsing/showering if needed.

That Planet Fitness deal seems good for 'dwellers.  I do like hot showers, and that hydrotherapy and stuff sounds great.

The water tank is on the floor under the galley.  Strapped to the walls and the forward edge is abutted to a 2x4 I bolted through the floor.  It wasn't plumbed yet in this pic but you can see it in the bottom center.  It's light blue:


Sink went in over it.  For now graywater off the sink empties into a 7gal receptacle.  I have a spigot and drain hose to install in that holding tank but still thinking about it.  I have a 10gal container for gray but this one is working well...

 

[breeze]

Looks great! You have working plumbing
Plumbing is hard for me, since not much rv-van
help on the web and/or not commercialized into
easy use products for slow learners like me, doah!

 

[John61CT]

Wouldn't it be nice to drive into an expert's shop, drive out with it all done, for price of parts marked up 20% plus a few hundred?

Especially if they also did

DC electrics & solar

Heating systems, including hydronics.

Propane installs.

Top-notch insulation.

Cabinetry, kitchen chuckbox in nice woodwork or modern lightweight metal & laminates.

Custom upholstery, blackout window covers.

Roof racks, hitch cargo, under-chassis storage, heck, custom trailers.

Gotta be a business model there, one shop in Quarzite the other in Georgia.

 

[frater secessus]

Plumbing is hard for me, since not much rv-van
help on the web and/or  not commercialized into
easy use products for slow learners like me, doah!

I really bumbled through it.  The only thing I'd ever done with plumbing was unclog a sink.   I watched a lot of YT videos on people repairing their RV plumbing so I could see how their stuff was put together. 

I also bought some used RV maintenance books.

 

[frater secessus]

Forgot to mention it, but I've been part-timing in the van 2 nights a week near where I work. I have a long commute so stealthing near work Monday and Wednesday nights saves about 100mi and 2.5hrs each of those days. I put out extra rations and water for the dogs, who are fenced and have shade and shelter.

Soon it will be too hot here in the Dallas area, but right now I'm at a city park. Comfortable 82F (shorts and blousey shirt, flip flops) with a nice breeze. Plenty of folks waking around and fishing in the park's pond -- it's allowed. Geese running around honking and begging humans for scraps.

When the park closes at 11pm I'll relocate to a sleeping spot. Life is pretty danged good at the moment.

 

[breeze]

Shade is a premium out West and in FL too!

 My vote goes to free Li-ion energy and roof top ac's. Think how lucky those dogs would feel? Almost better than a 'live' Chinese dog! Hroo Hrorry...

 

[frater secessus]

Uggg, getting 404 errors when I try to post to this thread.  Will try shorter and see what happens.

=== let's see if I can update it

Uggg, getting 404 errors when I try to post to this thread. Will try shorter and see what happens.

=== trying to post full text in this edit ===
=== note pics will not show ===






Been a while since my last confession update. Work has been weird, then I got Lyme disease a coupla weeks ago. Not as much fun as it sounds.

I took down the steel pieces I was going to use to hang overhead storage, rearranged them, and added in an extra mountpoint on each side. Bolted them back in.

This weekend I was determined to get some kind of storage installed. It needed to be easy (I have no carpentry skills), strong, and done with whatever scrap I have on hand. It is for light item storage: paper goods, socks/underwear/shirts, spices, etc. Anything heavy stays downstairs.


The bottom of the shelves are open slats, to save a bit of weight and also because I was running low on materials. I covered the bottom with some 1/8th in. xps sheet foam I had left over so stuff doesn't fall through:


Getting dark so I stopped for the day.

Did a bit of arranging and added some bungies:


Passenger side (on the left in the pic) is 5.5' long. Driver side is 6.5'. I stopped at the edge of the sleeping platform but the rails go to the back door so I can add more later if needed.


My original idea was to build a frame then front it with some urethane-covered luaun I have left over. But I left it open while I figure out what goes up there and it turns out I like the open look. Will leave it this way for now.

I have an unhealthy love for paracord, so I took down the bungies on the passenger side today and made a double row of para to hold stuff in:


Runs through eye hooks and tensioned with those little angled tensioner doodads on a long span.

 

[frater secessus]

Ok, it's the pics.  Let's try separately:









I can post them, but the forum is no longer parsing clickable thumbnails.  Frustrating.

 

[makenmend]

Ok, it's the pics.  Let's try separately:









I can post them, but the forum is no longer parsing clickable thumbnails.  Frustrating.

 

[John61CT]

Not showing here, Chrome nor Tapatalk on Android. Have to open each in a new tab or download.

 

[frater secessus]

The small pics are the thumbnails, which are supposed to be clickable to see the large pics.  Something changed on the forum and that no longer works.  Other *BB forums still do it. 

I pasted the entry onto a blog post where the thumbnails are clickable.

 

[makenmend]

Thanks Frater, I figured that was the case, much easier to see in your blog.

MM

 

[John61CT]

Yes fine there, no thumbnails here.

Other *BB forums still do it.

Maybe works from another image sharing site, try Imgur?

 

[highdesertranger]

the thumbnails are still clickable for me. highdesertranger

 

[John61CT]

Here's what I get in both environments, no thumbnails at all.

 

[highdesertranger]

see I can click on those and they open a new window with a larger pic. who can't do this? let us know. highdesertranger

 

[John61CT]

My screenshots are Attachments.

Different linking syntax, if you do a quote to look at the underlying BBcode as raw text.

 

[frater secessus]

Clickable linked [http] thumbnails used to work before the restore.  Now they don't, and look like the image I have attached below.  Clicking on the link goes to the thumbnail.  I have also attached a pic of the valid BB code that worked before the restore, and that works on other BB forums.

Clickable attached thumbnails still work, as John points out and as you can see below in my attachments.


[edited to add: only http images are affected, possibly due to a forum plugin. See below. ]