Simple Versus Elaborate Buildout

[gevalia]

I'm wondering about how you guys have chosen between a simple van build versus a major van build, and why you arrived at your choice.  

When I first started imagining my upcoming build, it was full plumbing with tanks supporting shower, toilet and sink.  Powered by solar and propane, topped off with a hightop and cabinets.   Basically a DIY Roadtek.  

I'm now evolving my though, and wondering if a basic build might be a better way to go.  No hightop for now.  Built in cooktop and fridge, but plumbing limited to clean and grey water along with a simple sink.  I guess the exact specs are a bit fuzzy, but the decision between simple versus elaborate seems to be leaning simple for me at this point.  

I'd love to hear from those that have experience or have juggled these balls.

If you want/need a sink, look on YT for a guy that made one using PVC and a home depot 5gallon bucket. He used a 12v pump but I would use a marine foot pump instead. I think he put a 3 gallon water jug inside it and also allowed for hose use. 

I decided against a sink for now and use a collapsable plastic dish tub as a sink and take the water outside each time I use it. old school.

 

[Matildas mate]

I'm wondering about how you guys have chosen between a simple van build versus a major van build, and why you arrived at your choice.  

The more i agonized over what to include in my van build the more unsettled i was in my everyday life. The first thing to do is to buy or otherwise decide on a vehicle. That vehicle - especially if it is to be your only home - will determine how much of a build is appropriate given the space available. For many, including me, simplifying ones life is a long process that means more than just getting rid of a lot of stuff. It was also about how much maintenance one wants to or has to perform to keep the components of one’s build up and running. It was a matter of how much effort i wanted to make and how much stress i felt i could endure in search of a certain lifestyle. 

This may be a little bit vague but so much of who you are as a person should play a major role in these decisions. Think about spending as much time trying to decide what would make you happy as you would trying to decide on wherher it should be a major or simple van build.

If one is a simple person then a major (read that complex) van build might be a high stressor and result in an unhappy person.

 

[gevalia]

If one is a simple person then a major (read that complex) van build might be a high stressor and result in an unhappy person.

Agree. And I honestly thought I lived a fairly spartan life until I started to downsize to van size. The 1st thing I did was a bit different though, I decided on what climate in general I would spend most of my time in. I know 1 woman that loves to cook and she spend a lot more time in her van that I ever will in mine. My hobbies except for 1 are all outside so I think of my van as a motel room with a kitchen, nothing more. And I'm on one heck of a long vacation. 

One immensely important point that came to me way too late in my van build was build versus buy. I'm an IT guy that writes code. Software guys love to build systems so we tend to jump in and think that we have to build everything ourselves which means learning about stuff we've never done before just to complete a task. And I jumped into my van build with this mindset. Late into the build when I was having problems making cabinets that withstood serious back-road jostling I realized that I should just buy IKEA cabinets and be done with it(cheap and easily repairable if need be). An FL guy on YT had done that. I live in CT where the materials to build are honestly crap unless you spend a small fortune for furniture grade. It would have cost me 2 or 3x as much to build the 2 cabinets I have. 

Another decision I made was that nothing in the build was permanent - screws only. Because I expect things to change for comfort and functional reasons.